Jasmine Sahu is well suited with this new American drama exclusive to Dave.
Lois Cameron explains why this series is much more than your average cosy period drama.
The last episode of this series sees Sherlock and Moriarty attempt to solve the final problem with devastating consequences.
With major cast changes afoot, Jacob Martin ponders whether Being Human can live up to its own scarily high standard.
“So now, not unreasonably, I think you’d agree, I want him to suffer. But not for moments. For days, weeks... months. And the best way of doing that is, um, is to kill you. Now here’s my dilemma: you were kind to me.”
Well, that was certainly something, wasn’t it? No detached summary this week, as I don’t think I could maintain that tone for a whole paragraph, because this week, we had it all. A vampire death, and many deaths-by-vampire, including poor McNair. After many weeks of teasing, Annie finally learnt Mitchell’s secret, which led to us being one camera click away from the world learning about the supernatural. Oh, and Nina was stabbed, because, finally, Herrick is really back.
Poor McNair, indeed. In the ridiculous excitement of the final ten minutes of this episode, his death was kind of forgotten. Which is a shame, as he’d become one of the best parts of the Being Human lore in just a small time on screen, partly thanks to some great writing, partly thanks to some deft characterisation (the continuation of his old-fashioned nature here was brilliant), but mostly thanks to Robson Green. In his two stand-offs with Herrick, as we saw the two very different McNairs, he showed just how good he was, and I was sorry to see him go.
The only thing that didn’t work for me here was Annie’s investigation. I just kept getting frustrated at her inability to even consider that Mitchell was guilty – I expect that Toby Whithouse intended this to show her undying devotion, but it just made her look stupid, something that we’ve seen again and again that she isn’t. Still, Lenora Crichlow and Aidan Turner have never been better than in their final stand-off. I’m not entirely convinced that their relationship works, but the disgust with which she spat the words “Cause you love me? Do you have any idea now inadequate that sounds?” was almost enough to make me forget my problems with this storyline.
But all that really matters is that finally, the moment we’ve all been waiting for since the end of series one is here. Evil Herrick is back. Is it wrong that I was so happy to see him standing there in a police uniform, looking as humanly evil as ever? Possibly, but I suspect I’m not the only one. The use of music was even better than normal this week, especially Shirley Bassey’s ‘Repeating History’ playing as the camera panned up over Herrick lying there, covered in Nancy’s blood and looking disturbingly content. It’s been great to see Jason Watkins do something different with the character, but enough was enough: it was time to have Herrick back for good. The casual camera sweep past all those dead bodies, the air of menace surrounding him, the taunting of Nina, the tease that he’d let her go and then the sudden return: this was Herrick as we knew him before, so calculating, so clever, so calm, so damn evil, and I have to admit I loved watching it. I know some people have found Nina frustrating this year, but I think Sinead Keenan’s performance has made up for any problems in her character, and I hope she survives, especially for poor George’s sake.
Except for some slight frustration regarding Annie, this was probably one of the best episodes of Being Human ever. Literally gasp-inducing, in fact. With just an hour to wrap all this up, I have no idea how they’ll do it, but I can’t wait to find out.
See the final episode in the current series of Being Human, ‘The Wolf-Shaped Bullet’, on Sunday at 9pm on BBC3.
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