Review: Being Human 2.3

Annie helps George get over Nina and help Hugh.

Decidedly better than previous weeks, 2.3 recovers from this series' early slump by providing serious drama on one end and heart-warming comedy on the other while still following this series' arcs. As Being Human often does, it places an absurdly close emphasis on the development of character and this serves to make both drama and comedy much more potent.
     Mitchell finally felt the fallout of last series' finale this week, as he gathered the vampires together to prevent them from killing further. Making a deal with corrupt police constable Ian Puleston Davies (his characters are all the same, and I can't really remember his name), he blackmails the coroner to reset the system that collapsed when Herrick died. Cara strays off the path by killing two bullies, and to prove his worth to the vampires he punishes her by brick to the teeth, and is hence proclaimed the Vampire Leader of a group operating out of the old funeral parlour. This storyline felt vaguely Shakesperean - Mitchell becoming leader sets the stage for the tragedy that will become him up until his end in Series Three. This was nicely punctuated with such dialogue as, "The king is dead, long live the king," which reinforced those connotations. There was also an interesting setup wherein we're made to wonder whether the instinctive Vampires or the cold-blooded Police were the bigger monsters.
     With Annie invisible and Nina out the door, George and Annie's storylines came together this week as a rather dickish George helped Annie to get disenchanted former love Hugh back together with an old girlfriend, Kirsty. To this end George becomes her boyfriend and intends to give her to worst date ever, but instead his "worst dates" are her favourite things to do (there was a particularly unfair dig at German cinema.) Eventually George breaks up with her by telling her that she has to get on with her life, and she rings Hugh. They kiss and make up, and the mortals live happily ever after. This storyline, in keeping with the main plot of the episode, made many references to a "regime change" in the lives of its characters. George had to move on from Nina, as Hugh had to move on from Annie and his girlfriend from herself. This focus on characters that would otherwise be extraneous is one of the myriad of reasons that I love this show. I genuinely felt for Kirsty within five minutes of her introduction. That there is good television.

"You're putting the system back into place."

     The episode's big reveal came with the CenSSA storyline, which as the backbone of this series is beginning to develop a life of its own. The man running the scientific side of the organisation was seen to hear a snippet of Mitchell's plan before George inadvertantly destroyed the microphone planted in their house. We'll meet him again much later in this series of reviews, when I review one of the DVD extras focussing on his web series. Kemp is told, and the episode ends with a meeting with Proffessor Jaggart, who is revealed to be Mitchell's latest flirt Lucy. This changes the dynamic entirely - we've got another instance of Dating Catwoman.
      2.3 was a step better than the seemingly two-part introduction because it focussed on a more specific theme running throughout the episode and threw in some lightheartedness to dilute the stodgy sense of pessimism. In other words, it managed to hit that perfect balance between comedy and drama, and that is exactly what Being Human needs to do.

Thanks.

NEXT WEEK: Nina sits in the Chamber, Annie learns about The Door and George meets someone new.