Spoilers. Loneliness appears to be a dominant theme of Toby Whithouse's telefantasy; ostensibly a comedy-horror, but rather a horror-drama with the odd joke. This second episode was a more confident and rewarding example of the fledgling show, focusing on gawky werewolf George (Russell Tovey) and the arrival of a mentor/friend in lupine scallywag Tully (Dean Lennox Kelly)...We open with another startling werewolf transformation in a forest, given added weight by Mitchell's (Aidan Turner) voiceover, explaining the painful bodily contortions a human-to-wolf alteration requires (it starts with a heart attack, as the organ stops beating and rapidly shrinks...) George has taken to transforming in the woods every Full Moon, now that his hospital basement sanctuary is being renovated, and wakes up naked in the forest one morning to find the aforementioned Tully by his side -- a man who knows George's beastly secret. But, rather than expose him, Tully reveals he suffers from the same curse, and only wants to help George manage his condition by imparting advice and tips he's accumulated through the years.
At home, Mitchell has decided on a plan to hide "in plain sight", by welcoming neighbours into their home, so as not to arouse suspicion by becoming hermits. Tully is amongst the neighbours invited along to a coffee morning, and he quickly ingratiates himself to George's pals -- particularly ghostly Annie (Lenora Crichlow), who finds herself feeling more alive in Tully's charming company. To George's annoyance, Tully is allowed to stay as a short-term guest by his housemates, but later proves to George how his vast experience as a lycanthrope might be invaluable -- demonstrating how to plan for transformations and keep the public safe from attack.
It's not long before Tully has his feet firmly under the table: flirting with Annie, who starts treating Tully as a surrogate fiancé; and showing George how to use his intrinsic animal magnetism to pull women -- although George's attempts to chat-up an officious nurse called Nina (Sinead Keenan) with a stumbling impersonation of Tully's roguish patter, instead has him branded a chauvinist bully.
Eventually, only Mitchell comes to regret giving Tully a place to crash, primarily because their guest nabs the sofa and regularly stinks up the bathroom. That is until Tully starts showing his true colours and drops his play-act, by treating Annie disrespectfully and making unwanted advances that scare her. But, with George now brainwashed into believing he's found a hairy soul mate to share all his problems, who will he side with?
This episode was far more indicative of Being Human's possibilities than last week's enjoyable but weak-spirited start. The jokes were pared back and instead focused on human drama -- the old chestnut of a duplicitous new friend who comes to threaten your real friendships, given a supernatural twist. Also nice to see that, despite his lies and troublemaking, Tully's primarily motivation was atoning for a past sin. The episode dealt with its clichés well, helped enormously by a great guest-starring turn from Dean Lennox Kelly as the highly-sexed wolfman who becomes George's role model.
Tovey proves himself an effortlessly engaging screen presence again; an actor whose man-child style is endearing and believable, even if he sometimes overindulges the big emotions. Turner was pushed into the background for the most part, and his performance is that of an amiable Irishman who occasionally develops tunnel vision if blood crosses his eye-line, and little more. Crichlow definitely improved here, though -- I particularly liked Annie's breakfast scene with Tully, where she asked to quietly watch him eat his morning cereal, as it reminded her of table moments she shared with her fiancé. A turning point scene, with Tully forcing himself on "corpse" Annie was also nicely handled by both actors.
The comedy wasn't especially noticeable here, which worked in the episode's favour. I'd rather Being Human focus on telling dramatic stories, where any laughs are born from situations (like George's embarrassing attempt to ask Nina out on a date), rather than try to insert gags into the texture of the show every few minutes. So yes, this episode was less amusing than last week's, but twice as interesting and compelling because the focus was on the characters, their relationships, and their reactions to a charismatic interloper.
The series' overarching vampire subplot was returned to in earnest -- with Mitchell again shunning fanged Lauren's advances (Annabel Scholey), whose lust for blood appears to be causing problems for trouble-shooting vampire cop Herrick (Jason Watkins) at a local crime scene. A denouement involving the delivery of a vampire sex-tape/snuff film (where, by virtue of the fact vamps can't be seen on film or in mirrors, it appears that a man is having sex with an invisible woman before being bitten and killed) was particularly creepy. Incidentally, vampire sex-tapes appear to be in vogue right now (see: True Blood).
Overall, a combination of good performances and a well-constructed storyline, together with a smattering of great FX (the werewolf was much improved) helped make this a rich and rewarding hour of humourous horror. I still think Being Human would benefit from being fifteen minutes shorter to tighten the story, and the jury's still out on Aidan Turner's ability to make us believe in Mitchell as a lapsed neck-biter, but this was a very confident step in most respects.
1 February 2009
BBC Three, 9pm
Writer: Toby Whithouse
Director: Toby Haynes
Cast: Russell Tovey (George), Aidan Turner (Mitchell), Lenora Crichlow (Annie), Dean Lennox Kelly (Tully), Jason Watkins (Herrick), Annabel Scholey (Lauren), Sinead Keenan (Nina), Kerry Gibson (Hannah), Lizzie Roper (Maggie), Joe Hall (Neighbour) & Paul Kasey (Werewolf)
