About that ending
Because the fannish mind sometimes does quirky things and makes you ponder something years later: back when Being Human finished, I had problems with the ending which the additional scene on the dvds largely resolved. To spare you the trouble of looking up the original review, my problem was that the ending as originally broadcast seemed to me the worst type of "having your cake and eat it", with the ambiguity - the origami wolf on the shelf at the end - not helping but making it worse; either we were supposed to accept as a straightforward happy ending, i.e. everyone defeated the devil and got human, in which case my problem was that was utterly undeserved on Hal's part, or we were supposed to assume this was one final delusion, Hatch having picked up on Hal's "you should have put the three of us together" and offering a happily ever after for them while in actuality rampaging on earth, in which case it was a breathtakingly cynical and nihilistic ending. Now, the additional scene on the dvd showed Hal figuring out they actually were still in a delusion and him, Alex and Tom all literally rising to the occasion, i.e. determined to reject it in favour of saving the world. Which solved my problem, since rejecting a happily ever after for themselves - but no one else - in favour of a likely death but everyone else getting saved actually is a good emotional pay off for it all. I'm also on board with leaving Alex, Tom and Hal at the moment after they made their decision, I don't need to see a battle, and of course I enjoy hoping they find a way of remaining alive despite the lethal nature of the Hatch-defeating ritual. That's the kind of ambiguity I like, much like the last shot of s3 of George, Nina and Annie turning around (as opposed to learning George's and Nina's actual fates in s4, sob).
Now, ever since watching the scene, I assumed it meant that Our Heroes are in actuality still in the tv studio, i.e. that after putting each of them into seperate temptation scenarios and getting rejected, Hatch (I avoid calling him the devil because I still think making the Devil the Big Bad in the final season was stupid and like the fanon of him being a jumped up demon with delusions of grandeur) put them all in the same dream scenario, and that they never woke up (until the end of the additional scene).. Having rewatched the last episode for the first time since it was originally broadcast, I changed my mind as to the timing and some other stuff. . Because before Alex, Hal and Tom even reach the studio, we get the scene of Rook getting whisked into Alistair's car, which none of the trio witnesses, i.e. this is objectively happening. Now, in the episode as broadcast, it's a lead up to Rook showing up in the studio, shooting Hatch, at which point the Jumped Up Demon Not The Devil leaves Hatch's body and switches into Rook's, who then follows the trio home, Hal figures it out, battle ensues, ritual is performed, Rook, now himself again, agrees to play host once more so that the Jumped Up Demon, now ritual weakened, can be killed in his body. If none of this happens in reality because it's part of the final delusion preparing the fake happily ever after the Jumped Up Demon offers, we lose any kind of pay off for Rook's storyline, and Rook is an important part of season 5. (Also a far more interesting and successful attempt at a human villain than Kemp was in season 2.) Atoning for what he did by ensuring "Hatch" gets killed in his body along with himself, otoh, is a good ending (it was the one thing I had liked about the original finale resolutions) for his story, and also works in that the season repeatedly paralleled Rook and his self justifications with Hal, and so having Hal do it while also finally being ready to put himself on the line instead of letting someone else take the fall just is fitting.
Which is why I'm now revising my theory about the implications of the additional scene. New headcanon: everything including the trinity performing the ritual for real, expecting to die, and Rook sacrificing himself actually happens. The happily ever after world isn't courtesy of the Demon Formerly Known As Hatch, it's purgatory, which previous seasons have established can to some degree be modelled by the minds of the participants. (Hence Lia on the one hand being able to give Mitchell a tour through his personal Greatest Hits Of Vampiredom and on the other leading Annie into the cheerful room she, Lia, had as a girl.) Because whoever is in charge of the afterlife has no idea what to do about Hal (otoh, chose death to save world, otoh, had a temper tantrum pub slaughter just before that and that's before we get to the centuries of jojoing between serial killer and atoner) while Alex and Tom wouldn't want to be without him, what they got is essentially a very nice waiting room formed by their imagination and without being told that's what it is. When they realise it isn't real, maybe some sort of struggle ensues, maybe not, but the net result is them being returned to Barry and the afterlife bureaucracy exuding a collective sigh of relief because that way, they don't have to make a decision yet and the three are far more useful on earth anyway.
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1046996.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
Now, ever since watching the scene, I assumed it meant that Our Heroes are in actuality still in the tv studio, i.e. that after putting each of them into seperate temptation scenarios and getting rejected, Hatch (I avoid calling him the devil because I still think making the Devil the Big Bad in the final season was stupid and like the fanon of him being a jumped up demon with delusions of grandeur) put them all in the same dream scenario, and that they never woke up (until the end of the additional scene).. Having rewatched the last episode for the first time since it was originally broadcast, I changed my mind as to the timing and some other stuff. . Because before Alex, Hal and Tom even reach the studio, we get the scene of Rook getting whisked into Alistair's car, which none of the trio witnesses, i.e. this is objectively happening. Now, in the episode as broadcast, it's a lead up to Rook showing up in the studio, shooting Hatch, at which point the Jumped Up Demon Not The Devil leaves Hatch's body and switches into Rook's, who then follows the trio home, Hal figures it out, battle ensues, ritual is performed, Rook, now himself again, agrees to play host once more so that the Jumped Up Demon, now ritual weakened, can be killed in his body. If none of this happens in reality because it's part of the final delusion preparing the fake happily ever after the Jumped Up Demon offers, we lose any kind of pay off for Rook's storyline, and Rook is an important part of season 5. (Also a far more interesting and successful attempt at a human villain than Kemp was in season 2.) Atoning for what he did by ensuring "Hatch" gets killed in his body along with himself, otoh, is a good ending (it was the one thing I had liked about the original finale resolutions) for his story, and also works in that the season repeatedly paralleled Rook and his self justifications with Hal, and so having Hal do it while also finally being ready to put himself on the line instead of letting someone else take the fall just is fitting.
Which is why I'm now revising my theory about the implications of the additional scene. New headcanon: everything including the trinity performing the ritual for real, expecting to die, and Rook sacrificing himself actually happens. The happily ever after world isn't courtesy of the Demon Formerly Known As Hatch, it's purgatory, which previous seasons have established can to some degree be modelled by the minds of the participants. (Hence Lia on the one hand being able to give Mitchell a tour through his personal Greatest Hits Of Vampiredom and on the other leading Annie into the cheerful room she, Lia, had as a girl.) Because whoever is in charge of the afterlife has no idea what to do about Hal (otoh, chose death to save world, otoh, had a temper tantrum pub slaughter just before that and that's before we get to the centuries of jojoing between serial killer and atoner) while Alex and Tom wouldn't want to be without him, what they got is essentially a very nice waiting room formed by their imagination and without being told that's what it is. When they realise it isn't real, maybe some sort of struggle ensues, maybe not, but the net result is them being returned to Barry and the afterlife bureaucracy exuding a collective sigh of relief because that way, they don't have to make a decision yet and the three are far more useful on earth anyway.
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1046996.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.