Review: Being Human 3.4: The Pack

Annie supports Mitchell after he catches werewolf Thomas

After an uneasy start, Being Human meets its half-way point with a newfound gusto, mixing the tones of the previous two series' while capitalising on a lot of aspects we're only just familar with. This episode in particular dealt with the tale of Mad Dog MacNair, giving newfound significance to everything that happened in Episode One. For the first time so far in this particular series, all of the subplots feel equally worthy of attention, and the balance between comedy and drama is pitched perfectly.
     Nearing full moon, and George and Nina are out in the woods, looking for Thomas, whom George saw last month. They track the scent back to the MacNair's motorhome in the woods, where they've broken down. MacNair tries to keep Thomas (Michael Socha, whose awfully familiar voice made this feel like an episode of Misfits in places) away from Nina, as apparently the teenager is getting hormonal. After sneaking into the house at midnight to give Nina a gift, Mitchell catches him and both Macnairs end up staying there until after Full Moon. Problem is, MacNair is a vampire killer, and Mitchell's paranoia from his purgatory visit drives him to not only search through the motor home, but to return to Richard and Emma's, where he advises them to take MacNair for a dogfight.

Richard and Emma prepare for the fight.

     Meanwhile, at the hospital, Nina has been running some tests on Michael after noticing Werewolf scars on his back, which would suggest that he wasn't born a werewolf. The results come clean; Michael is not MacNair's son, and was simply a child he was forced to adopt after scarring him during the Full Moon. George, Nina and Michael go back to the motorhome to pack up, but the Vampires sent by Mitchell circle in, and Mitchell and MacNair have to form an uneasy alliance. At the fighting ring, Richard is killed by a werewolf Macnair, which makes me quite happy. The MacNairs' plot really stands as the dramatic backbone of the episode. This is where the real quality lies; the subtlty of MacNair's anger and Thomas' frustration; Michael Socha portrays a youth brought up by MacNair's brutality
     The "comedy" subplot once again was Annie's forté; her character has so much dramatic potential, potential wasted early on in the series' run. Even this subplot had transformed into something dark and ugly by the end. The basic idea was that Mitchell and Annie are having a little trouble dans la chambre, courtesy of the fact that Annie is, in fact, dead. After several hairbrained schemes, she comes up with a plan so lazy in script-writing terms it ceases to amaze - she now apparently has the ability to sense what other people are sensing as long as she is touching them, and uses this to feel a party girl while she has sex with Mitchell. Mitchell's past sex life hasn't really been that successful, in terms of, say, survival rate, and so I've very little idea why she would even suggest this in the first place.
     It was entertaining and ultimately well structured, giving us a strong dramatic story with a lot of appropriately comedic elements. Annie is really useless as a character and has been for a long time now, and is now hanging off of Mitchell like a wet sponge. Unless her character can regain some of her old depth, Being Human is going to become slowly more tedious and less of a weekly watch for me.

Becoming Human , Episode 3
Again, far too short. If five minutes is to become the standard, then I'd at least appreciate something actually happening during the course of the episode. Nothing really standing out at the moment.

Thanks.