WRITER: Lucy Catherine[SPOILERS] This episode had a strong relationship theme, with many of the characters assessing their connections to the other people in their lives and doing their best to please or help them. Mitchell (Aidan Turner) realized he's the only vampire notorious enough to fill the gap left by Herrick's death, and help rebuild "the system" for keeping vampire attacks a secret from the public -- spurred into taking action because various wayward neck-biters, like callous Cara (Rebecca Cooper), have started killing innocent joggers and anti-social teenagers, and the police are starting to get wise to the nature of these strange attacks...
DIRECTOR: Colin Teague
GUEST CAST: Nathan Wright, John Stahl, Rebecca Cooper, Ian Puleston-Davies, Lauren O'Neil & Pearce Quigley
It was a compelling storyline and a great way to develop Mitchell's character. His "day job" might be mopping up piss and shit as a hospital orderly, but by night he can become a kind of "vampire Godfather" and command the respect of his peers. Right now, he's just doing this to keep his species a secret, because it's in everyone's interest that things never return to the dark days of the mid-17th-century (witnessed during an opening flashback) where vampires were savagely tortured and killed by god-fearing Bristolians. But I get the impression Mitchell's possibly going to become addicted to the power he temporarily assumed here; rebuilding Herrick's funeral parlour business, agreeing a deal with manipulative DCI Wilson (Ian Puleston-Davies), threatening mortician Quinn's (John Stahl) grandchildren to make him resume covering up vampire attacks, and faking the suicide of a hospitalized jogger who attacked by a vampire that killed his girlfriend and left him for dead.
George (Russell Tovey) and Annie (Lenora Crichlow) were given the light-hearted side of the story this week, as Annie resolved to help her boss Hugh (Nathan Wright) rekindle his romance with a florist he once lived with as an 18-year-old. This involves tracking down his inamorata, Kirsty (Lauren O'Neil), and getting George to take her on an intentionally disastrous date – a three-hour German art film followed by a kebab – to make her realize exactly what she's missing with Hugh. To be honest, this storyline wasn't really necessary or a particularly thrilling use of the characters, but it had a certain fun appeal and helped buoy the darker storyline with Mitchell. Annie playing Cupid is exactly the kind of thing you'd imagine she'd love to do, particularly now she's a ghost, and it was certainly a more entertaining story than it perhaps could have been.
The relationship between Mitchell and Dr. Lucy (Lyndsey Marshal) took a step forward, too, as the pair went on their first date together, which proved nearly as terrible as George intended his liaison with Kirsty to be. Mitchell was too distracted by his dealings with Bristol's vampire underbelly to be his usual charismatic self, which made Lucy begin to doubt the sincerity of his interest in her. The most memorable thing here was how the episode did a great job making us believe Lucy's just a regular, likeable doctor after all, before delivering its twist in the last scene: Lucy's actually the mysterious Professor Jaggart, working alongside Kemp (Donald Sumpter) to eradicate supernatural creatures, and they have taken Nina (Sinead Keenan) under their wing, even allowing her a final phone call to George to put her relationship with him behind her. While this wasn't entirely unexpected to me, I think the story did well to make us second guess our suspicions of Lucy enough, before confirming them.
This third episode was kind of mixed because of George and Annie's more trivial matchmaking adventure together, but I think Mitchell's storyline was strong enough to make up for it. In fact, I'm really excited by the possibilities presented in Mitchell's storyline now; he's determined to rehabilitate his fellow vampires and wean them off blood, but I suspect he's just going to find the power of leadership too much of a drug to kick. With the beautifully manipulative Daisy (Amy Manson) around to pour poison into his ear, it feels like Mitchell's bitten off more than he can chew as the acting vampire leader. He's already bludgeoned poor Cara's face with a rock and left her to starve to death underground, all in an effort to assert his position of authority on the other vamps. Can he really walk away from being the city's vampire "king" so easily, and resume his humdrum existence as a house-sharing hospital worker?
Overall, Lucy Catherine's script was well-constructed and pushed a few of this year's stories on very well. The vampire subculture took on a very interesting tone here, and I really like how they've started to construct a loosely plausible "system" of humans helping vampires get away with murder. DCI Wilson clearly thinks the vampires can be a useful way to tackle crime, if they target criminals and antisocial elements of society, and that's an interesting angle to explore. It remains true that Being Human's not quite as amusing as it was last year, but it's certainly doing a better job in the dramatic stakes. Colin Teague's direction also continues to improve, with less silly flourishes and more wide-angle compositions that give the series a more epic feel, and some often wonderful lighting. I particularly loved the slime-green of the funeral parlour building and the dingy atmosphere of the vampire hideout. How's everyone else feeling about Being Human this year?
24 JANUARY 2010: BBC3, 9.30PM / BBC HD, 10.30PM
