Monday, February 15, 2010

My Review of Being Human's 2x06: "In The Morning"

Written by Lisa McGee
Directed by Charles Martin

Lucy: “You can’t just change.”
Mitchell: “I can.”
Lucy: “You’re not strong enough.”

Doomed romances don’t come any more doomed than Mitchell and Lucy, do they? She spent most of this episode being disgusted by Mitchell that even he should’ve twigged that he wouldn’t be enjoying a future with her any time soon.

I mean, post-sex she was going to stake him and Mitchell himself wasn’t doing much to persuade her that he could change. Basically Mitchell told that she could save him but we all know that’s bollocks so to speak. Mitchell, you have to save yourself and really want to change your ways (which is more difficult for a vampire).

Trying to guilty a wavering person into being your crutch was most definitely not the way for Mitchell to go about proving to Lucy that he’s capable of better. Nor was the pretence to George and Annie that he and Lucy were in a serious relationship. The woman can barely look at you, Mitchell.

When it comes to Lucy, her conflict did interest me a lot. She’s not as devoted to this persecution of vampires as Kemp but she certainly has similar religious beliefs to him and while she was reluctant in acting, she did choose a side when pushed. She chose the side of God.

As a non-religious person, even I got that she thought that she was doing good. Kemp wanted all the vampires in the funeral home, including Mitchell and Lloyd made sure that the place went up in smithereens. It was a shocker of an end for the episode but come on, apart from some nameless vampires, what will be the big casualties?

Mitchell will inevitably survive because he’s going to have to find out about Lucy and Kemp and Ivan himself is also a likely candidate to pull through. Other remaining survivors are just more likely to revert to their old ways and kick Mitchell’s regime into touch and that’s been on the cards for a while now.

One of the joys about this was finally giving Kemp some needed back story into his contempt for the supernatural. It might not be wholly original that his wife and child were slaughtered by vampires but it does make the character more accessible to audiences as well. His overall plan will inevitably fail but at least we know why he’s the way he is, even if his actions aren’t justified so to speak.

Speaking of actions, this was a brilliant episode for Annie, even better than her one with Sykes. I’m sceptical of these so called mediums because most of the time, they are just charlatans targeting people at their most vulnerable but I did love what this episode did with Alan Cortez.

An actual medium that was having difficulties with communicating with ghosts because of some accident that happened way back was a good move for the episode. I got a kick out of the frustrated ghosts yelling to get his attention but it made sense that Annie would be the one to actually communicate with him.

In a clichéd manner, both Annie and Alan needed each other for different reasons. Alan needed to finally start communicating with real spirits instead of doing guesswork and Annie needed something of a purpose and closure on at least one important aspect of the world she’s just about a part of.

Seeing Annie direct the ghosts to Alan during the live show was a hoot. Jimmy certainly had a foul mouth on him with his cheating living partner Orla but even when he crossed over; it still provided a touching moment. Why it is that Annie can’t have that now?

Then there was Carmen. I was actually shocked that we would get Annie’s mother in the series but it was only a matter of time before it happened. Some of Lenora Crichlow’s best acting came from the scenes where Annie got Alan to encourage Carmen to try and move forward with her life. It’s stuff like this that makes me wish Annie would get more to do in this series.

Her later conversations with Alan and Robin also showcased the fact that she’s become slightly more assertive as a ghost than she ever was as a person. It was nice that when she turned down Alan’s offer of going on the road with her, that Robin took her place. I liked Robin, even if she was slightly underused.

However as excellent as Mitchell and Annie’s stories have been in this episode, the least strongest story from this one though would be George’s. I still like the guy but this season, I’ve just wanted to shake some sense into and it continued here.

I know I’m repeating myself but I’ll say it again – I like Sam but her and George are just doomed. This time I’m not thinking about Nina and solely concentrating on the way George has bulldozed into this relationship all in a bid to prove that he’s normal. So normal that he can’t even come up with a decent lie to get out of going to Molly’s parent-teacher meeting.

Molly was smart enough to suss out that George was lying to her mother and even gave him an escape route. If George had been smart, he would’ve taken it. This can only mean that within the next two episodes that Molly will either come up with a way of breaking George and Sam apart or Sam is going to find out about her boyfriend’s werewolf nature in another way. Either way, it’s going to be a messy one.

Also in “In The Morning”

This week’s flashback was London 1972, where a young priest named Kemp had to witness the brutal murders of his wife and daughter by vampires.

Annie: “Are you having a breakdown or something?”
George: “No but I think you might be.”

Annie did overreact with smashing stuff and hiding George’s things but at least she actually tried to talk sense into George. Mitchell couldn’t be bothered this week.

Annie (to Mitchell/George): “Oh you take his side. You two are so gay for each other.”

Lucy (re Mitchell): “I can’t kill another person.”
Kemp: “He’s not a person, professor. They’re not people.”

I wonder how many vampires Kemp has killed since that night in 1972.

Alan: “Am I sensing another spirit in the room?”
Annie: “There’s been one in the room for the last forty minutes you giant twat.”

Annie: “What are you looking for?”
George: “My bloody phone charger.”
Annie: “Oh that’s in the oven.”

Molly got the truth out of George when he confused toboggan sleighs with samurai swords. Also was that nightmare of hers just a ruse to create tension?

Ivan (to Mitchell): “Just leave it to me. I’ve got most of them on my Twitter feed.”

George: “You tricked me.”
Molly: “I knew you were lying.”

Was Daisy at that meeting? I don’t recall seeing her. In fact, Daisy’s been pretty underused this season, given the hype we initially got with her and Ivan.

Molly (re Sam): “You can tell her.”
George: “I can’t. I’m too scared to take the risk.”
Molly: “She loves you, no matter what.”

Alan (re Annie): “She says it’s time to let go.”
Carmen: “She’s my daughter for God’s sake. How can I let go?”

Standout music: “Sleep Alone” by Bat For Lashes.

Ivan (to Mitchell): “You should’ve said it was about love. I get it now.”

Chronology: Exactly where the previous episode left off.

Easily the best episode from the second season. I can’t wait to see how the last two tie up all the loose ends, especially with Kemp finally making contact with George and Annie and Mitchell’s little predicament. Also nice to know that Nina’s still breathing.

Rating: 10 out of 10.

2 comments:

Placey said...

Hi Shaun
6 down, 2 to go! I loved Ep 5, enjoyed the flashbacks to Mitchell's first meeting with Josie (his 'saviour' in the 60s) and always good to see our old nemesis Herrick. This contrasted beautifully with Mitchell's desperation for Lucy to be his saviour in the 21st century. As we all know, she so isn't. I thought Lucy might be a little more torn between her affections for Mitchell and her loyalty towards what she believes is God's wish, but I guess the producers have got to keep things moving. I missed Nina in this episode, however we will have another full moon shortly and some more werewolf action. Pleasing to see Annie continue to regain her confidence - but she has sure gone through some 'sidekicks' in this series: Hugh the bartender, Saul, Sykes, last week's baby and mum, and pyschic Alan this week - did the writer's not quite know what to do with her this season? We don't seem to have had as much interaction between our main characters this season, their paths have been quite disjointed. Nevertheless, can't wait for the final 2 chapters in the series.

shawnlunn2002 said...

That's a brilliant post and again, thanks for the comments. I prefer Season 1 but I have been enjoying this season as well.

In a lot of ways, I get why Lucy is wavering. Mitchell's offered her no reason that he can change, even though we as viewers know that he's capable of it.

Annie's had a few people this season as sidekicks/subplots but I guess Sykes and Alan worked the best. I do hope for some more intereaction with her, Mitchell and George though.

Nina was in the trailer for next week's episode, so we'll see what she's been up to. I've missed her as well.

Herrick's appearance in the previous episode with Josie was great also.