What if supernatural beings could exist? And if they did, what if they could hide amongst us, trying to blend in with our human society? Would they succeed, or would they end up complicating things? The new TV show Being Human focuses on these questions.
The whole gist of the show is that there’s a vampire named Aidan who is friends with a werewolf named Josh and they work together in a hospital, and both move into a flat that is already occupied by a ghost named Sally, and they, as supernatural beings, try to the best of their ability to be human in order to blend in with their environment. Of course, this causes many problems than solving them, such as Aidan’s unavoidable thirst for human blood, Josh’s constant fear of always thinking he will accidentally kill a person he is close to, and Sally’s inability to make herself seen by human eyes because of her ghostly form.
The first episode of the series opens with a narrative on how we can accept our faults and move on because we are human, but those that are supernatural can’t, and several scenes flash back and forth throughout. The first scene is of Aidan walking home with a girl by the name of Rebecca, and one can assume that they have wound their way to end of a date. The next scene is of Josh walking deep into the woods and taking his clothes off, and he just stands there, waiting for something to happen. As the opening scenes progress, we witness Aidan killing Rebecca, drinking her blood using his vampire fangs, and Josh’s violent transformation of turning into a werewolf. These first two scenes absolutely appalled me, because I didn’t think that American TV would show that much skin.
I have actually seen the British version of Being Human before I saw this American version, and I thought that the American version would simply recreate the British version, only with possibly better graphics. Oh, how wrong I was. For a start, all the names in the American version are different from the British one. The vampire Aidan is Mitchell in England, the werewolf Josh is instead George, and Sally the ghost is actually Annie. Also, Rebecca is Lauren, and Bishop (a socially powerful vampire) is Herrick in the BBC3 series.
Not only are the characters different, but there are parts of the plot that are different as well. There is no Nina, as far as we can tell (Nina being the woman who falls in love with George the werewolf) in the American series, and did George actually have a lesbian sister? Also, while Josh’s sister gets locked in with Josh during one of his transformations, in England, it is actually George’s ex-girlfriend Julia. Oh, and did I mention that this bit is from the pilot episode in England, and not actually the first episode of the series? And the cast of the pilot is different from the actual series? Yeah, it’s complicated.
What the British pilot didn’t have, however, is a cliff-hanger. The American version abruptly ends with Josh’s sister, Emily, witnessing Josh’s transformation in a locked room in the hospital basement that can only be opened from the outside, while Sally, after receiving an urgent phone call from Josh (just before transforming) to come unlock the door to save Emily from being killed, tries fruitlessly to leave the house she is confined to, and Aidan is stuck under the watchful eyes of Bishop. This ending (or lack thereof) made me eager to watch the second part to this episode. I can’t wait until it airs!
Thoughts:
· Josh always has this scared/nervous/paranoid look on his face, which suits his character, but will he do that throughout the rest of the series?
· I have the slightest gut feeling that Rebecca is going to come back later on in this series, but as a vampire. I partially think this because that’s what happens to Lauren in the British series, but I also think that Rebecca’s presence was cut short, and she should return to fill in the gaps.
· “And for the record, reminding me that I haven’t had sex in two years--” *turns corner, sees girl staring appallingly at him* “—a total lie...” Best part ever.
· It’s nice to see that they’ve kept the werewolf being Jewish!
· Excellent cliff-hanger! I absolutely can’t wait until the next episode!
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