Being human - Sticks and rope

So Captain Hatch's powers and influences are explored a bit further and - to be honest - for most of the episode, they're pretty underwhelming.  He's capable of whispering nasty little thoughts into peoples' heads and making them fall out with their friends.  It's a shame, because the way he used the same power in the previous episode was much more frightening and effective.

Luckily, the final few minutes give a glimpse into the sheer malevolence of the character and let us get a clearer idea of what he might be capable of.  It seems that his powers are still growing and they're somehow tied in to Hal and Tom.  Alex is a problem and needs to be taken care of, and so he turns to one of the oldest and most atmospheric elements of the mythology of Being human.

And that was another problem.  Way back in the pilot, there was that brief little moment that took up just a few seconds of the story.  A tiny little moment between Annie and Mitchell (first Annie and first Mitchell - before both characters were recast) as they spoke about what lay beyond the doors.  The corridor and the men with sticks and rope.  The concept was sold partially by the shared horror of the two characters and party by the lack of detail, which left the viewers to fill in all the blanks on a very personal level.  It which was a masterful touch.

So... for those men to finally step out into the real world for the first time was a nice idea, because it demonstrated how the rules are breaking down.  But the horror of them was fatally compromised when they stopped being this abstract and personal figure inside our heads.  The reality of them just could not hope to compare with what we had already imagined for ourselves.

This is the final series of Being human.  I'm genuinely gutted, because I've loved the series since I first saw the pilot episode, five years ago, and now it's coming to a conclusion.  So I'm hoping it's a good conclusion that's going to be a fitting resolution to everything that's gone before.  The show has provided us with greatness on plenty of occasions, already.  I just hope it'll do so one more time, in the final episode.

I almost forgot to mention the Eenie Meenie Miney Mo part.  It's amazing to me that this children's rhyme was still in common usage even in the 'seventies.  My mum taught it to me and my brother and sisters and actually got angry at me once, when I used a variant a teacher had taught me.  Most people today would agree that "cricket" is a far less controversial word, but my mum - who isn't racist at all - was outraged that such liberties could be taken with a rhyme that she had never seen a problem with before then.  Strange to think that she was so insistent on using a word that she would be horrified by, today.