Monday, February 4, 2013

Being Human: Series 5 Premiere (spoilers)


Here they are!  Our new trinity Hal, Alex and Tom!  God!  I love this show!  BBC I love you!  In a very Doctor Who fashion, Being Human has replaced it's entire original cast with a completely new one in a way that is not only engaging, but didn't even make me mad about losing Mitchell, Annie and George.  Don't get me wrong, I miss them with my whole heart and soul, but at the same time I've been able to move past their deaths and attach myself to the incoming cast.  Well done!  Here is a recap of the episode, followed by my conclusions on what this season has to bring.

Last night was Being Human's series 5 premiere episode entitled, The Trinity.  Now the hardest part of being a fan of this show is that as an American, I have to find a way to stream the damn thing.  Last year it was so easy to stream that I could watch the show on the same night it aired, but now-a-days with a huge government crackdown on pirating and streaming it's real work.  Took me almost a half hour to find a usable link, and then it froze halfway through, so I had to pause it for another half hour just so it would load back to where I had it.  That's commitment people!  BBC let Americans watch your shows online!  I would pay to watch, seriously I would.  But no, we get BBC America so we can watch Top Gear for 12 hours, and then Gordon Ramsey for another 12.  Thanks.

Okay, back to the show.  I was very impressed with this premiere episode for this cast.  In the opening sequence it's 1918 and find Hal in his bad boy days.  A cloaked woman runs into an impressive estate and finds Hal, shirtless, sleeping on a bed.  She goes to stake him, but it was all a trap and a sexy, slightly humorous fight ensues.  We soon find out the woman is Lady Catherine, a werewolf.  Hal calls for parley, and they both realized that somebody is fanning the flames in war between the vampires and werewolves, they call temporary peace to find out who.  While, I loved Mitchell, I really enjoy that Hal's back story is so long and full of endless possibility.



The show picks back up only a few weeks after Annie blows herself and Eve (and Mycroft) into the next world.  Hal is still tied to a chair, being spoon fed by the ever adorable baby faced Tom.  Seriously, Tom has the cutest puppy dog eyes, pun intended.  The place is a total sty, and it's tearing anal retentive Hal apart, he begs to be untied, at least to just clean up.  Alex and Tom decide to untie him permanently as long as he swears on Eve to behave.  After cleaning up, Tom informs Hal that they've lost their job at the cafe, so they go off on the search for a new one.

We then flash to this mysterious government organization that has taken Alex's body.  Mr. Rook has captured one of the oldest vampires who is ironically a little girl.  Now that all the old ones are dead (thanks Annie) order in the vampire world is a bit, well, screwed.  In a hilarious exchange in which this little girl swears and demands cigarettes, she tells him that there is one old one left, human sympathizer Hal.  In exchange for information about Hal, she will flown back home, to which she responds "Make sure they have crayons, so I can draw ponies and shit."  


Mr. Rook finds Hal interviewing for a job at a local rundown looking hotel.  He tries to convince Hal to lead the vampires.  Without the old ones there is chaos but he believes Hal could unite them, for all the free blood he could have.  Hal refuses, but Mr. Rook adds a bit of mystery to his offer.  This hotel has been notorious for suicides, he asks Hal to at least keep an eye on what may be going on.  In the dining room, we see another great Sherlock cross over sitting in a wheelchair.  There sits Captain Hatch, being a total grumpy tool, yelling at the waitstaff and scowling.  Played by the brilliant Philip Davis of Whitechapel fame, and let's not forget he was fabulous as the murderous cab driver in Sherlock's pilot.  Needless to say, my ears certainly perked up.  


Hal is not only shaken by his meeting with Mr. Rook, who waved some blood in his face, but to add insult to injury Alex calls him out on her death for the millionth time, bringing Hal to the edge.  Earlier in the episode there was an odd break where we meet Ian Crumb, a bumbling office idiot quite similar to Michael from the office.  He is told that he is on review and will have to re-apply for the job he already has.  Needless to say he is having a bad day, which only gets worse when he bumps into a very edgy  Hal... and then decides to pick a fight.  Bad movie Ian.  Hal manifests his inner vampire and Ian freaks the fuck out... only to be hit by a car.  What choice does Hal have?  He turns Ian and locks him in the basement.  In Being Human fashion, as Hal tries to hide his misdoing, Alex and Tom show up to have a chat.  In a desperate attempt to get Tom and Alex far away from Ian, he tells Alex he met with the man who stole her body and gives his location.

Since Alex is convinced that her unfinished business is to get her body to her family she goes to Mr. Rooks place of work.  Of course the good natured Hal must accompany her, because he was taught how to treat a woman.  She finds her file and learns that her body was already given to her family.  She was buried and everybody was already moving on.  She is devastated  and Tom does his best to comfort her.  As she is stealing her files, we see Mr. Rook in his boss's office.  The government is downsizing and Mr. Rook's special branch is being shut down.  Mr. Rook doesn't take this news well.

After Alex has had a good and proper meltdown over her stolen death, Ian finally gets their attention.  Alex and Tom find him tied to the radiator, begging to know whats going on, even though Hal has already explained it all.  Ian is still convinced he is tied up to be given a proper bumming by Hal on a later date.  Tom flips, convinced that Hal drank blood and storms off, Alex, pitying the bumbling Ian, let's him free.  Big mistake.  You see, Ian decides to go back to work, where he is immediately sacked.  Well, we've seen what happens when vampires get angry.


Tom immediately accosts Hal when he walks in the door, but once Hal explains himself he and Tom decided it best to keep Ian locked up, but whoops, Alex already let him out.  They find him at work, feasting on the blood of the employee who's replaced him as his coworkers stare in abject fear.  Ian has turned on that switch, that Vampire badness.  Oh, he is brilliant and now he is bad, bad, bad.  Hal threatens to destroy them both, holding a stake between both their hearts.  All it would take is one good chest bump and they are both done for, and I start getting really nervous.  Being Human has no problem killing main characters off.  "NOT YET!" I scream at my computer just as Mr. Rook and his crew come to clean up the mess.  Once it's all neat and tidy, Mr. Rook strikes some sort of deal with Ian, and you have to wonder what they are up too.  I'm sure it will be good.

Now, through the episode we keep flashing back to Hal and Lady Catherine who enlist the help of a ghost necromancer.  It turns out that it's the devil who is pinning the werewolves against the vampires, so once again we have a ghost, a werewolf and a vampire working together, and it's pretty obvious Hal has a thing for Lady Catherine.  


Using the body of a local mad man as a vessel, the three plan to do a blood ritual to trap the devil inside.  Once the ghost drinks the blood of a vampire mixed with the blood of a werewolf, the devil enters.  But we have a problem.  Hal was a coward.  He didn't use his own blood, he didn't complete the Trinity.  The Ghost and poor Lady Catherine meet their final ends and the devil escapes in a mad man's body.  Of course, it doesn't take much brain power to realize that the devil is our crotchety Captain Hatch, who at the end of the episode whispers into a waitress's ear.  She promptly commits suicide but not before leaving a message in her own blood.  He Will Rise.

I am so excited about this season, even if it does seem to be completely revolving around Hal.  We have two separate baddies, the devil in human form and the government with a raging vampire.  I hope there is more for Tom coming up because it seemed that he was a bit pushed to the side in this episode, and while Alex was a wee bit whiny I like that she's a tough cookie.  She is certainly not the motherly figure Annie was, that job seems to fall to Tom.  We also have Hal still getting over the blood lust and his boss at the hotel seems to be pining after him.  Never pine after a vampire, it never ends well, just ask Alex or Lauren from season 1.  In the end, I think these three have a good camaraderie especially Tom and Hal, Alex is still working on it.  I can't wait to see whats coming because this show never fails to shock!

1 comment:

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