swinging seventies!
Mar. 14th, 2007 04:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
llywelaThe One with the Swingers Party!
Eh, Sam's come a long way since the first episodes, when he was so freaked out when figures on the TV or radio started speaking directly to him. Even earlier this season he was still a little freaked out by it. Now, though, he's moved past that. He achieved a certain, small degree of interaction – and now he's craving that contact, but not getting it, for almost the entire episode. As a result, the Sam we have in this episode is feeling more isolated from what he considers real than usual, the absence of those surreal moments of contact making him aware of how much he's come to rely on them to give him the strength to continue his bizarre 1973 life. Without that contact from home to reassure him that this won't be permanent, he feels stranded and alone, confessing to Annie that he's sick of 1973 and misses the people who care about him 'back home'.
Annie's reached the point now where she just lets Sam's odd comments about 'home' roll off her. He mostly behaves more normally than he did last season, when she became convinced he was having a complete breakdown – which he pretty much was – so she lets the oddness slide.
Annie's got her own battles to fight, mind – she can't just be Sam's friend, as she was last season. Sam brought her into CID, and that altered the balance of their friendship. She's having to fight to hold her own in that intensely male environment, far more so than she did as a mere WPC, which means Sam can't take her support and help for granted any more, not in the way that he used to.
Actor spotting is always enormous fun. *G* This episode had two ex-Coronation Street alumni in Eva Pope and Georgia Tyler.
The swingers' party was a bit raunchy in places – I found myself wondering just how far they'd let it go, although it really wasn't surprising that a way out was found before anything could actually happen. Oh, but far more amusing than that, even, was poor little Chris and his romantic woes in the background to the case, with Ray and Gene giving him such useless advice, and Sam rolling his eyes but then getting sucked into it all anyway, because he is a bloke, after all, and that was fab.
And then right at the end, Sam had his moment of connection with the 'present', which was what he'd been waiting for and craving all through the episode – reassurance that he hasn't been abandoned. He gave up a night out with Annie for that one small moment, though – is it a good thing, that he's still hanging on to his old life so strongly? Or is it a bad thing that he isn't allowing himself to get on with his life in the environment he's found himself trapped in? It felt significant that there was so little surreal-ness in this episode, taken as a whole – but then, that could be to show how stable Sam's condition/life has become, as a counter-weight to next week's episode, as the preview for that looked awesomely surreal!
We're halfway through the season already :(
Eh, Sam's come a long way since the first episodes, when he was so freaked out when figures on the TV or radio started speaking directly to him. Even earlier this season he was still a little freaked out by it. Now, though, he's moved past that. He achieved a certain, small degree of interaction – and now he's craving that contact, but not getting it, for almost the entire episode. As a result, the Sam we have in this episode is feeling more isolated from what he considers real than usual, the absence of those surreal moments of contact making him aware of how much he's come to rely on them to give him the strength to continue his bizarre 1973 life. Without that contact from home to reassure him that this won't be permanent, he feels stranded and alone, confessing to Annie that he's sick of 1973 and misses the people who care about him 'back home'.
Annie's reached the point now where she just lets Sam's odd comments about 'home' roll off her. He mostly behaves more normally than he did last season, when she became convinced he was having a complete breakdown – which he pretty much was – so she lets the oddness slide.
Annie's got her own battles to fight, mind – she can't just be Sam's friend, as she was last season. Sam brought her into CID, and that altered the balance of their friendship. She's having to fight to hold her own in that intensely male environment, far more so than she did as a mere WPC, which means Sam can't take her support and help for granted any more, not in the way that he used to.
Actor spotting is always enormous fun. *G* This episode had two ex-Coronation Street alumni in Eva Pope and Georgia Tyler.
The swingers' party was a bit raunchy in places – I found myself wondering just how far they'd let it go, although it really wasn't surprising that a way out was found before anything could actually happen. Oh, but far more amusing than that, even, was poor little Chris and his romantic woes in the background to the case, with Ray and Gene giving him such useless advice, and Sam rolling his eyes but then getting sucked into it all anyway, because he is a bloke, after all, and that was fab.
And then right at the end, Sam had his moment of connection with the 'present', which was what he'd been waiting for and craving all through the episode – reassurance that he hasn't been abandoned. He gave up a night out with Annie for that one small moment, though – is it a good thing, that he's still hanging on to his old life so strongly? Or is it a bad thing that he isn't allowing himself to get on with his life in the environment he's found himself trapped in? It felt significant that there was so little surreal-ness in this episode, taken as a whole – but then, that could be to show how stable Sam's condition/life has become, as a counter-weight to next week's episode, as the preview for that looked awesomely surreal!
We're halfway through the season already :(
