Being Human Review: "Something to Watch Over Me"

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This week's Being Human, “Something to Watch Over Me,” saw all three characters coming to realizations about themselves. Since all of them have been in their current states for varying amounts of time, the struggles they encounter are met alone.

In inviting the entire neighborhood to an open house on behalf of the local neighborhood watch, Aidan feels it's giving them more of the human life they are trying to embrace.

Aidan's head is filled with over 200 years worth of memories, some that literally haunt him in the street. Assuming he's lived his entire life, both vampire and human, in Boston, that doesn't leave much room to hide.

As Aidan

Being inundated with so many different incarnations of yourself, he's eager to gloss them over with a new coat of paint. The neighborhood watch was his attempt to change the color of his life one more time; meet new people, literally force himself into a situation that will bring new challenges and maybe block out some of the less savory moments.

While not as eager to jump into the fray of new faces, Josh's journey takes him to the streets of Boston patrolling for “monsters.” He seemed exasperated, and yet oddly comforted with his fellow watchers. I hoped he might come to enjoy the new entanglement. Of all, it's most important to me that Josh be happy. He doesn't fully realize how heavily his roommates rely on his normalcy.

Josh is, frankly, the most likely candidate to survive their attempt at being human.

Even with a house full of people, Sally is still alone.

Aidan and Josh see this and introduce into her life Tony the ghost. Dying in the 80s gave them a lot of good material to play off of (see our Being Human quotes page).

From Tony, Sally learns the ropes of ghostly behavior. The only thing holding her back from leaving the house has truly been her own mind, as it's with their minds that ghosts can travel in an instant wherever they wish to go.

This development gave me a new perspective on Sally. Once she stops obsessing over Danny, I think she could be a fun girl to have around, maybe taking some of the burden of their humanity off of Josh's shoulders. After seeing her in different surroundings, Meaghan Rath was able to open up Sally into a more rounded spirit.

By this point in the series, this re-imagining is totally working for me.

Their personalities have separated from the other show I watched, and I no longer find myself comparing the American versus British versions. I know I will be able to successfully watch both as separate entities, as they both bring their own identity to what are otherwise just similar people in a familiar setting.

Aidan is greatly conflicted and wants to badly to be someone he is not. Sam Witwer has brought to the role a subtle and yet engaging sadness. As Aidan his very vampirism seems to be in complete opposition to who was as a human. He's not coming off as as much of a smart-ass as I originally expected, and it's with Aidan I find myself most identifying.

I'm still not liking Bishop, but he's not as distasteful as I first found him. In his enigmatic way, he is trying to protect the vampires from harm, and has dug deeply into the community to have the right position to address whatever arises. Although he pushes at Aidan, he doesn't force him to do anything against his will.

He cares enough to clean up his messes (albeit for selfish reasons), but still lets him make mistakes. He's almost like a creepy father figure. Aidan not embracing life as a vampire has left him vulnerable by weakness and he doesn't seem to have what it takes to ensure his own safety.

By participating in the watch, Josh realizes that hiding his true nature by turning in the hospital basement each month will affect everything else he does. He is an abomination, and by restraining what that animal must do, he risks resolving those issues as a man. To be a monster one night of the month is preferable to losing what humanity he has left.

It seems the more they turn away from what they have become, the more in peril they find themselves. They're going to have to find a point where they can be what nature has created in them, but retain their humanity by trusting in each other to get through it.

Perhaps together they will find the strength to embrace both the darkness and the light, and the balance needed to do as little damage as possible to themselves and others.

What did you think of this week's Being Human? Comment below and discuss!

Something to Watch Over Me Review

Editor Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
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User Rating:

Rating: 4.7 / 5.0 (30 Votes)

Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.

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Being Human Season 1 Episode 3 Quotes

Sally: Why are you wearing makeup?
Tony: Why aren't you?

Aidan: Josh, it is a party. Relax. Now. I should make a seven-layer dip, right?
Josh: No. No, you shouldn't.