Stars: Sam Witwer, Meaghan Rath, Sam Huntington, Mark Pellegrino
Writers: Jeremy Carver & Anna Fricke, based on the series created by Toby Whithouse
Director: Jerry Ciccoritti
Network: Syfy, Mondays @ 9 PM
Airdate: Jan.31, 2011

The BEING HUMAN episode “Some Thing to Watch Over Me” gets its title from vampire Aidan’s (Sam Witwer) decision to enroll himself and werewolf roommate Josh (Sam Huntington) in the local neighborhood watch. After all, what better way to seem normal than to be good neighbors? Despite Josh’s nervous objections – and ghost Sally’s (Meaghan Rath) complaint that Aidan has managed to invite everybody who irked her in life, it seems like a good idea. Josh succeeds in becoming a local hero by tracking down the local spray-paint vandal (his keener than human sense of smile alerts him to the paint), even though he alarms himself with the amount of aggression he uses in the takedown.

Unfortunately, police officer Garrity, who comes to speak to the watch group, recognizes Aidan as the man who killed Garrity’s father decades earlier. Aidan’s efforts to dissuade Garrity from the notion succeed only in drawing the attention of Garrity’s boss – and vampire – Lt. Bishop (Mark Pellegrino), who tries to intervene, but Aidan’s insistence on handling things himself results in Garrity’s suicide.

On a lighter note, Josh and Aidan find Sally a ghostly potential friend in Tony, who has been dead since his hair-band fan days in 1987. Sally is giddy to be able to touch someone again, although this gets a bit awkward when Tony assumes Sally is a bit more romantically inclined than she is. Tony does succeed in teaching Sally how to leave the house and go wherever she wants, and Sally inadvertently helps Tony achieve the closure he needs to summon the literal door that opens to the other side. However, the door is only for Tony – Sally’s doesn’t appear, because she’s not done in this world yet.

It’s a relief to see the U.S. BEING HUMAN lighten its tone somewhat, even if Sally’s giddy reaction to being able to touch another ghost may be every so slightly over the top. Likewise, Josh’s growled “Paint!” is pretty funny, though he too seems to over-react to what comes next. Witwer actually have some fun with Aidan’s attempts to seem like a normal guy who thinks Garrity is nuts (when Aidan knows perfectly well Garrity is sane), so it would be nice if the writing let him have something more humorous to do. The best balancer here is Pellegrino, whose smooth, steady take on Bishop is that of a man who is quietly sure of his own righteousness.

This episode shows the most potential of the BEING HUMAN remake so far, but the series really needs to let the characters accept themselves before it can come into its own – as long as our leads are this enmeshed in guilt, shame and self-loathing, they and we remain on well-trod genre ground.

Do you love the new BEING HUMAN or hate it? COMMENT below at let the debate rage on

CLICK HERE for AX’s exclusive interview with Sam Witwer and Mark Pellegrino

CLICK HERE for more EXCLUSIVE interviews and reviews from ASSIGNMENT X on BEING HUMAN

Related Posts: