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BEING HUMAN |
Mitchell - Aidan Turner George - Russell Tovey Annie - Lenora Critchlow Nina - Sinead Keenan II 
OTHER BEING HUMAN SERIES Series 1 Series 2 Series 4 Series 5 BEING HUMAN USA OTHER VAMPIRE SHOWS Buffy The Vampire Slayer Angel Blood Ties Moonlight Ultraviolet 
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Lia - first transmitted January 23rd 2011Time is running out for Annie in Purgatory, so Mitchell decides to go into his own personal Purgatory to get her out. There he is met by Lia, a guide from his past who takes him through doors that reveal things to himself that might be the key to getting Annie out. George and Nina, meanwhile, find themselves in a spot of bother with the law as the full moon is rising. BEING HUMAN rages back onto the screens with all the confidence of a show that has got past its difficult second season and has a whole lot more to say and knows just how to say it. Certainly, the task of tying up the loose end and getting Annie back is brilliantly handled as Mitchell is taken to some of the darkest corners of his soul. Aiden Turner has a tough job right out of the starting gate with all of this and acquits himself really, really well. George's situation is the light relief as he is arrested by the police at a popular spot for illegal sexual acts by mistake and finds himself locked in a cell with a hapless other inmate. The scene with Nina, herself on the turn, trying to persuade the police to let him out is great fun, as is their abortive sex scene at the start. As unpredictable, brilliantly written and excellently played as ever, BEING HUMAN is back to show everyone how it should be done. Top Adam's Family - first transmitted January 30th 2011George and Nina find a young vampire (well 47 going on 15) whose parents have spent their lives feeding, but whose father has finally expired. Unable to let him loose on the streets, they locate a vampire who says he can look after the boy, but then learn some things about that lifestyle that gives them pause for thought. After the emotional intensity of the opening episode of this third season, BEING HUMAN goes back to doing what it does so well, mixing unpredictable storytelling with some very funny moments and cracking dialogue. Whether its the way that the vampires treat the werewolves (cliched perhaps, but still funny), their orgiastic lifestyle or George's reaction to that, it's non-stop entertainment in that very specific BEING HUMAN style. There are hints of future developments as Mitchell has come to the attention of the 'Old Ones' and George and Nina have upset the local vampire population, not to mention what's lurking in the locked off biohazard wing of the hospital, but all of that is yet to come. BEING HUMAN continues to pay off in almost every way. Top Type 4 - first transmitted February 6th 2011Sasha is dead, but unlike Annie she is still in her body, a body that is decaying around her. Annie learns that she might be responsible for Sasha's situation and Mitchell has to deal with a wannabe stalker. George and Nina, meanwhile struggle to come to terms with the fact that they are going to have a baby. After the intensity of the opening episode and the lightness of the second, BEING HUMAN goes back to what it does best with an episode that starts off light and very funny and then takes some very dark turns. Sasha starts off as an obnoxious drunk, but the truth that the others like her were operated on whilst still fully conscious and feeling is horrific before her passing becomes something very moving indeed. These twists and turns are trademark BEING HUMAN and keep the show fresh, engaging and exciting. Mitchell's initial contact with his stalker is funny, but gets progressively darker and darker as he is forced into actions that he does not want to take. Russell Tovey gets the best comedy moments as his trip to the bathroom becomes a complete nightmare, but the debate about the pregnancy and what the baby might be is meaningful as well as funny. Though it is hard to credit, BEING HUMAN just keeps getting better and better. Top The Pack - first transmitted February 13th 2011Ever since Mitchell was told in Purgatory that he was going to be killed by a werewolf-shaped bullet, he has been descending into a state of paranoia. George and Nina hooking up with another couple of werewolves who apepar to thave reason to hate vampires isn't the thing to settle his nerves. Then his plan to deal with the situation backfires and his friends find themselves locked in a cage on the full moon to fight to the death. BEING HUMAN pulls that trick again of starting off light and funny as the housemates all try to keep their secrets, but it soon descends through various layers of darkness to a big and violent finale. The Mitchell/Annie romance provides the fun and the offbeat quirkiness that the show is renowned for, but there is so much else going on that the running time just isn't long enough to hold it all and the big action sequence that tops it off is rushed and doesn't have the impact that it should. It's the only misstep, though in a show that maintains its quality threshold enviably high. Top The Longest Day - first transmitted February 20th 2011Herrick, the vampire that made Mitchell and who was killed by George, is back from the dead, but without any memory of his former life. Mitchell wants to stake him anyway, but the arrival of a social worker puts a crimp in the plan. This episode has another fantastic guest performance, in this case from Nicola Walker as Wendy, the confused and ultimately humiliated social worker. She treads a fine line between the funny and pathetic and manages to pull it off al the way through, making Nina's final action in defence of the flatmates all the more hard to take. The mystery of the episode lies in Herrick, played with relish again by Jason Watkins, and whether he is faking his amnesia or not. The playful script keeps the audience guessing whilst it pushes Mitchell deeper into his hole of paranoia and self-loathing and Nina into actions that someone will regret sooner or later. The only problem here is the character of Mitchell. He has become so dark and hateful that it's hard to see why any of the others are willing to put up with him at all, even those who have been his friends all along. Top Daddy Ghoul - first transmitted February 27th 2011George learns that his father has dies and so goes back home to the funeral. There, he finds his father as a ghost, inhabiting a caravan and moping about the fact that his wife is living with one of George's old gym teachers. Mitchell, meanwhile, is faced with a junior police detective determined to find out his guilty secret. BEING HUMAN continues to mix the funny and the absurd with the dark and dangerous. The former is here represented by the story of George's father. It's not even remotely believable, but it's fun as George goes through the list of things that might be keeping his father from moving on, like finally watching TITANIC. James Fleet recreates his FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL persona, but that's all right because it fits the part perfectly. The darkness lies in Mitchell having to face the detective on his trail and keeping the secret from Annie, who then decides to help the detective find out the truth, not knowing where it will lead. Add into the mix Herrick, still amnesiac, but starting to learn about his 'condition' and wanting to destroy Mitchell all the same and this is the part of the show where anything could happen. Top Though The Heavens Fall - first transmitted March 6th 2011The heat is back on Mitchell as a female detective closes in on his identity as the killer of the box car 20 with Annie right behind her. Add to that the fact that two more werewolves have shown up looking for shelter on the full moon and Herrick is starting to succumb to urges he does not understand. In any other show this would be a fantastic series finale, but here it is the merely the finale set up. All of the show's storylines to date come crashing together in this one episode which has more twists than a curly fries factory. Though it's easier to tell where this is going to go, the surprises do surprise and the expected twists manage to jolt all the same. The human element is nicely taken care of with Annie's discovery of the truth whilst the cliffhangers compel our return as effectively as a vampire's hypnosis. There is just no way that we could not know how this all works out. If there is one problem with all this then it's the question of how good the final episode is going to have to be to avoid being a disappointment. Top The Wolf-Shaped Bullet - first transmitted March 13th 2011Mitchell is saved from the police by a renewed Herrick who wipes out the whole police station in the process. In order to assure himself of Mitchell's professed loyalty, Herrick puts them both in a cage and orders Mitchell to kill George whilst alerting George to the fact that Nina is dead. This is the revenge that has been manufactured by Lia, one of Mitchell's victims, but there are new arrivals on Mitchell's case who are more dangerous by far than anyone he has ever faced and George is forced to make his hardest decision yet. After last week's stunning episode, it was hard to see how the makers of BEING HUMAN were ever going to top it for action, suspense, plot twists and sheer storytelling joie de vivre. In their usual unpredictable fashion, they haven't even attempted it. Instead the season finale goes small and intimate, but is no worse off for it. The consequences of the previous episode must be played out as Mitchell and Herrick must end their bitter rivalry once and for all and a whole new enemy is introduced in what is an extended postscript that will change the show forever. If there is one weakness to all of this it's in Annie's confrontation with Lia in Purgatory. This should be critical to the resolution of this series' storylines, but in the end it fizzles out an almost seems irrelevant. That doesn't matter, though, as this series finale brings an era to an end, but sets up the ongoing story meaning that if there is no series 4 then there things have been tidied up enough, but how can the BBC not commission a fourth series of just about the best supernatural show on the television? Top |
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