Review: Being Human 2.2

Hell tries to trap Annie.

Like Fades, the second series of Being Human doesn't have any real change in quality between the first two episodes. In a way the two are connected, and the tyle of the episode feels very much like this is a direct continuation from last week. It isn't particularly centric in any direction, but the main focuses are on Mitchell and Annie, which is a good note in my book. As the conclusion to the opener it ramped up the tension and introduced the series' themes in a way that made the previous episode feel rather more transitionary.
     In Annie's storyline, Saul begins to experience what he thinks are hallucinations; Terry Wogan talks to him on the television and tells him to tell Annie about his near-death experience. He does so and the two bond over the "corridor" after death, but Saul becomes violent and Annie is forced to teleport away from him. The hallucinations tell him that Annie refused death and persuade him to drink-drive. Later, at the hospital, Annie tries to guide Saul's spirit to the afterlife. It turns out that this situations has been a manipulation by the people from Hell to try and forced Annie through the door, but Saul regains his humanity and sacrifices himself for her. At the end of the day she returns to Hugh, who she realises loves her, and finds that she is now once again invisible to mortals. I thought this short-lived love triangle got a tad cheesy at times, but the idea of a autocratic manipulation of events to persuade a ghost to pass on is an intriguing one in concept at least, and provides Annie with character aims for the first half of this series.
     Mitchell was more preoccupied with the appearance of an old friend, Carl, who was the vampire that trained him to stay off blood. Carl is in hiding after bowing to his urges and drinking from his human lover, and the coroner who used to cover the vampire cases during Herrick's time is refusing to help. Against Nina's best wishes, George helps Mitchell to smuggle Carl off on a Merchant ship to South America (a theme in Being Human is to make the comparison between vampires and Nazis, escaping crimes by going to South America). That night Nina leaves, unable to cope with their lifestyle, and is taken in by Kemp. This storyline was trying to make us empathise with Nina, but because Carl was a genuinely good man who had made a mistake because of his biology, it felt like she was overreacting. Admittedly the fact she moved in at all after only a few months seems a tad silly, so her leaving didn't have that much effect either.

Carl and George talk ethics.

      Perhaps I'm just jarred by the change of pace. These first two episodes have been heavy on the religious themes and deep contemplations of the nature of humanity, and that really doesn't feel right for what was previously a lighthearted comedy series with a few more serious undertones. Like the child entering its teens the show has thrown out the comedic lavour and instead fallen into full drama, which while not necessarily a bad thing is a tad off here.
     The second episode of this darker series feels like a conclusion to the premiere, and sets in stone the series' new approach to the subject matter at hand. It's tense and powerful but to regular viewers of the first series the change is very jarring and stands to the show's detriment in places. That isn't to say that I'm not enjoying it, but I'm doing so for very different reasons that as before.

Thanks.