Holy %&$*...this is what all television should be. Seriously, I don't know how some of the shows on British TV can even show their faces when there are shows like Being Human for them to aspire too. After what many saw as a brief hiccup last week 'the Pack' had BH back on blistering form. Some of you may have noticed that I didn't review the last couple of weeks episodes, real life got hectic and I just didn't have time, so let me touch on a couple of plot points that have call backs this week. In episode 2 'Adam's Family' we met a new vampire couple Richard and Emma, to say that these gimp owning, swingers were a tad strange is a bit of an understatement. Richard popped up to let Mitchel know that there are some very powerful vampires, the old ones, that are not thrilled with him for his part in the box tunnel 20 massacre and they wanted him shipped overseas out of the spotlight. Last week in 'Type 4' the big news was that George and Nina are pregnant, the baby conceived after their night of wolf lovin'. The relationship between Annie and Mitchell went to the next level and his guilt over the tunnel murders was tempered somewhat by Annie telling him that she doesn't care about his past. Those are just a couple of things that lead on into this episode, if anyone is interested in hearing my thoughts on those episodes sound off in the comments and i will throw something up for them, I just didn't want to be stuck 2 weeks behind.
McNair and Tom are back for this episode and we get a first glimpse of just how young Tom was when he turned. George and Nina have got over the shock of finding out about the baby and are now focused on trying to find out if the baby will survive the change with the full moon fast approaching. That leads them to seek out Tom to see if he knows anything, what they find is a rather unfriendly, axe-wielding McNair who tells them they can't help them. Tom thinks otherwise and visits them that night to leave a gift for Nina, Mitchell catches him and understandably over reacts given the threat of the 'wolf-shaped bullet' hanging over his head. Blood is drawn before McNair arrives to break up the fight and we find out he isn't the biggest fan of vampires, the way he sees it is blood for blood and he intends to collect from Mitchell for drawing Tom's.
After Tom tells them that he was born a werewolf Nina has him visit her at the hospital to have some tests ran, she is not confident that McNair has been completely forthcoming with Tom. After checking his DNA against missing persons she has to break the news to him that he wasn't born a werewolf and that he went missing when he was just a baby but the bodies of his parents were found, the victims of an apparent animal attack. He confronts McNair who has to finally be honest with him and tell him that he killed his parents while he was transformed but when he went back to the campsite he found Tom and knew ha had to take him in and raise him. As noble an act as that may have been after such a tragedy the misguided attempt to keep this all from Tom and his lies about the titular Pack they have been supposedly tracking prove too much for Tom and he flees the hospital.
With George tackling a somewhat serious story this week the light comic relief falls to Annie, at least the small amount there is in this overtly dark and serious episode. Said comic relief is provided in the form of trying to figure out the nuances of un-dead and dead-dead sexy time. Annie gets a little frustrated with Mitchell's lack of reaction 'downstairs' to their make out session. Leading to an hilarious attempt at dirty talk from Annie, it makes you wonder how she ever got any action if this is her a-game. She does come up with another plan, a plan that anyone could see was doomed from the start, she wants Mitchell to pull a girl in the club take her back to their place and do the nasty so she can experience it with him psychically. Yeah cause that sounds like a stellar idea. The result isn't quite what she expected when the more aroused Mitchel gets the more animalistic he becomes until he can't take it anymore and the fangs come out ready to drink her dry. Annie manages to stop him before he can kill her but it does hit home just how hard it is for Mitchell to do what he does everyday, and even though he struts around seemingly full of confidence he could actually be the most vulnerable house member. You can't help but think that regardless of how Annie and the others see his past for his own sanity the truth will have to come out eventually.
Mitchel decides to see just how much of a threat McNair could be to him while the others are at the hospital with Tom, what he finds doesn't exactly assuage any fears. It seems McNair's problem with vampires goes a lot farther back than his first encounter with the dog fight vamps. With this threat hanging over his head Mitchell reaches out to Richard in an attempt to have McNair picked up and thrown back into the 'dog' fights. Plans motivated by fear never do seem to work out the way you want them and this is no different, when the vampires turn up to pick up McNair they find Tom instead, along with Nina and George fight to the death it's up to Mitchell and McNair to put their differences aside and save the day.
What follows is one of the best sequences of Being Human so far. McNair and Mitchell attack the vamps and manage to free the three captives, now with 4 werewolves all in the process of changing it's a bloodbath for the vampires. After Richard warns Mitchell of the retribution coming from the old ones for his refusal to leave and his actions now he is quickly dispatched by a mean looking half changed McNair. The scene closes with Mitchell forced to lock himself in the cage with Annie while the 4 wolves fight to get inside. Everyone is unscathed the next day, physically at least, you can still see the guilt weighing heavily on Mitchell for his part in the guys being taken. McNair and Tom leave but not without a chilling parting shot to Mitchell.
Another stand out episode for season 3. The acting was spot on, Robson Greene was a no-brainer to play McNair and his portrayal of the tough-as-nails, meanest dog on the block is perfect. Tovey was able to slip into his serious acting shoes pretty well and the emotional range being shown by Turner week in and week out is a treat to watch. With Richard gone now that storyline seems mostly tied up but I can't help but feel that Emma will show up for a revenge appearance before seasons end. The McNair/Tom story also seems to be tied up now, hopefully they will make another appearance down the line but it doesn't seem as solid a prospect as Emma's reappearance for me. I don't think it was specifically addressed but it was implied that all was well with the baby after the full moon. I'm not sure the whole baby subplot was needed to be honest and call me cynical but I can only see it going one of three ways, either it ends in tragedy and the baby doesn't survive something wolfy further down the road, it ends with Nina taking the baby away or it ends with the baby joining the group which I think would alter the dynamic too much so soon after the edition of Nina. I can give the writers the benefit of the doubt that they have something fulfilling in mind for all us viewers out there but I guess we will just have to wait and see.
One thing that is known about the future is that Herrick will be returning next week and by the looks of it he is a shadow of the vamp we knew, kinda bat-shit crazy too. What will it mean for the gang and how did he find them in Wales when he doesn't seem to be in control of even half a marble? I dunno but I can't wait to find out.
No comments:
Post a Comment