Being Human 3.7: Make New Friends, Don’t Kill the Old
Posted By Deborah J. Brannon on February 26, 2013
With “One is Silver and the Other Pagan,” Syfy’s Being Human is now over half-way through the season and is smashing down its carefully constructed house of cards. Sally’s miraculous resurrection is being tested by ghostdust-eating witches, Wiccan caricatures, and ghost pervs. Aidan’s on the ropes thanks to an 11-year-young vamp, an impatient Bubble Boy with just enough knowledge to be dangerous, and an Early American history-loving adjunct who’s totally off-limits. Josh and Nora face the possible death of their teen wolf, and some unworthy drama thanks to brain-bending werewolf hormones. I’d say it’s just another day for the roommates in Being Human, but when is that ever true?
Sally, now free of the killing-everyone-you-knew-before-you-were-dead-and-resurrected curse, decides to reconnect with that ex-girlfriend of Danny’s we’d almost forgotten about from Season 1. (Worst curse with the long name is the worst.) Bridget was Sally’s former best friend, of course, and Sally spent the episode ominously calling her by the nickname “Bridge,” which is really both appropriate and disturbing given Bridget’s purposes in this episode. Which were, in order: mockable New Age wannabe-medium connection to an offensively depicted coven of Wiccans, ignorant victim of ghosty fun times (AKA possession), and the vehicle of Sally’s realization that maybe she should stop trying to fit back into her old life.
Bridget has black hair now– because it’s witchy, but she’s also chic and maybe a bit hippie in that loose-knit funky sort of way. She’s hooked up with a coven of Wiccans who get insulted when a new member freaks out in the middle of a séance which is totes part of regular Wiccan practice. As poorly handled as the Wiccan situation was, Sally’s response to Bridget dabbling with the occult was fabulously dismissive as she waved off all of Bridget’s rambling about connection to the other side as so much romanticized nonsense. Sally’s been there, yo. She doesn’t have time for your touchy-feely shenanigans. Also, she’s “getting over some heavy post-traumatic witch stuff” and doesn’t that just barely scratch the surface of the amount of bullwitchery Sally is in?
Of course, Sally ends up going with “Bridge” to her crazy Wiccan happenstance anyway, and we discover a new boil on the underbelly of the Spirit World: GHOST PERVS. Ghost pervs in the room right now! (Assuming you’re having some poorly organized séance.) Some unsavory wayward souls show up to invisibly sexually harass the (all female) Wiccans and then decide to dabble in a little ghost rape by possessing Bridget (“Bridge,” hah, we get it). One even feels Sally up before she freaks them right out of their possession and then threatens them with wrought iron candlesticks (this coven goes ALL OUT on the ritual accessories). Dispersion commences! The Wiccans are either freaked out by the presence of the ghost pervs or of a nonbeliever that just went berserk in their circle. Your call.
Sally ends her gallivanting with Bridge by not-unhappily deciding she can’t go back to her old life. Unfortunately, she also decides to make that decision for others and tells Bridget she needs to develop selective amnesia stat. I’m sorry, Sally. You can’t dictate the choices or life experiences of others. Bridget was changed, and it’s kinda rude for you to offer her a BFF necklace and then yank it away because you don’t like what’s happened in her life. Yeah, you happened, Sally. You didn’t mean to have this effect on her, but it happened. Your past is part of her past too, and it’s crappy of you to remove the potential benefit of friendship from that equation. (Kudos for letting her keep the BFF necklace, though. Er, the soul-lock.)
But we all know that Sally is the child in the house, right? When she finds that maybe she really is a zombie after all (or maybe just a reinvigorated corpse with a surprisingly short shelf-life), she immediately screamed for Josh so loudly she made my television cut out. (Okay, or maybe it was my service provider. Either way, I had to ask her what happened via Twitter. Meaghan Rath, not Sally. Sally’s a fictional character. Thanks for replying, Meaghan!) As we all know, folks, Josh is the dad.
Pro-tip: when making deals with witches to live out the rest of your life free from the killing-everyone-you-knew-before-you-were-dead-and-resurrected curse, you should insist the witch clarify exactly how long the “rest of your life” is. Just sayin’. Get it in writing.
Aidan had an episode full of mostly unpleasant surprises: Surprise! There’s werewolf blood tainting your excessively small food supply! Surprise! The teen wolf threatened to stake you! Surprise! Your self-defense almost killed her, and now your roommate situation is strained. Surprise! Kenny’s been making new friends/being poached by other vampires. Surprise! Kenny is entertaining other vamp offers! Surprise! Other vampires are Trouble with a capital you know. Surprise! Here’s someone new to date, please try not to get her killed. (Okay, that last one is potentially pleasant; see aforementioned request regarding Kat’s life expectancy.)
All of his scenes this week were a painfully fantastic depiction of a broken vampire trying to put some semblance of his life back together in the face of everyone undermining his efforts. Watching him return time and time again to Erin’s hospital room, in search of some amends or explanation, only to be turned away by a righteously angry Nora — ouch. His desperate defaulting to angry father figure when the enigmatic Blake coolly explained her civilized bargain with Kenny belied that Aidan would ultimately give in to Kenny’s demands. (Nicely played how Blake’s veneer of evolved civilization eroded at light speed in the face of potentially slaking her thirst!) How brutally honest a moment when Kenny admitted that Auntie Blake scared him (“she should”) and Aidan told him, plainly, that they are all killers. How telling that Aidan, Absentee Dad to Vampires, was really considering parenting the whole race until Blake slipped up and mentioned grabbing for more power. And now that Aidan”s not all blood, all the time, givemenow, he’s opening up to the possibility of something with Kat — who is a female Josh. No, I’m serious. “I take pride in knowing things about things,” she says. “I suddenly feel very NOT dry,” she declares. The awkward looks and near facepalms. Surely y’all see it.
Sadly, Nora emphatically disapproves of Aidan knowing Kat, talking to Kat, breathing near Kat, or even existing on the same planet as someone Nora cares about. It is totally beyond the pale that Aidan helped her with the plumbing by standing next to a very impressive toolbox. Aidan is a killer! Never mind the projecting Nora’s doing all over the place there; I guess she’s the only killer on the approved list at Casa Being Human. Oh, but Aidan wins the killer-off by dint of having the temerity to be a vampire for almost 200 years, that’s right. My mistake.
Nora had several excellent points at the beginning of the episode, and her protective fury for Erin was more than understandable. It became less and less so when she refused to let Aidan offer his side of the story, and when she played some very unfair cards on Josh as he tried to talk rationally about the situation. “Why can’t you admit that Aidan did something wrong?” Pretty sure Josh has done that, notably over the murdered co-eds. “Which would you choose?” Oh, come now. Adults don’t make other adults play these sorts of games. (Or they shouldn’t.) Nora is mostly a fabulous she-wolf, but she’s definitely being influenced by the pack connection. Outsiders do not get any consideration. The threat to the pack is all-important, and must be neutralized. There’s a legit supernatural effect unfolding here, which makes Nora’s actions more understandable if no less frustrating.
Josh, solid and classy as always, spent this episode being a boss. A quietly supportive boss at times, but still a boss. His priority was Erin’s health first and foremost, which is a solid move in the face of the Hippocratic Oath. He tried to infuse some logic into the situation, but also gave his unconditional support to his mate. He made the potentially adorkable “You are my person. You are my everything” sound just… just… tastefully romantic. And he yet again went toe to toe with Papa Werewolf, even though he doesn’t have fangs anymore; he snarled straight into the dastardly Liam’s face that he would protect his family. Unfortunately, Liam is a sneaky jerk and murdered Erin in her hospital bed while intoning that she served the pack. This move is sure to set Nora on the warpath against Aidan, with Josh caught in the crossfire. Liam is masterfully sowing dissent, and, oh, I’m going to be so glad when Josh kills him. (That’s totally going to happen, right? After Josh wolfs out again. Which is also totally going to happen.)
Next week: Aidan is kidnapped by werewolves! Papa Werewolf pulls torture out of his Bag of Vengeance! Josh immediately runs to the rescue! …human vs. werewolf fight? Somebody’s gettin’ bit.
Questions:
1. Do you think Aidan will be able to date someone without getting her killed (optionally more than once)?
2. Is Sally zombifying? Will she lose her ability to accessorize, and only be able to “stalk and moan” in the near future?
3. Will Josh’s decision-making skills between Aidan and Nora be tested, even though he wore his best “please never test me on this” face when he swore to Nora he’d always choose her?
Answer in the comments!
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