Being Human
May. 30th, 2012 12:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ivyficIn my overheated, internet-ish apartment last night, I was watching Being Human (UK). I'd been putting this off for a while, despite the Netflix discs sitting on my table. I watched the unaired pilot before the show came out and really liked it. I watched it a few times, in fact, since there was such a lag between it and the series being greenlit. Then I watched the actual pilot and was appalled--the recast everyone except Russell Tovey, and I was not a fan. But, I figured, I should give it a shot. So I watched the second episode and really hated it.
Now I'm trying once more to watch it. Since it's been a few years, I rewatched the first two eps, and the second episode really encapsulated what I don't like about the show. It was one exact moment: when George returns to the abandoned shed where he is going to transform and Tulley, his sire, is there, noose around neck, standing on a chair, just waiting for him to show up before he kicks the chair out. That moment. Because that is ludicrous. He could have been predictably just waiting for George. He could have hanged himself knowing George would find him. No. It's the ridiculousness of standing on a chair and waiting for him to show up before hanging himself. I get that the writers are trying to create a dilemma for George--save him or let inaction kill him--but there are more organic ways to do it than that. I mean, this just leaves you with a picture of Tully standing on that chair for hours until George shows up.
It's not just angst, it's thirteen-year-old emo angst. It's angst set to Torchwood (which, as we all know, is waaaay past eleven).
There's also the fact that Tovey only has one setting for anxiety, and that is all out, shrieky voiced panic. So every time his character is faced with a stressor, it's the same thing. And I know he's meant to be a woobie but...he's not. We're meant to see him as vulnerable because he's so insecure and impressionable. But you know what a guy who does whatever's he's told to to fit in is? An asshole. And George is an asshole.
I'm going to give it a few more eps to see if any of the subplots get interesting, but I think I'm sticking with my initial assessment.
Now I'm trying once more to watch it. Since it's been a few years, I rewatched the first two eps, and the second episode really encapsulated what I don't like about the show. It was one exact moment: when George returns to the abandoned shed where he is going to transform and Tulley, his sire, is there, noose around neck, standing on a chair, just waiting for him to show up before he kicks the chair out. That moment. Because that is ludicrous. He could have been predictably just waiting for George. He could have hanged himself knowing George would find him. No. It's the ridiculousness of standing on a chair and waiting for him to show up before hanging himself. I get that the writers are trying to create a dilemma for George--save him or let inaction kill him--but there are more organic ways to do it than that. I mean, this just leaves you with a picture of Tully standing on that chair for hours until George shows up.
It's not just angst, it's thirteen-year-old emo angst. It's angst set to Torchwood (which, as we all know, is waaaay past eleven).
There's also the fact that Tovey only has one setting for anxiety, and that is all out, shrieky voiced panic. So every time his character is faced with a stressor, it's the same thing. And I know he's meant to be a woobie but...he's not. We're meant to see him as vulnerable because he's so insecure and impressionable. But you know what a guy who does whatever's he's told to to fit in is? An asshole. And George is an asshole.
I'm going to give it a few more eps to see if any of the subplots get interesting, but I think I'm sticking with my initial assessment.
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no subject
Date: 2012-05-30 05:25 pm (UTC)The thing is, in the UK version, I can put up with parts of it for a lot while longer. Russell Tovey is a panicky ninny in an entertaining way (most of the time). Whereas his American counterpart is just a jerk or a wuss. That makes his being an asshole (because they hit a lot of the same plot points) ever more obvious. Which has, in turn, soured me on the UK version a lot.
I liked Being Human, the UK version, through about season two. There was enough to interest me despite my deep and abiding dislike of certain developments and character moments. Third season, though, eeeeeugh.
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Date: 2012-05-30 05:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-30 05:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-30 11:18 pm (UTC)