Review: Being Human 2.1

Gelvin prepares for the experiment.

The second series of Toby Whithouse's initially novel supernatural drama takes the themes of the original and ups the stakes with two extra episodes. Whether this works or not we'll decide along the way, but suffice to say that a mere two hours more allows for a lot more useless padding. So, I ask: What would happen if you took the most notable tropes from vampire films and twisted them so that the Vampire was the hero? This is what Being Human purports to do in this second series, although it's a lot cleverer than that in many ways.
     George and Nina are living together, with Nina keeping the secret of her new form away from George, who she fears might go mad from the guilt. Outside a pub where George is drowning his sorrows, he and Mitchell run into two fellow vampires, Ivan and Daisy (Amy Manson, whose career died with Outcasts), who attacked George because of his new celebrity status as Herrick's killer. While Daisy seduces George, Ivan tells Mitchell about the power vaccuum in the Vampire World he's created. Ivan's speeches are quite good here. Ivan and Daisy leave together as Nina reveals to Annie her lycanthropy and asks her to come with her to the first transformation. The grief here is portrayed realistically and the only off character is George, who's acting like a macho dick for some reason. Character development is one thing; this is another.
     Really, George spends the entire second series acting dreadfully out of character; he has an affair with Daisy, is unable to talk honestly to a grief-ridden Nina and upon her leaving is engaged to another woman within a few weeks. George's entire story arc for this series is terrible in my eyes, and while it doesn't necessarily get better or worse it certainly puts a dampener on this series.

Amy Manson struts into the series.

      After some moping and completely unrealistic characterisation in the context of the series, Annie announces that she's applied for a job at the local bar. Mitchell is as dismissive as I am, but Dick!George explains that he's probably only doing so because both George and Annie have found a "purpose" while he has not. He's no bloodlust - nothing to fight, nothing to protect. Mitchell calls him an idiot. I agree. Annie's Job interview goes well, gaining an admirer in boss and admirer Bowser, while Mitchell has a chance encounter with a cynical Doctor called Lucy. She's upset because she's moved here from a rich hospital in London (Lyndsey Marshal) who Mitchell manages to out-misery.
     Both George and Nina prepare for transformation, and we get a gory scene where we see our first female werewolf. At the same time, a test subject called Gelvin is being tested inside a compression chamber by a Mr. Kemp, who claims to be able to stop the transformation into a Werewolf. As Nina transforms, Gelvin is killed by the absurdly high pressure in a gory scene where the blood simply rushes from his body. Kemp cements his villainy by increasing the pressure and watching Gelvin die.
      Daisy meets a naked George in the woods and he gets his first decent moment in the episode. She taunts him and he questions her on why those that enjoy the supernatural want to make everyone else enjoy it too. She explains that there's no better way to experience the world than to just have fun. Then he bonks her, ignoring everything he'd just said. Great. Nina returns home and there's awkwardness when Mitchell reveals he knew all along. She berates him and then George returns home, remaining oblivious. Nina, with her enhanced Werewolf senses, smells Daisy's perfume and accuses George of having an affair. The scene together is quite tense and is easily Tovey's best performance in the episode itself as he channels the testosterone that the wolf in George has built up. In this context George's dickishness feels more like bittersweet irony at his ignorance of Nina's situation. She reveals her lycanthropy in what is the best scene in this particular series.

Bad hair day?

     Mitchell buys Lucy a goldfish and they flirt. A lot. Annie meanwhile meets Saul, and flirts with him as well. They get talking. Nina and George share prolonged looks. George sniffs out Daisy in the hospital, who's visiting her aged daughter preparing to kill her. He rejects her advances for the first time and then psychs her out of the murder and reduces Daisy to tears. George has grown up, and falls to tears in front of Nina in the hospital with his guilt. Annie invites Saul back to the House to use a phone, and the foursome come together in a scene that changes the tone back into quirky comedy. Ending the episode, the four are brought out of their house on an excuse and Kemp wanders around it, quoting from the Bible.
      Series Two stripped away the humour entirely, and this episode is an immediate demonstration of that. While it contains incredible dramatic scenes covering a wide range of interesting concepts, the sudden tonal shift is jarring and the impact on the characters is unmistakeable. Different shouldn't have to mean worse, but here it often feels a hell of a lot like it. George's plotline took a turn for the dark, stroking upon spousal abuse and the depravities of Human Nature, while Annie's storyline turned into a weird, non-funny sitcom. There's something wrong, in my eyes, when the villain of the piece is outshadowed by the inital stupidity of the protagonist, and that's what happened in this incredibly mixed bag. A surprising disappointment.

Thanks.