Being Human

After hearing the endless buzz about how great this show was I finally added it to my Roku. Watched one episode. Then another. And another. Then glommed them over the course of the week till I was done. The last time I remember being this intrigued by a show was two years ago when I got into Friday Night Lights. I like Being Human just a touch better.

For those not in the know, this is a SyFy channel series based on a BBC series. It is the story of a werewolf and a vampire who decide to rent an apartment and try to live normal lives, only to find the apartment is haunted and that their former lives aren’t quite ready to be let go. As Aidan (vampire), Josh (werewolf) and Sally (the ghost) lead out their (super) natural lives they showcase the fact that even the weirdest things can be survived if you have loved ones about you. That is the real strength of the show – not the cool tricks they can do or the traumas they find themselves involved in but the fact that they have each other to lean on. One of my favorite scenes is where Josh cooks a meal and makes the others sit down and pretend to eat it with him. He pointed out they were a family and this is what families do. Brilliant.

There is, of course, a great deal going on besides that. Aidan has to learn to live as a vampire who doesn’t kill (not easy) as well as deal with his vampiric brethren, who are a nasty, manipulative bunch. A consequence of his one time fall off the wagon creates a huge complication in his life. He has to be the coolest vamp on television right now – not just good looking but an amazingly decent person down to the bone. I consider him the opposite of Eric of True Blood. Where Eric loves the politics, the manipulation and the danger of being part of a coven, Aidan just wants to live and let live. He doesn’t want to play head games with you or get you to do what he wants – he just wants to live a normal life where he can help people and maybe be helped in turn when he needs it.

Josh is new to being a were and would be nowhere near as cool as Aidan even if he weren’t. He is the panicky, heart of gold member of the group. His recent conversion has him dealing with the messiness of family as well as grappling with the struggle of leaving normal life behind. He’s a complete bone head around girls and requires Aidan to teach him how to smooth things over more than once. What makes Josh so intriguing is that aside from his little full moon problem, he is so ordinary. Any geek can relate to most of the problems he faces. And really, his werewolfism just show cases how being a bit unordinary can really mess up your social life.

Sally is the character I struggle most with. She can’t figure out what her unresolved issue is that keeps her from going onward. The mystery surrounding that was sort of easy for me to figure but I still enjoyed watching the characters resolve it. Less fun is watching her whine about all she has lost. Once she figures out Josh and Aidan can see and talk to her, it seems like her deepest desire is to dump on them. It’s a bit annoying because the viewer knows that next to the problems those two face Sally has little to complain about. Oddly, while I like almost everything about the American version better than the BBC version, I favor their ghost Annie over our Sally. Annie is fun, sweet and silly. Sally is morose and intense. This show sort of needs a silly person – the issues dealt with can be kind of heavy.

So there it is, my new television obsession. What about you? Have any shows you are glomming via instant streaming, DVD or television? Or just any shows you are really into right now?

– Maggie AAR