being human review: though the heavens fall
Before I review the ep, I'm going to have to unfortunately review the reactions:
So apparently Mitchell's fangirls are upset with Annie now? I haven't seen this firsthand but I've come across posts about this and just fuck off. I have had it with the sexism and misogyny in this fandom. She's been giving him everything for ages and she didn't know he murdered twenty people and because she's upset and thinks he deserves justice (even though she plans to stay with him), she's the one with the problem? Don't even try to tell me this isn't gendered--do not. He gets all the cookies in the world no matter what he does and anyone who stands in his way, even in the smallest way, is fucking vilified. Do not even try. As for the idea that he's a vampire and is therefore not responsible--he's the one who is trying to be human. He can't have it both ways. He can't attempt to join the human world, with all that means, and then get a pass every time he fails it. And this time? He really fucking failed it. Do I think she's necessarily handling this in the best way? No. But Annie is human in a very basic way, she's connected to the human world and this is the best conception of justice she knows. And whatever the flaws, this is the only justice available--she knows vampires will give him a pass and the other option is telling Tom and getting him killed and Annie isn't near capable of that. This is the best option she has. Don't you dare tell me twenty dead people are an understandable stumbling block but Annie picking the best choice available out of her limited options and in the end, letting him make the choice at that, is a failing.
All right--done now.
Anyone who has been keeping up with this blog knows, despite some very frustrated love for Mitchell, I have been yelling at him all season. That doesn't change. I still feel very strongly about most of this. But:
I liked Mitchell this episode. His behavior was certainly not perfect and I don't want to give him cookies for finally getting to a basic line of decency but--this is progress for him and I recognize that and I feel more sympathy for him now than I have for a while. I was rolling my eyes like usual at the beginning of the episode--looking at his wall and proclaiming "I'm safe" (here's what went through my head--exhibit A. Birnam Wood, exhibit B. Dunsinane) but I really, really did feel for him this episode. I thought they had some really beautiful parallelism with Mitchell turning himself in to save the policemen, as he saved his soldiers. And of course, being Mitchell, in both cases it went wrong--the first time he killed one of the very same officers, plus enough people to make up for their number anyway and now, Herrick murders the entire squad the moment he's out of the room. Much as I think Mitchell's made some incredibly shitty decisions, it seems all his actions, even the good ones, turn back on him in an ugly way and I feel for him, I really do. He stepped up. He did the right thing. And now his resistance seems to be genuine concern, not selfishness. I don't doubt he needs more than this, I don't think he's absolved in the least and I don't want to act like this cancels out everything else. But he's getting there. He's stepping up.
Is there any way George didn't already know this? I mean, I've thought he was in denial about the Box Tunnel for a while but this is bigger than I thought. Boy wasn't even surprised.
I don't know what to say about Annie. Lenora hit it out of the park, per usual, and broke me, essentially. I've been saying for episodes that I'll be disappointed if she stays with Mitchell but somehow, this doesn't feel like forgiveness in quite the way I thought. She is giving her life to be with him--but what life does she have to give, anyway? And she does love him. I just want to hug her and say she doesn't have to do so much but honestly, I don't know what to say. It's not that it's wrong that Annie gives so much--but she does give so much of herself away. It hurts to watch in some ways. It's not that she shouldn't care for others, but I want to see her taking care of herself.
Did Nancy get recruited? I'm going to be unpopular here--I really, really liked her and this show needs more badass ladies, so I'm very much for this. It's funny, because considering how many of them are dead, this would pretty much put her in the position of being the only person who could resurrect Mitchell--and she's about the last person who would ever want to. Although, even though I doubted at first that Herrick would take back Mitchell, since he's so erratic, he's always valued him as an instrument. Since presumably Mitchell's memory would be wiped, Herrick could manipulate him back into being a good little boy. Though perhaps at this point Herrick's decided Mitchell's too much of a liability and he can run this world on his own.
Speaking of lives in the balance, Nina cannot die. I can't really give a more detailed analysis than that. I just really don't want her to die. Although if she ends up giving birth to a high speed werewolf at the end of the episode, I will eyeroll to high heaven. Though could this be an indication that the baby really was conceived earlier/is 'normal'? I assume if Nina is this confident about it, probably not, since I expect she knows her cycle and the doctor did say she's two MONTHS further along than she thought. But this popped into my head.
RIP Daisy. This was a somewhat anticlimactic ending to a really badass career. You were an excellent lady and will not be forgotten. Go kick some ass in the Great Beyond for us, love.
I'm confused about Herrick. I assume his earlier amnesia was genuine, but I'm not sure. We had enough scenes of him tortured when he was alone, I'm going to think he actually didn't remember but now does because of the blood. I can't tell whether he'll bail Mitchell out of this one--I do think he feels little loyalty to him at this point and more than that, he feels very little loyalty to the vamp secrecy. He's always wanted this to get big. So Mitchell's condition being revealed seems like a perfect situation for Herrick to take over like he's wanted to. And since nearly all the English vamps are dead, I'm guessing we'll be seeing some recruiting.
Since George and Mitchell were in the cage for next week, I can't help thinking Tom's going to be the wolf-shaped bullet, not George (lesson one: preview clips always misrepresent and lie). He's on a vendetta now and I could see him blaming Mitchell for this. Especially if Herrick, well, lies. Herrick's in a complete power position.
Also, Skins principal. Thank you for ruining my conception of seriousness. I was completely expecting him to tell Mitchell he needed to stop smoking up in class and take his education seriously. And also, not flash his ladyhands tattoo to the whole auditorium.
And I can't believe I hadn't heard that Duran Duran song before. I feel like such a kid. But it's fantastic.