Review: Being Human 2.4

George's boss gives him hassle. He is the lesser of two evils.

Unlike the relatively tight first series, by episode Four the second series has already hit the mid-series slump. Despite touching upon certain aspects of the storyline, the overall tone was one of filler, mainly due to George's storyline, which I find absolutely horrid.It did however have some decent performances and saw the end of the arc that's been chasing Annie for the past few weeks - maybe a little early, mind.
     Annie stumbles upon a dying bum and is nearly taken by the door once again. Luckily for her, the door is closed by fellow ghost Sykes (Bryan Dick, Eric and Ernie), a fighter pilot from the Second World War. Annie appeals to him to teach her how to fend off Hell, and after some coaxing due to his guilt issues he agrees to do so. Throughout the episode Annie iseen to learn how to detect Hell's broadcasts, read people's auras and eventually shut the Door forever. This storyline lays the groundwork for the end of this series and the beginning of Series Three, but I do feel that the conquering of Hell itself (well, Purgatory) should at least feel more epic. Instead, this storyline feels more complimentary to the rest of the episode, which is a shame considering Annie's role as the strongest character of the first series. 
     Mitchell's stroyline was similarly complimentary, taking the more serious aspect of his storyline and turning it into a slightly comic one. After Ivan arrived at the new "dry" compound to mock his plans, Mitchell became inspired and started a Vampires Anonymous program and encouraged Ivan to join in order to encourage more of the Vampires to get clean together. Ivan sticks it out but by the end of the episode Mitchell is forced to betray the members' trust when Ivan admits that after 192 years he can't last even a few days without blood. Ultimately it felt like this part of the plot went nowhere, although it does stand as some nice foreshadowing for next week, when Mitchell starts to lean over the edge again.

Sykes (Bryan Dick) discusses Ghosthood.

     And the there's George. As far I as I'm concerned George is only well-written as an ironically human counterpoint for Mitchell and Annie, and in this series it doesn't work at all because he's still considered comic relief. Not only is it cringe comedy (read: not funny), it also doesn't fit in with the tone of this series at all. And to top it off, I find Russel Tovey really, really irritating in Series Two. The episode saw George attempting to move on from Nina after last week's conciliation by trying to control the Werewolf and ghet a better job. After buying a man-sized cage (thus being accused of BDSM) and taking drugs before a full-moon, George controls the wolf and is able to wake up in comfort. He gets a job teaching adults languages at a school, where he meets single mum Sam (Lucy Gaskell, Casualty) and his overbearing, patronising boss. After teaching his adult class swear words (and being talked down to by his boss) George starts exhibiting Tourette's like behaviour - uncontrollable swearing and agression, which he discovers is his inner wolf, angry at his inability to rage. Despite this, he and Sam are still able to flirt and actually get together. George's boss finally gets to him in a bathroom and he beats him half-to-death.
      Making a character that I already find irritating irrationally angry and yet brilliant with women is not the best way to make him endearing. At the moment I can of course compare with Fades, where the main characters are put down all the time. We're made to think of George as the hero here, and yet in these four hours he's been angry, abusive, melodramatic, whiney, ignorant and sometimes downright stupid. I don't see why I should like this character, and the fact that he's probably Series Four's protagonist is, foir me, frightening in itself.

Mitchell runs Vampires Anonymous.

     2.4 suffered from George's stroyline, which I don't find at all entertaining in the least due to unsympathetic characterisation. Elsewhere, Annie's stroyline ended in a way that it really shouldn't have and one that further undermined her character. That's what this episode did, really. While Being Human should be a character-driven show, it failed here because those characters were mismanaged and driven in very wrong directions.

Thanks.

NEXT WEEK: Jason Watkins returns (via flashback), Mitchell gets said flashback and there's yet more George stupidity.