SyFy’s Being Human is that rare remake of a British Show that actually works, after a stellar first season the show returns for its second go. I’ll admit that I bailed on the show after the first few episodes of Season One. After meeting the cast I owed it to myself to give it another look, now that it’s available on Netflix Instant Watch. It’s a very slow build but the payoffs at the end of Season One where well worth catching up.
At the end of season one we were left with several unanswered questions – will Nora become a Werewolf? How will Aidan handle becoming an “Alpha” Vamp after killing his master and what’s going on with Sally the Ghost?
Season Two starts off on a good note with Nora (Kristen Hager) and Josh (Sam Huntington) exploring their new relationship and Josh reveling in the fact that Nora seems cool with his being a werewolf. But her incessant questions start to fracture the relationship. At first her questions seem like the ones anyone would ask, but Josh is still unaware that he bit her, so the entire episode we’re left to wonder if she’ll become one or not. I won’t spoil it for you, but Kristen does a fabulous job conveying her fears. You feel for her plight.
Meanwhile Aidan (Sam Witwer) is dealing with becoming an Alpha Vamp and all that entails – politics, egad politics! He’s forced by the Vampire Queen Mother to mentor her daughter Suren (Dichen Lachman) so that she’ll be able to lead the Boston Vamps. There is a lot of history between these two and the Queen Mother is playing on that history to suck Aidan back into the fold. There is no way this ends well.
After watching an entire season of BH, I still don’t understand what Sam’s issue with being a Vamp is. Sure there’s the eating people thing, but it seems to me the Vamps in BH have it pretty good – get to walk around in daylight, have a system in place to clean up your messes, get to live (or mope) forever, what’s the downside? I don’t see it.
Sally (Meaghan Rath) meanwhile confronts the ghosts of her past both literally and figuratively by attending her high school reunion where she encounters a kid who committed suicide in their Jr. year and the “perfect” girl that she hated. Later she meets some other ghosts who start to show her the ropes.
The cast has really gelled and the onscreen chemistry between the housemates continue to be strong, unfortunately they aren’t on camera together as much as they should be. The show is about these people trying to live normal lives, but season two opens with all three walking the fine line of embracing their demon side and regretting the end result.
At some point you want to scream to these people, make a decision and stick with it! That’s easier said than done as things conspire to keep bringing out the monster in all three. Although Sally’s “evilness” isn’t as bad as Aidan and Josh’s. The special effects of Josh’s transformation is handled more through Huntington’s acting than actual CGI or make up. You see the pain and toll his monthly visitor takes on him.
In episode two we meet Sally’s new Ghost friends and that promises to lead to some interesting new situations as she discovers new powers and the downside of using them. So far, I’m not sure if I like these new friends as they are teenage Ghosts stuck in their old “teenage” stereotypes – the jock, geek and tough guy.
Everything about the first two episodes feels like a show that is more sure of itself and what it wants to be. They are going to tease the audience and not rush the payoffs. For the most part it clicks.
Watching Being Human on regular television is tough because the constant commercial breaks really break the flow of the show – even with DVR, you have to physically break the “mental” connection to skip the commercials. It’s a show that is really best viewed on DVR or Netflix Instant Watch. The pacing is really slow, but if you stick with it, the payoffs are well worth the effort. The end of the first episode has a fabulous cliff hanger.
I’m fully on board for season two, I’m curious to see where this all goes. This article first published as TV Review: Being Human Kicks Off its Second Season on Syfy on Blogcritics.
Final Grade B