TV Review: Being Human 5.6, The Last Broadcast
rating: 5
The suitably named episode brings not just series five to a conclusion but it was also the very last episode as Being Human joins the great TV channel in sky. Theres a lot of story lines to wrap up and the small matter of killing the devil, will our trinity of heroes have a happy ending? Opening with a Being Human first, Hal gives a delightfully macabre rendition of Irving Berlins Puttin On The Ritz, his vampire induction is brought to a sudden standstill when Tom bursts in and swiftly kills all the new recruits before setting his sights on Hal. Thankfully Alex utilised her knowledge of the movie Kill Bill and breaks out of the coffin, arriving just in time to prevent Tom from taking his revenge. Evil Hal isnt best pleased hes been duped by Captain Hatch, reluctantly he agrees to perform the ritual but as an insurance policy he takes a vile of blood from one of the other near dead vampires. The fully restored and mobile Captain Hatch (wearing a fine Zoot suit) asks one last favour from Rook, he wants to get in-front of a TV camera and broadcast his message to millions. The trinity must set aside their differences in order to defeat him, but when Hatch gets the upper hand he throws each of them into a dream-like world and presents them with a choice of what life would have been if theyd made one critical change. Alex is taken back to the night she met Hal, elsewhere Tom is given a glimpse at what life would have been if he wasnt a werewolf and married Poppy and Hal is mortally wounded laying on the battlefield waiting to be turned into a vampire. Hatch offers each of them the life they wanted, each of these were perfectly played and for a moment it appeared as though the trinity would succumb to the Devils tempting offer. Hal gets to see Leo again but even he cant convince our hero from making the right choice. As they wake up in the real world Hatch is mid broadcast and his plan is near completion, just as things seem their darkest Rook surprisingly saves the day with a sniper shot killing Hatch stone dead. Could it really be that simple? No, later at Honolulu Heights Rook pays them a visit to announce his resignation from the organisation and it turns out the Devil vacated Hatchs body just before he died and transferred into Rook. They perform the ritual once again, this time Hal willing gives his blood and accepts his fate, the words he said earlier ringing true Everything is incomplete without them." Even Evil Hal knew that he was nothing without his friends, that if he had any chance of holding on to some form of humanity he couldnt do it without them. The final confrontation is reminiscent of Mitchells last scene in series 3 and the tension is just as unbearable, as its the last episode all bets are off over who will survive and in order to rid the world of the Devil the trinity must pay the ultimate price. As they lay seemingly dying the impossible happens, they have become human. Alex is corporal and very much alive, Tom is free from the wolf and Hal is as mortal as the the rest of us. As the episode draws to what feels like a somewhat unlikely happy ending Toby Whithouse has a final trick up his sleeve, the last scene reveals the origami wolf that Hatch made for Tom sitting on the mantlepiece. This Inception like scene will have fans debating the outcome for years to come, although Whithouse has promised a deleted scene on the DVD that will definitively resolve this ambiguous ending. Personally Id rather dismiss the last few seconds, believing they had a fairytale, and the world hasnt fallen into hell. Full credit for Whithouse for creating a brave conclusion that is as satisfying as it is heartbreaking. There are some who believe the series had run its course and should have ended after series 3, personally I would have liked one more year out of Being Human. The dynamic between Alex, Hal and Tom was fantastic, kudos to Damien Molony, Kate Bracken and Michael Socha who deserves an extra mention for bringing a real warmth and dare I say humanity to our Tom. This fifth run of episodes found the magic again and delivered a fantastic overall story-arc but didnt forget to have fun along the way. Some fans may have given up on Being Human a while ago, last years semi-reboot brought natural comparisons with fellow cult hit Misfits. Over the years both shows have slowly had all the original cast leave and some key character were written out off screen. Misfits recent series four suffered the same uneasy partial reboot as Being Human and lost a portion of its audience as a result. Perhaps the time has come for Howard Overman to wind up Misfits with its up forthcoming fifth series. If you find the absence of Being Human too much, now might be a good time to give the American version a chance. I was very skeptical about a US take on something very British, so much so that Id written off ever watching it but to my surprise when I was somewhat forced to sit through the pilot episode, I didnt hate it. The first season reuses some of the story-lines from the original but after that it develops into its own show and is much better than expected, so if youre missing the trinity of a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost trying to make a go of normal life why not give the US version a watch. R.I.P Being Human 2008-2013 you will be missed.