Spoiler Alert...

Sometimes I am too smart for my own good.

I have been watching Life on Mars on DVD.  For those who do not know, the series is about a cop in 2004 who gets hit by a car and wakes up in 1973.  He doesn't know why he is there, and then strange things start happening and a lot of cases he works on seem to be related to his future life.  It has good actors (Harvey Kietel, Gretchen Mol, "Billie" from Entourage) and is very well written.  You should watch it.  If you plan to you should also stop reading now.

This series was recommended to me by my parents and I was told the ending is a little weird.  Words like that set my mind in motion because I love a good puzzle and especially a good twist.  I have watched all the classic twist movies.  Once I suspect there is a twist, my mind starts working on overdrive to pick it out.  It is very annoying. 

The thing that pissed me off most about "Inception" is that there was no twist - it played it straight the entire movie.  I kept waiting for that movie to be a heist on Ellen Paige's character.  That would have been awesome.  Inception was a drama masquerading as a heist movie.

I much prefer the reverse.  Take "Matchstick Men".  The movie is a good example of a twist ending movie whose twist is hidden in the way the movie was marketed.  The movie was sold to the public as a tale about a con man connecting with a long lost daughter.  The movie is even paced and shot that way.  Then it uses that to set up its twist.  Heist masquerading as drama. That I like.

My problem is I decoded the secret to Life on Mars after the 7th episode.  I believe that the main character is travelling to Mars and has to go into a suspended sleep for approximately 30 years in order to get there.  The show is him dreaming during this trip.  He is subconsciously dealing with the fact that he will wake up 30 years in the future by imagining he went 30 years in the past. 

The show is littered with references to space.  There is even a little mars probe thingy that is showing up constantly.  The main character is called spaceman by his fellow cops (because he thinks he is from the future) and when he met himself as a kid he is constantly reminded that he wanted to be either a cop or an astronaut.  Every episode has some character with a cosmic name (which at first just seems like a reflection of hippie culture).  Then there is the title itself (which we are supposed to believe references the David Bowie song he heard when he was hit by the car in 2004).  If I am right, he is literally going to be life on Mars.

I am very sure I am right about this, but I will not wikipedia to see.  I will just watch.  But I am starting to see the trail of crumbs that have been left for me.  I have ruined the fun of the show for myself by trying to guess the ending.

Sometimes it is better to just let things happen and just go along for the ride...even if it is to another planet.