'Life on Mars' prepares for splashdown

“Life on Mars,” the brilliant British mystery about a detective who is hit by a car and wakes up in 1973, returns for its second (and final) season with two new episodes beginning at 7 p.m. on BBC America. You may recall I raved about the first season, and nothing I've seen so far in season two has changed my mind. Sam (John Simm, second from left) still hasn't the foggiest idea how he got pulled back 30 years in time, but a series of tantalizing voices from a parallel world have him convinced that he must be in a coma and must somehow fight for his life in his new reality to get back to his old one. With the help of female cop Annie (Liz White), to whom he's entrusted his crazy story of being from the future --and despite having an obnoxious partner Hunt (Philip Glenister, second from right) whose crime-solving approach is positively primitive -- Sam will try to escape to the present. The creators of “Life on Mars” have promised there would be resolution by the final episode, so unlike other shows that I won't name, we won't have long to wait on an ending.