Stars: Sam Witwer, Meaghan Rath, Sam Huntington, Mark Pellegrino, Kyle Schmid, Tracy Spiridakos, Jon Cor, Olunike Adeliyi, Rahnuma Panthaky, Harry Standjofski, Holly O’Brien
Writers: Jeremy Carver & Anna Fricke, adapted for U.S. television by Jeremy Carver & Anna Fricke, created for U.K. television by Toby Whithouse
Director: Stefan Pleszczynski
Network: Syfy, Mondays @ 9 PM
Airdate: February 20, 2012

Is everyone on television at some point going to have visions of Mark Pellegrino? The actor’s mystical Jacob turned up posthumously on LOST, his Lucifer is currently tormenting Sam Winchester over on SUPERNATURAL and now he’s back on BEING HUMAN as the shade of vampire Bishop, as a blood-drunk Aidan (Sam Witwer) hallucinates that his maker is giving him advice.

In “Mama Told Me There’d Be Decades Like These,” the focus is on family – in Sally’s (Meaghan Rath) case biological, in Aidan’s case blood and in Josh’s (Sam Huntington) case the wolf pack.

Josh is shocked when he realizes from photos by the bedside that a comatose patient is Sally’s mother Rina (Rahnuma Panthaky). Sally’s father is holding a bedside vigil. When Rina passes, she and Sally have a joyful reunion in the hospital corridor. However, at the funeral, Sally is horrified to see Rina commingling with the spirit of Jerry, a neighbor who died when Sally was ten years old. Sally invites Rina to the house, but Rina brings Jerry, so it’s an extremely awkward situation (and, as is common, Aidan and Josh are both freaking out over their own issues). Although Sally is still angry that her mother was unfaithful to her father, our ghost comes to accept that Rina has an existence outside of being Sally’s mom.

Aidan, intoxicated on fresh blood, is visited in his mind by the dead Bishop, who reminisces about the old days just after WWI, when Aidan had sired Henry (Kyle Schmid), who we know betrayed Aidan in 1933 and caused Suren to have her homicidal meltdown. Bishop tells Aidan he has to find Henry and kill him. However, Henry shows up on Aidan’s doorstep and asks to talk.

At Aidan’s first aggressive move, Henry tries to stake his maker. Aidan gets the upper hand, but can’t bring himself to kill his progeny. Henry says he’s hidden for eighty years and can’t bear to keep hiding. Aidan lets him go. Bishop says he knew Aidan wouldn’t be able to kill his “son,” just as Bishop couldn’t kill Aidan. However, Bishop cautions Aidan that it’s inevitable that sons kill fathers.

Josh hasn’t heard from Nora since the last full moon. When he receives a visit from police detectives Sherwood (Holly O’Brien) and Raimes (Harry Standjofski), who say that Nora’s abusive ex-boyfriend was killed the night of the full moon, Josh goes to pure blood werewolf siblings Bryn (Tracy Spiridakos) and Connor (Jon Cor). The sister and brother tell Josh that they were with Nora on the full moon, and together, the three of them killed Nora’s abuser. Josh is appalled, but points out that Nora’s need for alone time contradicts the siblings’ assertion that she’s now part of their pack. Josh goes to Aidan for help, asking him to get Cecilia (Olunike Adeliyi), a newly-sired vampire who is also a police officer, to take care of the situation. Aidan refuses – when Nora first wolfed out, she killed vampire elder Hegeman (and saved Josh in the process), and he doesn’t want to draw vampire community attention to this. Josh goes to Cecilia by himself, and offers up the two pure blood siblings, framing them for Hegeman’s death. Cecilia vamp-hypnotizes the two detectives and prepares to arrest Bryn and Connor.

It’s unclear how we’re meant to view Josh’s actions here. They are dangerous, certainly, and have an element of potential danger/self-sacrifice, but his willingness to dump Bryn and Connor into the mix of vampire justice and human law is unpalatable. Yes, they are werewolves with a sense of entitlement, but they haven’t actually shafted Josh. While they are arguably a negative influence on Nora, the fact is, she is a werewolf with the accompanying instincts. Furthermore, had Josh been candid with her earlier, she might not be a werewolf now. It’s entirely possible that we’re meant to understand that Josh’s extreme guilt is driving him to poor choices – parallel to what’s happening with Aidan – but the overall effect is more irritating than insightful.

Therefore, having Sally griping about her mother’s life choices in one way make an apt companion plotline, but in another way overload us with self-righteousness and self-pity. One character per episode going this route is more than enough

Aidan is on this path as well, but he’s excused for having the good sense to dream up Bishop, who is an entertaining companion with some actual wisdom to impart. If Bishop really is a product of Aidan’s subconscious, he must be buried deep, as Aidan previously hasn’t seemed able to come up with these insights on his own.

It will be intriguing to see how Aidan handles his situation with Henry, whether Josh’s actions lead to a larger vampire/werewolf clash and what Nora has to say about her state of mind. Still, there are other episodes that are more fun overall.

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Article: TV Review – BEING HUMAN – Season 2  – “Mama Told Me There’d Be Decades Like These”

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