Being Human is what the vampire/werewolf/ghost genre needed. It's a subtle interpretation of the problems these supernatural beings typically face, all placed within the framework of three youngsters living together in England and doing their best to fit in given their circumstances. It has a feeling of shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, but does so with a little more class, a little less camp. Camp is fun, and the aforementioned shows had tremendous cult followings. But there's something to be said about a show that accomplishes more than convincing teen fans to buy merchandise and plaster their walls with posters of the lead stars.
It isn't entirely unique. Mitchell (Aidan Turner), a vampire of roughly 100 years of age, does his best to control his urge to feed on humans. George (Russell Tovey), a werewolf who was attacked in Scotland, struggles to keep himself away from others during his transformations, and not let his “disability” wreck his life anymore than it already has. And Annie (Lenora Crichlow), well, she's dead, and is now just a ghost. The circumstances of her death are mysterious, and the other chief characters deduce that she is still around because something is still unresolved in her life.
The three of them live together, like Three's Company except British and with more vampires and werewolves. George and Mitchell work together, too, at a hospital. Their problems are completely dissimilar on the surface, but, as one could imagine, their obstacle of fitting in and living a normal life is shared and heavily solidifies their friendship, and the two actually bear pretty good chemistry. Annie fits in with them, but only because she pretty much has no choice. She has taken up residence in the house she and her fiancé lived in, which obviously was vacant when Mitchell and George moved in, and has befriended the two oddballs in her own oddballness.
Real consequences and simplicity within the supernatural are what make stories of fantasy intriguing and intelligent. Death doesn't come to ghosts as a skeleton in a black robe carrying a scythe, but rather as a simple doorway. It calls for craftier storytelling: how does one make a fictional creature like a werewolf exist on this planet realistically? The writer and creator, Toby Whithouse, had some good and fun ideas to keep George the werewolf a mundane and grounded character while keeping him interesting. And it had to be a huge challenge, too, considering George only transforms into a werewolf on a full moon. So, once a month. The other 29 days of the month he is a pretty normal guy, despite the fact that he's kind of a dork.
A lot of the fun is had with Annie, the ghost. Often times she'll use people's inability to see her to her advantage, which leads to plenty of goofy situations. Sometimes rather violent and intense situations. Unfortunately this show is not invulnerable to the impossibility of writing a character as a ghost who looks like a person and walks around and lives like a person. Sometimes she can be seen, sometimes she can't. She can touch things sometimes, and vice versa sometimes. Only when convenient, though. As well written as her character is, I often wondered how much the show would have benefited from not having her character at all.
Because she's already dead (not undead, as Mitchell the vampire is), not a whole lot can actually be of consequence with her. Her storyline does have the greatest question mark to it: how did she die? The show keeps us wondering to about the halfway point in the series, but what will happen when we find out? Essentially, nothing. A blank will be filled in for the audience. We'll be glad Annie finds out, but that's about all. Her reactions to it make her character grow, but compared with the other two storylines, not enough is at stake.
The greatest conflict, although slightly underplayed, is Mitchell's. Vampires have been around for ages, and in the first few episodes, we'll learn that the vampires, who live their lives in secrecy, may not want to be quite so secret very soon. Creepy and ominous vampire characters pop up here and there, and since they're so well cast, the audience can instantly recognize their malice. They're up to no good, and pretty soon, Mitchell, an outcast among them due to his refusal to feed on humans like a normal vampire, is going to have to face them. A large part of the storyline is Mitchell catering to his friend/kind of lover's need to feed. It shows that vampires are essentially junkies for blood when it comes to feeding, and Mitchell being the one who turned her, he is somewhat pinned down morally by this, and even begins offering his own blood to her. It's an intriguing complication you won't soon find any other vampire stories.
Everything builds up to a great final episode of the season. The production quality on this is great; the creators did well to choose makeup and similar real effects for George's werewolf transformations rather than shoddy computer animation. The computer effects are kept simpler to be more convincing, like enhancing the fangs on a vampire. And with the great cast of actors and solid writing, this show is something people like Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight series, should pay attention to. Yes, they're mythical creatures, but they're mythical creatures with very human problems. Not all of the subplots hit home, and there are many, but this is a winner, and in an age where awful vampire and werewolf movies run rampant, a winner like this is what we need.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
Over an hour and a half of good material. Apart from some deleted scenes, there's a small character profile piece that goes over the three main characters, as well as a few minor characters via interviews with the actors who play them. “Vamping It Up,” which is a little piece that goes over the rules of the vampire world, like no reflections, etc., and include some interviews with the creators and some of the cast members. There's a piece on the costumes and makeup that goes in detail about the decisions of what the actors wore and their looks. There's an in-depth interview with Toby Whithouse “On: The Journey.” That is, about the creation and development of the story into a series. There's a piece on the few major stunts that occur in the series, a piece surrounding the transformation of George into his werewolf counterpart, video diaries from the cast while on and off set, and even a piece all about the location choices, mainly about the decision to film in Bristol, England. But most importantly, tons of interviews. Virtually anything a fan would want to know is in the extras.
"Being Human: Season 1" is on sale July 20, 2010 and is not rated. Drama. Directed by Alex Pillai, Colin Teague, Declan ODwyer, Toby Haynes. Written by Brian Dooley, Rachel Anthony, Toby Whithouse. Starring Aidan Turner, Annabel Scholey, Jason Watkins, Lenora Crichlow, Russell Tovey.
