Thursday 29 March 2012

Being Human: S4 Ep8 - The War Child

On TV: Sunday 25th March 2012
Channel: BBC Three 9pm
Episode Type: 8/8
In 1 Sentence: What does this series’ finale bring?
BBC Summary: In this bold series climax, the Old Ones have arrived. The only thing between them and global destruction are our heroes. What needs to be done to save the world?

My Review: This series of Being Human has been a mixed bag, ranging from broad comedy to some darker issues - most significantly the killing of baby Eve. It all came to a head on Sunday when Annie, Tom and Hal had to decide once and for all whether or not it would be best if Eve were alive or dead.
After last week’s encounter with grown-up Eve, Annie is in pieces as she can’t face killing a baby. And rightly so, as the main story arc this series was quite a controversial one and, well, also unfortunately a little dull at times as you could see the end coming pretty clearly.
The catalyst for action, at last, was the old ones coming into town to finish things once and for all. This meant the introduction of Mr Snow (played by Mark Gatiss - the go-to for BBC villain’s it would now seem!) the baddest old one of them all, who came with the news that the death of baby Eve would save the human race, and thus he wanted her to stay alive so the vampires would ‘win’. 
Cutler was desperate for Mr Snow’s attention and so believed the only way of getting Mr Snow to remember his name was to defy him - and kill baby Eve. This led to a very sad end to what has been a fantastic character and a chance for the special effects team to show every last ounce of gore as Cutler storms into Annie’s house uninvited, therefore gradually turning into one horrific sight! 
Another character who has developed greatly over the past few episodes is Alex. Now I wasn’t sure what to make of her to begin with, as her dialogue felt not only rather unrealistic but a bit try-hard, but her death last week has given her a new found depth. It was clear when she became a ghost that the makers were trying to establish a new trio out of Hal, Tom and Alex and with the dramatic final scenes of this series it looks like my predictions will be correct as Being Human has got the go-ahead for a series 5. It was a heartbreakingly say goodbye to Annie, but it was definitely time as she no longer had a place without Mitchell, George and Nina.

And so my final views of this series have been...good. I think it could have been better and the departure of Mitchell and George means it will never be truly ‘Being Human’ for me anymore, but it has been enjoyable to watch. Many have been saying that this series has ‘gone back to its comedic roots’ but I have to disagree with this as the first series was actually the darkest series of them all and there has always been a great balance between tragedy and black comedy, whereas series 4 was a lot less subtle. So while it will never be the same, I will continue to support the show and look forward to see if next series will get any better...
Score: 9/10

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