Erin Willard reviews Being Human airing on SyFy. SyFy takes on the hit UK show about a ghost, a vampire and a werewolf living together as they attempt to keep hold of their humanity in this re-imagining.

Courtesy of NBC Universal

Being Human airs Mondays at 9pm ET on SyFy.
Exclusive content and downloads at http://www.SyFy.com/BeingHuman 

“You can feel the storm gathering…”  so Sally says in the opening voiceover.  I wish I could feel the storm gathering.  I was definitely feeling that last week, in fact the storm had arrived and looked as if it would just keep getting bigger and bigger.  And then, this week, the wind got sucked out.  What happened to the momentum?  I don’t like a calm before the storm when it’s the second-to-last episode of the season.  Yes, yes, the ending was good.  Still, I just wasn’t feeling it this week.  Except -

HOW COOL WAS ZOMBIE SALLY?!  She looked AWESOME.  Kudos to the makeup department and to the actor, her carriage was so perfectly creepy!  I’ll admit that I was ever-so-slightly disappointed when she returned to normal.  And I’m sorry, but nearly killing Danny brought her back to normal?  Those are some really weird supernatural rules.  Revenge Is Good.  Hmm…  It was interesting seeing how her returned strength made her feel encouraged to torture and kill him.  Even when she stopped Aidan from killing him – and wow, how cool did Aidan look when he was looking down on Danny with those sunglasses? – she then told Danny he wasn’t being saved per se, just saved to be tortured.  Somehow it felt much more righteous when she inhabited the exorcist, or even back when she trashed Danny’s apartment.  I know I know, I have always maintained that Sally was at her best when she was strong, and I still believe that, but strong so that she can torture him doesn’t really feel strong, it just feels… creepy, and not in a good way.

But hey, it’s all okay now that Danny’s gone!  Except Danny isn’t “gone,” he’s simply turned himself in.  For now.  I don’t know, it all just felt kind of… rushed?  It just didn’t feel satisfying, like “yay, it’s all over for Danny now, he’s admitted it and Sally can move on.”  If they really wanted to sell that then I feel like Danny needed to be more emphatic, more terrified, or the police officer needed to have a bigger reaction, maybe radio in the homicide team, just SOMETHING.  And THAT’s why Sally got her door, Danny saying that he killed his fiancee?  It certainly wasn’t because Sally forgave him, because she didn’t, she promised to make his life a living hell.   Really, really “interesting” rules for the supernatural in the Syfy Being Human world.  But there it is, Sally’s door, floating in the living room.  I did like how flustered Sally was about the door, it felt very authentic.  Because the door mythology in Syfy’s Being Human is different from the UK version, I really have no idea what’s coming next, and I am interested.  Not exactly dying to find out, but interested.

A good example of where the energy went all quiet was the Aidan flashback.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it, but it didn’t feel like the right story at the right time.  I’m sure there’s a reason and I trust the writers, I learned this from LOST.  They’re the professionals, and they have a plan.  I would have thought it was to lay the foundation for increased rage from Aidan, if Celine had told him what had actually happened, that Bishop had attacked her and threatened her family.  That would have helped push Aidan back into the Dutch camp, or at least even further away from Bishop.  And why didn’t  she tell him what happened when he asked?  In nearly her next sentence she referenced the fact that Aidan had said that Bishop was gone.  That would have been perfect timing.  I suppose she felt it didn’t matter anymore, and that she had lived a happy life after a while, but still.  Again, it was a good story, and it gave Aidan the opportunity to see the benefit of offering to turn someone.  And of course, it gave the costume department a chance to go 70s, which was a riot, and gave post production a chance to use a purple wash on those scenes – so very clever, making the scenes look like what 70s photos now look like.  For you youngsters who may not have seen them, photos from the 60s and 70s now look like they’ve had a purple wash on them, it’s the way the chemicals on the prints have deteriorated that gives them that effect.  Lesson over.

I thought I might be able to get through this review without having to mention actual storylines from the UK version, but I have to with Josh’s story line.  If you want to see the UK version but haven’t yet, or at least haven’t caught up to the latest episodes on BBC America, skip the rest of this paragraph.  Now for the rest of you – I find it so interesting that the Josh/Nora pregnancy is mimicking the George/Nina pregnancy.  We only recently learned that Nina’s pregnancy is greatly accelerated, and now, appropriately, so is Nora’s.  There are of course several differences, beyond just the fact that one relationship has been around for much longer than the other.  But Nora isn’t a werewolf, at least as far as we know, and though it was the night of a full moon, George hadn’t turned when he got Nora pregnant.  So either the two worlds are different, or we know that having one parent be a werewolf, even if not in beast form, is enough to affect the pregnancy.  That rapid growth will likely prohibit Nora from having an abortion, if she was still considering it.  Other than the rapid growth, though, it appears that both pregnancies are normal.  So far at least.  I don’t relish the idea of Nora’s abdomen being ripped open from the inside.  Which is why I found Aidan’s advice to “hold on to the good part, the rest you’ll deal with as it comes” more than a little ridiculous, especially as he’s never heard of a werewolf pregnancy before.  Please please, again I implore the showrunners/writers/powers that be to NOT have Josh prolong the reveal, please have him tell Nora about his condition soon.  I like Josh and Nora very much, and don’t like this particular aspect of their situation.

UK Spoilers Over.  So, was that Bishop who flew in through the widow uninvited?  If so he didn’t look quite like himself (yes, I do understand that his flesh was burning), and if not, they should have used someone with different hair color.  Presuming it was, how badly did that intrusion injure him?  That might be a good and interesting twist.  But why oh why did Josh simply hold Aidan’s arm and call and yell Aidan’s name?  Pre-med student Josh?  I sure don’t want him interning in an ER, that’s for sure.  It was fine as an initial reaction, but it went on waaaaaay too long.  And come on, do any of us believe that Aidan’s really going to die?

Okay, I’m done picking at it.  It really was a solid episode that moved the story along, but if they could have somehow switched last week’s for this week’s it would have been a much more exciting build up to the season finale.

 Erin Willard reviews Being Human airing on SyFy. SyFy takes on the hit UK show about a ghost, a vampire and a werewolf living together as they attempt to keep hold of their humanity in this re-imagining.

Our Mighty Warrior
Courtesy of NBC Universal

Being Human airs Mondays at 9pm ET on SyFy.
Exclusive content and downloads at http://www.SyFy.com/BeingHuman 

Y E S !!! YES YES YES! GET HIM, SALLY!!! There was a lot of this going on in my house during my first AND second viewing of this episode! FINALLY she has once again taken matters into her own hands – or more specifically, into the body of someone else, but STILL! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I love Sally when they allow her to be powerful. When she is not, she is a whiner and is much more… let’s call it “more challenging to love.” And speaking of love, I LOVE what the US production is doing with the bones of the UK series! As I did last week, if you don’t want to be spoiled about anything past or present in the UK version, skip over the portions in italics, like now: In this episode alone we had giant plot points from UK season one (the death of Rebecca/Lauren), season two (the attempted exorcism of Sally/Annie), and even the currently-new-on-BBCAmerica season three (Nora’s/Nina’s pregnancy). Of those three major plot twists, only the first is nearly identical in each version; reckless newbie vamp asked our favorite vamp to kill her with a stake, and he does so.

But even with that, the circumstances leading up to it are totally different. The Dutch! What a great storyline! Sure, Aidan was in trouble with the Dutch because of his heretical ways, but Bishop was in even bigger trouble because his future plans were completely contrary to Council laws. There’s a Council! We had heard a tiny bit about it before this episode, but now, with Heggeman’s “prepare for what is coming” extremely creepy and ominous warning ringing in Aidan’s ear, what is he going to do? Who will be stronger, Bishop or Heggeman and presumably the Council? Bishop has recruited far more “children” than their law allows, for the very reason that the law exists; it will make him and his city stronger than the other vamp families. It’s a great Godfather-like turn of events, and a terrific setup for some potentially terrific machinations. Bishop’s planned extermination of the Dutch took me totally by surprise. Juniper, who knew? To make the beheading easier. Wow. Of course now with Iago Marcus gone, the show is down one schemer, but that was likely for the best from Bishop’s viewpoint, and Aidan’s as well. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place: Aidan doesn’t want to live the vamp life in the first place, and now he will be smack in the middle of a war between traditional vamps lead by the Council – and we know how Heggeman feels about heretics – and the New Vamps lead by Aidan’s former mentor Bishop, whom Aidan has just knocked out and from whom Aidan has just saved Heggeman. Yes, quite the intrigue in store. Who needs the Borgias?

The exorcism. I’ll say it again, how awesome was that turn of events?! Poor Annie got dragged down into – what was that? a way-station? – and had to be saved by Mitchell. But not our Sally! She fought back! Sally and Annie obviously have a lot in common but there are some definite differences. Don’t get me wrong, I love them both. But Annie has always seemed somewhat vulnerable and naïve, so that when she is put-upon or more directly hurt, you want to rescue her. She’s not really great at being strong, and when she’s silly she’s just a bit irritating. Sally, on the other hand, is somewhat irritating when things go badly for her; she seems a bit whiny. She can be powerful, though, and when she is, look out. I love Sally when she’s strong.

And WOW was Sally strong in this episode. She had to be pushed to her greatest rage – “YOU DON’T GET TO MOURN ME!” – before she was strong enough to be able to inhabit the “exterminator,” but how cool was that?! I wrote “ATTA SALLY” in big letters in my notes. Loved it. I wonder what will happen next with her. Back when LOST was new I had friends who refused to watch the “next time on” previews at the end of the show because they didn’t want to be spoiled. Being Human is running a risk showing as much as they do in their previews, and this week was no exception. I will not extend the damage by talking about what they showed, other than to say, “Sally! O_O”

Speaking of spoilers: “I’m pregnant.” WHAT?! Well it was slightly less of a shocker since they included it in the previews and mentioned it in every promo I saw from Syfy, both written and on tv. So I was pleased that the revelation came so early in the episode. This will be interesting.

Very interesting. With George and Nina the werewolf reveal was separated from the pregnancy by two seasons, making them two separate issues. By combining them, the drama meter clicks way over to the right. Nora was already planning on never having children because of her family’s history of addiction, mental illness, and aggression. I’m thinking that, unless they bring in some dramatic reason for keeping it, the werewolf factor will send them to a clinic pronto. If they have Josh wait to tell Nora about his “deep genetic problem” until he’s sure she’s decided to keep it and therefore MUST reveal it… I can see that being irritating. Please don’t do that. Please either have them decide together that, for reasons of unspecified genetic disposition towards problems, they will not keep it, or have Josh tell her right away. Please don’t have him wuss out and not tell her, or wait for more than a very short amount of time. Josh is borderline wussy anyway, and that would push him into the Irritating column, which Sally has just vacated.

Definitely one of my favorite episodes of the inaugural season of the series. I am so very happy that it has been renewed for a second season! Two more episodes to go for season one, and now more than ever, I CAN’T WAIT!

Erin Willard reviews Being Human airing on SyFy. SyFy takes on the hit UK show about a ghost, a vampire and a werewolf living together as they attempt to keep hold of their humanity in this re-imagining. 

The seeming normalcy before the abduction. 
Photo courtesy of NBCUniversal

Being Human airs Mondays at 9pm ET on SyFy.
Exclusive content and downloads at http://www.SyFy.com/BeingHuman 

What did you think of this episode? There was no easy way to follow a death-of-children episode without it seeming less dramatic. I enjoyed a fair percentage of the episode, but some of it drove me absolutely crazy.

Sally – I know that I wrote that I wanted some sort of quick resolution to the Sally and Nick problem, but I didn’t mean “toss Nick off with a one-sentence non-appearance dismissal”! Sheesh! I liked Nick, and I liked him better than Sally in their scenes together. She was being immature. If Nick’s line from last week that “death doesn’t leave much room for change” means that Sally’s going to stay a fairly immature 23, I’m not looking forward to following her character. But hmmm… Aidan has certainly changed, at least “recently” in his long life, but then again he is “undead,” not “dead,” so… I dunno. Please make Sally strong and allow her to mature.

Josh – Warning, this paragraph contains UK series spoilers if you haven’t watched the whole UK series including last week’s episode: It was a weird twist of scheduling that the first werewolf fight in the US version happened the same week that the second ever werewolf fight in the UK version was broadcast here. If you watch both versions then that sentence made sense. And if, like me, you watch and enjoy both versions, I hope you are also enjoying the similarities and differences in story lines between the two, as I am. This is a great case in point. Yes there was capture of the werewolf by vampires for the purpose of “dog fighting,” the vampire sport of watching (and betting on the outcome of) two werewolves fighting each other. So interesting that George never killed another werewolf, and that the only killing we’ve seen him do is the execution of Herrick. And don’t even get me started on THAT story line.

UK spoilers over Because I am NOT happy about the way they handled Josh killing The Professor and I want everyone to know it. This fight is built up throughout nearly the entire episode, then we think it’s going to be called off, then we’re horrified that it wasn’t, then we see a flash of a fight and a whimper and WHOMP there’s a commercial break. What do we see when we return? A nicely dressed and nearly entirely calm Josh muttering that he doesn’t know how he can live with himself. THAT’S IT. Sorry, it looked and sounded like he was already over it, and busy pouring over the poor man’s notebook. Worst. Payoff. Ever. NO I didn’t need to see any more of the fight, but hello, how about seeing Josh wake up in horror that he’s covered in blood? How about a little angst? How about a panicked Josh asking where that nice Professor man was? How about a “NO NO NO!” from him? WHERE IS JOSH’S HUMANITY? After his ONE LINE about the killing, he asks why the vampires didn’t make him stay in the basement. COME ON!

And speaking of that – THAT is why Aidan is going back to the family? Bishop didn’t hold up his end of the bargain, because the fight went forward. “Oops,” snickers horrible Marcus. Bishop has already told the Dutch that it wouldn’t be fair to to all the people betting to continue the fight because the older werewolf is ill. So… Somewhere, sometime after that Aidan must have confronted Bishop and Bishop said “Hang on, how about you still come back and we won’t hold your friend in the basement?” Was there such a scene and is it on the cutting room floor? Couldn’t we have cut out some of Sally’s whining about her ineffectiveness and yelling at Aidan appearing to do nothing – what would you suggest, Sally? – in favor of putting in a scene like that, maybe combined with the post-return-to-human OMG-what-did-I-do Josh angst scene? In short, this episode feels like they cut at least five minutes out and we’re left having to rewind the last act once or twice to decipher what must have happened during the commercial break. Whose fault is this? Writers, showrunners, advertisers, who? I want names!!!

Okay, I’ve taken a breath and can now return to more level-headed discussion of the rest of Aidan’s storyline this week. Flashbacks! As a LOSTie, I am very familiar with, and love, flashbacks and am always interested to see how different shows choose to use them. The color wash given to the 1955 scenes was a nice visual clue to these very relevant scenes. I particularly enjoyed the reveal near the end of the episode that Aidan of 25 years ago was completely invested in the vampire life BECAUSE of promises made to him by Bishop 200 years before, when he was a brand-new vamp. Aidan, even when fully engrossed in the vamp life, still thought of the family that he left behind when he joined the creepily named “family” run by – well who knows by whom it was run back in the late 1700s. Was it Carlo, or had there been someone before him who was considered the Boston Boss back when Boston was a city in the Colonies? And the whole Dutch thing, how creepy was that? ONE THOUSAND TEN YEARS OLD. Nice that the youngster Aidan has a proper respect for (meaning “fear of”) his elders.

One more UK spoiler if you haven’t seen last week’s episode: WOW how different is Bishop from Carrick? Can you imagine Carrick EVER acting like that around a human, in this century or any other? Especially once we saw that Carrick was still as creepy as ever?

UK spoilers over. This felt like a setup episode to me, not only because Bishop’s undead life may be on the line and because we’ll be seeing more of the Dutch next week (I am admittedly somewhat disappointed that next week’s title “Going Dutch” has nothing to do with the LOST series finale) but also because of Sally’s stated need to have actual impact, and the complete lack of Nora in this episode. Still, getting more information on the workings of the vamp world, some nifty flashbacks and personality turns for Bishop and Aidan, and Josh’s first non-animal kill – oh wait a minute… well you know what I mean – made this a serviceable episode which, for a variety of reasons, left me wanting more.

Erin Willard reviews Being Human airing on SyFy. SyFy takes on the hit UK show about a ghost, a vampire and a werewolf living together as they attempt to keep hold of their humanity in this re-imagining.

Photo courtesy of NBC Universal

Being Human airs Mondays at 9pm ET on SyFy.
Exclusive content and downloads at http://www.SyFy.com/BeingHuman

[stunned silence]… wow.  For those of you pining for the darker tones of the UK Being Human, there you go.  Literally a stunning ending.  This wasn’t a cliffhanger so much as a jaw dropper.  It could be because of my familiarity with the UK series, but the US series really seems to change the game with every deviation from its source material.  Shocking, and emotionally wrenching.  There were no victories this week.  A child was killed.  Actually, three children were killed, and one of them was killed twice.  This episode was a game changer.  There were only a few snappy lines, but snappy lines wouldn’t necessarily have been appropriate when you have three dead children, a physically abused woman, and a ghost who dies every single day.

The episode was great, and could have been the best episode of the season, but… I’m sorry to say that I had a couple of quibbles that deflated it for me.  Now I know that a lot of you loved this episode, so please don’t get huffy, just consider these things, from least to most bothersome:

Josh – First, his was clearly the lightest treatment this week, and was in fact very similar to the UK storyline for the werewolf at this point.  Nevertheless, it tracked well and there was enough of a development that I don’t feel his story was shorted in this episode.  Here’s my problem: I understand that he loves Nora, and wants to be with her, but is concerned about presumably two things.  One, that she will retreat from him in horror when she learns the truth, and two, that he might hurt her someday when he is transformed, which is the very reason he left his parents’ home.  Yet somehow when Nora shows Josh her actual scars from a previous relationship, instead of thinking “so the last thing she needs is someone who might physically hurt her even more,” he thinks “well I’m only a monster for one night a month, there are others who are ‘monsters’ more often, and I will protect her.”  Kinda tortured logic, but okay, it’s love, and I understand his wanting to protect her.  Still…

Sally – I love her new guy, and I love the two of them together.  It’s great that she can feel him – their “sex cloud” is a cool effect - and it’s great that she has someone who can teach her more about being a ghost.  My issue: She is upset to realize that she has once again fallen for a man with a problem, and says she will “lose herself in his issues.”  Why?  He has said that he doesn’t need her to fix him, that he manages to enjoy the rest of his day just fine, thank you, and in fact his “life” is much better now that he has Sally to return to afterwards.  So what is her problem?  Maybe it’s because she’s “forever 23,” but seriously?  She needs to respect him enough to allow him to deal or not deal with his problem as he sees fit.  Come on, she has a great relationship with a guy that she knew while they were both living, he can teach and show her so much, and he’s clearly – and literally – into her.  I hate seeing her turn all whiny just for the sake of having her endure more conflict.  Please, please resolve this one quickly.  I hate conflict for conflict’s sake, and I hate whiny.

Aidan – Wow, what a gut-churning storyline.  Extremely well acted by all involved, and well written.  The way Rebecca dealt with cranky Bernie was spot-on for someone with no experience with cranky kids.  Bernie was all innocence.  Aidan was exceptionally well played; horrified, terrified, connecting with Bernie and supportive of Rebecca.  The tension held well throughout, and the end of Bernie was heartbreaking. 

A side note here – I found myself astonished that I wasn’t completely put off by the loud whiner “background” music that came up at that point.  Normally that tactic drives me absolutely crazy because I hate that kind of music, I hate that it usually drowns out the dialogue, and it can feel like lazy writing.  This time, though, I appreciated that they didn’t go for some horrific sound effect, and really there was no alternative but to silence the scene sounds for the sake of the music.  Well done.

Now for my issue.  What Bishop said at the end that kinda ruined it for me, because it was wrong.  “Aidan was thinking he’d start a family of his own.”  No he didn’t.  He didn’t want Bernie to be turned, and he didn’t embrace the idea once Rebecca did it “for” him.  “I don’t know if you’re delusional, naive, or just plain stupid” was his reaction.  He knew that it would never work.  It was all Rebecca’s idea.  The only way that Bishop’s words work is if Biship actually thought, either on his own or because Rebecca lied to him, that Aidan was the one who turned Bernie, or that Rebecca turned Bernie at Aidan’s request. 

It could be argued that, while killing the two bullies was obviously wrong, it was better that they were killed by a skilled and experienced vampire rather than whatever mayhem Bernie was almost sure to cause at some point.  If vampires don’t age in this series, as is the common mythology, Bernie would forever be a threat to the rest of the vampires because he could more easily be discovered.  Perhaps Bishop creating the scenario that pushed Aidan to kill Bernie was done because it had to be done.  Bishop would know that if any other vamp killed Bernie that Aidan would agree that it was necessary but would still blame the Bishop gang and make that yet another reason for him staying away from them.

If all of that is the case, then I wish that Bishop would have said something along those lines, instead of the obviously irritating “Aidan was thinking he’d start a family…”  I realize I’m making a big deal out of one tiny scene and a couple of lines, but it’s what they left us with, they were the last lines of an emotionally fraught episode.  Please straighten us out with this next week, it’s bugging the heck out of me and messing with my reminiscing about an otherwise superb episode.

Today I watched some of the video from the cast interviews at the TCAs (available on syfy.com by clicking here ) and Meaghan Rath (Sally) said that, while based on and inspired by the UK series, the SyFy series will be diverging in big ways.  The addition of Josh’s family and his sister in particular was one big step away, and this week’s episode paved the way for much more.  As I have felt at the end of every other episode so far this season, I can’t wait.

Erin Willard reviews Being Human airing on SyFy. SyFy takes on the hit UK show about a ghost, a vampire and a werewolf living together as they attempt to keep hold of their humanity in this re-imagining.

Photo courtesy of NBC Universal

Being Human airs Mondays at 9pm ET on SyFy.
Exclusive content and downloads at http://www.SyFy.com/BeingHuman

An enjoyable episode this week, although it didn’t have the same level of drama or shock value as some previous episodes.  It did, however, contain more great individual lines than I’ve seen to date for the series. 

Sally, to Josh:  “Isn’t that your… what are we calling her?”
Josh:  “My Nora.”

I melted.  We instantly understand that he is completely besotted with the woman.  And when he is unable to approach her, we further understand that he has confidence issues.  At that point we’re thinking, as we are told to think by Sally, it is because the man with Nora is a doctor, and is gorgeous.  Nice it is Sally who brings it full circle at the end of the episode and apologizes for not understanding the horror that is Josh, ”once a month, every four weeks.” 

From an effects perspective, Josh’s transformation was adequate, and the werewolf, while not what I was hoping for, was nevertheless far better than the UK version.  It may be that I got that impression simply because they didn’t show very much of the werewolf in this version.  I appreciate that philosophy; if you don’t have good solid effects, don’t spend a lot of time showing them.

Nora, to Josh: “It’s as though you’re an artist and “awkward” is your medium.”

Are we surprised that Nora forgave Josh so easily for errrr loving and leaving her the previous night?  It was a rather quick turnaround in attitude, but the fact that she bothered to come over – and that she called first – were good indicators that she was interested, or she would have blown him off just as she thought he had done to her.  Thank goodness they are dealing with this relationship in a fairly straightforward and positive way.  Aidan and Rebecca have enough angst for the show already.   Besides, Josh exhibits enough insecurity that a languishing unrequited love would push him from Kinda Adorable Character toward the Unbearable Character column, and we don’t want that. 

We knew that the Aidan’s DVD of Rebecca was going to come into play again, or we would have seen him destroy it.  I was, in fact, relieved that they put it to rest this episode, or it would start sliding into “gratuitous” territory, especially since the episode opened with it.

Aidan, to Bernie:  “Your “fun” bar is set really low.”

Aidan’s relationship with Bernie was sweet, and I was pleased with the way the porn DVD aspect of the storyline was dealt with.  Although fans of the UK series might feel this version was too light, it was entirely in keeping with the entire feel of the US series to make it simply one parent accusing him, and the child quickly explaining that he took it without permission.  The pitchfork-and-torches manner of the UK version was horrifying in the best way, but honestly I was almost considering fast-forwarding if the US version was the same.  I don’t think the US version has anything to apologize for; I appreciate its lighter tone and atmosphere.  It manages to work in a lot of comedy that isn’t silly, and opts for stronger, cooler, less dramatic but still interesting and sympathetic characters that I want to watch.  Speaking of which…

Sally’s response to Aidan when he told her that she needed to be working on her “journey”:  “I love how you say “journey” like I’ve hopped on some fantastical winged steed and am soaring through some cloudy land of adventure.”

I liked Sally a lot more this week.  I didn’t dislike her before, but she sometimes exhibited a weakness that wasn’t dramatic enough to come off as much more than a whine.  She had some good, snappy lines this week that made her rise to the level of Josh’s delivery in the best ways.  “If you think I’m going into a place that scares a member of the undead, you’ve flipped your pancake” was really well delivered.  Writers, please keep writing like this for her, it suits her.

The ghost hall was weird, and distracting enough that I didn’t catch much of the point of it the first time I watched, which is a shame.  That the way to move on is different for each person, and that sometimes it helps to just announce yourself, are what I suppose were the two main points.  Aidan later warned her that if she didn’t quickly figure out why she hadn’t moved on, she could end up like those hallway ghosts: “If you wait too long it will be too late, searching for pieces of a puzzle that doesn’t even exist any more.”  Another lovely line.

But the fact that watching Josh transform got Sally over her self-proclaimed pity party really won me over.  Yay, she recognizes that she’s been a whiner and she’s ready to start looking for answers!  Yay, she realizes that she may actually be able to do something about her “monster-ness.”  Just as her previous best moment was when she took control of the situation with her former fiancee and trashed his apartment, taking control of her situation as a ghost, apologizing to Josh for her attitude, and “writing” on the hallway wall showed a strength that serves her character well.

Again, not the strongest episode, but enough advancement on the plot and the characters, and more than enough great lines, to get me excited about the next episode.

Erin Willard reviews Being Human airing on SyFy. SyFy takes on the hit UK show about a ghost, a vampire and a werewolf living together as they attempt to keep hold of their humanity in this re-imagining.

Photo courtesy of NBC Universal

Being Human airs Mondays at 9pm ET on SyFy.
Exclusive content and downloads at http://www.SyFy.com/BeingHuman

EXCELLENT CREEPY CLIFFHANGER! Just had to get that out of my system; now I can proceed. That seems to be an area that this series is doing particularly well. Not every episode, which in itself is commendable, but when they do it (this episode, the previous episode, and the pilot) it has been genuinely surprising, leaving you wanting to fast forward to the next episode, and interestingly, something entirely outside of the UK version of the series, so truly a cliffhanger for all.

Unfortunately, their resolutions in the following episodes have left something to be desired. At the end of the last episode, Emily was bloody because she had been attacked. BY A VAMPIRE. At the beginning of this episode, our gang is at the hospital (minus Sally who for some reason is not there) while Emily is treated. When Aidan sees that Bishop is doing the investigating, he gets suspicious, and quickly determines that Marcus is the one who attacked Emily. Why doesn’t he check for bite marks IMMEDIATELY? We were all wondering if she’d been bitten at the end of the last episode, and that was clearly meant to be part of our concern about Emily. Really? It would have taken 2 seconds to show Aidan checking her neck. Some cleaner, clearer resolutions for the cliffhangers would be appreciated, so here’s hoping for that in the next episode.

Okay, back to the beginning. Sally did the voiceover for this episode’s introduction, which included the great line “even a monster can be afraid of the darkness.” I’m thinking that would have been a much better title for the episode, as the cute titles continue unabated. I get that they’re using song titles, but why?

I’m also not totally satisfied with the way they’ve been dealing with the Marcus vs. Josh discussion. Bishop told Aidan that Marcus “was provoked by a lesser being. You let your dog run wild, the rest is justice.” Josh and his creepy were-Daddy beat up Marcus and another vamp. Why in the world wouldn’t Marcus want to retaliate? The fact that he chose Emily as his victim instead of Josh wasn’t really explained, although I expect it’s because he doesn’t want Josh and potentially others to come after him during the one to two nights per month when werewolves, according to some versions of the legend at least, are more powerful than vampires. By choosing Emily he is pointing out to Josh that for most nights and all days, Josh will not be able to protect his friends and family against vampires. It might have been nice if someone had simply said this. Still, I like the dynamic of Bishop, Aidan, Marcus, and the rest of the vamps. The creepiness, foreboding, and vague mentions of Aidan once being a sort of vamp superpower, have been nicely played.

Sally’s storyline unfortunately swung back to the weak side in this episode. After starting to feel more powerful in the last episode, her failure to convince Bridget of Danny’s menace in this episode just deflated her. They did, however, do a much better job in this episode than they previously had at detailing the things that Danny did that pointed to him being an abuser. Sally’s telling Bridget that hoping that a new dress or the perfect cake would make everything right again, by making him happy, was very in keeping with the combined hope and degradation that victims reportedly feel. We need to see more strength from Sally if we’re going to continue to feel sympathy for her character.

But YOWIE how creepy is Danny?! Kudos to the writers and the actor playing Danny for stepping it up this episode, just as they did in the UK version. “That’s the best you got? You’re more pathetic as a ghost than when you were alive … and I’m happy. Finally.” Wow, just who exactly is the monster in this scenario?

I really enjoyed the scenes with Josh’s family. Josh’s parents were hilarious. The writers totally nailed the “concerned, educated parents” – trying not to scare him off, calm and smiling, totally tense underneath. “Thank you Josh, for sharing that.” They even were able to maintain the veneer of understanding when his dad asked, “How long have you thought you’re a werewolf?” As for Emily, it made complete sense that Emily would have shown her parents Josh’s journal; as she said, she thought he needed help, and she was scared. The bit about the garlic was kind of cute, and continued the lighter feel of the meal once Aidan arrived. It gave Josh another opportunity for a good line, when trying to determine what he could give Aidan to help him recover: “Anything I don’t have to summon a warlock for.”

Going home was a really lovely idea, and everything seemed so comforting and normal. Marcus showing up at their doorstep was therefore particularly terrifying, and Josh played that well, though it was shot in a bit of a silly way once he started breaking up the hat stand. But hello. why didn’t Josh tell his parents that Marcus was Emily’s attacker? They might have better understood Josh’s reaction. If it was because he felt he needed to protect them from his world, fine, but it seemed an obvious thing to do.

I was really hoping for a slightly better indication of what Josh’s parents actually thought of his “coming out.” It seemed like they thought he was crazy, which would be an appropriate response, but if he was actually going to stay he would have to somehow convince them that he was telling the truth. It wasn’t clear, though, because Emily said that she would come home once a month and help, as though she believed him. Ah well, there’s only so much that can fit into a one hour commercial tv episode.

Aidan’s discussion with Josh about why staying wouldn’t work was a nice way to remind us of how long Aidan has been a vampire, and give us a hint of his dark past. His final line to Josh was my favorite of the episode, and summed it up nicely: “They’re your family, and that’s exactly why they’re defenseless against you.”

Which brings us back to the final scenes. Marcus is in trouble with Bishop. Bishop claiming that they have too much to do and too little time to waste on not including the weakest, and the “mistakes,” was a cool setup for what may be to come. That what’s-to-come looks like it may include some kind of showdown between Bishop and — The Cocooned Things? Seriously, very cool ending, and I can’t wait for what I hope will be an excellent continuation in the next episode.

Erin Willard reviews Being Human airing on SyFy. SyFy takes on the hit UK show about a ghost, a vampire and a werewolf living together as they attempt to keep hold of their humanity in this re-imagining.

Being Human airs Mondays at 9pm ET on SyFy.
Exclusive content and downloads at http://www.SyFy.com/BeingHuman

This was another solid episode that moved each of the characters’ stories forward, perhaps more equally than has been done in previous episodes.  I was pleased to see that Sally was given a storyline that seems to best fit her presence.  More than anything else right now, she is mad.  Enraged.  She calls it being in crisis but it appears that her only crisis is not being able to find a better outlet than to make the house rumble – which I love.  A great physical manifestation of all that is quietly boiling beneath her ostensibly invisible surface.  I totally loved her daydream of revenge on Danny through Aidan’s attack.  Her smile was perfect, and so was the music.  She does have some moments of hesitation when talking with Aidan about kharma, and when she learns that her new friend – “Being a ghost is boring, but a poltergeist?  Delicious!” – who thrives on revenge, apparently knows nothing about a door, or moving on.  Her one attempt at revenge on Danny went horribly wrong when Danny accused Bridget of “messing with him.” 

Danny’s instability and Bridget’s recognition of it, along with her belief in Sally’s presence, will be interesting to watch.  It will also be interesting to see if anything more develops with the ring as a “charged object” now that it’s been returned to Sally.  But hopefully they will deal more fully with Sally’s conflict soon, and not turn her into little more than a whining mope.  Make her quietly mighty, either dark in her revenge or light in her power to rise above, and she will continue to be interesting.

Josh’s storyline developed nicely this week, with his first date with Nora.  She’s spunky and clearly intrigued, now that she is learning about some of Josh’s hidden depths.  She’s a nice addition to the group – I love that she calls Josh “doe-eyes” - in contrast with Josh’s sister Emily.  Why did they have to saddle Josh with being the reason for two nightmare houseguests in a row?  Emily really seemed pretty great when we first met her at the beginning of the series, but as a wronged lover she’s become an irritating, irresponsible, and at least somewhat manipulative drunk.  The only thing I found charming about her was when she raced Josh to the door, and that was less her being charming and more the writers nicely capturing a childhood-sibling-rivalry moment.  Still, nice that Josh had some shining moments of clever banter and well-earned pride in his pre-monster past that allowed him to look like he had potential for being a mature adult.

It took me more than one viewing of this episode to really “get” that Aidan’s fixation on Rebecca’s video was the fear he said he saw on her face.  I can’t say that they didn’t hit it hard enough; maybe I just kept missing it.  His feelings for her are clearly more than just protective, but he feels “responsible” for her, and is conflicted.  I really loved and was intrigued by what Aidan said to Marcus when we went to confront the vamps about the video: “You don’t want me back.  You ever think what might happen?  You would be nothing all over again and you know it.”  So, Aidan and Bishop were considered “gods” back in the day when they ran together?  Could be cool to see where this goes.

I may have finally figured out what they meant by the title of this episode.  The “two” would be Aidan and Rebecca, Josh and Emily, and Sally and Danny.  Or am I wrong?  I’m enjoying the clever titles they’ve been giving these episodes, but more often than not they leave me scratching my head as to their application.  A little thing, but it bugs me.

Overall, though, another solid episode, and as notably different from the original UK storyline this week as it was strikingly similar last week.  The US version will never be the UK version, and vice versa.  Both have many things to recommend them.  Vive la difference.

Lots of great lines this week; two favorites: 
Sally to Josh: “Is it picture day at school?”
Aidan (when Emily arrived at the brownstone): “What do people like to eat?  What do we, the people, like to eat?”

Erin Willard reviews Being Human airing on SyFy. SyFy takes on the hit UK show about a ghost, a vampire and a werewolf living together as they attempt to keep hold of their humanity in this re-imagining.

Being Human airs Mondays at 9pm ET on SyFy.
Exclusive content and downloads at http://www.SyFy.com/BeingHuman

A very dramatic title for a somewhat less dramatic episode than the title promised.  In fairness, this episode more closely mimicked the UK version than any of the previous four episodes.  The two “big reveals” weren’t, for any viewers familiar with the UK series.  The episode improved for me with a second viewing, and convenient amnesia about the overwrought title.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.  Let’s start with something that absolutely was not in the UK version – a Catholic priest as a vampire.  Pretty shocking, really, and he was nicely creepy in his interpretation of scripture and his perception of God and life, and given a fair amount of air time.  Shut down completely, of course, when Aidan said “I get it, you’re completely unhinged” and gave him a beatdown and some dental work.  Now that will be interesting.  Will Bishop actually help the priest, or is “taking care of” family to be interpreted in the mafia form of the term? 

I like that the show continues to clarify what is and isn’t “true” of their … do we call them creatures?  I feel like they’ve done a decent job in living up to the series title, and therefore terms like “creature” and “monster” become derogatory.  I decided to check out their blog on SyFy – http://showblogs.syfy.com/howtobehuman/  (it’s actually pretty entertaining, ostensibly written by each of them, with new entries every week) and I take from it that they all consider themselves cursed, so I’ll go with that for now.  The Cursed.  Though of course, getting back to my previous discussion, Bishop and the priest – oh hahaha – do not consider themselves cursed, nor does Ray, at least not entirely.  I’d use “The Others” but that’s been taken…

Bishop’s discussion with Aidan shed light on a practical concern of vampirism: funding.  “We’re vampires, not magicians” was an appreciated clarification, as many vampire stories include a healthy dose of magic.  Picking and choosing people to turn, people with money, power, and/or influence makes complete sense.  In giving his reason for turning the priest he also revealed his intriguing larger plan.  “Nobody sells eternal life like a priest.”  But by presenting turning as an attractive offer to the right people, he foresees a day when the number of vampires combined with the power – influential power, not just physical power- will allow them to live out in the open.  “We live forever, humans don’t, do the math, it’s evolution. ”  Bishop, who is living the full vampire life, is much stronger than Aidan, who is doing his best to avoid it.  I appreciate that the show is exploring the nature of the vampires and werewolves on a larger scale, while keeping our “cursed” as human as possible.

Was the big reveal that Ray was Josh’s ”were-dad” a surprise for the viewers?  Clearly not for me, since I know the UK series, but I presume it was as big a surprise for those who are new to the series as it originally was for fans of the original.  Ray’s character was very convincingly disgusting throughout the previous episode and most of this one, but his loneliness and desperation were as heartbreaking as his public behavior was nauseating.  Ray also gave us a little more info on the series’ take on werewolves: what they do when they are werewolves lingers as only flashes of memory when they are fully human. 

The other big reveal, that Danny killed Sally, was somewhat troubling to me but for the wrong reasons.  Sally’s relationship with Danny is somewhat of a mystery.  She was sad, even distraught over losing Danny, but she wasn’t needy with him, nor did she seem in any way fearful, even when they started to argue.  She didn’t back off at all.  If they had a history of him abusing her, it was nowhere to be seen in their interactions.  I am fairly certain that I’ve never had friends in physically abusive relationships, so maybe it’s a cliché, but Danny’s behavior was totally out of left field, especially given Sally’s reaction to it.  In the UK version, the reveal that her fiance caused the ghost’s death was totally chilling, made moreso by the fact that it harkened back to his “she belonged to me” line when asked about his relationship with her. 

During the flashback of the events leading up to her death, the ghost was pleading and terrified, knowing how her fiance was going to react to another instance of imagined betrayal.  Sally, on the other hand, feels internally strong, even though she is clearly sad.  Her retribution on Danny was not the act of someone overcoming desperation, but of someone taking command. Which I loved.  I loved that Sally trashed Danny’s apartment, and that the engagement ring at the center of the clearly deliberate swirl was satisfying AND aesthetically pleasing. 

I also enjoyed the tripartate storm of each of our heroes taking full advantage of his/her curse to make a point, to take control by losing control.  A side benefit of cutting back and forth between the three scenes was that we were distracted from the lack of anything actually interesting going on between the werewolves.  That half-transformation was so disappointing.  Really, they both started transforming at the same time but for some reason stopped at fangs and yelling while they fought?  Again, though, that becomes more obvious during a second watch, because the three scenes were nicely edited with enough movement to distract from the lack of werewolf effects.  Sally’s storm, however, was lovely.

The dinner was a nice little denouement.  Prepared by Josh, because he’s had some closure and sees potential for moving on.  Aidan must know that it’s not over with Bishop, and Sally hasn’t seen a door so she’s clearly not resolved.   So we’re left, as always, with three cursed broken people trying to “hang on to the rituals of normalcy” by sharing dinner, and by simply being together.

Funniest bits this episode – Aidan to Sally: “You’re poltergeisting your own house,” and Ray walking out onto the stoop in his shortie robe and workboots.  I also loved “Ain’t Misbehavin’” playing while the priest was teaching the new vamp how to feed, and the cheery “Let’s Get Away” playing in the background during Bishop’s beatdown of Aidan.  Those will be the songs I’ll download from http://www.syfy.com/beinghuman/playlist when they add the playlist from this episode.

Erin Willard reviews Being Human airing on SyFy. SyFy takes on the hit UK show about a ghost, a vampire and a werewolf living together as they attempt to keep hold of their humanity in this re-imagining.

Photo courtesy of NBC Universal

Being Human airs Mondays at 9pm ET on SyFy.
Exclusive content and downloads at http://www.SyFy.com/BeingHuman

BH veterans, you need to try to forget what you’ve seen, partly to not be spoiled, but partly because some parts are, and other parts may be, different.  More than that I’ll not say, lest newbies be spoiled.  Moving on…

An interesting theme this week, that of Together and Apart.  The opening monologue was once again given by Josh, but this time it was about himself, and his difficulty in trying to be alone – truly alone – during his time as a wolf.  He had trouble being alone in the woods, and in fact woke to someone waiting for him.  “M’name’s Ray, I’m a werewolf too” and his appearance was due; we met other vampires in the first episode, and another ghost in the last episode.  In each of those cases, for better or worse, those other mentors eased their students’ transitions into their new lives.  Josh needed the same, and Ray served as tutor for not only Josh but for us as well.  We learned about how Josh might avoid killing any humans (“Rule number one, no one gets hurt.  We don’t wanna kill anyone, or turn em”), what happens to him in the days before he turns, and more about the animosity between werewolves and vampires.  Hopefully now Josh has also learned that he had no business trying out Ray’s pickup lines without Ray’s age, style, choice of location, and southern drawl.

Ray has apparently been stalking Josh, which is somewhat disturbing.  And he also appears to be turning into The Thing That Wouldn’t Leave.  He’s already causing animosity between our formerly happy-with-each-other trio, but hopefully that will be resolved next week.  This cast and show in general don’t “do” angst very well, but thrive in dealing with problems.  Will Josh embrace the wolf, recognize it and deal with it, or reject it to the extent that he can?

So… Sally’s photos of her and Danny in the mountains were actually her and Danny – and her best friend?  I’m curious to see if they develop that further, or if she will simply move on from Danny and therefore that whole aspect of her life.  Bridget would have been the third wheel on that outing which makes one suspicious of her motives, but she was in fact the one who brought flowers to Sally’s grave and she was the one who rebuffed Danny’s email.  They nicely underscored Sally’s ability to move to a place by thinking of it, by having her say that she tried to leave Danny and Bridget but kept thinking of them and therefore kept returning.  It was great that she was able to actually move an object, unfortunate that she had to build up a rage to do it.  Nice that she made the grand gesture and gave Bridget permission to be with Danny, but unfortunate that she couldn’t do the same for Danny.

Then there’s Aidan.  How exceedingly cool did he look walking down the street in his sunglasses?  He and Rebecca make a gorgeous couple.  And him teaching Rebecca about packaged blood and vampire blood vs fresh human blood was of course also teaching us.  Their scene in the restaurant was cute, their scene in the alley was hot, their race to the restaurant employee was scary, and their scene in the hotel room was sad, though I loved her line, “I can’t go to a restaurant and pretend to enjoy it when all I want to do is eat the table next to me.”  His promise that she is “not a monster” and her retort “WE ARE” was the perfect summation of the premise of the show.  Three monsters who are trying to not be, who were each once human and trying desperately to be so again.

Kudos to the writing, directing, and editing of the parallel attack scenes.  Aidan and Rebecca both started after the restaurant employee together, but at the last second Aidan snaps out of it and pulls Rebecca back.  Josh is repulsed by Ray’s attack on the vampire but then joins in.  It was a lovely juxtaposition of more experienced pulling the new one up versus more experienced dragging the new one down.

Cheers as well for the soundtrack, and to Syfy for posting links to download songs featured in each episode.  I’m really looking forward to downloading this week’s songs as soon as the playlist is posted.

Yet another solid episode in a solid rookie season, and I can’t wait for next week.

Favorite line (besides Rebecca’s, above): Josh – “I’ve been able to keep this thing small; I deserve to contain my own private hell.”