Review: Being Human 3.6: Daddy Ghoul

George meets the apparently late George Sands Snr. (James Fleet)

The passage of time and a worn and cynical view have resigned me to the fact that Being Human has uprooted from its comedy upbringings and now survives mostly as a quirky drama. Such was ever apparent in this week's significantly lighter outing, which managed to throw in a few more laughs alongside the now-usual dramatic slog. Series Three has now overcome its shakeyness and can be taken on its own merits - an increasingly enjoyable examination of human nature.
     This week's sitcom undertones came from established actor James Fleet, best known for his work as the loveable ditz Hugo Horton in Richard Curtis' Vicar of Dibley. Here he gives an appropriately straightforward performance as George's father, George Sands Snr. Having seen an add for his father's funeral in the local newspaper, George went to said funeral and encountered his father, whom he believed to be a ghost (thus the title). George is persuded that his father's unfinished business lies in the household that he was forced to leave three years ago after becoming a werewolf - his mother left Sands Snr. for an arseholish P.E. teacher (Danny Webb, who has also been in everything) because she thought he wasn't exciting enough. After an impromtu meeting with a bag of crisps reveals that George Snr faked his death, George and Nina manage to convince him to go round and win his wife back.
      Fleet and Webb are fighting not only for their in-story wives, but also for the best comic performance: Webb as the ridiculously angry and obnoxious ex-P.E. teacher; Fleet as the understated, tragic cosmic plaything. In the end it's Fleet's rise from insignificance that makes him stand out in this episode, as is right for the eponymous character.

Nancy speaks with a deranged Herrick.

   Meanwhile, Mitchell and Annie are suffering the consequences of Nina's anonymous tip-off last week, as detective Nancy (Erin Richards) comes-a-knocking, asking about the Box-Tunnel-20. She's quickly shooed away, but Herrick, whom Mitchell has been trying to make drink blood, is enthralled by the blood left by a gash on her leg. Determined to get to the truth, she visits again and while visiting the bathroom is nearly eaten by Herrick, who resists and shows her the book containing the Box Tunnel 20 newspaper clippings. Jason Watkins is yet again incredibly subtle in his acting style, every nuance of his inner dichotomy coming out on screen. He makes this subplot, and yet all of the other factors are working well in unison; Lenora Crichlow has gone back to her non-annoying persona and Aiden Turner's flexible despair is perfect.
     This week continued Being Human's streak of brilliance, throwing us a perfect salad of comedy and drama that puts this series' early episodes to shame. It's everything I could want in a comedy drama - fun and tense in equal measure. I'm quite hoping that this brilliant run lasts us through to the finale, which creeps ever nearer.

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Gettin' that Friday Feeling

Just thought I'd drop by to announce that from next week, Being Human Series One and Two will be reviewed on Fridays, replacing my Misfits reviews.
    I've also dropped my Outcasts reviews permanently, although things do look to be getting better in the long run. Ashes to Ashes reviews will resume as promised next week.

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Review: Being Human 3.5: The Longest Day

A frightened and confused Herrick

Pure f*****g gold. I must say, my expectations for this episode were waivering slightly - the decision to "resurrect" Series One villian Herrick at the end of the last series was very rushed and, as we've seen, has taken quite a while to pay off. But pay off it has, and this episode excells in delivering a perfect mix of all the themes that Being Human holds to its heart. There weren't any sudden jumps in tone or attitude; everything flowed into one another and made for a powerful experience. Add in the opportunity for some fan-speculation, and you've got yourself the perfect formula.
     While wandering around near the acute psychiatric ward, George notices Herrick and is visibly shocked. Somewhat luckily for him, Herrick has absolutely no idea who or where he is. After alerting Nina, the two, hoping to avoid the police photographing the vampire, take him home and pretend that he's Nina's uncle Billy, an identity that Herrick seems to accept. Annie and the two Werewolves, while at first cautious, eventually decide that he's harmless company for the moment. A paranoid Mitchell has other ideas, and is hell bent on either staking Herrick or finding out how he was ressurrected.
      Two unlikely visitors arrive (seperately) to spoil Mitchell's rampage - manic social worker Wendy (Nicola Walker, whose comic relief character not only sews together the episode but stands out as realistic and wonderfully understated) who has arrived to check up on "Uncle Billy"'s care, and then Cara (an ex-regular Vampire played by Rebecca Cooper, in one of the more sympathetic portrayls of her character). Mitchell finds out from Cara that Herrick was resurrected by her blood, and upon learning that Herrick (who now only knows her as "that woman that bled on me") is disgusted by her she stakes herself.

Wendy. "Bloody Druids on the Motorway"

     Wrapping up, Wendy is sent away nicely by Nina after a really quite fun exchange. Herrick is starting to get suspicious after realising that Annie was invisible to the social worker, and later finds Mitchell's book of newspaper clippings about his activities that he requisitioned off of Grahame, and shows it to perceived Niece Nina, who in her anger at Mitchell informs on him to the Box Tunnel 20 helpline. Meanwhile, George has confronted Mitchell about his mad behaviour and threatens to permanently end their friendship if he stakes Herrick. Mitchell "realises" to himself that the Wolf-shaped bullet could be Nina, who already hates him with a passion.
     Following on from last week's lessons about the Pack, George and Nina started to act a lot more pack-like in nature, ganging up on Mitchell who they perceived as a potential threat to their unborn child. Following internet theories, Herrick himself didn't seem to be able to smell the two Werewolves, and made many, many self-referential puns about dogs ("Come on, throw the dog a bone", etc.) as if to suggest that his murder by George's claws had left him with something more than amnesia.

Herrick's rushed "resurrection".

     The subtlety and wit in this week's script was amazing, and so was the tremendously powerful and damn flexible acting that put it to screen. This is, I must say, the best episode of the series so far, no doubt assisted by the acting talents of the understated Nicola Walker and the menacing presence of Jason Watkins as Herrick. Good bloody job.

Becoming Human, Episode Four
Ok, now that I'm over the whole time thing, I can take a look at the episode critically. Like usual, we didn't progress much past a single scene, but that scene did manage to get across a decent coformplexity of character across the spectrum for all three characters. The only actor whose a bit rusty is surprisingly the most experienced; Craig Roberts felt at times like he was just reading his lines.

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Break

As I break from school I too break from reviewing for a week. Outcasts will likely be reviewed in a four-parter next Friday; Lost and Ashes to Ashes will be resumed after the break.

As far as I am aware, Josh will still deliver his weekly dose of No Ordinary Family on Wednesday, so you should have something to entertain yourselves with.

Thanks, Archie.

Josh: No Ordinary Family: Episode Seven (review)

NO ORDINARY MOBSTER
JIM/GEORGE: After failing to imprison mobster; Luka, George enjoys himself at his own surprise birthday party before taking home colleague; Amanda. As the pair arrange a date Amanda is shot down and George assumes it is the mobster who he threatened to bring down his gang leader. So without asking Jim gets invovled and takes matters into his own hands confronting Luka, but Jim's mask slips and Luka sees him. Luka then tries to get out of his jail sentence by informing district attorney George that he saw what he thinks is the police's 'super-cop'. Yet, the pair strike a deal, and Jim who had previously feared for both his and family's lives, is spared. But when Luka is taken to his cell, the mysterious Watcher who also knows Jim is involved in some way, kills Luka to stop him telling about the supers.

STEPAHNIE: Dr King attempts to stop Steph carrying on the research of a late doctor who used to work at Global Tech. He was researching super powers alike the Powells' but Dr King tells Steph that this work led to Dr Poulsen's suicide later on. This is confirmed when Steph visits the doctor's disabled wife who informs her that Poulsen came home one night, injected them both and they had superpowers for a while. Then the powers faded and the doctor, in insanity, killed himself as he saw his wife's ability to walk again disappear. But, behind Steph's back, Dr King tellls Watcher to spy on the Powell's to see what they know. Also, it seems the Poulsen's story about losing powers leading to death is a lie.

JJ: When Katie's internet date with a stranger goes wrong and she is stood up, JJ soon steps in. Steph has asked Katie to further JJ's intellect by tutoring him but he has other ideas. He creates a faux identity online and organsises a date with Katie but of course he chickens out of telling her the truth and leaves her alone. But soon enough, the Watcher appears and pretends to be Katie's date - Will.

DAPHNE: When a boy at school suddenly splits from his moaning girlfriend, Daphne agrees to go on a date with him to the Modernism art museum, where the girlfriend didn't want to go. Daphne has no idea about Modernism so borrows her dad's art books, makes JJ quick-read them and she is able to hear what he's reading. So, the date goes successfully but Daphne is immediately broken-hearted when the boy gets back together with his ex-girlfriend the next day.

Finally, the return of the series story arc provides viewers with the best episode of No Ordinary Family so far. My predictions about this Guggenheim written installment was correct. Though it acted as a preview to the a major storyline it did brilliantly well as a normal episode. It was fantastic to see Romany Malco's George be given an episode for himself to gorge on with a surprise relationship. Also, it's great to see the Powell's secret powers being observed by the mysterious, dangerous Watcher who I've been wondering about for a while. Plus, the story foretold by Mrs Poulsen was something I almost believed, it would of been interesting if the secret was kept silent for a little longer. Instead the suspense of wondering if the Powells would go mad, damn you ABC for ruining mystery. Anyway, sucessful characterisation and gradual expansion of Daphne in the series.
Thanks, Josh.

News: Assorted Discontinuations.

I very much doubt that I'll be reviewing the rest of these series' of Waterloo Road, although I'll still be on the lookout for a particularly good or bad episode.
     The Gene Hunt Time Travel Bonanza will also be going on a short break for a forthnight, after which I can look upon it with fresh eyes. Ashes to Ashes is particularly a tedious series to review, and doesn't get really interesting until later on.
     For the next two weeks, I'll be reviewing Outcasts on the Friday slot in place of Misfits.

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Review: Being Human 3.4: The Pack

Annie supports Mitchell after he catches werewolf Thomas

After an uneasy start, Being Human meets its half-way point with a newfound gusto, mixing the tones of the previous two series' while capitalising on a lot of aspects we're only just familar with. This episode in particular dealt with the tale of Mad Dog MacNair, giving newfound significance to everything that happened in Episode One. For the first time so far in this particular series, all of the subplots feel equally worthy of attention, and the balance between comedy and drama is pitched perfectly.
     Nearing full moon, and George and Nina are out in the woods, looking for Thomas, whom George saw last month. They track the scent back to the MacNair's motorhome in the woods, where they've broken down. MacNair tries to keep Thomas (Michael Socha, whose awfully familiar voice made this feel like an episode of Misfits in places) away from Nina, as apparently the teenager is getting hormonal. After sneaking into the house at midnight to give Nina a gift, Mitchell catches him and both Macnairs end up staying there until after Full Moon. Problem is, MacNair is a vampire killer, and Mitchell's paranoia from his purgatory visit drives him to not only search through the motor home, but to return to Richard and Emma's, where he advises them to take MacNair for a dogfight.

Richard and Emma prepare for the fight.

     Meanwhile, at the hospital, Nina has been running some tests on Michael after noticing Werewolf scars on his back, which would suggest that he wasn't born a werewolf. The results come clean; Michael is not MacNair's son, and was simply a child he was forced to adopt after scarring him during the Full Moon. George, Nina and Michael go back to the motorhome to pack up, but the Vampires sent by Mitchell circle in, and Mitchell and MacNair have to form an uneasy alliance. At the fighting ring, Richard is killed by a werewolf Macnair, which makes me quite happy. The MacNairs' plot really stands as the dramatic backbone of the episode. This is where the real quality lies; the subtlty of MacNair's anger and Thomas' frustration; Michael Socha portrays a youth brought up by MacNair's brutality
     The "comedy" subplot once again was Annie's forté; her character has so much dramatic potential, potential wasted early on in the series' run. Even this subplot had transformed into something dark and ugly by the end. The basic idea was that Mitchell and Annie are having a little trouble dans la chambre, courtesy of the fact that Annie is, in fact, dead. After several hairbrained schemes, she comes up with a plan so lazy in script-writing terms it ceases to amaze - she now apparently has the ability to sense what other people are sensing as long as she is touching them, and uses this to feel a party girl while she has sex with Mitchell. Mitchell's past sex life hasn't really been that successful, in terms of, say, survival rate, and so I've very little idea why she would even suggest this in the first place.
     It was entertaining and ultimately well structured, giving us a strong dramatic story with a lot of appropriately comedic elements. Annie is really useless as a character and has been for a long time now, and is now hanging off of Mitchell like a wet sponge. Unless her character can regain some of her old depth, Being Human is going to become slowly more tedious and less of a weekly watch for me.

Becoming Human , Episode 3
Again, far too short. If five minutes is to become the standard, then I'd at least appreciate something actually happening during the course of the episode. Nothing really standing out at the moment.

Thanks.

Review: Lost 4.6: The Other Woman

Note: If you want to understand these reviews, I'd direct you to Lostpedia's Season Four portal. All of the images in my Lost reviews have been taken from Lostpedia, and the plot there goes into greater detail.

Juliet and Goodwin in 2004.

After last week's episode, can anything beat it? This week focuses on Doctor Juliet Burke, an ex-Other (island native) that has jumbled up with the Survivors. She exists for really no other reason than to form an irritating Love-Quadrangle between Her, Jack, Kate and Sawyer, one that serves little purpose to the plot in the long run and one that gets on my nerves every time I see it (having already reared its head a few times this season.) Despite that, Juliet's episode turns out to be surprisingly intelligent and a fascinating watch, if still plagued by the mundanities of her character.
     Juliet's present story concerned the exploits of freighter scientists Daniel and Charlotte, who've disappeared off into the forest with a bag full of gas masks. Knowing exactly where they're going, Juliet follows them, with Jack and Kate close behind. Along the way, there's some tedious talking where Juliet refuses to talk about where she's going. When Juliet gets to the destination, known as The Tempest Station (about half-an-hour before the other two) she thinks she's come to stop them releasing the poisonous gas that Other-leader Ben Linus used to kill the island's other inhabitants back in 1989. Shame; turns out they're actually here to stop the gas themselves, which they do after some tense countdown action. That all sorted, Jack and Juliet have a snog. Yawn.

"This should get you started"

     Elsewhere in the present, and questions from other members of the group push Locke to get some answers out of Ben, who seems happy to oblige, as long as he's allowed to sleep in his own bed and eat with utensils. I always love these prisoner scenes between Locke and Ben because while Locke may seem in control, the subtlty in Michael Emerson's acting always carries across his sense of subliminal power. Ben is, in fact, the real star of this episode, as we'll see.
     Our flash timeline is this season's only use of the conventional flashback formula, which makes it a bit of a rarity. It does, however, provide us with some much needed Contunuity Porn, by sending us back to the time when the Others ruled the island. Juliet arrives as a means to try and fix the island's fertility problems (anyone conceived on the island unintentionally kills themselves and their mother from with the wound). While still attending mandatory therapy sessions with the fiesty Harper Stanhope, Juliet strikes up a friendship (and then a relationship) with her husband, Goodwin. Harper confronts Juliet about the affair, but says she's more worried for her husband's safety because of Ben. Ben, you see, has an incredible crush on Juliet and would be mighty pissed if anyone got in the way. Ergo, Ben sets it up so that Goodwin is killed by some of the survivors of 815 (as he was, two seasons ago), and then tells Juliet that she is his. It's a nice contrast between characterisations; while both have that underlying sense of authority, the past Ben is much more desperate and impulsive, while the present Ben has learnt from his mistakes and takes all the time in the world.

Boring.

     Aside from the Quadrangle-stroking, my main pet peeves this episode were two particular characters, Kate and Charlotte, who were competing to see who could be more annoying - Kate, which her redneck attitudes, and Charlotte with her terribly acted voice and general douchebaggery. I know they try, but Charlotte in particular simply has no reason for being so obnoxious. It makes watching Lost painful, which it should never be.
     While the episode should have focused more on Ben than its own central character, The Other Woman was entertaining and intriguing, managing to satiate the fangirls' (or fanboys', I don't know) appetite for the silly Quadrangle while also giving us some excellent acting from Micael Emerson and a fun, continuity-filled backstory for Juliet. It could have been slightly smoother round the edges, but when it did something right, it was very good.

Thanks.

Review: Misfits 1.6

"If you could just see yourselves! It breaks my heart. You’re wearing cardigans! We had it all. We fucked up bigger and better than any generation that came before us. We were so beautiful! We’re screw-ups. I’m a screw-up, and I plan to be a screw-up until my late 20s, maybe even my early 30s. And I will shag my own mother before I let her… or anyone else take that away from me!” The tailend of Nathan's rooftop speech.

Nathan, in his finale suit, goes it alone.

Having used its five weeks to develop its characters without doing anything with them, there is very little plot left to form a finale. So, in a strange turn,1.6 gives us one of our first independant storylines that manages to be both conclusive and downright epic. A brilliant and appropriate twist on the Zombie genre, Series One's finale celebrates all of the series' attitudes while laying down plenty of leeway for Series Two.
     Given the power to control people through words, the all-sensible Christian Rachel has begun "recruiting" teenagers into a new society, known as Virtue. At first Virtue, with their pale and sensible style, simply bemuse the Misfits, but after Alisha and Curtis are turned, the others decide to do something. They try and rescue to two converts but Kelly is turned, Simon locks himself away with the frozen corpse of Sally and Nathan is cornered by the zombie-like converts. After being saved by the first appearance of SuperHoodie, Nathan apologises (to no avail) to a converted Kelly and then comes up with a plan. Dressing in a grey suit (the same one as in the Series Two finale, funnily enough) he sneaks into the Virtue-controlled community centre and takes Rachel hostage, culminating in an extraordinary speech (seen above). However, Rachel makes to escape, and in the struggle both she and Nathan fall to their deaths. In a shocking cliffhanger (as far as we were concerned at the time) it turns out that Nathan is in fact immortal and alive inside his coffin.
     This episode, while being a little more plot heavy than the rest of the series, still managed to fit in a lot of character development across the board, with the unfortunate exception of Curtis (who, as we'll see, has begun his evolution into walking plot device). Nathan and Kelly shared some touching moments and she was visibily distraught after his death, Simon giving her a compliation of all the videos he had recorded with Nathan on them. Simon, still mentally recovering from his accidental murder last week, became a little more secure and authoriative, gaining some well-deserved respect amongst the group. Alisha's transformation allowed us to take a look at her insecurities, with her "reasons" for having changed feeling a lot more sincere than anyone else's.

Rachel "recruits" using her persuasive power.

    The Virtue organisation itself is a fascinating concept philosophically. Who could complain about a system that makes people into productive members of society? The same system, unfortunately, that robs people of not only their free-will, but their ability to make up their own minds of subjective topics. It was a little disappointing that the plotline of this first series has been dumped so quickly, but the fact that the show instead gave us an intelligent social commentary is an idiosyncratic sign of its brilliance.
     A slightly irrelevant finale, Misfits 1.6 ties up Series One but leaves a lot open for the show's return, tempting us like a fish intently following a small grub on a fishing line. Overman delivers exceptional character development and dialogue in an extremely watchable hour of drama. 1.6 also ties up my Misfits reviews until the show's return in Autumn, so I'll see you then!

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Opinion: Waterloo Road 6.12

Ruby wades in.

The hubub surrounding single-gender teaching having evaporated overnight, Waterloo Road ticked on by like it usually does, continuing its subplots and throwing a few more specific (all the while ridiculously melodramatic) threads at us. It's maybe symptomatic of Waterloo Road's format, but each week's exaggerated plots are getting tiring by this point. Take this week, an incident claimed by one of the staff to be the "worst thing Waterloo Road could have seen in its life". Said character obviously wasn't around for the suicide pacts, explosions, stabbings or attacks by a JCB.
     Our two main plots unique to this episode were interesting but not focussed or refined enough to stand out. Miser English teacher Grantly Budgen has been getting the raw edge of the saw recently, his wife dying slowly of Alzheimers and his flat neglected and (a bizzarely TV version of) untidy. A worried Ruby decides to help out, so steals his house keys, fills his fridge with food and cleans his entire house from top to bottom, all in half an hour, as if she were some form of cleaning Superwoman. Elsewhere, a student named Billie gained the sympathy of ex-student and secretary Franscine by claiming that her mother wanted to adopt her teenage baby, in a scenario that eventually resulted in an insane Billie hanging her baby over a stairwell.
     Along the sidelines, our weekly subplots persist. Francesca and Jonah continued to flirt with more innuendo than a Carry On film, Josh got jiggy with Weirdy Pervert Nate and Jess's inquiries to Bex about the mysterious Hodge resulted in one of her trademark tantrums. After being subliminally "hyped" for the first term of Series Six, it's a real disappointment that Bex's character has turned into this walking tantrum dispenser.
    I think I might stop reviewing every episode of Waterloo Road in the long term because there just isn't enough notable differential in quality between episodes. The show's idiosyncracies make it decent mid-week entertainment, and there's nothing to comment on unless otherwise. 6.12 was a standard episode of the show - an entertaining hour of madness and melodrama.
  
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