Being Human 5.02
In which we find out more about Alex, and "employees of the month" are never a good idea.
My big problem with the episode's main plot was that we've seen it several times before - the "third party plays out mates against each other by insinuations" one, I mean. It was one of the few eps last season that I felt weren't up to par (whereas I really enjoyed most of the rest), and basically the only time BH did this plot where it was part of a splendid episode to me was in the third season, when it was amnesiac Herrick doing the manipulating. I know that manipulation by words is Captain Hatch's/The Devil's big modus operandi for now, but still, it felt far too predictable to me. Also Patsy was far too much a character to take her seriously, though I can fanwank she's been under the influence for years and years so her brains are hopelessly scrambled, because no hotel manager would behave so ridiculously, no matter how hot she thinks Hal is or how much of a snob she is. Of course, the reason why the s3 episode worked so very, very well was that it brought out long simmering tensions between Mitchell and Nina, and amnesiac!Herrick didn't have to invent anything, he just had to put it in a certain way, plus it was a crucial arc episode, whereas this one's plot felt mostly built around the question "how can we get Hal and Tom to have a food fight?"
On the other hand, the subplot with Alex pushed personal buttons for me - I've been a big sister, too - and so I was prone to really like it. I mean, I could be nitpicky and complain that I don't really buy Oliver was hiding for the last two seasons (this wouldn't be a problem if he hadn't said explicitly he used to live in this house in Victorian times, otherwise we could just declare Hatch took him from elsewhere and told him to show up at Alex' as soon as he heard her ramble on about her little brothers, figuring out this was the way to get rid of the ghost in the trinity). But I can handwave because I really enjoyed those scenes, and, like I said, they felt very familiar. I also thought the little actor managed to do the posh Victorian accent thing convincingly, though not being British, maybe I'm wrong about that? Anyway, it worked for this foreigner. It also worked emotionally as a way for Alex to say goodbye to her family (without literally doing so).
Meanwhile, Rook's idea of not getting his department integrated into Special Branch is letting Crumb eat his sister and niece as a demonstration of vampire vicissitude to his superior. Predictably, this does not work at all, but gives Hal the opportunity to demonstrate a Mitchell-esque attitude when Crumb drops by. Look, Hal, you made him, thus he's your responsibility, and so are his kills, so either stake him immediately or commit to babysit him, but just making a speech and throwing him out is, well, Mitchell-esque and helps no one. Otoh, Rook's underling decides that this type of behaviour means he might as well become a vampire himself, seeing as the Men in Grey have little humanity left anyway if they can sacrifice a woman and her daughter for a shot at a better budget, and bonds with Crumb over Dungeons & Dragons before getting himself sired. (This is your fault, too, Hal. Unless in the next episode we find out Crumb was too incompetent to pull of a siring, which isn't impossible. He's mostly over top vampire nerd now, but that moment where he first sees his sister and niece and is absolutely horrified because he knows what this means was really well played.
Since the last episode I have heard Toby Whitehouse's announcement that this will be the last season, which puts my problem with using the Devil as an antagonist somewhat at rest. Though I still want a bit more logic, or maybe just information, as to why he's been stuck in this body for almost a century since WWI (werewolf/vampire conflicts weren't exactly rare during this time) and apparantly just feeding by driving, according to Rook, people to suicide once a year.
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/865781.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
My big problem with the episode's main plot was that we've seen it several times before - the "third party plays out mates against each other by insinuations" one, I mean. It was one of the few eps last season that I felt weren't up to par (whereas I really enjoyed most of the rest), and basically the only time BH did this plot where it was part of a splendid episode to me was in the third season, when it was amnesiac Herrick doing the manipulating. I know that manipulation by words is Captain Hatch's/The Devil's big modus operandi for now, but still, it felt far too predictable to me. Also Patsy was far too much a character to take her seriously, though I can fanwank she's been under the influence for years and years so her brains are hopelessly scrambled, because no hotel manager would behave so ridiculously, no matter how hot she thinks Hal is or how much of a snob she is. Of course, the reason why the s3 episode worked so very, very well was that it brought out long simmering tensions between Mitchell and Nina, and amnesiac!Herrick didn't have to invent anything, he just had to put it in a certain way, plus it was a crucial arc episode, whereas this one's plot felt mostly built around the question "how can we get Hal and Tom to have a food fight?"
On the other hand, the subplot with Alex pushed personal buttons for me - I've been a big sister, too - and so I was prone to really like it. I mean, I could be nitpicky and complain that I don't really buy Oliver was hiding for the last two seasons (this wouldn't be a problem if he hadn't said explicitly he used to live in this house in Victorian times, otherwise we could just declare Hatch took him from elsewhere and told him to show up at Alex' as soon as he heard her ramble on about her little brothers, figuring out this was the way to get rid of the ghost in the trinity). But I can handwave because I really enjoyed those scenes, and, like I said, they felt very familiar. I also thought the little actor managed to do the posh Victorian accent thing convincingly, though not being British, maybe I'm wrong about that? Anyway, it worked for this foreigner. It also worked emotionally as a way for Alex to say goodbye to her family (without literally doing so).
Meanwhile, Rook's idea of not getting his department integrated into Special Branch is letting Crumb eat his sister and niece as a demonstration of vampire vicissitude to his superior. Predictably, this does not work at all, but gives Hal the opportunity to demonstrate a Mitchell-esque attitude when Crumb drops by. Look, Hal, you made him, thus he's your responsibility, and so are his kills, so either stake him immediately or commit to babysit him, but just making a speech and throwing him out is, well, Mitchell-esque and helps no one. Otoh, Rook's underling decides that this type of behaviour means he might as well become a vampire himself, seeing as the Men in Grey have little humanity left anyway if they can sacrifice a woman and her daughter for a shot at a better budget, and bonds with Crumb over Dungeons & Dragons before getting himself sired. (This is your fault, too, Hal. Unless in the next episode we find out Crumb was too incompetent to pull of a siring, which isn't impossible. He's mostly over top vampire nerd now, but that moment where he first sees his sister and niece and is absolutely horrified because he knows what this means was really well played.
Since the last episode I have heard Toby Whitehouse's announcement that this will be the last season, which puts my problem with using the Devil as an antagonist somewhat at rest. Though I still want a bit more logic, or maybe just information, as to why he's been stuck in this body for almost a century since WWI (werewolf/vampire conflicts weren't exactly rare during this time) and apparantly just feeding by driving, according to Rook, people to suicide once a year.
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/865781.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.