Being Human: Series 2

[DanaC]

I got back home from the meeting at 9 o'clock! i think that's a record for Budget Council. So am treating myself a bit of a mini 'Being Human' fest. I'm up to date with the series so far and the penultimate episode aired last night; but now feels a good time to go back and watch from the start again...

I'm very excited about this second series. I really liked the first one, but I liked it despite the small scale and the even smaller budget. It had a spark of something that built across the six episodes into something very good. Dark, funny, affectionate and with a core of characters you could 'rely' on.

This second series is a lot more confident. Has 8 episodes instead of 6, has a bigger budget, knows who its audience is and has taken the gloves off. They've gone way darker. And the cozy core of the three main characters has been shattered. Still has a sense of humour, and warmth, but those things are punctuating a descent, rather than providing stability.

It's a really lovely subversion of the original vampire genre. And of exorcism films. Of all those stories where a man (usually) of faith, armed only with a cross and a well-thumbed bible faces supernatural threats. What's so brilliant is...it starts as a subversion; the roles as they're assigned have been turned upside down. Then the series starts to reassign those roles to where they 'should' be.

There's one episode left. I haven't heard anything about the BBC commissioning a third series... They may only be telling a two series story; not unusual for BBC dramas. But hopefully it's going to run. Where they wold take it now, I don't know.

The second series has followed straight on from the events of the first; and the consequences of those events have set the scene. They've opened some very dark doors for their characters in this series. I'm completely fascinated to see where they take this. I have no idea how they're going to end it. There's no comfort zone saying, not to worry, all the pieces will get pulled back together for the next one.

So...yeah. *bites lip*

If you get a chance to see Being Human in its original form, I can highly recommend it. It's being remade in America, and that might be really good; but the original is great.

[Happy Monkey]

Series one was on BBC America. I enjoyed it. Though it is alway odd with the short British shows; just as you're getting used to it, it's over. Gladd to hear that series two is good (and a bit longer).

[DanaC]

Yeah. 6 - 8 episodes is not unusual for us. There's also quite a lot of 13 ep series. More so these days. I think we've started to borrow a little from the US in terms of delivery.

They've tidied the final stage of the wolf up nicely.