With perhaps TV's most awkward sex scene ever, this is the finest episode the BBC3 series has ever come up with
SPOILER ALERT: This weekly blog is for those who are watching Being Human on BBC3. Don't read on if you haven't seen episode four
Dan Martin's episode three blog
The Pack: The One Where ?
George and Nina seek McNair's help about their baby; Annie and Mitchell find sex something of a challenge; and the series goes all Buffy The Vampire Slayer
"You can't outrun me, you definitely can't outfight me, you can't even outlive me."
It's difficult to be certain what exactly it is that makes The Pack the finest episode Being Human has come up with ? for me, at least. From television's most awkward sex scene ever through to shameless riffs on Buffy via Fight Club, this was exhilarating to the point of mania. And that's before we got that final (and finally) glimpse of Herrick.
The past couple of weeks have been fun, but they've also been monster-of-the-week capers that did little to move along the story. Now, we're down to business. Or at least, Annie and Mitchell are trying to. How perfectly like our grey-cardiganed neurotic to make a list and an itinerary with regard to sex. And how ingenious that she should come up with the solution of impishly touching Mitchell's shoulder as he goes hammer-and-tongs with a random from the local Ritzy. It showed gumption if nothing else ? but as Mitchell's beast within shows itself and the unfortunate girl almost finds herself drained, a horrifically hilarious sequence switches to the just plain horrific. You can keep your smouldering 'fang banging' True Blood. Here was awkward British sex at its most disastrous.
Bravo too for the return of McNair the noble savage werewolf and his 'fake son' Tom. Tom's lupine condition is amplifying (and extending) his puberty like nobody's business, a side-effect of which seems to be extreme gormlessness. Would he really not have questioned the origins of the massive scratches on his back? Would anybody really have swallowed a backstory quite so ludicrous for over 20 years? Still, a boyhood spent vampire-slaying must have its own thrill factor, and 'The Pack' is a nice enough fairytale to be fed. Robson Greene and Michael Socha drew real pathos out of their scenes together, but with their storyline apparently resolved, we're left wondering what shape Mitchell's 'werewolf-shaped bullet' is going to take. And indeed, what any of it means for George and Nina's baby.
On top of all this, can we just take a moment to gasp over the incredible, dog-fight climax, in which Being Human reached new blockbusting heights ? as nail-biting as it was heart-wrenching as it was genuinely funny.
Supernature
As we know, vampires can only enter a house if they're invited in, but it transpires that mobile homes don't count. "Must be something to do with all the gypsies we used to munch on in Transylvania," reckons Mitchell, proving that it's not just werewolves who find themselves on the end of vampire racism.
Pop Culture Notes
So many riffs. We've mentioned the awesome Buffy stake-fest at the dogfight, but Mitchell's emotive boo-hoo-fest to Annie after the doomed sex-siphoning session had loud echoes of the Twilight abstinence metaphor. And that same speech seemed to be directly channelling Jack Nicholson's "you make me want to be a better man" speech from As Good As It Gets. Best line however has to go to Annie: "Will you stop being so bloody Cranford about everything, I'm dead already."
Mysteries
"Retribution is coming from overseas," Mitchell is told by Richard the Creepy Vampire in an almost throwaway moment. Is he talking about the elders? We're still none the wiser as to whether Nina is going to be able to have her baby. The return of Herrick was the moment we've all been waiting for. But he doesn't look in a good way ?
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2011/feb/13/being-human-series-3-episode-4
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