[Drama 2018] Life on Mars, 라이프 온 마스

[larus]

Life on Mars: Episode 9

by Helcat

Life on Mars comes back punching after a breather week, and Tae-joo has one thing on his mind: vengeance. Tae-joo’s Dad’s death gets Tae-joo tangled with a deadly gang leader, and he runs smack into one of the biggest corruption rings he’s encountered at the worst time. But when you have conviction and a rough-and-ready team at your back, sometimes things can work out.

http://www.dramabeans.com/2018/07/life-on-mars-episode-9/

[katakwasabi]

@triplem i too think that JKH looks extremely tired in this drama. Hopefully he doesnt opt for extreme method acting to portray HTJ's weariness and loneliness. Dont want him to turn a jared leto. He was so into joker, he turned into joker for a while and scared his cast members 

[bedifferent]

On 7/16/2018 at 4:03 AM, allegramente said:

..

I know it's a late reply... but I did. It was good... The 'literal' ending resolution had me laughing, kinda took the edge off of the ride/experiences although I applauded the attempt on twists.  I personally prefered the BBC's Sam Tyler, ending, and mostly its 'Manchester' setting. 

 

What's with the psychiatric patient at the beginning of episode 10 (the ET-handshake guy from the 2018)? He got me thinking that perhaps this adaptation would also use bits from the 'Ashes to Ashes'... that....

 

**BBC VER SPOILER ALERT!!!**

  Reveal hidden contents

the others are like HTJ here. That this is a collective subconscious or the bridging world, where cops fallen in the line of duty and unable to move on live...

 

Speculating here... I am not sure if the killer cop is a vigilante. Kim Min-Seok and he could be biologically related, brothers who are long separated. He could have murdered Kim Bok-Rye the way he did simply because he wanted revenge for his abused little brother (since there is no post-humous grooming with manicure and cosmetics). The rest of the murders, with dead women manicured, are surrogate for another woman in their life, perhaps their mother? 

 

IKR, the US version took the easy way out. A lot of people threw their chairs at the TV screen at the end  This show HAS to take similar route as the BBC version since it spent a lot of time exploring Sam' s emotional connections to his past.   It's more than just going back to 1988 to solve a murder case.  He's re-living his childhood while letting go of the emotional baggage he came with.  I really like how Na Young is the real partner here for Tae-joo and not DC although the older man clearly stepping up to be the father figure that he missed.   I think that will make Tae-joo's decision later on more conflicted and real.  He has to figure for himself where his heart and home are.

 

Yes, I agree... there is a possibility that they are biologically related since KMS was adopted and we haven't seen his family history.  Nor did we get an explanation on how KMS decided to pretty-up his victims.

 

Well, cop must have been watching TJ since he knew exactly to find him on the day HCH died.

18 hours ago, 40somethingahjumma said:

 

In the nature vs nurture debate I always think it's a bit of both or different proportions of both. But there's always the possibility of some kind of intervention in the course of life so that the individual doesn't just become another mental health statistic. 

 

It probably doesn't really matter at the end of the day if KMS' cop protector is a biological relative or just someone he met in his neighbourhood. The important thing is that this person seems to think of himself as some kind of vigilante justice provider and becomes a powerful but rather disturbing influence on KMS. I'm still waiting for an explanation as to why he killed HCH or the woman he was shacking up with. Did he feel sorry for little TJ? He must have known about little TJ from KMS.

 

What really interests me is the fact that the escapee from the mental hospital seemed to recognize said cop. Now, I know these days police officers do psych tests before they're allowed entry into the police academy but in the 1980s, I wonder if things were rather more lax. What if that cop did spend some time institutionalised somewhere and hid his past? What if he is KMS' older relative (for instance) but was in some kind of facility for a period of time while MS grew up in the orphanage and was later adopted out? Of course, they could have also met at the orphanage prior to MS being adopted out.

 

 

What I also found interesting is the fact that the town has no record of KMS since he was adopted.  No record means his adoption either was not legal or not formalized.  What kind of foster/adopted parents were the Kim?  Where was KMS (what condition was he in) when he was adopted?  His childhood was grim enough that maybe it didn't take a lot from one individual to take the boy under his wing.  It's my explanation to why KMS was an easy victim for a psychopath to recruit.  Back in the day, it was much harder than now in current time where the internet becomes an enabler for all sorts of criminal activities.  The innocent children has no one to protect them besides parents and teachers, adults who care.  Even with the whole village, we can't watch all children no matter how hard we try.

 

Background and finger check may or may not have been present in 1988.  We have to remember also that informations did get centralized or easily accessible back then without the internet.  Mental health was not even considered disease or prominently diagnosed then either.  In addition, there were all sorts of taboo and shame by society/families that things are institutionalized and sequestered away instead of addressing the problems head on.

 

3 hours ago, triplem said:

So was it here that I read that TJ & NY won’t progress much since this all part of his memories / dreams . I really do love the idea of them together. Even though the  drama does not show much but there’s this chemistry they have whenever they are working together. Maybe it’s the gentle way they both talk to each other.   There seems to be this unspoken admiration & growing affection between them .

 

What makes this show really awesome is how well synced & integrated the 1988 scenes are with his 2018 comatose state.  The plot twists or reveals are unexpected especially the one of his dad being the head honcho of the lottery gang & now this latest reveal of KMS being a childhood acquaintance. While the drama always surprises me , it is not hard to follow and that to me is brilliant storytelling. 

 

 

I am positive TJ and NY will be together!  No worries! 

 

This show is so much more amazing given that it is not pre produced.  I am just amazed at the planning, scripting,  and vision going to produce this.

[__jesse]

On 7/16/2018 at 7:03 PM, allegramente said:

 

What's with the psychiatric patient at the beginning of episode 10 (the ET-handshake guy from the 2018)? He got me thinking that perhaps this adaptation would also use bits from the 'Ashes to Ashes'... that....

 

**BBC VER SPOILER ALERT!!!**

  Reveal hidden contents

the others are like HTJ here. That this is a collective subconscious or the bridging world, where cops fallen in the line of duty and unable to move on live...

 

 

 

Actually, I have this crazy theory: What if HTJ wasn’t the only person who "time-travelled" to 1988?

 

Bartender: It feels as if you just fell out of the sky, doesn’t it? I’m well-acquainted with that feeling. Everyone feels that way on their first time here. Everyone acted just like you, Detective.

HTJ: How did you know that I’m a detective?

Bartender: People like us can tell just by looking at you.

 

There is one character who exists in both 1988 and 2018 – Dr Jang.

 

Proof:

Miss Yoon (1988) knows Dr Jang.

Dr Jang knows BTS’ Fake Love (2018).

 

Miss Yoon claimed she was the one who introduced HTJ to Dr Jang. But there’s a loophole: HTJ heard Dr Jang’s name and saw him before Miss Yoon introduced him.

 

 

In one of HTJ’s episodes, Dr Jang showed him BTS’ Fake Love MV. There’s no way HTJ could’ve dreamt this up because his accident happened somewhere between 2-11 April 2018 and this MV was only released later on 18 May 2018.

 

If Dr Jang is indeed HTJ’s doctor-in-charge, how did Miss Yoon know about him? I can only think of one explanation: Miss Yoon is also in comatose and she knew Dr Jang from the present day. And just like the bartender, she “stopped thinking” and chose to stay in 1988.

 

Bartender: You have no idea what’s going on, right? If you keep thinking about why you’ve come here, it’ll just make your head hurt. It feels as if you just fell out of the sky, doesn’t it? I’m well-acquainted with that feeling.

 

Miss Yoon: Back when I was in college, I went to do some fieldwork at a nursing home. While there, I met an elderly gentleman. He had a very severe head injury, so he couldn’t remember what certain objects were called. For example, he’s forget words like “car,” or “flower.” He was quite miserable because he couldn’t remember, no matter how hard he tried. But he next time I went to go see him, he had a huge smile on his face. He told me that he wasn’t miserable anymore. Do you know why that was? He said he stopped thinking. And after he did that, all of his complicated and misery-inducing thoughts completely disappeared.

 

Miss Yoon: You seem like someone that can’t accept that you’re here. It’s as if you’re denying everything around you. I like it here. I’m not quite sure about how you feel, but if you learn to understand and accept these people, I’m sure you’ll learn to like it here.

 

So this is my crazy theory, in hope for a happy happy ending for HTJ and Miss Yoon in 2018.

 

Miss Yoon: We’re both alive. We’re not illusions.

[sheelatpsfm]

I'm wondering the police guy is the one in the future who shot Tae Joo? 

 

He must be the one who taught KMS the way to kill the women the same way in 1988... 

[katakwasabi]

@triplem the cast all look happy in the new BTS video! It looks like they have a lot of fun filming~

 

I appreaciate OCN and LOM tean for not being stingy with BTS vids and new episode's teasers. 

 

Teaser ep 11 below. I'm excited as always! Haha

 

 

[bedifferent]

3 hours ago, __jesse said:

Dr Jang is indeed HTJ’s doctor-in-charge, how did Miss Yoon know about him? I can only think of one explanation: Miss Yoon is also in comatose and she knew Dr Jang from the present day. And just like the bartender, she “stopped thinking” and chose to stay in 1988.

 

 

This is why I think the ending will be very close to the BBC’s.

 

They haven’t visited the pub lately @40somethingahjumma @allegramente 

[katakwasabi]

Lol at JKH's latest insta post 

 

 

[larus]

Life on Mars: Episode 10

by Sunny

Everyone is forced to face some harsh truths this hour, but it’s a necessary growing pain in order to move forward. People are dropping like flies and if Tae-joo wants to stay alive, he’ll have to keep on his toes because if one thing’s for sure, he’s running out of time.

 

http://www.dramabeans.com/2018/07/life-on-mars-episode-10/

 

[Prettysup]

Waiting for new episode

 

 

[40somethingahjumma]

It's the weekend and there's more Life on Mars around the corner. Yay! The big question is... are they going to tie up the KMS arc this weekend? Hope they don't leave it too late though because they will need to make time to explain to us what in the world is gong on with HTJ.

 

Is he in a coma? Well, yes... he must be because he's hearing voices of doctors, nurses, his mother and now even KMS... and there are scenes of him in hospital on life support.

But is there a lot more than that? There must be because the coma in and of itself cannot entirely explain DC, NY, NS and YG's presence in the show as well as all the cases they're tackling. Are they merely figments of his imagination? If so, his imagination is very vivid.

 

I am very concerned about TJ's state of health from that last episode. Even if he's just in a coma. He looks like he's on the verge of collapsing from incredible stress. JKH is doing too good a job showing us the man's sleep deprivation and desolation. I hope he's looking after himself and it's all just acting.

 

@bedifferent Yes... where's the bartender owner of the red room when TJ needs him to dish out some timely advice? 

 

[Guest]

I never thought that LoM would be very interesting. And I hope that it wouldn't ended like the original one.

[sheelatpsfm]

 

ENJOY.. 

[katakwasabi]

1 hour ago, sheelatpsfm said:

 

ENJOY.. 

 

LOL. Ocn is having a lot of fun with their videos recently. Cc: @triplem 

 

 

[Prettysup]

BTS of ep 9-10

 

In the beginning cycling part where JKH was riding with PSW behind him. Upon reaching , he asked for 90,000 won coz he said the latter weighs 90 kg. PSW asks so he count his fare based on weight and not by distance in km ?

 

 

[katakwasabi]

 

I'm excited for new episodes!!! And i lowkey ship taejoo and nayoung hahaha

 

 

 

[Prettysup]

Another post by OCN

 

 

 

[alekaonu]

Annyeong @triplem thank you for the recaps. You Jjang 

 

No waiting for the raw since i have missed live.

[katakwasabi]

Noooo! Not nayoung! She needs to be saved alive please! 

 

I really like that nayoung is characterized as mainly a soft looking lady cop. Usually lady cops are portrayed as tomboyish in dramas. Its nice seeing someone as demure and soft spoken as nayoung and dresses as feminine as her in the police force (maybe because its 1988?) . Though she's definitely a fighter under her soft exterior. I like nayoung. I dont mind if she's just a part of taejoo's imagination, but please dont kill her off. Huhuhh

 

Thanks @triplem for the mini recap.

 

 

[Dramanoona]

Holy moly! I think I will be watching Ep 11 and 12 together. My heart can't take it!

Thank you @triplem for the recap and explanation.