Review: Being Human 5.4: The Greater Good

Crom runs the gamut of emotions.

Like last week, The Greater Good was another of Being Human's tried and tested Guest Star Of The Week stories, but the wonderful thing about Series Five so far is that said stories have avoided being formulaic and have done wonders to advance our characterisations. This week was another blinder for Hal, as well as a conclusion piece for excellent guest star Ian Crom. Adding to that was the return of the sinister Captain Hatch and of Mr. Rook, now in a more villainous capacity.
    With the power going out at Rook's facility, he shipped inmate Bobby (Ricky Grover, Eastenders) over to the House in order to keep him satiated, while demanding that Hal go and find Crom, who has converted his assistant, Alan, and gone on a killing spree. Bobby takes to Tom, and the young werewolf is able to help him slowly readjust. Similarly, Hal tried to help Crom get clean. As part of his program, Crom tried to go on a date with Alex, which was sabotagued when she admitted her lack of interest and when a plot by Rook and Captain Hatch nearly saw him torn apart by Bobby. Crom tortures Hal in the cellar, causing Hal's evil persona to surface once more, revealing that Hal is losing control. Crom chooses to not become like him, and so drinks a vial of werewolf's blood, killing himself. Hatch whispers The Secret into Bobby's ear, and he kills himself, but Alex becomes suspicious of him.
     Crom's entire storyline has been a weird and often wonderful deconstruction of Being Human's analogy. The people we've previously seen try to quit blood have all been people of purpose - Mitchell was a soldier, Hal was an ancient Lord. Crom is a lonely, quite creepy man whose life before conversion didn't offer him much happiness, and thus the attempts to return him to that time offer him very little release. It was a subtle examination of Being Human's analogy between vampirism and addiction, and Crom's decision to either drink the werewolf blood or become a monster put me in the mind of Shutter Island and its contempories.

This guy keeps getting cast as thugs and idiots.
Give him a break, guys.

      Captain Hatch, after a notable absence last week, returned with a less grotesque but certainly more sinister role. Much like the devil of folklore, his subtle manipulation of Rook's desperation in order to attempt to eliminate Hal and Tom was quite interesting. I like that the series is picking up the pace, and I appreciate that there was a need to develop our new trinity a little more before getting knee-deep, but I had hoped that there would be a much more intense pace, and next week looks like it can deliver the pre-finale slamdown that we have been used to in series prior. I am really liking this series so far, and I just really hope that when it goes out it does so with a bang.

Thanks.

P.S. This Tuesday, I take a look at Being Human's pilot episode! So, er, put it in your calendars, I guess.