Review: Being Human 3.1: Lia

Lia (Lacey Turner) lays out Mitchell's (Aiden Turner) future.

Being Human is a surprise-hit indie show, developed as a comedy-drama three years ago on student-oriented channel BBC Three. The premise was simple; a werewolf (the melodramatic George, played by Russell Tovey), a vampire (dark Mitchell, played by Aiden Turner) and a ghost (madcap trauma victim Annie, played by Lenora Crichlow) share a bedsit in Bristol and try their best at "being human". Series One tended to focus more on the comedy aspect, developing the storylines lightly and ending with a vampire-empire centred finale. The expanded second series upped the ante by adding George's accidental werewolf girlfriend Nina (Sinead Keenan) and finishing with a riproaring two episodes, in which Mitchell let himself go and killed a train-passage's worht of people and Annie was exorcised into Purgatory.
     That's not necessarily to say that the finale was good; it was far too convenient and rushed, relying more on a sort of awe factor rather than having any skill. Regardless, Series Three, which brings with it a move to Barry Island in Wales, needs to tackles the issues it left behind. Thus it begins, with three distinct storylines.

"I saw another one. Another one of us."

     Our main plot sees a depressed Mitchell forced to go into Purgatory to retrieve Annie. There, he is guided through his past killings by strange guide Lia (a wonderful Lacey Turner, playing a much more chirpy version of her character in Eastenders). After seeing over 100 years worth of killing, Mitchell finally arrives at the Carriage, where Lia reveals that she was in seat E12, and makes him see the error of his ways. He demands punishment for his actions (kinky...) but she releases Annie anyway, on the condition that he knows that he will be killed by "a wolf-shaped bullet". I'm very glad that the producers used an episode to sort this out, and didn't simply sort it out in five minutes as has been done before in some other shows. It's also a good character study of Mitchell, a character for whom we've had paradoxical development.
     Rather strangely for Being Human, this week we had a Guest Plot of sorts. Werewolf father and son, known only as MacNair (played by Robson Green and Micheal Socha, brother of Lauren Socha, respectively), live a quiet life in Barry. As it's nearing the full moon, a group of vampires (who have a terribly rascist attitude towards other Specials) kidnap Daddy MacNair and make him rip up an innocent bystander. Elsewhere, George is out doing his Werewolf preparations in the forest and runs into Thomas MacNair, who he chases until he ends up arrested by police (who suspect him of dogging). Nina is forced to come to his rescue and they transform together. These two lines were played off against each other, with brilliant tension. Yet again, the effects used for the werewolf transformation sequences is animatronic rather than artificial, which makes it more realistic in comparison to the recent US remake's CGI.

George (Russell Tovey) sees Thomas (Michael Socha).

     As to guest stars, this episode's were a consistantly brilliant bunch. Lacey Turner was clearly having fun with the part, bringing a light-hearted complacancy underlay with madness, as well as a flexibility when made to be serious at the end. Big-time actor Robson Green does his stuff, with an underrated portrayl of a bitter family man driven to the edge. Michael Socha follows in his sister's footsteps, a brilliant start to his career.
     This opener is the strongest so far in terms of drama, but it does have its flaws. The George and Nina storyline seems mundane and simply a way of moving them around; it's not like we haven't seen the "need to find a place to transform, NOW!" situation before. In the end, the only thing that line brought to the table was a few injections of absurdity and sex to the preceedings, as if BBC Three don't thing the students can handle their absence. There was also a pretentious voiceover at the end from Annie. Seriously, VOs are a no-no for a big drama, especially when badly spoken by Lenora bloody Crichlow.
     In light of that, this opener certainly could have been stronger in a few areas but overall it sets the tone of Series Three and the Purgatory line is an entertaining and dark character study of Mitchell, by the far the show's most interesting character. It's sort of a Rimmer situation; you identify that a character is strong and deserves emphasis, but not when that emphasis takes over everything else. It was a shame that the episode couldn't hit that needed balance. If it had, it would have gone from entertaining, to brilliant.

Thanks.