Being Human

[shipperx]

Damn, this show has gotten dark. Brilliantly dark, but so very, very dark.

The thing is, what makes them redeemable (their humanity) is also what makes them monstrous, because the choices they make are fueled by human desires. They want to be 'normal', they want to be loved. Each step they take further into the abyss is actually a misguided effort to 'fix' themselves or fix their lives, to manage things, or to make things better. It is tragic. And, cliched though it is, the path to hell is paved with good intentions. Things spiral out of control. It's inevitable because the centers of their worlds cannot hold, because they are human and thus fallible, wanting, and screwed up, and when that's unleashed with force of a monster? Damn.


And it strikes me that the monsters actually are standing in for something else. Mitchell is an addict. George's wolf is violent tendencies be it the need for anger management or the elements of domestic abuse. And Annie... I don't know. Not having a strong sense of purpose or self? She's invisible. She's a ghost.

Anyway, brilliant show. Is next week the season finale? God only knows where this season can possibly end or where the characters can go from here. Did I mention it's been positively gothicaly, angstastically brilliant?

ETA: spoilers in comments

Comments

[silverusagi]

Gah! I can't wait to get my hands on these episodes. Everyone's raving about them, and I've only seen up to episode 4 of season 2.

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

Things spiral out of control. It's inevitable because the centers of their worlds cannot hold, because they are human and thus fallible, wanting, and screwed up, and when that's unleashed with force of a monster?

Well said-- exactly what I've been thinking.

Mitchell is sooo an addict. I know most vampires are (ANgel, anyone?) but I was amused to see him both actually in rehab (tied to a chair!) and starting his own 12-step program. And fooling himself about how it's working.

I'm intrigued with what they're doing with George. It's fascinating, and I'm hooked.

I can't figure out how they're going to tie all these loose ends up in only one more episode!

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

I think Annie's condition is a bit of a stand in for depression, at first she's unable to leave the house, she can't interact properly with the world, she's unable to move on with her life, stuck in the same frame.

I can't wait to see, where the finale is going to leave them, especially Mitchell.

[paratti.livejournal.com]

In the original idea for the program Annie was to be the agoraphobic to Michell's addict and George's OCD. Our show became our show when Toby realised making them ghost, vamp and were made the show better, but the original framework still informs what they became.

[quinara]

And it strikes me that the monsters actually are standing in for something else.

I the way I saw it (at least in S1): Mitchell's an addict, George is HIV+ and Annie is the silenced and ignored domestic violence (non-)survivor - which of course turned out to be more true than I realised. It's slightly different in S2, in that that's still how I see them, but they've extended their stories beyond the expected now.

Is next week the season finale?

Yep! And I can't wait. I know a relatively hefty spoiler about S3, but I won't mention it here... ;)

[kassto.livejournal.com]

Great thoughts.

And also, when you think about the title of the show — it really is an inspired title...

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I think why they are going over so positively is that there is logical progression in them, and that they went there. Each step they've taken makes sense, and they each have (relatively) good intentions, and they're acting out of want and need that it's easy to understand, and yet it's just so, so, SO wrong.

This finale is going to hurt. I just know it.

:)

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Mitchell is so very much an addict. And the reason why this works better for me than some of the other vampire = addict metaphors is that, for once, I think it's actually being handled like a addict. I don't know whether it's my having watched Celeb Rehab recently (I'm not proud of it!) or because of another show I've been watching. But Michell is dead-on acurate for addiction, the way he has justified just a little bit more, just a little bit more. He explains it to himself each step of the way to justify it. It's okay if I just do this, until, of course, he goes on a full-on binge. Like a heroine addict, he's gone over the edge and now the addiction has control and now someone is in the kitchen. And that someone is scary as hell and a danger even to his friends.

And George. Poor George. It's so easy to understand why he wants what he wants, but -- GOD -- what in the HELL is he thinking?! I've wanted to grab him and shake him. Is he out of his mind?! After what happened to Nina, and he can DARE to drag not only another woman into his world, but a child?! A single mother with a child?! What the hell is he thinking?! It's so not fair that he is stuck in this life. I can totally understand why he rails against it. But he isn't thinking! And he's let his need become selfishness, because he's preying on his girlfriend's neediness, he's endangering a child, and I couldn't believe he was suggesting that they move in with him, Mitchell, and Annie. He wasn't going to tell them the truth. He was going to ask a child to move in with a vampire? He was going to ask Annie to give up her room and to live with people who couldn't see her? Creating an environment where both he and Mitchell couldn't acknowledge her presence either? What the hell was he thinking? It's all so selfish... and yet you empathize with him. He didn't ask to be cursed with this. He suffers because of it, but he's right. He can't have that life any more.

Really, it's great tragedy, because we can both love them and see how they are doing insane things.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Annie is really odd because she seems really chipper and upbeat, but she did sort of start out utterly housebound. And then they had her boyfriend be abusive and her not remember it, and again they had her fall for the abusive/crazy guy (briefly).

And, yeah, have no idea what they are going to do with Mitchell. Am looking forward to the finale.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I was really struck by George's latest girlfriend forgiving his flip-out in the school, etc. And the mentions of her last boyfriend having been abusive. Coming on the heels of his having flipped out on the school administrator, I'm wondering if George is now supposed to be dealing with anger management issues and violence, becuase the girlfriend really shouldn't have been quite so amenable to their just going on the way they were. He'd flipped out violently no matter what.

I do think that the Vampire/Wolf/Ghost in "Being Human" works really well with some very real, very human issues.