Monday, March 07, 2011

My Review of Being Human's 3x07: "Though The Heavens Fall"

Written by Toby Whithouse
Directed by Daniel O’Hara

Herrick (to Nina): “I remember every moment, so now not unreasonably, I want him to suffer but not for moments – for days, weeks, months and the best way to do that is to kill you.”

And on a list of TV characters I would like to see not die in 2011, Nina Pickering has risen to the coveted position of number 1. It’s an interchangeable list but seriously, Herrick, you evil bastard. How dare you stab the only person in that house who showed you kindness and leave them for dead? Have some standards, man!

For all the people who’ve bitching constantly bitching for the last fortnight over Nina dropping Mitchell into the cops, I hope you’re flipping happy now. The poor woman got rightly shafted for trusting Herrick and while I saw it coming a mile off, it doesn’t mean that I wanted it to happen.

I’m not gonna come out with an outlandish statement such as ‘if Nina dies, I’m done with this show’ but I really do hope that both her and the baby pull through in the next episode because even though she made a mistake with getting the authorities involved and not letting Mitchell stake Herrick, she is nowhere near the nasty, selfish, cruel person that half the insane fans online are portraying her to be.

George snapping at Nina when he realised that she inadvertently unleashed a shit storm did annoy me actually but I guess he was thinking of the bigger picture in terms of Mitchell being arrested and at threat of exposure, something which is undoubtedly going to have a big role in the finale but I really don’t want him to lose both his girlfriend and unborn child at the same time either.

Herrick’s return to menace however was undoubtedly a superb moment. Where Mitchell failed, McNair’s vigilantism succeeded and it was a shame that the latter had to die for Herrick to be restored but shit happens I suppose. I liked McNair but he was way too overconfident with his attempts to kill both Mitchell and Herrick and it backfired spectacularly for him. I can’t see Tom coping with his death particularly well either.

The one thing I will credit Herrick with is that he doesn’t do things by half measures. Killing McNair may have brought him back to himself but aside from stabbing Nina, he also managed to chomp on a load of coppers and Nancy for effect too and the sheer relish of it meant that Jason Watkins really stole the show in this episode.

However, reading some of the reactions online and even checking the cast list for the finale, I’m also beginning to wonder if there’s a possibility that Nancy might have been turned as a vampire. I mean, Cooper was so impressed with her detective skills that he tried to turn her (before Annie staked him) and I wouldn’t be surprised if Herrick saw something in her that justified turning her.

Plus, in the last two episodes Nancy had really stood out as a character. She had been clever enough to get past both Mitchell and even Nina’s deception in order to realise that Mitchell had killed those people in the Box Tunnel and her banter was always pretty damn amusing as well, especially in her scenes with Annie – and that’s despite the fact that she didn’t even know Annie had her back either.

Now, as for Annie, I really felt bad for her this week. There have been times in the season when Annie’s faith in Mitchell has been gravely misplaced and she got one hell of a nasty wake up call thanks to Nancy and Cooper. There was a part of me that would’ve preferred if Annie had pieced Mitchell’s killings together all by herself but her reactions were definitely believable though.

Annie had every right to tear into Mitchell after confronting him over the murders but like Nina, telling Mitchell to turn himself in wasn’t a good idea. Exposing the supernatural world aside, how the hell is Mitchell actually going to get out of this one at all? Unless the wolf shaped bullet prophecy is actually fulfilled, it doesn’t seem like Mitchell has a lot of options right now. Well, I suppose Herrick could maybe throw him a lifeline but that’s not likely to happen, right?

Also in “Though The Heavens Fall”

Twenty years ago, Herrick had witnessed McNair survive a cage fight with a wolf and become infected with the curse. That’s two Herrick flashbacks we’ve had in the last two weeks.

Herrick: “Tell me about yourself. Married, kids?”
McNair: “Maybe one day.”

I never thought I would say this but prior to wolfing out, Robson Green actually looked pretty damn fit. I’d still take Tom over him though.

Mitchell: “I wouldn’t have known you.”
Annie: “Play my ‘what if’ game.”
Mitchell: “I’d tear the world apart.”
Annie: “That’s the correct answer.”

Herrick: “Do you trust Mitchell?”
Nina: “If Mitchell said the sky, I’d have to go outside and check.”

Solving a season long mystery, it turned out that McNair killed Daisy and was planning to add Herrick to his tooth necklace collection before his death.

Tom (to George): “You people really do swear a lot, don’t ya? Just an observation. McNair says it suggests a limited vocabulary.”

Nancy (re Daisy): “So now you think she didn’t have anything to do with the murders?”
Mitchell: “It’s pretty unlikely, yeah.”

Okay, interesting that vampires can leave prints and very clever of Nancy with the glass as well.

Herrick: “But we’re not at war.”
Mitchell: “Oh, we are. It’s a secret war but yeah, we are. And sometimes we’ll be asked to do things that seem to be bad but they’re not. And this is very important, they’re not bad, they’re brave.”

Nancy (to Nina): “Something is going on in this house. The people in it think they can lie to me and I don’t like that.”

We found out in this episode that Nina has been pregnant for sixteen weeks instead of eight, which makes sense given that she’s showing. Or she’s really giving birth to a wolf.

McNair: “Another barbarity, fucking southerners. Let’s see if this jogs your memory. You walked unharmed from a plane crash, only now I don’t know what to do with you. Ring any bells?”

Mitchell: “How did you find out?”
Annie: “Nancy and a vampire. Does it matter? Was Daisy even involved?”

Standout music: A bloody fine selection with Duran Duran’s “Hungry Like The Wolf” and Shirley Bassey’s “History Repeating” during Herrick’s slaughter of Nancy.

Annie: “Let this happen, Mitchell, please Mitchell. Please no more killing.”

Nina: “Where are you going?”
George: “The police station. I’m going to get him out of there.”

Chronology: It has to be 2011, if Nancy kept being specific about Daisy “dying” in 1941.

What a mind fuck of an hour was this? “Though The Heavens Fall” really did up the ante and then some. I would say best episode of the series but I’m going to wait until the finale airs but either way, this definitely shocked me.

Rating: 10 out of 10.

2 comments:

  1. OM freaking G!
    That was one hell of an episode.
    I yelled at the stupid computer when Herrick stabbed Nina. How dare he? She was nice to him! On the other hand, we all know that Herrick is evil to the last drop so... Id really hate if Nina dies. I really like her. I mean, I think that what she did was oh so wrong, even though she knew about Mitchell, that wasn´t the way to go at all. But she was worried for her kid so, we women do stupid shit when kids are involved.
    Now, why McNair? He was hot. You can keep Tom, Shawn, I really liked Robson Green walking around shirtless.
    Annie had it coming, poor soul.
    And I hate what this is gonna do to Mitchell and George´s friendship, which is basically the backbone of the show. Cause I don´t see how George is gonna get Mitchell outta this. And even if he forgives him - he`s a vampire, it can´t be helped, he´s gonna fall of the wagon once or twice - where do they go from here?
    IS there going to be a fourth season? Cause it looks like everything is falling apart...
    And I really don´t wanna have to watch the US one. It´s so lackluster.

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  2. I'll keep it simple with some of the stuff you've said.

    1) It made sense for Herrick to attack but I don't think she'll die. At least I really hope not.
    2) I guess McNair needed to be killed? No, that sounds terrible but his death did serve to reawaken Herrick though.
    3) Robson Green is attractive but not my type. I do like Tom though.
    4) I felt bad for Annie but her faith in Mitchell was so horribly misplaced and she got a harsh wake up call here.
    5) I don't know if George and Mitchell can recover from this. It'll be interesting to see how though.
    6) A fourth season is being planned but it hasn't been confirmed. I think we will get one though.
    7) US Being Human isn't awful but it's lacking something. I have two episodes of that to catch up with during the weekend.

    Thanks for the comments.

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