Being Human 4.05
Mar. 4th, 2013 02:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakAlexandra Millar, you are my queen and my favourite ghost, and what's been missing from my life.
Best Alex moment in an episode where she had many in her blunt no nonsense cheery Scottish way: her outburst at Hal about how the point wasn't his being back on the blood or even his arrangement with Natasha as much, it was that he could have asked Tom and her for help, and that he didn't - because he knew he'd have gotten it, and like most addicts, the bigger part of him didn't really want to get clean. And this immediately deflates Hal's previous either subconscious or concious attempt to guilt trip her by saying Leo kept him locked up for two years the last time he went cold turkey. But as I said, the episode had so many more good moments. I love that Alex does the research and is smart and figures out that Hatch is intrinsically connected to the suicides, even though of course she can't know what exactly he is and the boys won't listen. I love that yes, she remembers being attracted to Hal and that's not all in the past but she remembers just what turned him on the last time around, too, so she responds to the kiss not by swooning but with a reality check. (I also enjoy Hal immediately getting thrown out of seducto vampire mode and into embarassed housemate mode. And then they have to deal with McNair not having given Tom The Talk.) I love that she's incredibly upset both when finding Hal sucking from Natasha and later when finding him with Natasha dead but both times able to hold on to her intelligence, in the first instance zoning in on the full implication of what Hal did (see above) and in the second noticing enough (Hal has no blood on his mouth, he's out of the restraints even though she put them on herself) to be uncertain about the whole scenario and thus sticking around long enough to find ghost Natasha and hear the truth.
...and now refueled-by-enmity Hatch has thrown her into her own coffin with her rotting corpse. Now that's the first time this season our incarnation of the Devil has done something that made him stand out from previous villains - the manipulation gig was done elsewhere repeatedly, as I may have complained once or twice - but that's genuinely sick and evil. I'm on tethers for poor Alex, but I'm also now ready to accept that Hatch is really serious evil. Also, well done, Whitehouse & Co. Getting buried alive is surely not just my personal nightmare, and in Alex' case, it's even worse because she's in this state immortal and has to cope with having her own rotting body right next to her!
In non-Alex news, Hal's struggle through the episode from bottled blood to donor blood to briefly trying to to go cold turkey again when Alex shames him to giving up with a "what's t he point?" when faced with the loss of Tom and her both (the point is, Hal, that you don't kill people) weirdly didn't give me deja vue, despite the fact it should have. Damian Maloney is just really good. Also thankfully we had no more schizophrenic talk as if on-the-blood Hal is a separate entity. (Look, Toby, I know you deny being influenced by the Jossverse, but let's face it: your vampires don't have the soulful/soulless premise, so this is really bad idea. And for the record, with Angel both BTVS and AtS were widely inconsistent about whether or not he sees himself as the same person, just without a conscience, or as too different entitities, but whenever it veered into "Angelus is a different person" direction, it was a bad idea. If Angelus were a different entity, then Angel's relationships with Darla, Dru and Spike would make no sense at all.) Instead, Hal is back to speaking in first person singular throughout, so no more of that, right? Anyway. I suppose the one bright spot in Hal's backsliding is that he realized Alex had been right about the suicides and Hatch all along before he finally went on a killing spree again, and that, as the season opener told us, even the happily killing version of Hal doesn't care to be manipulated by the devil and wants the old bastard bound and out of business.
Rook continues to be another good thing (narratively speaking, not morally, of course!) about the season. The last time we had a human season long antagonist was in s2, my least favourite BH season, and there the fact it was an evil priest (tm) right ouf of the cliché book was one of the reasons why s2 is my least favourite. (Also, can we compare how the narrative treated Lucy and Natasha? Lucy was allowed to last until the end of season but was vilified by Mitchell as being as bad as him - after he committed a massacre - and we didn't really hear convincing counter arguments. Or were given plausible background for Lucy. Natasha only got an episode, but being found as a child and raised by Rook makes it plausible why she acts the way she does, she's allowed to have emotions and make up her own mind throughout (as when she points out that given Rook used her as bait for an about to fall of the wagon vampire, either Hal isn't as bad as Rook says or Rook doesn't regard her as family the way he claims), and she changes her mind not simply for romance or because Tom is sweet (though he is, and she thinks so) but because she comes to realize the entire set up as wrong. And then, after Hatch puts the whammy on her, which she couldn't have fought, she stays around as a ghost long enough to tell Alex the truth as soon as she has her own mind back again.) While Rook's band of villainy is also self justification by pushing the "goal justifies the means" principle to ever larger extremes, it comes across as, well, human, and thus far more chilling than what's his name the evil priest's spouting of pseudo religous rethoric.
Now, bring on the next episode so I can see how my Alex escapes her horrible trap!
Best Alex moment in an episode where she had many in her blunt no nonsense cheery Scottish way: her outburst at Hal about how the point wasn't his being back on the blood or even his arrangement with Natasha as much, it was that he could have asked Tom and her for help, and that he didn't - because he knew he'd have gotten it, and like most addicts, the bigger part of him didn't really want to get clean. And this immediately deflates Hal's previous either subconscious or concious attempt to guilt trip her by saying Leo kept him locked up for two years the last time he went cold turkey. But as I said, the episode had so many more good moments. I love that Alex does the research and is smart and figures out that Hatch is intrinsically connected to the suicides, even though of course she can't know what exactly he is and the boys won't listen. I love that yes, she remembers being attracted to Hal and that's not all in the past but she remembers just what turned him on the last time around, too, so she responds to the kiss not by swooning but with a reality check. (I also enjoy Hal immediately getting thrown out of seducto vampire mode and into embarassed housemate mode. And then they have to deal with McNair not having given Tom The Talk.) I love that she's incredibly upset both when finding Hal sucking from Natasha and later when finding him with Natasha dead but both times able to hold on to her intelligence, in the first instance zoning in on the full implication of what Hal did (see above) and in the second noticing enough (Hal has no blood on his mouth, he's out of the restraints even though she put them on herself) to be uncertain about the whole scenario and thus sticking around long enough to find ghost Natasha and hear the truth.
...and now refueled-by-enmity Hatch has thrown her into her own coffin with her rotting corpse. Now that's the first time this season our incarnation of the Devil has done something that made him stand out from previous villains - the manipulation gig was done elsewhere repeatedly, as I may have complained once or twice - but that's genuinely sick and evil. I'm on tethers for poor Alex, but I'm also now ready to accept that Hatch is really serious evil. Also, well done, Whitehouse & Co. Getting buried alive is surely not just my personal nightmare, and in Alex' case, it's even worse because she's in this state immortal and has to cope with having her own rotting body right next to her!
In non-Alex news, Hal's struggle through the episode from bottled blood to donor blood to briefly trying to to go cold turkey again when Alex shames him to giving up with a "what's t he point?" when faced with the loss of Tom and her both (the point is, Hal, that you don't kill people) weirdly didn't give me deja vue, despite the fact it should have. Damian Maloney is just really good. Also thankfully we had no more schizophrenic talk as if on-the-blood Hal is a separate entity. (Look, Toby, I know you deny being influenced by the Jossverse, but let's face it: your vampires don't have the soulful/soulless premise, so this is really bad idea. And for the record, with Angel both BTVS and AtS were widely inconsistent about whether or not he sees himself as the same person, just without a conscience, or as too different entitities, but whenever it veered into "Angelus is a different person" direction, it was a bad idea. If Angelus were a different entity, then Angel's relationships with Darla, Dru and Spike would make no sense at all.) Instead, Hal is back to speaking in first person singular throughout, so no more of that, right? Anyway. I suppose the one bright spot in Hal's backsliding is that he realized Alex had been right about the suicides and Hatch all along before he finally went on a killing spree again, and that, as the season opener told us, even the happily killing version of Hal doesn't care to be manipulated by the devil and wants the old bastard bound and out of business.
Rook continues to be another good thing (narratively speaking, not morally, of course!) about the season. The last time we had a human season long antagonist was in s2, my least favourite BH season, and there the fact it was an evil priest (tm) right ouf of the cliché book was one of the reasons why s2 is my least favourite. (Also, can we compare how the narrative treated Lucy and Natasha? Lucy was allowed to last until the end of season but was vilified by Mitchell as being as bad as him - after he committed a massacre - and we didn't really hear convincing counter arguments. Or were given plausible background for Lucy. Natasha only got an episode, but being found as a child and raised by Rook makes it plausible why she acts the way she does, she's allowed to have emotions and make up her own mind throughout (as when she points out that given Rook used her as bait for an about to fall of the wagon vampire, either Hal isn't as bad as Rook says or Rook doesn't regard her as family the way he claims), and she changes her mind not simply for romance or because Tom is sweet (though he is, and she thinks so) but because she comes to realize the entire set up as wrong. And then, after Hatch puts the whammy on her, which she couldn't have fought, she stays around as a ghost long enough to tell Alex the truth as soon as she has her own mind back again.) While Rook's band of villainy is also self justification by pushing the "goal justifies the means" principle to ever larger extremes, it comes across as, well, human, and thus far more chilling than what's his name the evil priest's spouting of pseudo religous rethoric.
Now, bring on the next episode so I can see how my Alex escapes her horrible trap!
no subject
Date: 2013-03-05 03:26 am (UTC)Honestly, all the leads have done a great job this season. I'm delighted with each and every one of them. I remember being upset over the changes in the cast and it's been win/win/win all the way.
I don't think I've taken the time before to let you know how much I enjoy your insightful episode reviews of this and other shows too. Thanks for posting!
no subject
Date: 2013-03-05 06:26 am (UTC)