Review: Being Human 4.8: The War Child

Gatiss is good as the impressive Mr. Snow.

"These eyes have looked upon pharohs.... upon the Son of the Carpenter.... and now they have to look at you." Mr. Snow to Cutler.

No real surprises came from this finale, but it did contain a few good character pieces. It felt like it was trying to be a normal episode but was stymied by its own nature as a finale, and I didn't really feel the tension that I needed to. Even when Being Human's finales were written badly, the stakes were high. Here the prophetic nature of this series' threat meant that it felt like they had plenty of time to sort themselves out.
     The Old Ones finally arrived, as it was revealed that the prophecy stated that Eve's death would destroy the vampires instead of saving them. While Tom worked on making a home-made explosive to destroy the Old Ones, Cutler dealt with his rejection by coming round to Honolulu Hights and trying to kill Eve. He was staked by a lamentful Annie. Hal, still fighting his addiction, was met by the evil Mr. Snow (Mark Gattiss), who tried to pull him over to the dark side. As Tom handed Eve over to the Vampires for her own safety, Alex tried to solve her unfinished business with Annie. Hal arrived with a bomb to try and get over his addiction and save the world, but Annie arrived with Alex just in time and got the main trio out of there, killing the baby and Mr. Snow and saving the world from immenent invasion.
     Mark Gattiss I expected to be terrible, but his portrayl was easily one of the best things about the episode - cruel, potent and deliciously creepy. His put-downs toward Cutler were Being Human gold and his exchanges with Hal were excellent. Werewolf Milo was less well-expressed, and he didn't seem to go anywhere. Alex improved by a vast amount this week, as we saw her working in very different situations, although it seemed a tad off when she and Annie had "ghost lessons." They felt much more like they were excercising another episode concept in the middle of this finale, and it had to be rushed in because Annie was going to go soon.

Alex joins the team as the new Ghost.

     About that. This is the woman who turned down the Door. Who made the people in purgatory scared. Who managed to drag her exorcisor into Purgatory with her, and then came back. This is the ghost who evaporated into nothing and then fought back through sheer will. And she just committed casual infanticide. I wanted Annie to go, desperately so, but I thought that it would have been done with a great more pizzaz than it ultimately was. This character, who we have followed through thick and thin for four years, disappears in a heart-beat. I wasn't really an Annie fan, but I recognised her importance in the Being Human universe and I was sad to see her go in such a pathetic way.
      The previews heralded this as the best finale Being Human has ever had, and in terms of character it was. But ultimately, The War Child was totally devoid of any tension, any suspense or any real drive. Our character just seemed to lull around for an hour instead of actually getting down to business, and the reliance on the Prophecy meant that when we did get our resolution, there were absolutely zero visible consequences. A fifth series has been commissioned, and I shall be watching, but as the beginning of a new era for Being Human, this hasn't been a powerful start.

Thanks.