Those who watch Being Human primarily for the interactions between the three main characters probably weren’t too thrilled with tonight’s episode. Aside from one brief conversation between Aidan and Josh at the hospital, “Going Dutch” is reminiscent of the time all four members of Kiss released solo albums on the same day, with similarly uneven results. (Please, try to keep up with my timely pop culture references here.)
Josh’s storyline is the weakest of the three, which makes it the Peter Criss album of this tortured analogy. (OK, that’s not fair. To be honest, I’ve never listened to any of the Kiss solo albums, so it’s probably not a good idea to pursue this particular line of criticism any further—but I do have Ace Frehley’s cover of “New York Groove” on my iPod, and I’m here to tell you, it’s mighty fine.) The revelation of Nurse Nora’s pregnancy is not particularly startling, and Josh’s reaction is as predictable as the full moon every 28 days. We’ve seen the same dynamic play out between these two over and over, and it’s beyond soap opera at this point.
Sally treads some familiar ground as well, but at least she has a breakthrough before the hour is up. When Danny and Bridget bring a ghostbuster to the house in an attempt to exorcise her once and for all, Sally is finally able to take some control over her situation by entering the body of her would-be exorcist and revealing the circumstances of her death. Danny’s violent streak flares up once again, and fortunately, it seems, this time it’s enough to convince Bridget to get away from him before the cycle of violence repeats itself. Since the door to the next world doesn’t open up for her, we must assume—and by “we,” I mean those of us who haven’t watched the British series—that Sally has some other unfinished business in the land of the living.
Most of the action this week concerns the vampire war between Bishop and his clan and the elders led by Hegeman. The old schoolers aren’t too keen on Bishop’s plan to go public, which is understandable, since they’ve never had a chance to see True Blood, what with being cocooned in the barn all this time. Bishop’s ambitious plan to enslave humanity doesn’t have much support even among his own lieutenants, since Aidan is willing to surrender and go underground in order to save his friends, and Marcus is all too ready to throw Bishop under the bus and take over the Boston territory himself. All hell breaks out when Bishop reveals that the snacks he served to the elders were seasoned with juniper, which is apparently even worse than garlic and possibly almost as bad as cilantro. (Vampires hate cilantro. I’m pretty sure about this.) Three badass beheadings follow, but Aidan is able to rescue Hegeman and get him to safety.
The supporting cast shrinks by two as Rebecca, having learned of Marcus’ role in the chain of events that led to young Bernie’s death, stakes the traitorous vamp, then insists that Aidan do the same to her. This moment is played as jacked-up melodrama meant to wrench our collective hearts, but who among us ever really felt the whole Aidan-Rebecca tortured love story? I can’t say I was sorry to see her go.
So where does this leave us, with only two episodes remaining? Some sort of showdown between Bishop and Aidan is looming, but that’s pretty much been the case since day one. Having closed off the Danny/Bridget chapter, Sally once more seems adrift without a purpose. And Josh really needs to tell Nora what his deal is, whether or not they decide to have the baby, because I can’t take much more of his wishy-washy stammering. (Can werewolfism be passed on through the sperm? It would probably be a good idea to find out.) The plot threads aren’t exactly coming together into one epic sweep, but there’s still hope for a few fireworks in the next couple of hours. More importantly, however, it’s time to put the solo careers on hold and get the band back together.
Stray observations:
- Home improvement dilemma: Salt keeps the ghosts from escaping your exorcism, but it’s hell on your hardwood floors.
- You’ve probably heard by now that Being Human has been renewed for a second season. Here’s hoping the U.S. version pursues its own path from now on.