Being Human, Series 2, Episode 1: Some Commentary

First up let me qualify that this show will definitely not be to everyone's tastes. My good friend and co-author here, for example, claims his biggest issue with the show is being overly "emo" and not showing any characters really revelling in their dark sides and that aspect of the supernatural experience. Wow should he ever not watch the last episode.
I shan't go into the premise of the show, as that doesn't begin to sum it up, or revert to summary, watch the episode or find that in multiple other places. Do note that I am a huge fan of the show though and I feel that will colour any opinion made, it's just one of those productions. So let me begin by qualifying that I loved the episode: the drama was played beautifully, acting was almost uniformly top notch and as an extension of mythology it does a great job too, if a tiny bit slow.
Some nice touches are evident here, including the vampire couple (though the show is straying dangerously close to stealing wholesale from Buffy, a fact not helped by referencing the similarities in actual dialogue). I should also say that I thought the scene in the decompression chamber was excellent: disgusting and gory but so juicily intriguing and a great, original idea (can you fight a werewolf's curse by removing tidal/lunar forces, what if the conflict just tore the victim apart, as shown here?).
THere was some not so good though. Mitchell and George, for example, seem to have just swapped storylines from last year, with nothing new brought in. Annie is still a bit ludicrous at times but genius at others, as is the general plotting and dialogue, whose flaws are still evident (soapy, too obviously scripted, unnatural).
In short it won't win anyone over, and isn't exactly trend-setting or up there with even the best this show can do, but it whet the appetite, satisfied a craving and proved sufficient for fans. There is potential for greatness too and there were definitely some people and moments better than others, who prop the show, and score, up (probably a whole star below belongs just to Sinead Keenan as Nina). So, for me...

**** (4/5)

Tomorrow I shall be watching all new Survivors. Quite stoked for that.

MM