“I’m the Worlds worst nightmare: The victim that gets superpowers!”
The supernatural residents of Honolulu heights have returned, with several plot strands to set up, it’s a filled hour of bedlam. As with any opener there is teething problems with everyone trying to get as much into their screen time as possible, but it doesn’t dilate the possibilities the series could achieve if the strands come together well.
After losing their café jobs, Hal and Tom take on employment at a hotel aided by the hotel owners obvious attraction to our vampire (well who can blame her), of course this is Being Human so this is a hotel with a difference: A snivelling Captain Hatch resides there played by the wonderful Phil Davis who manages to encapsulate the foul-mouthed, angry, occasional well-spoken politeness and menacing demeanour of the character all at once.
Following the death of Annie and Eve at the end of series four the gang is coming to terms with each of their circumstances: Hal (Damien Molony) is ‘just’ passed his bloodthirsty stage (or has he?) after being tied to a chair and has resumed his OCD over the state of the house; Tom (Michael Socha) is trying to keep up his dad’s standards of chivalry – even if a little outdated. And Alex (Kate Bracken) is still waiting to pass over, only to be devastated to find her family has already had her burial – her unfinished business still unanswered.
Seems we could have a battle on our hands in the villainy stakes this series as not only is Captain Hatch revealed as the Devil trapped in human form, but also Hal makes a huge mistake when out of guilt he turns irritating Ian Cram (Colin Hoult), a hit and run victim into a vampire, locking him in the basement before Alex unwittingly let’s him go to kill his boss’s son. Cram (or Crumb as he now wants to be called), has lived his life as a passed-over nobody who is now feeding off his new found power like a kid in a free-for-all sweet shop wanting to make his mark.
That leaves us with the return of my favourite character of last series the enigmatic Dominic Rook (Steven Robertson), a shadowy government figure tasked with making sure us humans don’t know about the monsters of the world, until that is the Home Secretary (played by writer and creator Toby Whithouse) informs him his department is to be dissolved, leading Rook to have a brainstorm of how he might use the newly sired Crumb to his advantage. Is Rook going to do something bad for the long-term good?
The episode had some minor niggles; the character of Ian is highly irritating – but then maybe he’s meant to be? The majority of the flashbacks were unnecessary, although provided us with Hal shirtless and in a military uniform. It also provided a great character in Lady Catherine (Victoria Ross) who unfortunately doesn’t make it.
A welcome return to Being Human with a lot of promise. Its still one of BBC Three’s highlights, surviving the cast changes and mix of humour and drama. A later time-slot may afford it more chance to take the mythology deeper. And you don’t get much deeper than the devil. Looking forward to the rest of the series.
