Life on Mars Episode Recap: "Tuesday's Dead"
When Sam gets a cryptic phone call from the present that he will die by 2:00 pm and hostages, taken at a local hospital, will start dying by 2:00 pm if demands aren't met, Sam and the 125 Precinct must save the hostages and solve the mystery before time runs out. Who will die and what more will we understand about this time travel mystery?
It looks like the 125 Precinct had a light crime night when they decide to party with the local hookers. You know, that stuff happens all the time, right? At first all-business Sam resists along with on duty Annie Norris but soon enough they give into temptation and party like it's 1973. Sam throws in some '80s Michael Jackson to be cool.
The next morning, Sam awakes pasty-mouthed at his precinct desk while everyone is sprawled out dead asleep. The phone rings and despite the line being cut Sam answers it. It's his mother trying to talk to him but she can't hear him. She's talking about pulling the plug and coming into the world on a Tuesday and now dying on a Tuesday if only he'd give her a sign by 2:00 pm or else they'll pull the plug. This follows along with the previous episode that led us to believe Sam was either dead or perhaps in a coma; that this trip to 1973 is all a dream. More evidence suggests this might be true.
Lieutenant Gene Hunt jaunts through the doors wearing what looks to be his best leisure suit white patent leathers and all. He announces that there's a hostage situation at the Memorial Hospital and the first hostage will die at 2:00 p.m. if they don't do something. I think we've got our latest crime to solve — this time it's in progress.
The cops, what looks like SWAT and other trained officials get to the hospital and set up camp just outside the entrance. Sam tries to take over hostage negotiations but Lieutenant Hunt denies his request and puts Carling in charge. Despite that Sam asks Annie and Skelton to help him. He admits to Annie that he's spoken to his mom from 2008 and the hostage taker called him by name. She naturally doesn't believe him and calls him a narcissist. Hunt decides to use force to get the hostages free but he's quickly stopped by random gunfire. Under a tremendous time constraint to solve this mystery by 2:00 pm, Sam boldly gives up his weapons to get access inside. He's permitted inside.
As Sam walks the empty halls of the hospital a song plays from the radio with lyrics about traveling on a time machine. Sam meets Michael who has taken hostages because Dr. Schwahn, who had been treating his little brother Johnny for schizophrenia, performed a lobotomy on him. This procedure rendered him incapable of caring for himself. In a rage, Michael strapped a bomb to his clothes and demanded Dr. Schwahn fix Johnny.
Sam also meets Erica, a patient who claims she's an undercover writer from the New York Post writing about the mistreatment of mental patients. It's hard to know whether to believe her or not. In the background, Sam hears a soap opera on the TV and turns around to find his girlfriend, Maya, right in the middle of the action. She's at the bedside of a patient who has no brain activity and is inevitably going to die. As she tries to communicate with the comatose patient, Sam is trying to talk to her through the TV — all as the real mental patients laugh at him. Is Sam suffering from mental illness too?
Sam has a moment with the doctor who he finds, under stress, said by putting Johnny on an EEG machine could fix the problem. Sam confronted Dr. Schwahn about this. The doctor admits this wouldn't work. He also told Sam that Johnny, like others in the Pysch Ward, suffering from delusions - think televisions and radios talk to them - never can have a happy ending. This all felt like a very Lost-like turning point. Even the music was reminiscent of a cliffhanger moment.
With time ticking away, they prepare to receive the EEG machine. A brave assistant seeing an opportunity to grab a sharp object and go after Michael, tries but is shot. Annie and Hunt, dressed as medical assistants bring in the EEG machine with a hidden arsenal. Annie also brings a key. Hunt and Sam quickly search for an escape for the hostages but the room, which Sam originally identified isn't there anymore. This room, which was playing the time machine lyric song was the only room free of bars on the windows. Did he imagine it?
Michael gets back to the hostage room sooner than expected, finds the guns, and takes over the situation. He straps the bomb on Annie and demands a bus and air transportation for everyone. He no longer trusts Sam to help him.
Headstrong, Michael has Hunt, Annie and Sam handcuffed in the operating room. Annie and Sam have a quiet moment. They talk about dying but Annie reminds him to think about a happy moment to keep himself sane. Sam talks about the first time he met Maya.
Dr. Schwahn wheels in recent head-shaved Johnny. He is hooked into the EEG machine and is about to saw open Johnny's head when Sam blurts out that the operation won't help. After a few severe punches to the face, the doctor agrees, confessing that there is nothing anyone can do to bring Johnny back. Now in escape mode, Michael disguises all the hostages in white hoods. He also dresses Sam, who surprisingly is still conscious after the blows he took, to look like him, taping a gun-looking object into his hands. You may be familiar with this escape plan having seen it on CSI and even the latest Dark Knight movie. Criminals dressed like innocent hostages and vice versa.
Snipers are set up on the roof as the cloaked hostages exit the hospital. Right behind them is Sam, with a long barrel gun taped to his hands and black mask covering his face. The cops believe him to be Michael and open fire. Hunt and Annie jump on top of him to protect him from getting shot. He escapes unscathed. Without a beat, Sam runs back in to find Michael and Johnny. With plans to blow up himself and his brother, Michael can't take the thought of going to prison leaving his brother alone in his current capacity. With minutes left until 2:00 pm, Sam tries to reason with him but Michael refuses. He tells Michael that if he wants to escape he has to go through Sam. Sam, believing he will die, remembers the same happy thought about Maya. Lieutenant Hunt comes in with guns barreling. Michael shoots and hits hunt in the chest. They incapacitate Michael and rush to Hunt's side. Luckily, his whiskey flask took the bullet saving his life. The silliest part of this tense scene was the reveal of Hunt's two other flasks.
So who did die at 2:00 pm? The first unknown medical assistant who was brave enough to try to thwart Michael. This episode seemed to end with multiple codas. The first - Sam shares his dissatisfaction with Annie who tells him to just be happy he's alive. The second — in a celebratory meeting after the cops drink at a bar, Annie and Sam have a moment outside a ground level apartment window where Sam watches the continuation of the soap opera that played in Memorial Hospital. The soap opera mother tells the comatose patient she won't pull him off life support. Sam hugs Annie thanking her for helping him remember his happy thought. The final coda — After Annie leaves, Sam turns back to see the soap opera continue. This time Maya comes in to talk to the comatose patient telling him she's been waiting months and she can't wait any longer. She's got to say goodbye and continue living — something she said as part of Sam's happy memory. Sam walks away and passes the bar's open door with Annie standing in the foreground. They see each other but Sam looks at her in a much different way. What does this mean for the sometimes sexually charged Annie-Sam relationship? Are we any closer to understanding Sam's state of being (dead, comatose, etc.)? What did you think about this episode?
