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BEING HUMAN |
Annie - Lenora Critchlow Tom - Michael Socha Hal - Damien Molony 
OTHER BEING HUMAN SERIES Series 1 Series 2 Series 3 Series 5 BEING HUMAN USA OTHER VAMPIRE SHOWS Buffy The Vampire Slayer Angel Blood Ties Moonlight Ultraviolet 
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Eve Of The War - first transmitted February 5th 2012Mitchell is dead. Nina is dead. George can't sleep for fear that his daughter will be killed. Then word comes of a gathering of the vampire enemy and George decides it is time to take action only to find that it's a trap. With the death of Mitchell at the end of Series 3 it was clear that BEING HUMAN was going to have to change, but this opening episode has more changes to announce and one of them forms the core of this episode. Coming so soon in the series, it is used for shock value and isn't as heart-rending as was Mitchell's departure, but it is still a big shock to those who didn't know it was coming. Whether the show will be able to weather so many changes remains to be seen, but the plotting is as tight as ever, has some nice surprises and some interesting set ups for a TERMINATOR-style saving the future by killing the past plot arc. The new characters are only briefly introduced and it remains to be seen how they will be integrated into the show. This is a great episode, but the future remains uncertain in more ways that one. Top Being Human 1955 - first transmitted February 12th 2012Hal, Pearl and Leo travel to Barry to find Eve in the hope that she can save Leo. What they find is the end of two stories and the start of another. After the brutal, story-driven opening episode, BEING HUMAN brings on its gentler side with the love story at its heart, but still packs the emotional drama as Tom and Hal prove to pretty much hate each other. The plot dances around these new characters, making a virtue of the changes that have been wrought on the show by unsettling those that remain and making those that have come both predictable and dangerous. The fact that the villain dresses as a cop and has history with Hal is disappointingly retreading earlier ground, but there's more than enough going on that's exciting and there just might be life in the show after the wholesale changes. Top The Graveyard Shift - first transmitted February 19th 2012Tom and Hal try to find some common ground by working together in a cafe. Annie is assailed by doubts that her new housemates can help her protect Eve from the vampires and plans to run away. There's much more of the usual BEING HUMAN balance of dark and light in this episode as Hal and Tom are faced with a daffy goth woman who thinks that she knows what dark is. The threat comes from Fergus and his vampire crew and is nicely dealt with, although the manner in which Hal gets the drop on him is so obvious that even this villain couldn't be thick enough to fall for it. Annie's self-doubt gives Lenora Critchlow something other than daffy to play, but it is the secrets that are starting to leak out about Hal's past that are the big moment on this episode. Top A Spectre Calls - first transmitted February 26th 2012Kirby, a man who died in 1975 has come back through the doorway to the afterlife with a message from Nina. He is there to help, but immediately starts driving wedges between the various housemates, leaving baby Eve vulnerable. James Lance is brilliant as the slimy, creepy Kirby in this thoroughly entertaining outing for the show. He steals the episode as he sets the housemates against each other and then shows off his awesome 70s dance moves. It is characters and moments like this that make BEING HUMAN such a great show. Yes, it's a familiar idea, but it's nicely written, excellently played and comes off as being fresh and entertaining, throwing in a vengeful side to Annie that gives her a whole new dimension. It's Kirby that you'll remember though. Top Hold The Front Page - first transmitted March 4th 2012Adam, the forty-year old vampire trapped in a teen's body returns to Annie's life on the run from the tabloid press with the headmistress who is his lover. She also has an impact on Hal and Tom. Adam first appeared in Adam's Family, a tale that mixed humour with pathos to winning effect, but this sequel to that is less effective, mainly because Adam is pretty annoying and his lover is almost as weird as last week's lodger. The two stories are too similar, new arrivals setting the housemates on each other, to sit well so closely in the running order. The headmistress' secret is pretty unsurprising when it's finally revealed, but at least her predicament allows for some deeper emotion to be dealt with. Top Puppy Love - first transmitted March 11th 2012Tom meets a nerdy female werewolf who wants to debate with the vampires, whilst Hal tries his hand at dating and Annie deals with a cantankerous ghost. The three stories here don't quite mesh well together as a whole. Tom's love affair with the nerdy newcomer is sweet and nice, but never quite as funny as you feel it ought to be, whilst Hal's hesitant first steps back in the world of dating provides a slightly darker, but also not quite satisfying storyline. Annie's having to deal with the ghost of a man she accidentally killed and whom she really dislikes isn't at all funny and has been done before. Top Making History - first transmitted March 18th 2012Dead Eve explains the future to Annie to persuade her that she has to kill baby Eve. Tom is persuaded to strike at the Old Ones, not realising that he will be killing humans and Hal starts to drink blood once again. This is the penultimate episode and so is setting up the big finale. As a result, it's not a satisfying episode in itself, but has to be viewed in connection with the finale that it precedes before it can be really assessed. Annie's trip to the future is somewhat disappointing since it appears to be totally empty. To convince Annie you would have thought some view of the vampire wars might be more appropriate than empty places that might have been concentration camps. The revenge that is taken on Hal is cruel, but drives the conclusion to both his and Tom's story, cliffhanger notwithstanding. Roll on next week's big finale. Top War Child - first transmitted March 25th 2012The Old Ones have arrived and Hal knows that he will not be able to resist the call of their leader, Mr Snow. Tom determines to blow them all up, but when Annie tells him that Eve needs to die, he takes the baby to the vampires. It's the big finale and the series has a lot to live up to considering previous finales, but there was never any need to worry as the team come up with an ending worthy its forebears. There will be sacrifice, there will be death, there will be success and there will be failure. How everything works out is a little predictable, ever since the last piece of the puzzle regarding the show's future was revealed last week, but just because it's expected doesn't mean it's any less effective. Few who have been following the show since the beginning will be able to resist a triumphant yell as Annie storms in to reclaim Eve, or a tear as ... well that would be telling. Mark Gatiss makes for an effectively chilling villain, though nothing we haven't seen before, and Cutler's showing what happens to vampires who aren't invited in is a standout moment. It's been a season of immense change for the show, but the one thing that hasn't changed is that BEING HUMAN still rocks. Top |
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