Being Human 3.08
Mar. 14th, 2011 07:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakWow. Oh wow. You have kept the faith, show. You have kept the faith.
Aside from my fretting about Nina's fate, the biggest worry was: a) would the show let Mitchell off the hook, and I don't mean just in terms of the logical ending of his storyarc, but in terms of how it did last season, i.e. make Herrick and Lia take Kemp's role from last season, the antagonists who are portrayed as more evil, hence absolving our regular? But no. Show, you came through in such a magnificent way.
I got an inkling it was going in the right direction when we got the McNair flashback to him writing the letter to Tom, making McNair's actual last scene not him taking revenge (well, attempting to and getting himself killed) but him trying to give Tom what he couldn't have, a life free of revenge and the hunt. Which made McNair's last message and gesture not one of hate but one of love.
The other person after revenge whom the show could have vilified as it did Kemp last season was Lia, and the clip of her telling Annie "this is about revenge" in the trailer last week caused worries in this regard. However, what we got instead was so much better. Not least because it used Annie's particular strength, that was so important in the second half of this season from the episode with the social worker onwards, so very, very well: her empathy. Lia wanting revenge on Mitchell for her murder was played in just the right dimension - i.e. all too understandable, but not making Lia unable to feel anything else - and Annie knows that. She gets through to Lia not by pleading clemency for Mitchell but by pointing to George and Nina, paralleling them with Lia's own family. The empathy of grief, the realisation that Annie, George and Nina do not deserve being "collateral damage" to Mitchell's fate. And while she's at it, Annie helps Lia a bit to deal with her own murder and loneliness. (Hooray for continuity and Gilbert reference!)
This was so great to see and since it was relatively early in the episode, incidentally also making clear that Lia did not make a prophecy with the werewolf shaped bullet and that Mitchell was the one who made it into a truth by his own behaviour, it was clear that the main emphasis would indeed be on the logical ending of Mitchell's arc, with no easy outs.
The opening scene with Annie and Mitchell in the cell did a beautiful job of summing up the develpement so far and Mitchell (at this point) still not getting it; it's also as amazing a rejection of the "love-excuses-everything" dogma in all too many similar narratives as you'll ever see. Annie's crystal clear stance on "I'm not that man anymore" and "you give me a reason blah blah blah" not cutting it was fantastic, as was her pointing out that "you don't know who you're in love with" and not buying into Mitchell's attempt to portray himself as the victim afraid of human persecution should humanity find out. I think where it really came home to Annie that her own compromise - loving Mitchell yet wanting to do justice by his victims as well by making him accept penance and punishment - wouldn't work was when Herrick showed up and Mitchell went with him.
Mitchell still ends his story not a villain and does so in the way that was necessary and feels right. He has another moment of hitting rock bottom, when stopping Tom from staking Herrick after Herrick has revealed what he did to Nina because at that point he still wants to survive so much and wants that information from Herrick. And this is of course the quintessence of being a vampire, and why Mitchell was so eminently suited to it - surviving at everyone else's expense. But then we get the long expected turning point as George looks at him and Mitchell sees exactly what he has become. The episode's leisurely narration - instead of the big action scenes and fights that previously were in the season finales - paid off beautifully in the character scenes we got, including Mitchell and Herrick first in the cage and then in the car. I think the best thing about the car scene was that Mitchell was not self-righteous in the way he killed Herrick. He knew he wasn't any better. But he also knew he had to do it, and the way he did it, with the two of them watching the sun rising, was a tribute to the length and strength of the relationship. What made it the first step to Mitchell's penance was not the killing of Herrick per se, though, but that he finally gave up on his obsession with survival at all costs, by choosing not to find out Herrick's secret despite Herrick being willing to tell him at last.
Then came the big climax. Where everyone said just what needed to be said, including Nina's question why Mitchell can't just stake himself like Cara did and accusation that he wants someone else to do it to maximise the angst he's almost as addicted to as blood. And you know, I did and do believe Mitchell when he explained why it needed to be George, because this, too, the season had prepared - hell, the season 2 finale had prepared, from the moment George said "I'm not your confessor, and I want to be able to look at you". George, as he said in their standoff about Herrick mid-season, chose to look away. And in this season finale, when Herrick brings up the massacre, both George and Mitchell realize the full implication of that. Because yes, that is corruption. For friendship, but ethical corruption nonetheless, and it's enabling, and it had to stop.
As I said - everything was brought up. Including alternatives. Loved, loved, loved Annie pointing out that if they just let Mitchell walk away, this is a decision, too, and that the blood of Mitchell's future victims is on their head if they do, and Mitchell pointing out that he will kill again, sooner or later. I could quibble about Wyndell (spelling?) as a deus ex machina, but not really - the old ones have been mentioned repeatedly this season, and what he did (inadvertendly) basically was driving the point home for George - that if Mitchell does not die permanently, the cycle will continue, and, as Annie said, it will be their fault as well. So George kills Mitchell both for humanity and for Mitchell's sake, at Mitchell's request, and it is the right ending in such a perfect way that I forgive the show its occasional lapses on the way forever.
Oh, Being Human, you did it. Comparisons to Shakespearean tragedies are well earned, and Toby Whitehouse deserves some kind of award which he'd better get. The actors were all wonderful as well. Oh, cast, I love you.
...and Nina is alive and the baby and she, George and Annie are ready to take on the world, together. How about that?
Aside from my fretting about Nina's fate, the biggest worry was: a) would the show let Mitchell off the hook, and I don't mean just in terms of the logical ending of his storyarc, but in terms of how it did last season, i.e. make Herrick and Lia take Kemp's role from last season, the antagonists who are portrayed as more evil, hence absolving our regular? But no. Show, you came through in such a magnificent way.
I got an inkling it was going in the right direction when we got the McNair flashback to him writing the letter to Tom, making McNair's actual last scene not him taking revenge (well, attempting to and getting himself killed) but him trying to give Tom what he couldn't have, a life free of revenge and the hunt. Which made McNair's last message and gesture not one of hate but one of love.
The other person after revenge whom the show could have vilified as it did Kemp last season was Lia, and the clip of her telling Annie "this is about revenge" in the trailer last week caused worries in this regard. However, what we got instead was so much better. Not least because it used Annie's particular strength, that was so important in the second half of this season from the episode with the social worker onwards, so very, very well: her empathy. Lia wanting revenge on Mitchell for her murder was played in just the right dimension - i.e. all too understandable, but not making Lia unable to feel anything else - and Annie knows that. She gets through to Lia not by pleading clemency for Mitchell but by pointing to George and Nina, paralleling them with Lia's own family. The empathy of grief, the realisation that Annie, George and Nina do not deserve being "collateral damage" to Mitchell's fate. And while she's at it, Annie helps Lia a bit to deal with her own murder and loneliness. (Hooray for continuity and Gilbert reference!)
This was so great to see and since it was relatively early in the episode, incidentally also making clear that Lia did not make a prophecy with the werewolf shaped bullet and that Mitchell was the one who made it into a truth by his own behaviour, it was clear that the main emphasis would indeed be on the logical ending of Mitchell's arc, with no easy outs.
The opening scene with Annie and Mitchell in the cell did a beautiful job of summing up the develpement so far and Mitchell (at this point) still not getting it; it's also as amazing a rejection of the "love-excuses-everything" dogma in all too many similar narratives as you'll ever see. Annie's crystal clear stance on "I'm not that man anymore" and "you give me a reason blah blah blah" not cutting it was fantastic, as was her pointing out that "you don't know who you're in love with" and not buying into Mitchell's attempt to portray himself as the victim afraid of human persecution should humanity find out. I think where it really came home to Annie that her own compromise - loving Mitchell yet wanting to do justice by his victims as well by making him accept penance and punishment - wouldn't work was when Herrick showed up and Mitchell went with him.
Mitchell still ends his story not a villain and does so in the way that was necessary and feels right. He has another moment of hitting rock bottom, when stopping Tom from staking Herrick after Herrick has revealed what he did to Nina because at that point he still wants to survive so much and wants that information from Herrick. And this is of course the quintessence of being a vampire, and why Mitchell was so eminently suited to it - surviving at everyone else's expense. But then we get the long expected turning point as George looks at him and Mitchell sees exactly what he has become. The episode's leisurely narration - instead of the big action scenes and fights that previously were in the season finales - paid off beautifully in the character scenes we got, including Mitchell and Herrick first in the cage and then in the car. I think the best thing about the car scene was that Mitchell was not self-righteous in the way he killed Herrick. He knew he wasn't any better. But he also knew he had to do it, and the way he did it, with the two of them watching the sun rising, was a tribute to the length and strength of the relationship. What made it the first step to Mitchell's penance was not the killing of Herrick per se, though, but that he finally gave up on his obsession with survival at all costs, by choosing not to find out Herrick's secret despite Herrick being willing to tell him at last.
Then came the big climax. Where everyone said just what needed to be said, including Nina's question why Mitchell can't just stake himself like Cara did and accusation that he wants someone else to do it to maximise the angst he's almost as addicted to as blood. And you know, I did and do believe Mitchell when he explained why it needed to be George, because this, too, the season had prepared - hell, the season 2 finale had prepared, from the moment George said "I'm not your confessor, and I want to be able to look at you". George, as he said in their standoff about Herrick mid-season, chose to look away. And in this season finale, when Herrick brings up the massacre, both George and Mitchell realize the full implication of that. Because yes, that is corruption. For friendship, but ethical corruption nonetheless, and it's enabling, and it had to stop.
As I said - everything was brought up. Including alternatives. Loved, loved, loved Annie pointing out that if they just let Mitchell walk away, this is a decision, too, and that the blood of Mitchell's future victims is on their head if they do, and Mitchell pointing out that he will kill again, sooner or later. I could quibble about Wyndell (spelling?) as a deus ex machina, but not really - the old ones have been mentioned repeatedly this season, and what he did (inadvertendly) basically was driving the point home for George - that if Mitchell does not die permanently, the cycle will continue, and, as Annie said, it will be their fault as well. So George kills Mitchell both for humanity and for Mitchell's sake, at Mitchell's request, and it is the right ending in such a perfect way that I forgive the show its occasional lapses on the way forever.
Oh, Being Human, you did it. Comparisons to Shakespearean tragedies are well earned, and Toby Whitehouse deserves some kind of award which he'd better get. The actors were all wonderful as well. Oh, cast, I love you.
...and Nina is alive and the baby and she, George and Annie are ready to take on the world, together. How about that?
no subject
Date: 2011-03-14 11:15 am (UTC)My thought was that Mitchell did find out Herricks's secret; that there was no secret; that having your head torn off doesn't kill a vampire, it takes a stake.
That was a good ending. An ending not just a finish.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-16 01:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-18 12:57 pm (UTC)