My Review of Being Human's 4x05: "Hold The Front Page"

Written by Tom Grieves
Directed by Philip John

Annie (to Adam): “She doesn’t know what you are, does she?”
Yvonne: “My point is that I do. Age is merely a number and what matters lies in the heart.”

Under normal circumstances, you can definitely argue that age actually does mean a lot and if this were not a supernatural show, then even I would probably have an issue with the pairing of eternal teenager Adam and prim headmistress Yvonne Bradshaw here but weirdly enough, I believe in them as a couple.

I was hoping at some point we were going to get another supernatural type on the show and after the success of zombies, I was hoping the type would be witches because I still want to know if magic has a place on this show or not. Until Hal spelled it out, I did actually consider the fact that Yvonne might have been a witch but the succubus angle was actually a lot better.

I think why it worked so well in this episode is that Yvonne was largely unaware of her abilities in attracting men the way she did and had chalked it up to rotten luck. Apart from Adam, she showed some visible apprehension and discomfort when her effects took place on both Tom and Hal and when Annie even tried to talk to her about her true nature, she did not want to consider it in the slightest.

For those reasons alone, it was a nice subversion to the usual succubus type of storylines we’ve seen in other shows and the only time Yvonne actually did attempt to embrace her powers was thankfully curtailed when Adam himself had managed to pull himself out of a potentially dark situation with a blonde stranger.

I guess it’s easy to see why Yvonne and Adam attracted each other (apart from the former’s abilities). Both of them were lonely and lacking in esteem and in each other found a safe haven of sorts. Yvonne repeatedly kept telling the gang of Adam’s kindness and he kept reminding them of how wonderful she was too by contrast.

That sort of dialogue repeated throughout the episode, along with the backdrop of the press trying to hound them inside Honolulu Heights and Tom and Hal being affected by Yvonne all could’ve worn thin but the balance between comedy and decent subversion made it all the more fun to watch.

I had to admit the scenes where Adam and Tom were constantly trying to best each other for Yvonne were amusing but then Hal had that dream sequence and it got just a little scary by comparison. Despite being under Yvonne’s influence and having that dream, Hal was able to get Annie into breaking Yvonne’s influence from everyone and preventing further disasters down the line.

As for Adam – I am really delighted they brought the character back. He was every bit as funny, immature, crass and sympathetic as he was in his previous episode and perhaps him and Yvonne will get to have the sort of happy ending, romance wise that none of our new regulars have so far. If this was another type of a show, Adam and Yvonne would be weird but on this show, it just works.

Also keeping with things that work rather nicely, can I just say how glad I am that Cutler was kept on this show in favour of Fergus? He’s by far one of the more interesting vampire villains we’ve had on the series and his slaughter of poor Pete and uploading of Tom changing into a werewolf has definitely proved that he’s not a threat to underestimate, though we do need to point him into Hal and Annie’s direction now.

Also, I have to admit that something else worried me in this episode. I wasn’t too surprised that if Cutler hadn’t killed Pete the journalist that Hal might have but I was surprised that Annie almost seemed to be encouraging Hal’s dark side as well as her own admission that she wants to kill again, following her despatching of Kirby last week. I wonder if that means Annie could be more of an inadvertent threat to Eve than Hal is at the moment.

I’ve also noticed that a lot of people were criticising Pete on his attempts of exposing vampires to the general public. Trapping Cutler in a room might not have been his best idea but considering that he lost a parent to vampires, I actually had a great deal of sympathy for Pete and it was a more interesting plotline than his pursuit of Adam and Yvonne as well. However, it was painfully obvious he wasn’t going to make it out of the episode alive as his altercation with Cutler more than proved.

Also in “Hold The Front Page”

A minor disappointment but I kind of wished that Adam had made some reference to Christa and Matt from Becoming Human but I guess maybe the episode didn’t call for it.

Adam: “I am chicka-chicka back and I brought with me, one sexy mother-,”

Selina Griffiths who played Yvonne in this episode is the daughter of Annette Crosbie. You can tell because she certainly has her mother’s voice.

Annie: “Adam, your friend can see me.”
Yvonne: “Should I not?”

Yvonne (to Tom): “Now how should we plead – guilty? I certainly feel guilty.”

So, anyone else surprised that Tom has a thing for barristers more than Hal’s thing for the virginal type? I also loved Hal singing and quoting Keats in this one too.

Adam (re Yvonne): “She thinks we’re nuts.”
Hal: “We’ve shattered her entire belief system. Let her process that in the way she chooses.”

Cutler (to Pete): “So, vampires are fine but werewolves are stretching it a bit.”

Cutler also took a body into the woods and made it look it had been attacked by a werewolf. I also swear he was flirting a tiny bit with Pete.

Hal: “Who sent you? Why are you here?”
Yvonne: “To remind you of who you really are. How extraordinary you can be.”

Hal: “Oh, what’s this? Does the hound want another whipping?”
Tom: “Try it.”

Hal mentioned that he had been trapped in a monastery cellar for nine months with crosses at the door but also that they don’t affect Old Ones. He also had a lover in Madrid in 1784.

Yvonne: “I can’t believe it, Annie. If I accept that, then I have to accept what I am.”

Cutler: “Sounds like you’ve got amazing things to show me.”
Pete: “You show me yours, I’ll show you mine.”

A scene between Hal and Adam in relation to self control has been released for this episode and can be found at the usual places.

Adam: “I hate being a vampire.”
Yvonne: “I hate being a succubus.”
Adam: “We’re both trapped. We should be trapped together.”

Chronology: A weeks since “A Spectre Calls” and also Adam/Yvonne have been together for six months.

This was yet another fun and odd episode to watch. “Hold The Front Page” could’ve just been a really lame episode but by trying to do something a bit different with the succubus storyline and a solid, sympathetic performance from Selina Griffiths, this is one of the best episode we’ve had.

Rating: 9 out of 10