I used to complain that Being Human's plots didn't always fill an hour, and while I still think it would be punchier with a 15-minute trim, this episode involved enough material to justify 60-minutes. Indeed, there was a whirlwind of stuff going on throughout, and some unexpectedly huge developments in Annie's (Lenora Crichlow) storyline, which suddenly became the most interesting subplot of the bunch. That's quite some turnaround after last week's eye-rolling "comedy". I still think Crichlow overplays her part at times, but she found a much better balance between comedy and drama here. One scene, where she goes in for a kiss with her besotted boss Hugh (Nathan Wright), was nicely played by the actress.
Here, Annie's flirtatious behaviour while pulling pints had succeeding in making customer Saul (Alex Lanipekun) interested in her; but, unbeknownst to her, Saul was actually being manipulated by hallucinated headlines in his newspaper and, most hilariously, Terry Wogan's sage advice through his television. It transpired that Saul had a Near-Death Experience after an accident, which has left him able to be brainwashed by a nefarious force from "beyond", that's using him to get Annie through "The Door" to her afterlife.
I find it intriguing that Being Human has such a depressing view of what the afterlife has in store, particularly as Annie's certainly not a despicable person who deserves punishment after death, yet the show paints the hereafter as something to avoid. It's similar to Torchwood's grim depiction of death as a nothingness you experience for eternity, which makes me wonder what writer/creator Toby Whithouse's own religious views are. It does seem like an atheist's nightmare, to me.
Mitchell (Aidan Turner) has an intriguing storyline, but one that perhaps should have been fleshed out over the course of another episode. There was a flashback to Vienna in 1999 to start the episode, there to show us how Mitchell once went "cold turkey" from human blood with the help of fellow bloodsucker Carl (Steve Shepherd), who now needs Mitchell's help because he accidentally killed his boyfriend during a bedroom romp that excited his bloodlust...
With no Herrick around to fix things and retain Carl's cover as a vampire, it's down to Mitchell to help Carl avoid the real-world repercussions of killing a man, by getting in touch with experienced vamp Ivan (Paul Rhys), who can arrange for Carl's safe extradition to Brazil. But first, Mitchell has to ensure there's no murder investigation by staging prime suspect Carl's "death", and ensuring the help of pathologist Quinn (John Stahl) with the bodies -- who has a crisis of conscience over his role in helping vampire-related deaths go unreported.
It was certainly an interesting storyline dealing with the vampire underworld and how it operates, just one that felt a tad rushed here. It may have been better if we'd grown to know Carl over a few episodes, as it was difficult to sympathize with his plight. Still, the subplot gave us more of the wonderful Paul Rhys as Ivan, who has quickly become the best new character of this series -- more believable and threatening than series 1's Herrick, but also quite layered and blissfully unaware he's quite funny (the scary neck-biter has a fondness for the music of Kate Bush!)
George's (Russell Tovey) story was the least involving, as he was essentially just tagging along in Mitchell's narrative for most of this episode. Nina's (Sinead Keenan) conflicted feelings for George also reached a head, as she decided to leave him, and is now a prime target for Kemp (Donald Sumpter), the head of that sinister team who are capturing and experimenting on supernatural beings. It doesn't seem unreasonable to assume Nina will agree to become Kemp's latest guinea pig in his pressure chamber, lured by the possibility he can prevent and perhaps cure her lycanthropy.
Incidentally, it was revealed through Kemp's dialogue that vampires, werewolves and ghosts are the "three kinds" of paranormal creatures his team know exist (are there other kinds yet to be discovered?), and the reason they're keeping their distance right now is to observe the unique circumstance of a vampire, werewolf and ghost living together under one roof. To do this, they have the place bugged and are listening in on Mitchell, George and Annie's conversations.
Overall, episode 2 was a far more accomplished outing for Being Human, which is asking its audience to adjust their expectations of series 2. I still think it's a shame so much of last year's comedy has been diluted (beyond the odd great line or Annie's antics), but it's otherwise started to walk an interesting path with plenty of new ideas and characters to soak up. This episode left me glad Annie's corporeal "rebirth" has been short-lived (so now she can go back to being a proper ghost), and intrigued about exactly where Nina, Dr. Lucy* (Lyndsey Marshal) and Ivan's storylines will take us. It sometimes feels that certain storylines will follow a predictable route, but hopefully Toby Whithouse can wrong-foot us.
17 January 2010
BBC Three, 9pm / BBC HD, 10.30pm
written by: Toby Whithouse directed by: Colin Teague starring: Lenora Crichlow (Annie), Aidan Turner (Mitchell), Russell Tovey (George), Sinead Keenan (Nina), Donald Sumpter (Kemp), Paul Rhys (Ivan), Lyndsey Marshal (Lucy), Nathan Wright (Hugh), Mark Fleischmann (Technician), Alex Lanipekun (Saul), Sir Terry Wogan (Himself), Steve Shepherd (Carl), John Stahl (Quinn), Jonathan Aris (Newsreader) & Dan Mersh (Policeman)
* I theorized last week that Lucy's a honey-trap for Mitchell, put in place by Kemp, but that didn't feel as likely here. Is she a red herring, and actually a regular woman for Mitchell to romance? Isn't that too similar to the George/Nina storyline last series, though? There must be more than meets the eye.
