Being Human (TV Series) The War Child (2012) User Reviews

A great series finale

[Tweekums · 9/10 · 26 March 2012]

All too quickly the fourth series of 'Being Human' has come to an end; the Old Ones have arrived in Barry and Annie has been told that if she is to save humanity baby Eve must die… clearly things are not looking good. The episode opens with Hal helping the ghost of Alex return to her body where they intend to tidy things up so her family don't learn just how horribly she died; while there they are interrupted by people whose sole interest appears to be covering up the events of the night before; who they are remains a total mystery. Shortly after they go it becomes apparent that Hal's desire for blood has not abated as he tries to lap up what is left of Alex's blood from the floor. Hal in concerned that if Mr Snow, the leader of the old ones, asks him to return to the vampires he will so tries to keep well clear. Tom however has a different plan; never being one for subtlety he wants to make a bomb and blow the old ones to kingdom com! While this is going on Annie teaches Alex the trick of the trade for newly deceased ghosts; during this Cutler turns up at the Honolulu Heights with the intention of killing Eve; despite what she knows Annie can't let him do that and ultimately it looks as if the vampires will get Eve and humanity will be doomed; after all there is no way one of our protagonists would kill a baby… is there?

This was a great conclusion to the series and to the story of the Old Ones; the final confrontation was so surprising it gave my goose bumps! Lenora Crichlow did a great job as Annie; it is just a shame that it doesn't look as though we'll be seeing her again although her story arc did come to a natural conclusion in spectacular fashion. Mark Gatiss was suitable creepy as the senior vampire Mr Snow; he has the perfect voice for the part… not that I should be surprised as he has been the voice of Radio Four's 'Man in Black' for some time now. 'Being Human' has never shied away from showing the occasional gruesome scene and there were a couple of fairly grizzly ones this time; the site of Alex's dead body and even more gruesome the effect of entering a house uninvited on vampire Nick Cutler. While the story of the Old Ones and the threatened vampire take over may have passed things were set up for the fifth series with the introduction of the mysterious character who cleaned up after the events in the night club; it is just a pity we'll have to wait till next year to see it.

I thought this was a great end to a mostly good fourth season.

[Foreverisacastironmess123 · 8/10 · 26 March 2012]

We finally get to see them Old Ones-or Old One, as it were. I thought they didn't disappoint. They were just like vampires, but competent vampires that actually seemed to have a grip on things and knew what they were doing! I was very impressed by the performance of Mark Gatiss as Mr.Snow, the lead Old One vampire. I thought his swarthy and lofty demeaner and delivery was alternately hilarious, ominous, authoritative, and above all sinister. I thought his jaded gaze and manner carried the weight of someone who was supposed to have been around for thousands of years. I thought his makeup was also pretty sharp, with his ancient veins pressed up underneath the skin, and how rotten and yellow his teeth looked in one close-up looked so creepy. To me he was definitely the best guest character of the season. He definitely made the most of his time in the episode. Did he die in the explosion? Although that may have been the whole point, I just thought it was a bit of a shame for such a fun character to come and go so quickly. :::2::: We said goodbye to Andrew Gowen (oh, and everyone was just starting to like Cutler, too!) I thought him great in the moment when he rants at Mr.Snow after he dismisses him as a nothing after all his hard work. I liked Cutler. I found him to be an interesting vampire and not the one-dimensional secret villain he first appeared to be. I liked him because he was so ordinary, so human. I thought his makeup in the scene where he busts into Honolulu Heights to kill baby Eve looked incredible. It was also quite disgusting as he was melting. (Oh, what a world!) Something else that was even more disgusting was when Hal slurped up the rotten maggot-infested blood! I didn't think they were gonna go so low but then blam! They really did it! I was watching it with someone, she totally spewed up her coffee! :::3::: I was very surprised that they actually had the guts to kill off a baby. I mean, talk about an impossible choice! It was seriously dark and nasty having to sacrifice an innocent baby to save the future. I was so sure that that the Eve from the future was some evil illusion trying to trick them all somehow. But no, the Toy Man, Hal-etc, it was the only real choice there was all along. Poor Annie. I actually gasped (I never gasp!) when it was her that did the deed at the end, especially as she earlier stated passionately that it was something she would never do, nor allow to happen. But when she finally understood the full scope and true meaning of "The War Child" prophecy, she knew there was no choice. And you definitely felt the full weight of such an awful choice. :::4::: Annie finally passes on, and I have a strong feeling we won't be seeing her again. Well what a wonderful character she was. I thought after all the doom and gloom it was a beautiful and bittersweet moment when she went through her white door with the ghost of baby Eve in tow, and said goodbye to the grown up Eve. I think the moment would have been truly magical if Mitchell and George had been there waiting for her. As good as the new character of Hal was, I really think that without Annie, the (at best tepid) quality of the show will take a nose-dive in the future. Ooh, there are men in black type people who remove all evidence of supernatural beings! I don't care about that, I'm not emotionally invested in that, I'm interested in Annie and co! The final scene with Tom, Alex, and a blood-detoxing Hal was clearly saying: these are your new characters, your new "family" of freaks. Well, we'll just see how that turns out... :::5::: I enjoyed this series of Being Human. After a very shaky start, and one or two dodgy episodes, I think the radical changes were ultimately to the show's benefit. The original trio and feel of the show was great-far better than this, but the formula got stale. I still believe in this show, and I think there could be many more great things to come out of It in the future. And I am done.