Review: Being Human 4.6: Puppy Love

Allison (Ellie Kendrick) and Tom fall in love.

Puppy Love felt like it came from a place a lot earlier in Being Human's development, both within this series and in general. One of the main issues, really was that the Guest of the Week formula was copied and pasted over every main character (including the villain, bizzarely). But underneath all that there was a whole bunch of really fun characters and this is by far the best episode of Being Human I've seen in a long time.
     Tom was met by geeky female werewolf Allison, who's the school debating champion and managed to track them down based on Cutler's Youtube video. They go to talk to Cutler, and Allison is shocked by Tom's violent ways. Cutler gets a visit from the Vampire Head of Britain, Golda, which peeves him off a bit. Annie accidentally kills an old man, Emrys (Merlin flashback) and has to help his ghost solve his unfinished business. Culter plays the nice guy and tells Tom and Allison that Golda is the one who spread the video, telling Tom to go and kill her. Hal, trying to adhere to routine and avoid temptation, meets a strange woman, Alex, who insists on flirting with him, and they leave on bad terms.
     Playing "revision buddies," Tom teaches Allison how to stake vampires and she teaches him debating skills, in a Hallmark montage to S-Club 8's "Puppy Love". As Tom tells Hal that he can't help him because of Allison, and Alex pops in. While Hal hides, Tom organises a double date. Emrys reveals to Annie that his unfinished business is never having been kissed, which turns out to be a lie. They then find out that Emrys is really mad about his cheating wife. He gives a bitter confession to his wife, but the door doesn't appear. Alex turns up for the date, which turns out to be at a museum's tea shop. Cutler tells Golda to go to a warehouse to get a werewolf (setting her up for Tom), and at learning of his fellow's demise, Golda's gold-coloured pimp lets out a loud, melodramatic, Noooo! (He's obsessed with film clichés). As Tom goes off to kill the gimp, Hal tries to resist the temptation to murder Alex. After managing to kill the gimp, Allison tries to get it on with Tom but he's avoiding things. Tom, brought up by old-fashioned McNair, is put-off by her modern sexuality.

Hal tries to resist temptation.

     Golda gets wise to Cutler's tricks but Allison goes off alone to confront her. Before she can kill her, Tom comes with an emotional appeal for Allison. As she lets Golda go, she tries to murder her, so Cutler stakes her instead. Tom calls Alex to try and get Hal to talk to her, and he leaves a voicemail. Tom tells Allison that they can't see each other again, because he doesn't want to change her. At his request, Emrys and Annie spook his ex-wife, finishing his business and letting him pass on. The Woman then comes through the door, and asks Annie to come into the Afterlife, telling her that she's Eve. (This isn't a revelation, really.)
      I'm going to be honest; this is the most fun that I've ever had watching Being Human, and I'm serious about that. Even when it was a pure comedy, it wasn't as funny and as entertaining as tonight's episode managed to be. And yet at the same time, it was a complete mess - totally unfocussed, overstuffed to the brim and filled with aspects that just don't add up. Together? It. Was. Awesome.
     This was in part due to the character of Allison. Ellie Kendrick, known only for The Diary of Anne Frank, is a superb character actress and I fell for her geeky nymphomaniac almost immediately. Her character over all others gave their respective main character something decent to do, and Socha's final goodbye to her is damn heartbreaking. The way that the episode dealt with love in general was actually really interesting; Tom and Allison showed young love, Hal and Alex showed celibacy and temptation, Emrys showed the bitterness of divorce and Golda's gimps showed hedonistic melodrama. Every aspect of the admittedly overegged story showed a glorious mix of completely over-the-top characterisation and something uniquely human and special.

Emrys showed that not all bitterness is bad bitterness.

      Yeah, I can't be allowed to continue gushing. Despite how many cooks were at this broth, it was most certainly not spoilt and I found myself loveing every last second of it. I may have been blinded to its faults, but it pushed all my buttons and I'm willing to call this the best episode of Being Human ever made.

Thanks.

P.S. There was even a reference to Daddy Ghoul. I was wowed.