My Review of Ashes To Ashes 2x02: "Episode 10"

Written by Matthew Graham
Directed by Catherine Morshead

Gene (to Alex): “You and me, Bolls, we’re a team. Fighting the rot together.”

I’m sure that’s a line that will satisfy many viewers but essentially, here is an episode that has Alex questioning her partnership with Gene all the way through as the nagging possibility that he’s not a figment of her imagination.

This week’s case involved a Romany man, Jed Wicklow being pursued by the team, which led to him being killed in an accident. Alex might have been all for the trouble but there was no surprise that Gene would be more complicit with having Mackintosh fob the press off with something different.

For all Mackintosh’s talk of wanting to run a less corrupt force, it was already established in the previous episode that he’s not to be trusted. His hostility toward Alex is certainly something that she needs to be vigilant of.

There was an interesting scene where he told Gene that she was trouble and he wasn’t particularly all that helpful when she asked him about Kevin Hales’s location. Alex may want to take Gene’s approach if she really thinks that Mackintosh is a rotten apple in the police force.

As for Jed Wicklow, apart from the fact that another human being died, he was pretty much just a run of the mill scumbag. That creepy old lady had no problem telling Alex and Gene that he gave Romany tribes a bad name and his use of drugs was hardly shocker of the century.

It also pretty clear that the young girl Alva was being abused by him but the suspicions into his death did quickly veer to Dr Battleford. Joseph Millson from The Sarah Jane Adventures was a nice piece of guy candy but there was no doubting from the off that he was responsible for Wicklow’s death.

He seemed stereotypically too friendly and his desire to help out the Romany tribes did have a certain element of falseness to it as well. Plus he slipped up when casually talking to Alex.

With all this, the question then became how long would it be until they were allowed to nail Battleford? Mackintosh certainly did his bit to try and derail Alex from getting a conviction and even Gene seemed to change his mind about Battleford amidst a secret handshake.

I have to admit that my knowledge on Masons is pretty hooky at best but Gene joining one certainly could lead to an interesting path. His claim to Alex is that he wants to keep Mackintosh closer and I certainly believe that but there’s also the fear that Gene will either be quickly caught out by his new superior or become corrupted himself.

Most of the scenes between him and Alex this week did feel more cat and mouse than usual. As a viewer, you want Gene to be the good guy but you also see why Alex might have her faith in Gene challenged so to speak. Gene’s belligerence often doesn’t help matter.

It made no surprise that Alex would employ Chris into her attempts of getting Battleford arrested at first and that she’d be reprimanded but I did like that Gene filled her in on what he was attempting to do and that he also knew that Mackintosh wasn’t trustworthy. There was certainly something in those scenes to make shippers happy I think.

As for the main story, well it didn’t work all that well really. It was nice that Gene was able to find a loophole in the Mason loyalty in order to arrest Battleford that even Mackintosh couldn’t challenge but the character of Battleford did come across as a bit too pathetic to care about.

Plus this episode did help to reinforce Ray’s inherent racism as well. He was more than happy to participate in personally moving the Romany tribe and he also enjoyed his role in the Mason gang far more than Gene pretended to. I hope the writers don’t devolve Ray even if he is the most susceptible character to corruption on the series.

The birth scene with Alva was strictly played for laughs. When Gene decides to retire from the force, he’d make an excellent mid-wife. Because of his words of encouragement, the baby got to be called Eileen. It was a really funny moment in a mostly serious.

Another fun moment was Chris’s many attempts to propose to Shaz, only for him to keep getting dismissed by the girl. Fortunately he did succeed in the end but it certainly took him a while to successfully get there. I wonder if that means that Chris and Shaz have gotten further on this series than Sam and Annie in Life On Mars?

Shaz hasn’t really had a lot to do so far this season but seeing as there are six episodes left, I’m sure that’ll change in due course. I liked that Alex showed some remorse for yelling at Shaz for no reason though, during the whole computer debacle. That of course led to the strongest points of the episode.

Alex talked about the possibility of Gene being real and after the whole thing with the first season finale; I’m glad that’s being addressed. The writers have been promising us that everything that Alex assumes about her world is wrong and hints about that are certainly being dropped around the place.

Her mystery little stalker/abductor asked her to trust him (I’m really assuming that it’s a him and possibly Sam) and she admitted that she couldn’t. He didn’t take it well and buggered off and I doubt that will be the last that Alex sees of him. He’s a persistent so and so, I’ll give him that.

Also Alex seemed to be making more of a conscious effort to try and remember things. The fact that she was struggling to remember what Molly looked like and her daughter’s own name cannot be good at all, though it certainly adds another layer into this whole saga.

Also in “Episode 10”

Was it me or did anyone else slightly think of The Ring during Alex’s dream of Molly?

Alex (re Jed): “I’m 90% certain he was on something.”
Gene: “90%? How very modest of you.”

It was pretty obvious that the Tyler comment from the fortune teller would mislead Gene (it was a pseudonym of Ray’s) but I’m still hopeful that Sam will appear.

Gene: “A quick reminder, Drakey. I’m one of the good guys and you are on my side.”
Alex: “This’ll never be my side.”

Gene (to Alex, re Romany tribe): “They’ll tie you up as a sex slave and make a rabbit trap out of your knickers.”

Alex threw in a fairly funny reference to Desperate Housewives during one of her scenes at the station and also about choosing when she comes.

Battleford: “Cop psychology.”
Gene: “Cop psychiatry.”
Alex: “It’s psychology.”

Gene (to Mackintosh): “I have to warn you, I’m not very good in clubs. I’m serving a lifetime ban from the scouts.”

Shaz mentioned her mother and also that she had Romany blood in her family. Chris mentioned it again prior to actually proposing to her.

Alex: “You drugged me.”
Mystery Man: “I needed to know who you were. You were forgetting.”

Gene (to Alex): “You have a very pretty face but you go on longer than the Eurovision Song Contest.”

Gene made the conscious effort to call his predecessor and was told by him not to call again.

Alex: “Metaphors all over the shop.”
Gene: “Clever, isn’t it?”

Gene (to Alva): “Come on, Eileen.”
Alex: “Who’s Eileen?”
Gene: “I don’t know.”

Standout music: I’m a sucker for Phil Collins’s “In The Air Tonight” and I think it was greatly used in this episode.

Alex: “What if you’re real?”
Gene: “What if you’re quiet?”

Chronology: Obviously still 1982 but I’m not sure how long has passed since the last episode.

Another solidly engaging episode, this season is certainly upping the mystery to a delightful new pace. I can’t wait to find out the identity of Alex’s mystery stalker or how things will eventually escalate between her and Mackintosh.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

My Review of Dexter's 3x01: "Our Father"

Written by Clyde Philips
Directed by Keith Gordon

Old Man (re Oscar): “Did you know him well?”
Dexter: “Not as well as I thought.”

After reading the first four books over the last couple of weeks, I was really looking forward to a brand new episode of the series and FXUK’s decision to air the third season earlier than usual couldn’t have happened at a better time as far as I was concerned.

Things certainly felt a lot more different here than usual. Dexter talked about evolving and things changing and his murder of Oscar Prado was certainly something unexpected. The reason for that being the fact that Oscar wasn’t Dexter’s intended victim for that particular evening.

No, it was the rather unpleasant drug dealer Freebo that had the honour of making it to Dexter’s hit list and Dexter’s sense of vetting took an interesting. Pretending to be a jittering junkie made sense as Dexter needed to get close and in spite of Freebo’s protestations, Dexter seemed to gain his trust rather quickly.

The problem was that when Dexter went to actually kill Freebo, he made the cardinal error of killing Oscar instead. This is probably the first time that Dexter has murdered an innocent person so to speak and his inability to react in a way is worrying. He realised his mistake (albeit too late) but aside from some initial shock, he wasn’t exactly overcome with guilt.

However he might not have to be either as Deb learned pretty quickly that Oscar wasn’t at Freebo’s place during the night of his death for noble reasons. Oscar being a junkie might not be a massive surprise but it’s not exactly the kind of thing that absolves Dexter either.

Killing Oscar was certainly a moment of bad judgement but researching him at work was another sloppy move on Dexter’s part. With Doakes out of the picture, every other regular has no reason to suspect Dexter of not being quite what he seems, so I guess that’s a good reason why Miguel has been drafted in.

From the moment they met at the crime scene, Miguel Prado (good casting with Jimmy Smits) seemed very suspicious of Dexter but the latter didn’t pay any attention to it until he got summoned by Miguel a second time to the crime scene.

I have to admit that Miguel even caught me off guard with the quick fire way he asked Dexter about researching Oscar online. Miguel also seemed utterly unconvinced when Dexter told him that he wanted to understand more about Oscar. That’s a shame because Dexter’s usually very good at getting him out of tight spots.

Miguel could be a very formidable threat to Dexter if the writers have the stamina to keep him going all season. Being the older brother of Oscar and a prosecutor was enough to have him even more determined to nail Oscar’s killer. Dexter’s really going to have to watch himself with this guy. Miguel pretty much has trouble written all over him with a capital T.

Of course Miguel and Oscar weren’t the only issues that Dexter had to deal with. Deb had good reason to be pissed with him as well. It might be a brother’s prerogative not to notice when their sister’s cut their hair for the first time in a long while (very long in Deb’s case) but not showing up for a commemorative piss up for a dead parent, yeah I can see why Deb would be less forgiving about that.

Dexter’s issues with Harry played out over the episode but unlike other shows who tend to practically bludgeon viewers with main characters having parental issues, I liked the way the show dealt with them. Dexter was right about Harry’s code needing to evolve but spontaneity is not Dexter’s best of bedfellows. I guess some people do need to be control freak.

Rita’s pregnancy reveal at the end of the episode made a lot of sense. I’m not big on baby plots but I think the idea of Dexter fathering a child could raise some interesting issues. What if on the off chance that a child parented by Dexter doesn’t wind up becoming a sociopath? Stranger things have certainly happened, I’ll give you that. Also was it me or were there a lot of sex scenes with Dexter and Rita? I’m not complaining mind.

Dexter playing Dad with Cody and Astor has always been one of his endearing parts and often has given the character a degree of humanity that he would probably casually dismiss himself. The parent day segment was mildly touching as Dexter faced his toughest crowd yet: ten year olds who are not really impressed with the delicacies of blood spatter.

When Dexter wasn’t getting all the interesting moments (like having to attend Oscar’s funeral, listening to Miguel talk about being broken, etc), Deb also found herself in demand by both Quinn and Yuki but for different reasons.

With Quinn it seemed to be relentless flirting, though he did give her a lead with Anton but Yuki seemed more interested in getting Deb to become a snitch. As much as Deb protested that she couldn’t spy on her friends, I have a nasty feeling that she’ll be taking up Yuki’s offer within the next few weeks.

Another noteworthy point with Deb this week was her getting kicked off the Oscar Prado case. Okay, so she really should’ve applied tact when telling everyone in the office about Oscar being a drug dealer (I thought Miguel was going to rip her a new one, never mind LaGuerta) but seeing as Deb was the only to have any kind of advancement on Oscar’s case, maybe Angel made the wrong decision on that one.

Also, what the hell happened to Tegan? If we didn’t see that bit of flesh cut off at the end of the episode, I would’ve been convinced that it was Freebo who murdered her but I just don’t envision Freebo surviving beyond the next episode in order to become a season big bad. Given that Lila was more or less the baddie of last season, this new killer has a lot to live up to.

Also in “Our Father”

I loved the opening and ending with Dexter at the dentist. For a show that largely deals with dismemberment, the sense of humour is always spot on.

Dentist: “How was your summer?”
Dexter: “I went to the carnival. I even won a prize.”

I wasn’t really surprised when it was revealed that Maria and Miguel once had a thing. Props to Maria for mentioning it to every one else though.

Angel (to everyone): “When this is official, when I trade this in for a gold badge, drinks are on me.”

Dexter: “More interested in scoring tar.”
Freebo: “Another yuppie turned to the dark side.”

Angel got promoted to detective sergeant in this episode. Deb also talked about getting her shield as well.

Deb: “What is it you think Quinn did exactly?”
Yuki: “You don’t get to blow me off and still ask questions.”

Rita: “What happened to ‘do not call’? It’s three in the morning.”
Dexter: “Not in India.”

Freebo – Fred Bowman who killed two college girls. Possibly three if he did actually murder Tegan but I’m not convinced that he did.

Angel (re dog in the car): “Man’s best friend, eh Dex?”
Dexter: “Not today.”

Miguel: “Some people say the soul lives on forever.”
Dexter: “I hope not.”
Miguel: “That makes you a cynic.”
Dexter: “A scientist.”

I noticed in the cast that no-one has been added and that Michael C. Hall is now a co-executive producer for the series.

Dexter (re LaGuerta): “She’s been in better moods.”
Deb: “Yeah, I didn’t exactly brighten her day.”

Angel (re Deb): “If I bounce her, she’s gonna hate me.”
Maria: “You’re her boss, not her friend.”

Deb went on a spree of giving up smoking, drinking and men. She already gave up on abstaining from the booze so the others will undoubtedly follow suit.

Miguel: “Losing my brother is going to leave a pain in my heart that is never going to heal. Do you have a brother, Dexter?”
Dexter: “Just a very loud sister.”

Rita (to Dexter): “All I want is chocolate pudding and you. Not necessarily in that order.”

Chronology: Hard to say but it did seem like a good few months have passed since “The British Invasion”.

For an opening episode, we’ve had better but “Our Father” was certainly a good opener no less. Some moments were intriguing, some were sweet and most importantly, there’s another serial nutter to challenge/amaze Dexter for the duration of the season.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

My Review of Ashes To Ashes 2x01: "Episode 9"

Written by Ashley Pharaoh
Directed by Catherine Morshead

Gene (to Alex): “No-one knows anyone, Bolly. The greatest lie in life is we pretend that we do.”

After being forced to wait longer than usual for its return, it’s nice that Ashes To Ashes is more or less the same show that we last saw. Whether or not this is a second of a third season or the last has yet to be decided by the BBC but either way, things are off to a very interesting start for everyone.

First off all, a good chunk of time has passed since Alex was unable to prevent her parents’ death and she’s thinking that her time in the 1980’s is drawing to a close. She even asks an elderly woman on the street at one point if she knows her, which certainly made the lady in question look at Alex as if she was possessed or something.

There’s a good element of surreal moments in the opening episode to the new season. It was around the second year on Life On Mars that Sam was showing familiarity with being stuck in this time line while retaining his desire to go home. With Molly popping up in this episode, Alex’s motives for returning to her own time are always going to be stronger.

Of course the opening episode also needed a fairly strong case and the death of fellow officer Sean Irvine in Soho strip during a sex game that went wrong is sufficient in rounding everyone up on different opinions. Alex once again had to be the one to explain the delicacies of auto-erotic asphyxiation to her bemused colleagues.

The fact that Sean was an actual copper rather than a mere punter wasn’t revealed until the introduction of ‘Supermac’ Mackintosh, the station’s new superior and someone for Alex to admire as well. Reasons for Alex to hold such respect for her superiors are undoubtedly similar to ones that Sam would have.

She admires the fact that he seems fair on fellow workers and that he wants to smite out any form of corruption or backhanders (the look on Ray’s face was priceless during that scene, though it was Chris who shoved a betting slip into his coat) but also because he seemed to be the only male character in the station to use the word, ‘love’.

Mackintosh’s declaration of love was revealed when he was forced to confess that he had been sleeping with Irvine’s wife, Ruth. Ruth’s reaction to her husband’s death seemed all over the place though Gene’s unsympathetic nature towards her (even before learning that she was cheating on he husband) probably didn’t help matters.

Irvine seemed to be liked by all of his colleagues but it was Kevin Hales, whose comments on Irvine getting in over his head with the girls at the Soho club that raised alarm bells. It was sort of obvious that Kevin was going to factor in Irvine’s death from the moment he lost it with Shaz in front of everyone. No-one speaks to Shaz like that in my opinion.

More interesting was his questioning with Gene and Alex. For all of Gene’s brutish tactics, there’s usually some validity when he’s extra venomous towards someone and while his nastiness towards Ruth didn’t later reveal her being involved in her husband’s death, it was becoming clearer as the episode progressed that Kevin killed Irvine.

The motive for doing it seemed to be that it was an accident. It didn’t excuse him from killing Sally in the episode and it certainly didn’t excuse him from aiding in Alex’s kidnapping as well. What the hell did he mean when he said to Alex that she was ‘everywhere’?

When we weren’t dealing with Kevin and his feigning of drunkenness, there was all the cryptic stuff with Alex and it certainly added to the episode in my opinion. For all the appearances of Molly, Alex now seems to have a stalker on her hands and it’s hard to determine their motives.

On one hand, they did truss up Alex (in a scene that wouldn’t have looked out of place on an episode of Dexter) and frightened her into getting Gene and company to come to her rescue but on the other hand, there was the leaving of roses (one at her office, another in her flat), the pictures of Pont d’Alma and constantly telling her that she doesn’t belong in this time period.

What does it all mean and how or why is the mentions of Lady Diana so significant to things? We know that Alex’s mystery is supposed to be bigger than Sam’s ever was and we certainly know that along with Alex that nothing everything about this setting is merely a construct as well. We also know by now that Alex is supposed to be meeting a character from the Life On Mars.

If this is possibly the last season, it’d be excellent if it was Sam. Having John Simm on this show as well as having him back as The Master for David Tennant’s last two episodes of Doctor Who would certainly fulfil a few fan boy/girl’s dreams this year. Other than that, it’s going to be interesting to uncover who Alex’s mystery stalker is.

If I had to hazard a guess, I’d almost go with Supermac. He certainly soured towards Alex by the end of the episode (but I suppose when Alex snooped around in his office and uncovered that he was the last person to talk to Sean alive, that would do it) and we also know that Kevin was following instructions (snatching Alex, pretending to be drunk, etc).

Still it wasn’t all drama in this episode. There was some mild flirting with Gene and Alex, jokes made at the modern girl’s expense and also Chris going to talk to her about wooing Shaz after admitting that he couldn’t control how he felt about strippers. We even had some moments with Alex asking Gene about his wife, getting a family meal from Luigi and Ray making his disdain for Chris being in love pretty well known.

Chris can be a bit of a gobshite from time to time but I do think that him and Shaz make an interesting pairing (especially given how it highlights Ray’s jealousy) and his Full Monty routine to get back into her good books was something of a treat. Needless to say that both Gene and Ray were less impressed with Chris getting his kit off than Alex or Shaz.

Also in “Episode 9”

The credits have changed a little and Alex talked about fighting, searching and staying alive during them as well. They sound less cheesy than the first season.

Chris (looking at tunnel): “Not 69.”
Gene: “I’m sure DI Drake knows what a 69 is.”

I’ve never watched Grange Hill as a child (don’t shoot me) but I was aware of Mrs McCluskey during that scene with Molly.

Ray: “What’s it worth?”
Madam: “I’ll toss you both off.”
Chris: “No thanks.”

Mackintosh: “Irvine was supposed to clean up Soho. Instead he got corrupted by it.”
Alex: “We’ll sort this out, sir.”

There were some nice references to Harrison Ford/Blade Runner in this episode, mostly by Chris of course.

Ray (re Sally): “That’s our girl.”
Alex: “Someone gonna arrest her?”
Gene: “Why are you always in such a hurry?”

Sally: “I’m not a bad person.”
Gene: “No, you’re not a bad person.”
Sally: “Only wanted to be an actress.”
Gene: “You’ll be an actress so stop your croaking.”

In the hair department, both Alex and Ray don’t seem to as heavy with the perms as they were in the first season, Shaz’s hair is a little longer and Chris has got highlights in his.

Kevin: “Look, I’m not saying I’m a perfect copper but I didn’t kill my mate and I didn’t kill that girl.”
Gene: “Get out of my sight.”

Ruth (to Alex/Gene): “Sometimes love is very dark and dangerous and leaves you not liking yourself.”

I loved the little ads that the BBC were doing with the gang for the last week and viewers should really check out the Mackintosh reports on the characters (especially his one on Ray) on the site.

Alex: “Am I dead?”
Gene: “Not unless I’m Saint Peter and I find that highly unlikely, don’t you?”

Alex: “You’re not drunk.”
Kevin: “I’m just a pebble on the beach, babe. I’m nothing but you’re everywhere. Everywhere.”

Standout music: Some of the usual suspects but I did really enjoy Hot Chocolates “You Sexy Thing”. Also a soundtrack for the second season has been released this week.

Gene: “If Mac had something to do with Sean’s death, then everything in my world is wrong.”
Alex: “Welcome to my world.”

Chronology: It’s 1982 as mentioned by Alex in the credits and a few times in the episode.

For a season premiere, this was a very satisfying episode. Some of the stuff from last season has been toned down, but the mystery keeps on being interesting and well, after the atrocious Demons, it’s just nice to have Philip Glenister back in a worthwhile programme.

Rating: 9 out of 10.

My Review of Being Human's 1x06: "Bad Moon Rising"

Written by Toby Whithouse
Directed by Colin Teague

Mark (re bible passage): “What does it mean to you?”
George: “That it’s time to grow up.”

Big battles and matters of faith aside, did anyone really think that Mitchell would die and Annie would cross over? Not even a little bit? Then congratulate yourself because in less than five minutes, Annie ditched her flight and Mitchell wasn’t about to join Seth and Lauren anytime soon. Yay on both counts.

This episode of course opened up with the very moment two years ago in which George and Mitchell met. Unfortunately the flashback also included Seth as the sullen vampire and two of his mates made it their business to attack George.

Had Mitchell not have intervened way back when, then it’s easy to presume that George would’ve been a dead man. Watching that attack was unpleasant given how much the media are now discussing knife culture and other senseless killings in Britain nowadays.

Mitchell’s rescue of George wasn’t something that I would deem heroic of sorts. There was no epic fight to the death, it wasn’t really a moment where Seth realised that Mitchell was a good guy but it was important. Mitchell used simple logic to get Seth and his friends to leave George alone. Then he told George to leave without explaining why werewolves are loathed by vampires.

In the present day, the notion of fleeing is also present. Mitchell’s funky physiology was enough to baffle doctors and the lack of straight answers from George made Nina question their relationship as well. Getting Mitchell out of the hospital made sense but it was only Josie sacrificing herself that made Mitchell strong enough to be discharged.

I liked that we got Josie back in the finale and I even understood why Mitchell would drink from her. Josie wanted to die and she also wanted Mitchell strong enough to stop Herrick from plaguing the world. However because of her act, Mitchell has yet another person on his conscience and that’s not good if he wants to retain his humanity.

Surprisingly enough however is that the majority of confrontation that are with Herrick are ones with George. George became very protective of Mitchell and even got into a physical scrap with Herrick. Herrick continued to justify his plans as a step in evolution but anyone with half a brain could see that he was on the verge of wiping out the human race.

However for all of his smart arsed comments to George, there was no denying that Herrick posed a very potent threat to them all. He made no bones of telling George that he would kill him and Mitchell had to point out to Annie that Herrick could even hurt her by simply killing him and George.

Some viewers wondered if Annie’s presence had something to do with her attachment to Mitchell and George. This episode confirmed that. Annie herself was very territorial with the boys, first wanting to protect them and even considering fleeing as well. When George told her that he had to consider his own future, you could see that it broke Annie’s heart.

Herrick also had some brilliant moments with both Mitchell and George as the episode progressed. Mitchell’s rejection definitely left a taste given how determined Herrick has become in wanting him dead and even George couldn’t dissuade him into leaving them alone.

It’s actually a pity that we didn’t get early interaction scenes with George and Herrick earlier on in the season because both actors plays so well off each other that Mitchell almost becomes something that needs to be protected. Even the big fight doesn’t involve Mitchell.

No, instead we got George and Herrick locked in the same room prepared to do damage to each other. It’s interesting that when Herrick warns George that he’ll lose the remainder of his humanity by becoming a murderer that George didn’t start feeling guilty about it. Herrick needed to be stopped and George was the only one strong enough to do it.

I don’t think murdering Herrick should compromise George’s moral compass. If Herrick survived, then George and company would be picked off one by one but Herrick was able to point out that their attempts of trying to pass off as being human wasn’t that successful.

Then there’s the fact that Nina has now become aware of George being a werewolf. The scene where a wolfed out George recognised her was certainly telling. Has George made her into a werewolf by scratching her? If so, then he definitely will feel guilty about that.

Annie herself also had some moments to genuinely shine. Meeting up with one of the victims from last week’s episode gave her esteem enough of a boost to raid the funeral parlour and rescue the rest of the victims. It was also her conversation with Herrick’s crazed girlfriend that alerted her about George’s plot.

So with all these new skills of Annie, will we get to see her kicking more monster butt in the next season? She’s certainly more of a threat to evil doers than Mitchell and George are physically and she’s not even corporeal to put it mildly.

Of course another interesting aspect of the finale was Owen. I wasn’t expecting him to appear in this episode but it was nice to see that justice prevailed and he was in an asylum of sorts. However as soon as he started talking to that doctor, I had a feeling of what was going to happen next.

Our medic friends seemed to be more than interested in existence of ghosts, werewolves and vampires and that can’t be good. It does however make sense and not just because Herrick made a point of mentioning that others would come after the gang. Besides, normality is never going to be a complete option for Annie, Mitchell, George and now Nina.

Also in “Bad Moon Rising”

I noticed during the run up to this episode that the BBC3 website conducted interviews with the cast members.

Nina: “Are you involved in this family thing?”
George: “I guess so … by association.”
Nina: “Which means I’m involved by association. I don’t like that.”

Both Toby Whithouse and Colin Teague previously worked together on the Torchwood episode “Greeks Bearing Gifts”.

Mark: “Jewish people pray, I’ve seen Yentl.”
George: “You’re very sarcastic for a vicar.”
Mark: “Yeah, so people tell me and I feel really bad about it and then I forgive myself.”

Herrick: “How do you think this ends?”
George: “I don’t know, we kiss?”

Did anyone catch the name of the canteen lady that Herrick turned? I’m not really sure why she spoke so inanely though.

Nina: “I need something normal now. Something kind.”
George: “You need me to choose between you and him.”

Mitchell (re Herrick): “If I beat him, if this works, this whole thing will fall apart.”
Annie: “But you won’t beat him, will you?”

Was it me or did Annie wear her top backwards when she broke into the funeral parlour?

George: “I won’t live forever. I don’t have time like you do.”
Annie (re Mitchell): “He doesn’t have time. Two days ago, you made me rescue Mitchell from Herrick. You said that if I didn’t do, I’d finally died.”

George: “Someone actually recruited an old woman?”
Herrick: “Well, you know what it’s like. You’re out and about, you get the munchies, you’ll eat anything.”

I’m surprised that at one point, Nana didn’t actually try to attack George, though she did look at him with disdain.

George: “There will come a time when you understand why I’m doing this.”
Annie: “Don’t worry, I get it.”

Victim: “Where am I?”
Annie: “I think you’re dead.”
Victim: “But I don’t want to be dead.”
Annie: “I know. Can you take me there?”

I forgot to mention in my last review that Herrick’s first name is William. He also spoke of Mitchell being more merciless than he lets on.

Annie: “Well, congratulations on mastering the whole ‘speaking like a twat’ thing.”
Canteen Girl (re Herrick): “He’s gonna rip Mitchell’s head off.”

Nina: “Who are you?”
Annie: “Annie. I saw you at the house.”
Nina: “No, you didn’t. What are you talking about?”
Annie: “No, you’re right. I haven’t. I haven’t.”

With Mitchell joking about action figures, it’ll be amazing to see how long before ones actually surface from the characters in this series.

Herrick (to Mitchell/George/Annie): “So a werewolf, a ghost and a vampire decide to live like humans do. They get jobs, a house and a TV licence. They make friends they lie to, take lover they will infect. In fact, the only part of humanity they successfully adopt is it’s ability to deceive and destroy. All in all, I’d say your little scheme has been something of a failure.”

Herrick: “I realise now that was my role. If I’m going to hell, then I’m taking you with me.”
George: “Haven’t you worked it out yet? Humanity is about love and sacrifice. This doesn’t rob me of my humanity, it proves it.”

Standout music: Good selection here with Duffy’s “Mercy”, Bloc Party’s “Where Is Home” and Johnny Cash’s “When The Man Comes Around”.

Annie (re George): “Maybe he’s fine with it.”
Mitchell: “He killed someone.”
Annie: “Does Herrick count as someone?”

Chronology: Exactly where the previous episode left off.

For a first season with such a high standard of writing, the finale was brilliant. I know we’ve had better episode in the series but this was certainly a good way to end things while neatly setting up events for the next season. Here’s to 2010.

Rating: 9 out of 10.

My Review of Being Human's 1x05: "Where The Wild Things Are"

Written by Toby Whithouse
Directed by Colin Teague

Josie: “Being human means being mortal. It means dying. You can’t rob people of that.”
Mitchell: “No-one is being robbed, don’t you see? It’s a choice.”

When you fall off the wagon, you’re going to leave a trail of devastation in your wake. Mitchell however thought that he would be the exception and would miraculously end up making the world a better place.

He really should’ve seen the hints lying in his wake. The fact that Herrick chose a funeral home and made a point of evading the fact that it’s got a lot of storage would’ve been a good case of setting off some initial alarm bells as well as the irritated look that Herrick gave Lauren when she pointed out that bit of information.

Lauren was also the other clue that Mitchell should’ve paid more attention to. For weeks she’s been doing nothing but trying to get him back into the fold. Last week I assumed that she was lying when she said she was going to let him go but this episode revealed that she was being truthful.

She looked pretty disgusted when Herrick was welcoming Mitchell back into the world and while Mitchell waited for Duncan to rise, she pointed out that he had become corrupted. Surely Mitchell should’ve paid more attention to her this time?

It was also worth pointing out that Mitchell also made some bad judgement in getting Herrick to approach his old flame Josie. It’s nice to get a bit more on Mitchell’s past but the dressing down that Josie gave him should’ve been the very thing to snap him out of it.

I know that Mitchell got demoralised by his neighbours thanks to the whole Bernie debacle but he was getting dangerously close to sounding like a dictator as well. Josie was right to point out that Herrick had no right to decide how people lived or died. She also made the point of noting that Herrick’s ultimate plan would stunt rather than evolve the world.

Thankfully though Mitchell did finally come around to realising that Herrick’s plan was too good to be true. There’s no way that you could have a whole of vampires and survive. After all, there needed to be some humans left around for eating and Mitchell discovered a few of them nearly drained and dishevelled to his horror.

It’s not surprising that Herrick isn’t a man that allowed people to have a choice. The people looked in that room were definitely captured and most of them were seemingly on the verge of death themselves. Herrick wasn’t all that worried when Mitchell discovered the people.

Josie deserved massive points for telling George about Mitchell’s descent. The scenes where George and Annie were trying to rescue Mitchell were both tense and dramatically funny. As a vampire, I really don’t find Seth all that threat and the belligerent way he spoke to both George and Annie didn’t alter my opinion on him.

However as silly as the initial fight between the three was, I did have to laugh. George punching him was nowhere near as effective with Annie’s expertise with a chair. Seth really should’ve learned to duck during that scene.

Seth was a bit more vocalised in this episode. His scenes with Mitchell indicated jealousy that’s been hinted at in earlier episode, his loathing of werewolves was blatant in his hostility towards George but he was surprisingly impressed with the fact that Annie’s a ghost. Oh and Lauren staked him as well.

By doing that, Lauren officially put a bull’s eye on herself. Herrick did look like he was going to kill her earlier on in the episode but having Mitchell do the deed seemed more personal. In fact that scene was more than a little similar to Angel’s “Lullaby”. Lauren wanted to die because she was losing the rest of her humanity. Unlike Darla, however, she didn’t leave a newborn when she was dusted.

As for Mitchell, he might have been able to get out of Herrick’s gang but it didn’t stop Herrick from staking him either. Unlike other vampire based shows and movies, the staking effect does get dragged out and the last minute of this episode had Annie being forced to cross over while George tried to phone an ambulance.

Annie’s crossing over was deliberately going to happen during a moment when her presence was more than required. Her attachment to Mitchell and George got beautifully conveyed in the previous episode and I did love how before Mitchell got staked, George was desperate for her to stay. The two of them have come a long way as friends and flatmates.

The other juicy plot with this episode was Annie haunting Owen. Her first two attempts were natural failures, even if they succeeded in conveying how much of an evil bastard Owen really is. He even managed to get Janey to believe that she wasn’t seeing Annie at all while finding more ways to stick the knife in.

However I did love that Annie did manage to succeed in getting her own back. The scene where she, George and Mitchell faced off Owen was by far one of the wonderful moments we’ve had. Annie even came across as authentically scary during those scenes and whatever she said to Owen did the trick. I’m sure he’s in some asylum and to be honest, I have no sympathy for the character.

As for how the finale will pan out, I’m going to assume that both Mitchell and Annie will factor in a big way. Previews from BBC3 have certainly indicated that both characters aren’t done with just yet. After all, who would make fun of George and his shrieking? I guess there’s Nina but she doesn’t always get a lot to do per episode. She certainly had a smaller role here.

Also in “Where The Wild Things Are”

This is yet another episode where George didn’t go into wolf mode. He also narrated the opening scene for this episode.

George: “I wonder what it says about us that we need jam.”
Annie: “It’s a gesture. They feel guilty.”
George: “Yeah, so is writing ‘paedo’ on the front door.”

I’m glad that we got some continuity on the neighbours from last week. At least they’re apologising.

Lauren (to Herrick): “Then you can explain something that’s been bothering me. A funeral parlour? Aren’t we skirting a bit close to a cliché here?”

Annie (re Owen): “I want to scare him. To make him cry and beg and scream. It’s not just about justice, it’s more jagged than that. Is that wrong?”
George: “It’s human. Not everything about being human is nice.”

I should note that a few days after this episode aired that BBC3 announced that the series would be coming back for a second season. How brilliant is that?

Owen: “Annie?”
Annie: “Not anymore. I am darkness. I’m death, vengeance and fury, fire and blood. Diamonds and bones. Sapphire and Steel. Confess, Owen. Confess.”

Owen: “I should’ve known that death wouldn’t be a match for one of your sulks. That’s what this is, isn’t it? It’s the Isle Of Wight all over again.”
Annie: “A sulk? You killed me.”

We found out in this episode that Owen was sleeping with Janey when he was still with Annie. Another reason to dislike him.

Owen (to Janey): “You know something? Annie would love this. She was always so bitter. All her life, bitter towards people who were cleverer than her, people who did something.”

George: “A wizard? That’s ridiculous.”
Josie: “Trust me, once you’ve dated a vampire you tend to have a different criteria for what’s ridiculous.”

Thanks to Josie’s comment, I do wonder if we will meet anyone (witch/warlock/wizard) who does practice magic. Does magic exist within the series world?

Seth: “You just hit me with a chair.”
Annie: “Yes. Sorry.”
Seth: “What’s wrong with you people? That totally fucking hurts.”

George: “That was pathetic. We’re the world’s gayest ninjas.”
Annie (re Seth): “I don’t get it. I hit him with a chair and nothing and you punch him with your girly arm and he’s knocked out.”

Seth called George “Digby” in this episode. I’m surprised he didn’t put a nickname on Annie while he was at it.

Mitchell: “You just wanna feed. You just wanna kill.”
Herrick: “But it feels so nice.”

George: “Who wants some of my chair?”
Annie: “Totally should’ve prepared something.”
Mitchell: “Run.”

Standout music: Some great stuff here with Scissor Sisters’ “Comfortably Numb”, Kings Of Leon “Use Somebody” and Franz Ferdinand’s “Take Me Out”.

Annie (to Owen): “There’s a question you haven’t asked yourself yet – if I exist, what else does?You think you’re the big bad wolf, you should see George on a full moon. You think you’re a cold blooded murderer. Mitchell was killing eighty years before you were even born.”

George (to Annie): “If you don’t know what’s there, then why the hell are you going?”
Mitchell: “Because it’s an end.”

Chronology: A few days since the events of the fourth episode.

As preludes go, this felt way too much like a finale. Even when this show looks mundane, it still manages to feel really epic and the last fifteen minutes of this felt even more so. Looking forward to see how things are wrapped up.

Rating: 10 out of 10.

My Review of Ashes To Ashes 1x08: "Episode 8"

Written by Matthew Graham
Directed by Johnny Campbell

Evan (re Alex): “I never want her to know what her father did.”
Alex: “Maybe she has a right to know.”
Evan: “Maybe when she’s older.”
Alex: “You’ll never tell her.”

It’s the big countdown and like Sam, all Alex believes is that her parents are crucial in sending her home. After all, the only thing she needs to know is to prevent them from dying and given how much she knows about their death, it should be simple, right?

Alex even starts things off an assertive not by feigning a report that Tim and Caroline Price are going to die, which is enough to get everyone else on board. Of course Gene’s more distracted with Lord Scarman’s impending and Ray openly admits that he wouldn’t mind seeing the Prices go boom so there’s still teething problems.

One of the most significant to Alex’s journey in 1981 is Arthur Layton so bringing him back for the finale makes sense. There’s a nice cat and mouse moment in the vein of Silence Of The Lambs, even though Alex is no Clarice. Layton exudes enough creepiness to make it matter though.

It’s obvious that for Layton to know so much about Alex’s parents’ murder, he would also have to be involved somehow in it. He’s certainly got form as a menace and he takes an undeniable amount of pleasure in seeing Alex squirm, even to the point where Gene bemoans her for begging Layton for information.

While Layton himself proves to be gloriously unhelpful, Alex at least continues with her assertive actions to prevent her parents’ deaths. Lord Scarman seemed bewildered that she was trying to solve a murder that hasn’t happened and Gene didn’t like the idea of it interfering with his mad plan to impress Lord Scarman neither.

However as plans went, at least Alex went all out. Now I’m not a fan of Ray (though I like him a lot more in this series than I did in Life On Mars) but he and Alex make for a fun pairing. Plus I don’t know if the writers are trying to tell us something as this is the second time this season, he gets involved in the gay community.

Unlike a few episodes ago when Alex was pimping him out to Neary, all Ray had to do was take her to a Gay Pride March and watch and watch as she destroyed the car that killed her parents. Yes, there’s nothing more ludicrous than seeing Alex ride a pink tank to crush a car but it surprisingly works well.

However there would be other problems as well. Alex actually talked to Tim for the first time and failed to get him to leave town. Tim’s reasons for staying were plausible and given that he and Caroline have generated so many threats in their careers, I don’t blame Tim for not taking this one seriously. Alex isn’t always that convincing and she does come across as being a bit loopy at times.

Of course Alex doesn’t let that deter her so she decides to pull a Gene and plant drugs on her parents to get them arrested. Okay it’s not one of her smartest plans and while it does incur the wrath of Gene; at least she’s able to buy some more time for her parents. That being said, arresting two highly liberal lawyers during inspection from Lord Scarman is also a no-no.

One of the strangest things of this episode is that Alex isn’t given a real opportunity to bond with Tim. Maybe it’s because as a child Alex knew she was loved by her father and felt that her mother didn’t care. As a result we get another truly effective scene between Alex and Caroline.

It’s not remotely ironic that the very episode in which Caroline is set to meet her maker do the writers make her a truly sympathetic character. I know she’s become more likeable in recent episodes but here when she talks about taking a sabbatical so she can spend time with Alex, you really do feel for her. Plus there are some genuinely terrific performances from Amelia Bullmore and Keeley Hawes.

However just because you try to tamper with establish history, doesn’t mean you’re likely to succeed. With both Layton being released from prison and then Tim and Caroline, you just know that Alex is going to fail big time. To be fair, she kind of has to really.

All season Alex has assumed that she knew the ins and outs of this world just by going on Sam’s experiences. Given that she’s landed in a different time period/location, she should’ve also realised that this is entirely a new world when the same rules don’t necessarily apply.

It would’ve been a little too easy for Layton to be the real bomber so having it be Tim who murders his family in a warped suicide pact is a lot more shocking. It seems that not did he know about Caroline’s affair with Evan but he wanted to counter it by keeping his family together in the worst way possible.

Alex’s delayed reaction upon seeing her family go up in flames slightly bugged me but having it be Gene the one who saved her as a youngster instead of Evan is an intriguing twist. It also adds weight to the fact that the world Alex is currently in is very real and will probably even cement her closeness to Gene all the more.

Gene and Alex definitely had a good few moments in this episode. We had their usual bout of arguments, flirty asides and general cheekiness and at the end; Alex did seem more receptive to Gene being the hero of the piece. Her thoughts on whether or not her younger self should be told the truth about her parents’ death, I couldn’t agree more on. I’d want to know if I were her.

As for the Lord Scarman plot, this guy is supposed to be viewed as a threat to Gene but without people like him, the police force would be a more hostile environment. Poor Chris landed in the slammer as part of Gene’s failed attempts to impress the man but overall while I side with Scarman, I did like Gene rallying his workers together. Also Shaz managed to wake up, just in time to share a few words with Alex during the end of the episode.

Also in “Episode 8”

Okay the guy voicing the clown; is that the same bloke for E4?

Alex (to herself): “I’m here again for a reason. This time I’ve got to stop it.”

The Clown was definitely more vocal in the finale but will he keep reappearing in the second season?

Alex: “You’re my destiny, did you know that? Some people get angels, I get you.”
Layton: “I didn’t know you cared.”

Tim: “If we ran away everytime someone said they’d kill us, we’d never get any work done.”
Alex: “Please believe me. Take a leap of faith.”

Tim Price was born in 1942, Caroline in 1945. Right now Alex is close to the same age as her parents as she’s 35.

Gene: “Exposing yourself on a bus.”
Chris: “I did not.”
Gene: “You tell Lord Scarman what a marvellous place this is and you’ll be out in a jiffy.”

Lord Scarman: “What do you say young man?”
Chris: “I shouldn’t done it?”

We briefly met Alex’s Uncle Angus in this episode. Pity we didn’t get to see Marcus again.

Gene: “You’re actually asking for my help, Bolly?”
Alex: “Yeah, I might be.”

Alex: “That’s it. A date. Our last.”
Gene: “Can I be Jesus?”

Maybe it’s a bit late in the game to be asking, but what exactly happened to make Gene and his wife split with each other?

Alex: “You think I’m mad?”
Caroline: “Not made, confused. Obsessed even. You need help.”

Alex: “Yeah and ‘you Bolls, what?’”
Gene: “You’re not bad for a posh bird.”

With Layton still on the loose, I really hope both him and Alex have a showdown next season.

Lord Scarman: “I’ve talked to several young homosexual men and heard their despair. Dreadful tales of police harassment-”
Gene: “Put it all in your report, your Lordship, yeah?”
Lord Scarman: “The police harassment of sexual and racial minorities is an endemic, ineradicable disease threatening the very survival of our society.”
Gene: “Catchy title there. ‘Best-seller’ written all over it.”

Standout music: Obviously “Ashes To Ashes” by David Bowie but I also liked the use of “Sing If You’re Glad To Be Gay” by Tom Robinson Band. Ray’s a fan of them.

Gene (to young Alex): “Bye, little lady. Any problems, you just call the Gene Genie.”
Alex: “How come you were there? Taking that little girl’s hand? That couldn’t have happened, you weren’t there. You’re not real.”
Gene: “I’m everywhere Bolly. I was needed and I was there.”

Chronology: October 9^th and 10^th 1981. Two of my siblings have birthdays on those days and I’m posting this review on the 9^th of October.

While this series has largely divided many viewers, I think it’s found it’s grove rather quickly. The finale was easily the strongest episode of the season and I can’t wait to see how things will pan out in the second season.

Rating: 9 out of 10.

My Review of Ashes To Ashes 1x07: "Episode 7"

Written by Matthew Graham
Directed by Jonny Campbell

Gil: “Don’t worry about me, Alex. I’m nothing. You just worry about yourself.”
Alex (to the police officers): “Get rid of him.”

They do like to say that charity begins at home and with so much public emphasis on a plethora of charities, notably Children In Need, there’s a lot that this episode has to work with and it does it admirably.

Even the police themselves get into the spirit of things as Gene uses his own tactics in order to get everyone into donating their cash for a good cause and with the moods that Gene can be capable of, who would refuse him? Well I didn’t see Alex dipping into her pockets but as per usual she’s got other things on her mind.

Some of those things could be linked to this week’s case – the robbery of charity worker Gil Hollis. To get the pink elephant out of the room first, I’m perfectly aware that Matthew Macfadyen who plays Gil is the real life husband (and former Spooks co-star) of Keeley Hawes and for the most part he’s excellent here.

Gil’s erratic behaviour regarding his ordeal could easily be down to stress and given that Alex quickly figures that he’s a sufferer of OCD, there’s always the sneaking suspicion that there is more than meets the eye. You want to feel for the tireless charity worker who’s been robbed by heartless scumbags but you still think that something isn’t quite right.

For instance Gene, while surprisingly willing to go along with Alex’s use of psychology when retracing Gil’s steps begins to think that something’s afoot. Sure, he does look rather sympathetic when a bunch of Ska boys are cruelly teasing Gil but as the latter’s story continues not to really add up to anything, Gene soon reverts to form.

Rational Gene could only last so long and in this episode, the irrational (but annoyingly right) Gene re-emerged following a humiliating appearance on TV to publicly try and catch Gil’s attackers. Gene vented his anger out on Gil, fully convinced that the man had been lying about his attackers.

To be fair to Gene, he was right to go for Gil. Aside from the fact that he acted more shifty and evasive rather than someone who was attacked, Gil also ended shooting himself in the foot when he unknowingly identified Shaz as the female attacker. Even if that hadn’t occurred, Gene also had the forced confession from a Ska boy to go on to boot.

Every once in a while, Gene will behave so monstrously towards a suspect on Life On Mars that Sam would be forced into ‘betraying’ him. Alex found herself in a similarly unenviable position and when she did rat out Gene to Evan and Caroline, she quickly found herself unpopular with everyone else.

I can understand everyone’s loyalty and preference of Gene over to Alex (that even includes the audience) but whether they want to admit it or not, Alex made the right and she clearly took no pleasure in doing it but then again, neither did Sam. Evan and Caroline on the other hand seemed a little too happy for my liking when taking Gene down a size or two.

Alex’s betrayal, though not severe did earn her a threat from Ray and an air of hostility from Shaz. Chris surprisingly enough seemed pretty non vocal about things and while Gene was understandably furious with her, even he laid into Ray for calling her a bitch and told the rest of them to co-operate with her.

As for Gil, by the first twenty minutes of this episode, I had known that he was the one responsible for his own ‘robbery’ so it was Gene finally getting forensics to back him that sealed it. Plus there was something rather funny in having Chris subjected in sticking his hand down a Portaloo in order to retrieve Gil’s gun.

However the big stuff of the episode was seeing a gun toting Gil determined to shoot Gene. Given that Luigi often has to put up with Gene’s Gordon Ramsey-esque critique of his food and Chris and Ray behaving like eejits, having a crazed charity collector shooting up his restaurant would put anyone in a sour mood.

Of course there was no real danger of Gene meeting his maker via Gil but Alex’s concern for him was touching. Gil however seemed more focused on whining about his life was going down the crapper with his wife leaving him, which meant that Gene’s less concerned remark about men with guns ranting about their problems was a welcomed delight.

To be honest, although it’s around this point in this episode where I found Gil to be greatly annoying, there’s a lot of things he says in this episode that made me think about certain things. Without turning this into a personal extract, Gil’s comment about losing control is pointed – why is it that when you try to take control and improve your life, do you still run the risk of messing it up?

Gil dedicated his life to charity but it cost him his family and without them, he felt that his life wasn’t naturally worth it. Throwing all the cash in the air in fury would’ve been cathartic if he hadn’t conned so many people, faked a robbery and inadvertently stabbed Shaz in the process.

I don’t often credit how good as actors that Marshall Lancaster and Montserrat Lombard are as Chris and Shaz but the scene where it looked like Shaz was about to meet her maker was the best performance of the entire episode and quite possibly, the first season. Chris and Shaz have become a very endearing, if somewhat unexplored couple through the season so I’m glad that Shaz lives another day.

There’s clearly a lot of potential with her character and there’s a mentor dynamic between Alex and Shaz that’s worth exploring further. Alex was repeatedly told from the creepy clown that she was going to lose someone. I think it’s fair to assume the people will be her parents. Alex’s constant interaction with Caroline and Evan make me believe that she’ll fail in her mission to save them.

Also in “Episode 7”

All the clips from the “Previously On” came from episode six, which makes sense seeing as control is Alex’s big thing now.

Alex: “I prefer Dover Soul.”
Gene: “You want soul, I’ve got soul. Okay right, wear something slutty.”

Brilliant opening scene with three actors who looked nothing like Philip Glenister, Marshall Lancaster and Dean Andrews. Of course that was the point.

Alex: “Well, the mind’s an amazing organ.”
Gene: “I’ve got an amazing organ.”
Alex: “It’s capable of far more than you’d imagine.”
Gene: “Right again.”

Alex (to everyone): “I’m in control, none of you will die. Unless I choose to kill you.”

Some shameless boy band references with New Kids On The Block, East 17, Backstreet Boys and Busted all getting mentioned.

Alex: “We’ve just given your memory a bath.”
Gil: “I’m done with baths.”

Gene (re Ska gang): “Nick ‘em.”
Ray: “Which ones?”
Gene: “All of them.”
Ray: “Music to my ears.”

The clown appeared on the TV, at the station and for once, even Shaz could see him when she was fighting to survive.

Alex (to Gene): “You ruined this for me, you pig headed bastard.”

Caroline (to Alex, re Gene): “The Manc Lion. I knew one day you’d ask to have him tamed, DI Drake.”
Ray: “You bitch.”
Gene: “Watch your mouth; you’re talking to a DI.”

Alex got compared to Uri Gellar by Gene, Juliet Bravo by the Chief Superior and Quincy by Ray.

Alex: “Why are you in my head?”
Evan: “I don’t know.”
Alex: “Not you, Gene Hunt.”

Evan looked offended when Alex mentioned Gene (he fancies her) and I enjoyed the final scene between Gene and Viv when the former apologised for allowing Chris to beat up Gil.

Alex (re Gil’s gun): “He couldn’t have gotten it down the bowl, it’s too big.”
Ray: I have that problem sometimes myself.”

Luigi (to everyone): “You pesky kids solve the crime?”
Gene: “Yes, unlike your pizza, which is inedible.”

Standout music: Kate Bush’s “The Man With The Child Is His Eyes” and “Fame” by David Bowie.

Gil (to Alex): “Why is it the more we try to take control of our lives, the more it goes wrong?”

Chronology: October 7^th, 1981 with three days until the death of Caroline and Tim Price.

Surprisingly enough I wasn’t too keen on this episode when I first watched it but when I sat to watch it again for reviewing purposes, I enjoyed it more. Matthew Macfadyen while not as good as Gil in the second half did a fine job and I felt sorry for Gene at different points too.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

My Review of Being Human's 1x04: "Another Fine Mess"

Written by Brian Dooley
Directed by Alex Pillai

Mitchell (to himself): “You can piss your whole life away trying out who you might be. It’s when you’ve worked out who you are that can really start to live.”

In terms of dark episodes, I think it’s safe to say that this is the darkest one yet. Mitchell and George have been trying so far to blend in with their neighbours and all it took was one DVD to completely balls that up.

The episode made a point of having Mitchell talking about belonging. After all, he’s pulled of a successful act in getting the neighbours to like him and this week, he saved young Bernie from a few bratty bullies. That act in of itself endeared him to Bernie and the young’s lad mum Fleur.

In fact Mitchell then went one better by taking the boy bowling and while Lauren proved a minor distraction, Mitchell kept trying to prove how he could fit with humans. Come on, even that little party with Bernie, George and an unseen Annie was as routine as you could get.

So, what on Earth could’ve possibly gone wrong? How about Mitchell recommending a DVD of Laurel And Hardy for Bernie to watch. Now I like Laurel And Hardy as much as the next person but unfortunately what Bernie found in that DVD was the snuff film that Lauren made.

Although I’m not a parent myself, I do have nieces and I’d be a little freaked if I caught them watching something like that. Fleur’s reaction, while hysterical was believable and it would make sense that she would automatically assume the worst of Mitchell and George because of the DVD.

The problem was however is that she didn’t get the full story straight and ended up causing a lot of trouble. Being branded a paedophile and getting ostracised by your neighbours was definitely one thing both Mitchell and George didn’t need and not just because they’re supernatural beings.

Although I hated the mob mentality the neighbours went to, it’s understandable under the circumstances. It also gave George another thing to freak out and it also played a part in his relationship with Nina.

As for Bernie, the poor lad felt guilty over what happened with Mitchell and George and tried to make things right. Because of a stupid crowd, the lad ended up getting knocked down. Because of Mitchell he ended up becoming a vampire. Needless to say, both outcomes were bad.

Without sounding like a callous person, Mitchell should’ve let Bernie die. He knows himself that being a vampire can be a curse and given that Bernie will forever be stuck in the body of a 12 year old boy, Mitchell has damned him big time. Even Fleur should’ve had the sense to reject Mitchell’s offer, an offer that Mitchell should not have made in the first place.

Mitchell couldn’t even look at Bernie in the face and it’s obvious that he’s certainly going to be haunted by this. What he did here was way worse than what he did to Lauren. By the way, did anyone believe that she was genuinely okay and that she was going to leave Mitchell alone because I certainly didn’t?

Herrick played with Mitchell’s emotions wonderfully this week. First he smacked Mitchell down over his treatment of Lauren and then he got Mitchell to admit that the old days were enjoyable. It’s no surprise that by the end of the episode, Mitchell ended up going back into the fold.

George meanwhile had relationship problems with Nina. Although he enjoyed getting wild with her, he did fear that she was going to only want the wolf and not him. Then Nina made the wise decision to take things slow. When the neighbours started revolting, George tried to end things with her.

I’m glad that Nina didn’t believe that George was a paedophile for obvious reasons. I’m also glad that George decided to keep seeing her and hinted that he might tell her about being a werewolf. As for Nina’s scars, it’ll be interesting to see where the writers go with that story.

Annie also had romantic woes on her plates. Finding out that your fiancé’s a jealous prick who killed you would certainly be enough to shake up. Annie took it to the extremes by getting a little poltergeist happy in this episode. Coffee jars and light bulbs weren’t safe.

Owen himself also showed his true colours. First with his horrid treatment of Mitchell and George and then by the way he was behaving with Janey. That being said, Janey was massively irritating in this episode. I also got the impression that Owen could feel Annie’s presence around the house.

One moment that I did find really touching in this episode was Annie was telling Mitchell and George that she didn’t want to lose them. She better act fast though before Owen and his orange girlfriend get their mitts back into the house.

Also in “Another Fine Mess”

We had a shorter reprise sequence for this episode, which is fine with me.

Mitchell (re Lauren): “She was the one who came to me.”
Herrick: “Where else was she gonna go? She couldn’t exactly call Childline, could she?”

I noticed in this episode that Lauren’s hair was darker. It’s hard to figure whether Herrick actually care for her as well.

George: “I had the wolf in me.”
Mitchell: “So did Nina.”

Fleur (to Mitchell): “I say this as a mother but children are foul.”
Bernie: “Thanks.”

Apparently Bernie has two gay uncles and thanks to that DVD, Owen thinks Mitchell and George are gay.

Mitchell: “I’m not coming back.”
Lauren: “I know. We get it. Jesus. I am saying this out loud, aren’t I?”

George: “This is just what we didn’t need Mitchell. To draw attention to ourselves.”
Mitchell: “It was just a stupid mistake.”
Annie: “Well put it right.”

There was a good moment at the start of this episode with Mitchell slipping into various guises.

George (to Mitchell): “We’ve been deluding ourselves in thinking that we could ever be accepted here by proper human beings. We are monsters, Mitchell. We deserve to be cast out.”

Owen: “They said it was a fella with his tackle out.”
Mitchell: “I have eclectic tastes.”
Owen: “What you get up to is your own affair.”
George: “I have a girlfriend.”

Annie was seen by one of the neighbours in this episode when Bernie was knocked down.

George: “Nina, do I look like a paedo?”
Nina: “If paedos looked like paedos, they’d never do any paedoing.”

Annie (to Mitchell/George): “Owen has taken everything he’s ever gonna take from me. He’s not taking you two or this house. I’ve never felt more alive.”

Standout music: Aqua’s “Barbie Girl”. It’s not that bad.

Nina: “People can be bastards. It’s all you need to know. If I talk about it, I’ll have to remember.”
George: “I never want anything like that to happen to you again.”

Chronology: A few days since “Episode 3”.

Yet another superb episode. This one might have been collectively darker than previous ones but the series is certainly on fire at the moment. Can’t wait to see what the last two episodes offer us.

Rating: 10 out of 10.

My Review of Ashes To Ashes 1x06: "Episode 6"

Written by Mick Ford
Directed by Catherine Morshead

Alex (to Molly): “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. It’s ending here. I’m dying here.”

Death might come to us all but for all Alex; she’s convinced that it’s catching up with her even quicker than she feared. Without a doubt this episode has the best teaser seen on either Life On Mars or Ashes To Ashes as well as being one of the creepiest surreal of them all.

Alex dreams of being attacked by the Bowie Clown, she’s unable to make connections, doesn’t remember who gave her a Rubik cube as a child and instead of falling out of bed; she’s being sucked into hers. That’s all happening on top of the fact that she’s also dreaming of a mystery person in her bed.

So who could the person be? It can’t be Molly because she’s reduced to silent cameos every episode and both Evan and Caroline also seem unlikely given that Alex is constantly in their orbit, even when she’s not stalking one or the other. My theory would’ve been her father, Tim.

In six episodes we know so little of the man. In fact come to think of it, aside from car bomb flashbacks and one moment where Alex’s younger self was spending time with her father, the older Alex stuck in 1981 hasn’t even met her dad at all. I know Tim a busy man but why are they keeping him away from Alex so much?

Getting back to the mystery person in question, I have to admit that Gene being the other bedfellow took me by surprise. Alex spent this entire episode blathering on about connections so in some way Gene must be connected to Alex’s past which makes him more than just the construct that Alex views him to be.

Another apparent thing in this episode is Gene’s lust for Alex. Every episode it’s intensified just that little bit and two weeks ago we got close to seeing them go for each sexually. Here, there’s still the fact that Alex knows how to push Gene’s buttons and wind up him with such deftness.

A series of robberies lead Gene back into accusing a former criminal in Chas Cole of being guilty. Unfortunately for Gene, not only did Chas have evidence but his wife Joan also had very little in the way of a problem in telling Gene that the former criminal is an epileptic.

Surprisingly this is actually enough to convince Gene that Chas is innocent but Alex is adamant that he’s guilty. What’s interesting about this is that she actually uses Gene’s gut instinct against him and even tries massaging his prowess as a police officer. There’s something rather flirty in the way Alex does that.

Gene however still chooses to ignore Alex and she takes her revenge by stealing his Quattro and loading it up with bin bags from Chas’ restaurant. It’s enough to try and get Gene to throw Alex off the case but she even manages to get out of that with such ease. Alex is proving herself capable of outwitting Gene at every turn here.

Of course despite the fact that Alex can convey being right in such an annoying fashion she does have a point about Chris and Ray. Even though the two of them aren’t exceptionally bright, it would be in Gene’s best interest to encourage them every so often. Alex wanted to get rid of them and when she did, they ended up getting a result without having to try.

So arresting a guy who can do good impressions is one thing but how did Billy connect to Chas? It seems that his nephew Donny wasn’t being truthful about Billy’s whereabouts until after the petty thief got himself killed. As child actors go, the one playing Donny did a good job.

Once again Alex was on about connections and it was great that she entrusted Caroline to look after Donny. Of course it took her a while to realise that she wouldn’t be messing her own history but earlier on in the episode Alex had also come dangerously close in revealing her true identity to Caroline.

Caroline connections aside, the constant back and forth fearing for her life really came to a head when Joan had Alex bound and gagged and locked in a freezer. As would be deaths go, that’s definitely up there and having that Bowie Clown menacing you at every turn is definitely gonna give you the creeps.

However while Alex might not approve of Gene, his timing however does rock. Not only does he shoot the windows down of Chas and Joan’s restaurant but upon rescuing Alex, there’s a moment where he’s happy at the chance to give her mouth to mouth. Of course Alex had to wake up and Gene switched to largely insulting her once again.

So the other question remains – will Gene get his wicked with Alex? I can see a lot of fans not liking the idea and I’m still a little divided myself even though I believe that Philip Glenister and Keeley Hawes would sell it for all its worth but perhaps it’s too soon in the series to go there.

That being said, Gene’s attraction to Alex has not been subtle. Ray noticed it in the first episode and Luigi sort of goes overboard in telling Gene that he knows he loves Alex a lot. Plus Gene does seem to be rather tetchy around Evan and even made a clumsy come on of sorts to Alex around the end of the episode.

But would the relationship work? Gene and Alex can barely tolerate each other most of the time so who’s to say their relationship wouldn’t just be physical only? Elsewhere it’s also clear that Chris has trouble on his hands with both Shaz and Ray vying for his attention, albeit in different ways.

Also in “Episode 6”

For a brief scene I got the actresses who play both Molly and the younger Alex confused. They look a little too alike IMO.

Gene: “Oh ye of little faith.”
Chris: “All hail the mighty Quattro.”

Isn’t it funny that it was Ray who mentioned that Alex was at death’s door at one point in the episode?

Chas: “Everyone fancy a bottle of Bolly?”
Alex: “Does it come with knickers?”

Ray (re Chris): “He only likes girls now.”
Shaz: “I’m sure you know how to play with yourself, Ray.”

Why did Shaz balk out of the dinner date with Chris? Is she threatened by Ray or was she trying to keep the peace between him and Chris?

Alex: “There’s no time.”
Caroline: “There’s always time. You don’t have to go anywhere you don’t want to. I on the other hand.”

Luigi (re Alex): “Be careful who will catch her.”
Gene: “No-one hopefully.”

Luigi doesn’t seem to be as perceptive as Nelson but there’s a part of me that does think he should be dispensing Alex with advice like Nelson did with Sam.

Joan (re Alex): “Tie her up and gag her too.”
Chas: “What are you gonna do?”

Gene: “I’ve dreamt about doing this. Don’t you dare.”
Alex: “I worked it out. I made the connection. I solved it. You saved me and if you saved me, maybe I can save them.”
Gene: “Yeah, I think it’s called concussion.”

Standout music: There are loads here with “Tainted Love” by Soft Cell, “Same Old Scene” by Roxy Music, “Vienna” by Ultravox and the brilliant “Ghosts” by Japan.

Gene: “I’m about three minutes from my sexual peak. Do you want to celebrate?”
Alex: “Unfortunately I’ve got a headache.”

Chronology: Judging by Alex’s marked calendar pages, it’s nearing the end of September 1981.

As episodes go, this was definitely one for the mystery angle. Alex’s fever dreams were creative and creepy, the ending makes the world she’s trapped more vital than before and the sexual tension between her and Gene continues to go up several notches as well.

Rating: 9 out of 10.

My Review of Ashes To Ashes 1x05: "Episode 5"

Written by Mark Greig
Directed by Bille Eltringham

Alex (re Simon): “Now can we please concentrate on the crimes he commits and not whose cock he sucks.”
Chris: “Did you just?”
Alex: “Yes, Chris, I did.”

At this point in Life On Mars we had the macho posturing of football when Sam went undercover to catch a football hooligan. With Alex, she’s brought into the glittering world of Simon Neary, London’s most notorious gay gangster.

Okay so we’ve had one of those in Life On Mars as well, but Neary makes a big name for himself just by having a rent boy killed in the opening credits. More interestingly is when Alex and company try to stake out a hotel where Neary is staying; they end up nabbing his boyfriend.

Now in this world all the heterosexual male characters seem to be beaten with the homophobic stick. Gene doesn’t believe in the concept of two men being love with each and seemingly prefers to believe that Marcus’ involvement with Neary has a more sinister motive and Chris and Ray are their usual immature selves on the issue as well.

One of the funniest about the sexual politics in this episode is how Alex tries to bring them into a reality check. Her statement about focusing on Neary’s crimes rather than his sexual prowess is well judged even if the way she conveys this comes across as trying to be shocking on the writer’s part.

Neary’s nastiness is something more successfully thought out though. As well as killing rent boys for no reasonable, he also deals with the biggest scum in London and even seems to have his hands in the gun trade honey pot, which is something that naturally resonates with Alex.

Seeing as she’s still vaguely hopeful that Layton might not have killed her, Alex becomes pretty determined to crack all of Neary’s connections. Given that in the year 2008, there is an epidemic on gun violence, Alex’s desperation to stop Neary may come across as a little preachy but it’s effective nonetheless.

Ray’s even useful in telling Alex the type of gun in a photo ID just by looking at it and as soon as Gene’s snitch Reeks is found, the former becomes more determined to prevent further violence. Of course Gene openly threatening Neary wasn’t the best of ideas that he’s had though.

However with one snitch, the only possible way of getting to Neary lies in using Marcus as an informant and that is obviously something that takes a while for Alex to crack. Marcus is pretty head over heels and seeing as it’s shown earlier on that Marcus is a guy down on his luck, I can understand the reservation he might have had for turning on Neary.

Casting wise though, can I just say that Russell Tovey is definitely one of the best guest stars we’ve had on the series? I know he’s mainly known for The History Boys but in the last year I’ve mainly seen him in the likes of Annually Retentive, Gavin And Stacy, Doctor Who’s “Voyage Of The Damned” and Being Human and his performance in this episode is fantastic.

He’s brilliant at conveying the genuine dumbfounded stance when Alex and Gene first caught him in the hotel and he’s also one of the few rare male guest stars that Gene hasn’t roughed up either. It’s also easy to believe that Marcus is in love with Simon, despite the latter being an evil bastard.

What’s even better about Marcus is that he inadvertently gives Alex a chance to show her compassion with more conviction this time round. Aside from Shaz, she’s the only person accepting of his sexuality but also warns him about Simon’s really like. Unfortunately it takes quite a while for that to sink in with Marcus.

For the most part, he’s trying to get rid of Alex and when Simon catches the two of them together, Alex lies about her and Marcus working the streets a while back. Of course almost to prove Alex’s point, Simon behaves rather venomously towards the woman, even when she goes on a night out with the dysfunctional couple.

The fun part of this episode is the undercover operation. Gene is stupid enough to go to a club after he confronted Neary and Chris and Ray aren’t pleased when they realise the club is a gay one. It’s even harder for Ray when he then has to proposition Neary in order to turn Marcus against the gangster.

Although some of the jokes during these scenes are rather immature, I have to admit that as a gay bloke myself, I did laugh at some of this stuff. Alex trying to tell Ray to be himself and Chris’ childish glee later on all raised a giggle and besides, while this show does depict homophobia, racist and sexism, I’m not once under the impression that the producers are trying to advocate any of those negative characteristics.

Its lucky then for Alex that her big plan ended up working. Although Marcus was furious with her scheming, it was nice to see him realise what a scumbag Simon was. It also later helped that Marcus ended up believing that Simon did have that rent boy and Reeks killed.

The undercover element of the episode was a mixed bag. On one hand maybe we didn’t need to have Alex and Gene eavesdropping on Simon and Marcus getting physical but at the same time, at least the result winded up with Neary being killed and Marcus not having to go to jail.

More importantly Alex also managed to get Marcus to connect with his parents in a beautiful scene and even told him to go to the doctor. Those were legions on the back of his neck, weren’t they? It’s also not a coincidence that Marcus’ fear of rejection from his parents is what compelled Alex to get in contact with Caroline again. Although Caroline is still far from sympathetic, it is nice that she apologised to Alex for using her.

Also in “Episode 5”

Given that we’re getting so many flashbacks to Layton, surely we’re going to see him before the season ends?

Chris (re Simon): “Must have bloody big ears.”
Alex: “Wrong orifice, Chris. It’s a butt plug.”
Gene: “Goes up your arse.”

Chris was the only person who dressed while undercover (as hotel staff) in this episode. I felt a little bad for him when Alex roped him into going through files.

Gene (to Alex): “Your problem is you can’t take a compliment. One of your problems.”

Alex: “Once the genie’s out of the bottle, he can’t go back in.”
Ray (re Gene): “He’d never fit.”

I had to laugh when Shaz said she would do Alex in this episode. I bet that made a lot of slashers very happy.

Alex: “I thought you wanted to take Simon Neary down.”
Gene: “I do and we will after the match.”

Marcus (re Simon): “It’s only because he loves me.”
Alex: “It’s not about love, it’s about possession.”

Gene’s lust for Alex does seem to be going into overdrive here. He even arranged her undercover outfit by removing her earrings. Alex didn’t exactly seem turned off by this either.

Simon (to Marcus): “Wear the other shirt. He looks good in blue.”
Alex: “Bet he does.”

Alex: “Hang on, hang on. Now this is worth getting straight; I’m imagining you, imagining paying for sex with me, in my imaginary role as an imaginary street whore?”
Gene: “You must have a filthy mind.”
Alex: “Absolute sewer, apparently.”

Is Alex always gonna feel woozy whenever there’s a gunshot fired? We also got to see her on the slab this week.

Simon: “Sweetheart suits you better.”
Alex: “Oh, why? Is that because I’m so sweet?”
Simon: “Because that’s what I’m gonna call you.”

Marcus: “That was a shitty thing to do.”
Alex (re Simon): “I think you deserve to know what he’s like. He doesn’t have any loyalty to you. He doesn’t love you.”

Other noteworthy things: Chris’ Mr Humphries impression (a little too good), Shaz’s own theories on sexuality and Alex making her colleagues uncomfortable by calling them “poofters”.

Caroline: “You are after exploiting another human’s weakness for your own ends.”
Alex: “Like you did with me?”

Marcus: “Never knew you were such a nag.”
Alex: “Terrible. Never marry me.”

Standout music: “I Lost My Heart To A Starship Trooper” by Sarah Brightman and Hot Gossip (also used on Torchwood’s “Exit Wounds”) and “Where Did Our Love Go?” by Soft Cell.

Okay so some of the humour in this episode was a bit on the silly side of things but I can it given that overall this episode was laugh out loud funny and had a terrific element of sexual politics and Alex is improving as a character, so hat’s off there.

Rating: 9 out of 10.

My Review of Being Human's 1x03: "Ghost Town"

Written by Rachel Anthony
Directed by Alex Pillai

Annie: “Not just parsley sauce, there’s boiled ham as well. I’m going to put it in a casserole dish and I’m going to take it round.”
George: “Right. Well, okay, aside from the fact that’s a mental idea on so many levels, do you think you could possibly do it another night? Only I have a friend coming over for dinner. A female friend.”
Annie: “Oh, okay. So I’m contemplating resolving my death so that I can move on to the next dimension and you’re worrying about getting your leg over?”

Last week, George had the task of learning more about his nature via the destructive influence of Tully and this week Annie got some lessons in Ghost 101 herself. Of course, the only worrier would have been that she would get such lessons through a similarly destructive influence.

Thankfully the writers don’t repeat themselves as Annie’s go to guy, Gilbert is actually adorable. A former student who died in the eighties, Gilbert is a friendly ghost, even if his ideas of fun could be considered questionable. His introduction is certainly one of the more casual we’ve had.

Annie nearly destroyed the house because of her time of the month and Mitchell and George took her clubbing so she could meet Gilbert. Inadvertently Mitchell might have been playing matchmaker because there was a certain spark with Annie but that could also be down to the fact that she was interacting with a fellow ghost.

In the space of three episodes all we’ve known about Annie is that she’s a bit OCD, has some serious self esteem issues and loved the idea of being a wife. This is conveyed even more when Gilbert took her to her own grave. As Mitchell would put it, Gilbert certainly knows how to treat women.

And that’s the thing with Gilbert, even when he sounded incredibly rude, he’s still being compassionate and helpful. To be fair, Annie’s story about how she and Owen met was sort of dull but it opened Gilbert up into getting Annie to address why she hasn’t crossed over.

I thought it was to do solely with the fact that there are gaps surrounding her death but Annie’s desire to be a provider for Owen played into things heavily. I think it’s something to do with Annie’s nature rather than just a gender thing. Annie is a very caring kind of person, arguably too much.

When she started talking to Gilbert about how Owen used to keep losing his keys, I got the impression that Owen took her for granted with things. Plus it did make sense for Annie then to go to Owen and Janey’s place and start taking care of him but it also served as a catalyst for more answers.

First off all, despite the nice guy persona we saw in the first episode, Owen is actually quite a jerk as well as control freak. Janey might be a very annoying person but no-one should be lumbered with someone like Owen. I really did feel for her when Owen started yelling at her.

Then there’s the reveal that Owen killed Annie because he thought she cheated on him. Did Annie cheat on Owen? Perhaps it’s not shocking as a reveal but that’s the thing about this show. It’s immaterial that a lot of the stories aren’t original because up until now the execution has been sublime and that to me has been the show’s biggest selling point.

The reveal about Annie’s abusive relationship with Owen might not be shocking in retrospect but it’s beautifully fleshed out and you’d have to have a heart of stone not to feel for the girl when she’s finally confronted with the truth behind her death. Owen removing her thong from the pipes in the toilet was there to cover his own backside.

And if Gilbert wasn’t endearing beforehand then he certainly deserved a gold star for reassuring Annie about her worth. I knew that when he admitted to falling in love with her that she wouldn’t reciprocate but it was a nice way of exiting the character as falling in love was the thing that made him want to cross over.

Hats off to Alex Price for a spirited performance as Gilbert in this episode. His method of fun might not have been the same as Annie’s but the rapport with the two of them was undeniably brilliant and I liked his commentary on virtually everything in this episode.

As for Annie, knowing that the love of your life killed you is definitely a bad turn for the book. She made no effort in masking her sadness, not that you’d blame her but it was good that she told both George and Mitchell about it. If knowing about your death or being a wife weren’t enough to make Annie cross over, then what will be?

Elsewhere while Annie was dealing with old love, George was trying new love for size. Of course the poor sod would have trouble in trying to sleep with Nina and while she mistook it for premature ejaculation, she certainly got him to get over his initial stage fright. I take it then that Nina will be around for much longer.

Lauren on the other hand found a better way of getting at Mitchell – by trying to go clean. I was unsure of whether or not she was playing Mitchell but in her desperation she did seem very serious. I don’t think it was because she was suddenly feeling bad about killing people.

It was pretty clear that Lauren’s motives for wanting to go clean were designed to snare Mitchell and it nearly worked. Both of them fed off each other in order to combat their bloodlust but Mitchell knew it wasn’t going to last long and even though he knew giving her blood from the hospital wasn’t going to help much he still did it.

It’s good that Mitchell does have to struggle to keep his hunger at need but it’s also good that we don’t see him in anguish for the duration of each other episode. Lauren’s still a bad influence on him and as soon as Seth showed up to collect her, she didn’t waste time running off with him. Whatever plan Herrick is cooking up, can we please have some actual development on it?

Also in “Ghost Town”

This is the first episode not to be written by Toby Whithouse. I wonder how many other episodes aren’t penned by him.

George: “Love should be the opposite of death. It should be the biggest reason for wanting to be here. What else have we got? Football? Shoes?”

It was never really established how Gilbert knew Mitchell and George but he did seem concerned about their killing ways.

George (re Annie): “How can she possibly have PMT? She’s a ghost.”
Mitchell: “I don’t know but it’s not worth the risk. Let’s go to the chippie.”
George: “Mitchell I have two steaks in the fridge. They go off if I don’t eat them today and I’m bloody starving.”
Mitchell: “If you want, I can rush in and grab the steaks.”
George: “No way. I’m not eating raw meat like an animal just because a ghost is ovulating.”

Mitchell: “I never know with you whether it’s Jewish guilt or werewolf guilt.”
George: “They’re pretty much the same thing.”

Nina made a very direct point of mentioning that she used to be attracted to men like Mitchell. I assume she views Mitchell as the aloof type.

Lauren: “You did this to me. You made me what I am.”
Mitchell: “And I take responsibility for that but everything else since then. Everything you done, that was you.”

Annie (re her grave): “I’ve never seen it before.”
Gilbert: “It’s beautiful.”
Annie: “Beautiful? I was 22 years old. I had my whole life to live. I was happy. I was in love.”

Anna Clare Sawyer was born in 1985 and died in 2007, the same year that George was bitten by Tully.

George: “So what needs to be resolved?”
Annie: “Well if I knew that, it wouldn’t need resolving, would it? Keep up!”

Mitchell (re the neighbours): “We’re valued members of the local community.”
George: “Yes, till we inadvertently kill one of them.”

Good continuity from the previous episode with Mitchell’s determination to keep in with the neighbours.

Gilbert: “Well, that was the dullest story I have ever heard. Nobody should make a film out of that. Thank God you met me. It’s time you had some fun girl.”
Annie: “I thought fun was a bourgeois concept.”

Annie (re Owen): “I'd like to be like his guardian angel and stop anything bad from happening to him.”
Gilbert: “Can you stop him from listening to Michael Buble?”

We learned that Annie was into design and that Owen was into computers at college. Annie’s nicknames for Janey included “Tango Face” and “Filthy Orange Pleb”.

Mitchell (re George): “Are you checking me out or him? You know he worries about me getting harassed in the work place.”
Nina: “Don’t worry, you’re not my type.”

Lauren: “Did you really throw up at the DVD?”
Mitchell: “Only the first dozen or so times.”

Lauren talked about being in an abusive relationship with the man she killed in the DVD. More lies or is she as much a victim of Herrick’s than helper?

Nina: “You’re a man. You are a man, aren’t you? You’ve always been a man.”
George: “Oh God, it’s … I have trouble containing myself.”

Annie: “Maybe it’s me. Maybe I am that annoying and pathetic.”
Gilbert: “Of course not. You’re amazing.”
Annie: “But the man I loved killed me. Am I really that hard to love back?”
Gilbert: “Hey, hey come on. You are loved by loads of people, by me.”

Standout music: This episode had genuine delights with “Girlfriend In A Coma” by The Smiths and “Tunnel Of Love” by Fun Boy Three.

Gilbert: “Come with me.”
Annie: “I can’t.”
Gilbert: “I don’t wanna go on my own.”
Annie: “No I mean I can’t. This isn’t for me. This is your death.”
Gilbert: “I just needed to meet you. All this time, I just needed to meet you.”

Mitchell: “It’s stopped now, hasn’t it? Now everything’s normal?”
George: “Well that’s something.”
Annie: “Yeah. I find out that the love of my life killed me. But it’s okay because at least now we can wash up.”

Chronology: It’s a month since “Episode 2”, though we didn’t actually see George wolf out in this episode.

Out of the three episodes we’ve had so far, this is certainly the best one. The show still maintains its humour and drama but this episode only serves as a reason why terrestrial viewers should be enjoying this series along with everyone else.

Rating: 10 out of 10.