Being Human: Episode 2×1 Were-cap

Last night’s season two opener, “Turn This Mother Out,” definitely did not disappoint, and set Being Human up for what looks to be an interesting year. Spoilers ahead…

The opening voice-over honors went to Aidan, who used the opportunity to ruminate on freedom, or, in the case of him and his roommates, the lack thereof: After killing Bishop, Aidan finds himself unwillingly thrust into the position of head of the whole Boston vamp clan; Josh struggles to act as the provider for his girlfriend Nora; and Sally is still stuck haunting the house after missing her opportunity to cross over last season. It seemed to me like “freedom” was really just code for normalcy, the quest for which remains one of the central themes of the show, and as elusive as ever.

It’s obvious from the get-go that Aidan is not cut out to be the Head Vamp In Charge; he lacks his predecessor’s ambition, political savvy, and organizational skills, not to mention his taste for live human blood. Aidan as leader of the Boston vampires means hoards of desperate vamps hanging around outside the house waiting for blood handouts, instructions, or simple reassurance that they won’t be victims of the rumored culling of the ranks when a mysterious “she” comes to town. When Aidan proves either incapable of or, more likely, unwilling to provide the necessary leadership, disaster strikes as a panicked new vampire murders a patient at the hospital.

When Aidan asks Josh for help with disposing of the body, Josh uncharacteristically refuses, pointing out that he has a lot more to lose now that he’s in a serious committed relationship with Nora, whose presence in the house makes Josh a lot more concerned about keeping up appearances of normalcy. Josh’s concerns about freaking out Nora seem unfounded, since she appears to be taking all the new supernatural stuff in stride, even making an amusing attempt to strike up a conversation with Sally despite the fact that she can’t see her.

If Nora seems to accept her ghostly roommate with a preternatural calm, it’s because she’s got bigger things on her mind: Tonight is the first full moon since Josh scratched her, so if she’s going to turn into a werewolf, she’ll find out now. Her anxiety results in her pestering Josh with a lot of specific questions about the symptoms of werewolfism and the details of transformation that should seem suspicious to him but don’t, probably because he’s too busy worrying about his own imminent transformation.

Sally goes to her high school reunion and finds out that popular girls are still bitchy even when they’re ghosts. Whatever. I pretty much zone out during her storylines to be honest. Sorry.

Anyway so Aidan goes to meet with the vampire council and Mother, who is like the queen of the vampires and is expected to officially give Aidan the city of Boston. But she doesn’t, surprise surprise, instead making him the steward (which, the way she described it sounded pretty much like a babysitter) for the new leader, Mother’s daughter. This announcement caused some degree of alarm among the council members, who more or less implied that this chick is totally insane. So that should be fun.

Then came my favorite scene of the episode, where Aidan comes back to the house to fill Josh in on what went down at the meeting and basically asks him to be his accountability buddy. It seemed very self-aware and forward-thinking of Aidan to not only realize that getting mixed up with the vamp gang (which he only agrees to because they promise to let him out of it when he’s done) might lead him down a dark path, but also that Josh is the only one who will be able to bring him back. Aww, best bros forever.

Against his better judgment, Josh lets Nora drive him out to the woods so he can change into a werewolf, but then makes her promise to get as far away from him as possible. She of course doesn’t, instead waiting in the car until she hears him start to change, momentarily relieved when she doesn’t. Except then she does! Ohhhhhh snap! Josh hears her and tries to get back to her, but gets shot down by some vamps that Mother sent out werewolf hunting. Uh-oh!

Meanwhile, Sally gets back home and decides to try her ghostly classmate’s suggestion of sleeping, which according to him helped pass the time and resulted in some great dreams. She dreams about her door to the great beyond reappearing, except that when she opens it  there’s a silent, ominous-looking dark figure moving toward her instead of a soft white light. Uh-oh again!

So I think this episode set up a lot of good stuff; it will be interesting to see whether Aidan can balance his involvement in the vamp clan with his moral code, and how Josh deals with his new werewolf girlfriend, and what effect this mysterious dark force has on Sally. Can’t wait for next week!

(screencaps via Caps Anyone?)