Genre: Horror | Drama

Air Date/Time: April 7 at 9/8c

Network: BBC America

Created by: Toby Whithouse

Director: Daniel O’Hara

Writer: Toby Whithouse

Summary:

In an old B&B in a sleepy seaside town, we join Annie (Lenora Crichlow) and her housemates Tom (Michael Socha) and Hal (Damien Molony). With a newborn baby to look after, it’s never been more difficult to live life under-the-radar as a ghost, a werewolf, and a vampire. There are also other vampires to deal with: lurking in every corner of society, waiting for the Old Ones, powerful older vampires, to arrive and take over the world with brutal force. Worse yet, there’s a malevolent ghost on the loose and someone’s seeking to expose the existence of werewolves – not to mention all the diapers that need changing.

Whew! I’m happy to report that after last week’s somewhat disappointing entry, this week’s episode is back to the show’s usual standards. Since this is the penultimate episode of the season, it’s not surprising that there is little time for froth and silliness. The froth can be fun, but the silliness can be annoying; regardless, both are missing here. There are in fact few light moments. One scene injects a wee bit o’ levity, and teeters on affecting the urgency of the situation at hand, but it isn’t prolonged and I understand that it was meant to cut the tension a bit. Because there’s tension, all right! There’s tension! (Imagine ghost Pearl’s voice there, talking of Kia-Ora).

There are also a couple of nice twists, and no I’m not talking about Grownup Eve. There is a lot more depth to this episode, and to everyone’s roles. The title is apt, especially given that we look to the past and the future this week to see its potentially horrible impact on the present. It is a fairly tight episode, without any extraneous storylines. Everything works together and comes together nicely, in a great setup for next week’s season finale.

We get to see more of what Hal was like before he changed his ways, and I gotta say, he is a lot more dynamic, though of course horrible, in his “before” version. It’s nice to see Damien Molony show that side, and it will be interesting to see if it ever gets incorporated in the future; it was somewhat similar to how he was when the werewolves came into Honolulu Heights. Not barely hanging on, not afraid of letting go, but confident. I really like Confident Hal.

Tom, bless him, has more to deal with this week, and handles it all in a very Tom-like manner which is endearing and heartbreaking. I’m really enjoying watching his growth throughout the season. Well done, Michael Socha. Annie is fully Annie this week, and is taken through all of shades of being that are included in the character; Lenora Crichlow is a gem. A terrific job as well this week to Andrew Gower as Cutler, as he is given much more to show to us both in his backstory and his character.

Aesthetically, in this episode there is one thing that is particularly brilliant, and another that is just odd. There is a section of beautiful editing between past and present involving Hal that results in a terrific effect; kudos to everyone’s efforts to achieve it. It visually underscores the text beautifully. As for the oddment, can someone tell me why, in another scene, Cutler’s shirt is so obviously too small for him? If it’s meant to signify something, apologies, but it is completely lost on me. But back on the positive side, happily, just at the point where they could use a whiner song, they choose to go in a slightly different direction musically, that works perfectly and doesn’t irritate. Thank you so much to those who made that decision.

I do need to sneak in a quick warning: The “on the next Being Human” scenes are brief but slightly more spoilery than usual, given where this episode ends, so if you really want to be spoiler-free for the finale you may want to change the channel or press “stop” when the episode is over but before the previews for next week. And unfortunately, here’s a bigger, louder (albeit ironic) warning: stay away from as much Being Human talk as possible until after next week’s finale. Our UK friends, who saw the finale a couple of weeks ago, have been generous in not spoiling, but now some official things were said this week in an interview about next season that will spoil the finale for you. We won’t print them here at SciFi Mafia until after the finale, but I can’t vouch for every other site, or Twitter/Facebook account. You have been warned.

Back to this week. An episode with as much depth and darkness as the beginning of the season, clearly meant to run us up to an epic finale. Thank you, Mr. Whithouse and company.

I give Being Human: Season 4, Episode 7 “Making History” Four Out of Five Stars.