TV Review: Being Human 4.8, 'The War Child'

rating: 4.5

Being Human 4.8 The War Child So there it goes for another year, no sooner do our favourite gang of supernatural friends return to our screens they€™re gone. On the upside the fifth series has already had the go ahead and will be back early next year. Considering the opening episode of this series delivered a swift exit for George, how can they top it with the finale? Well get you tissues out, because it€™s another emotional one. The opening scene takes place in 2022. Mr Snow (Mark Gatiss) encounters the ten year old Eve. His arrival in modern day Barry is cause for concern for everyone and Cutler is put firmly in his place. Hal€™s ongoing struggle with the thirst is once again tested, now he€™s off the wagon he€™s become a liability to the group. He knows only to well that if Mr Snow learns he is there, he will be too weak to refuse reenlistment. Tom is on a mission to build a homemade bomb to destroy the old ones, despite the fact it will certainly kill him, he is willing to lay down his life for Eve. In an act of friendship, Hal offers to go with Tom and the two of them will face the end together. We also find out what happens when a Vampire crosses a threshold without permission, Cutler drags himself into the house in an attempt to kill baby Eve. This heart-pounding scene did a good job of keeping you guessing if Annie was going to let this happen. Annie has always been the heart of the series, forever the mother figure she proves her maternal instincts by killing Cutler with a stake through the heart. Although we don€™t know for sure he€™s actually dead. Emotional endings have become Being Human€™s specialty, and this was no exception. In the final moments Annie detonated the bomb and saved mankind, and the cost was baby Eve. Destroying all of the old ones in the blast, the future is now unwritten and ghost Eve never existed and drifts into nothingness. With the arrival of Alex as the resident ghost, it was somewhat obvious Annie would be making her exit as well this year. Her unfinished business is now complete and with baby Eve, she passes over to be with her friends on the other side. Lenora Crichlow has been fantastic as Annie for 4 great seasons, occasionally she has been sidelined but series 4 put her front and centre. Although we had a cheeky tease from ghost Eve about Annie not necessarily following the rules about being able to go back, we might yet see her again. So we leave our housemates with a new ghost, Hal fighting the thirst again and Tom admitting that Hal is his best friend. The final scene saw a government agent rounding up all the camera phones that captured images of werewolf Tom at the nightclub. The man takes these to a large facility where thousands of other supernatural evidence is being stored. The X-Files style music over that scene was an inspired touch. I said it a few week€™s ago that this feels more like a spin off than the series it was 4 years ago, whilst I still feel that comment stands, it€™s by no means meant in a derogatory manner. After all, Angel was a spin-off from Buffy, and that was freaking awesome. Being Human series 4 is out on DVD on April 23rd and Series 5 will air early 2013. Chris Suffield