Being Human: kinda like Twilight, only, you know, well written

I have long enjoyed having the BBC (well, BBC America) among my plentiful beyond plentiful list of channels. Officially, I watch the BBCA because of their excellent news coverage, hard-hitting documentaries, and global perspective... In actuality, and by stark contrast, I really watch it for the cheesy musical theatre singing competitions and racy, drug-addled adolescent indulgences. And just when I thought the reality of my BBCA infatuation couldn't get less prim and proper, along comes Being Human, because what viewing schedule would be complete without a show about three roommates who happen to be a ghost, a vampire, and a werewolf?

As I have come to find after only two exquisite episodes, it wouldn't be any viewing schedule at all.
Now don't get me wrong, I realize that when boiled down to its basics, Being Human sounds derivative and lame. But, as with so many questionable concepts (this being high concept), when placed in the correct hands even the most ridiculous of conceits can be completely awesome. Seriously, who'd have thought a show about a teenage vampire slayer would work? And who'd have dreamed that a series about a high school girl who moonlights as a detective would be such a classic? Much like Buffy, Veronica Mars and countless others before it, Being Human manages to take a seemingly ludicrous concept in an overdone genre and make it work surprisingly well.

I first heard about the show on Television Without Pity, and in case there were any doubt as to how much TV I watch and just how much I keep up with TV online, the television add for the show quoted TWoP, saying, "...it's pretty much my dream series." To which I thought to myself, That would be Angel Cohn with TWoP, as I recall. Annnnd it totally was. On the surface, that's incredibly sad, but in my own twisted little way, I've decided to think of it as... accomplished. So there. (Semantics, peeps. It's all about semantics.)

Anyway, Being Human follows a vampire and a werewolf who have become friends and who have inadvertently moved into an apartment that is haunted (sort of) by a ghost. As a trio of unnatural/supernatural characters, they can relate to one another in ways that ordinary people simply can't. It's kind of like Three's Company, if... you know... Chrissy were dead. Which, now that I think of it, that clearly does sound like a winning concept after all (an improvement at the very least)...

The show has some of the usual trappings for this genre, but manages to make them fresh and intriguing. Mitchell, the resident vampire, struggles with his, uh, condition as he grapples with his identity and tries to decide which side he wants to take. He ardently chooses humanity, as is the genre's wont, but is torn between who he is and what he is, likening himself to a lapsed Catholic. Unlike other abstaining vampires, much of Mitchell's equivocacy (which actually is a word, even though Word doesn't think so) is born of his friendships with George, the trio's werewolf, and Annie, the ghost they've moved in with. Mitchell broods with the best of the reformed vampires out there, but he has found a pair of unlikely kindred spirits (almost literally, in Annie's case) which gives him a very positive, almost sunny approach to his attempt at, well, being human. He's very un-predatory as a human, so when juxtaposed with the killer inside, he's decidedly torn. Being faced with his latest convert on a regular basis and facing his other fellow vampires as a budding war approaches only manages to fuel the flame. In spite of this, he's far and away the most open to humanity and hilariously invites his neighbors over, a move with horrifies his roommates as much for being dangerous as for being un-British. He's a real delight and curiously social. Plus, he doesn't sparkle in the sun, shooting rainbows in every direction, so we're already way ahead of the game. And I'm not going to lie, the fact that he's very (!) easy to look at doesn't hurt either.

While Mitchell seems to embrace who he is, even if he doesn't actively engage in his, uh, culture (?), George does everything in his power to hide/erase/forget/disavow the fact that he's a werewolf. Even as I type this review, the show sounds absolutely absurd on the page, but you'll just have to trust me when I say that the show makes it all work. George is fairly new to the paranormal game and spends much of his time just trying to figure out how to live his new life. He wasn't particularly socially gifted in his old life, methinks, so he's even more flustered, awkward, and out of place now more than ever. At the end of the day, the issues dealt with by each of these characters boil down into emotional and social conundrums that everyone can understand and relate to, lack of werewolf-ism notwithstanding. George meets another werewolf, but finds that trying to accept the monstrous side of his life transforms him into another person just as entirely as the full moon does. George more fervently tries to reject his supernatural ways than Mitchell, but all in all, he's just trying to be human all the same.

Annie rounds out the trio and is somehow the most human and least human all at the same time. The show doesn't elucidate all the rules of being a ghost right up front and neither Annie nor the audience are sure what the limitations are. At times she's fairly corporeal, at others, she simply vanishes. Some people can see her (the paranormal set seem to have no problem in this regard), and yet others (most notably, her ex-fiancé and his new girlfriend) cannot. I think it's this uncertainty that makes her situation and her yearning for her old life somehow the most de-humanizing of the three of them. Neither Mitchell nor George are human, but they can fake it. Annie can't. She's not a monster, but she's not human either. She's in limbo in every sense of the word. It's sadly poignant that the one who's the most human of the three has the least ability to embrace humanity. Her attempts at being human are, so far, limited and confusing, both encouraging and devastating all at once. Indeed, her most meaningful human contact comes from her new roomies who aren't really human at all.

At first glance, it seems unfathomable that this cast of characters in this type of set up could really capture your average viewer, what with him/her being all human and all, but Being Human is grounded in the real world and the pain, emotions, and confusion triggered by each of their other-worldly situations are somehow universal. Feelings of disconnection, loneliness, not fitting in, fear, and yearning are things everyone can understand and the drive for human contact and finding your own identity can apply to any random person walking down the street as well they can to vampires, ghosts, werewolves, or what have you. I connected to these characters almost instantly and not in a fanciful, dungeons-and-dragons-y sort of way, but on a palpable human level. The writers have anchored the characters in a very average, everyday universe and have set rules for each being that largely adhere to tradition. All the facets and regulations haven't yet be illuminated, but all the basics appear to be in place (unlike a certain crappy tween series of novels which shall remain nameless... [stiltedly] ex-cept-in-the-title-of-this-post... oh, well). This makes their exploits and emotional crises easier to comprehend and more logical in such an ordinary, modern context. Essentially, these characters are dealing with all the same issues the humans do, only in a much more entertaining way. What can I say? People are largely boring...

The concept, the setting, and the emotional register form the bare bones of the show, but I think it's the tone that won me over first and foremost. The show has a very Dead Like Me vibe to it that I'm totally digging. It's funny and dark and quirky all at once. When being persuaded to give up human ways, a fellow vampire asks Mitchell, "Have you seen Britain's Got Talent? I mean really, what are you saving?" Assuming Britain's Got Talent is even a tenth as unfortunate as America's Got Talent, who can really argue with her logic there? At another point, during the most heated of arguments, Mitchell makes a jab at werewolves to which George incredulously responds, "I'm... pretty sure that's racist!" The show underwrites the dark with the light, the edgy with the funny, and the natural with the unnatural all with ease. It's a surprising joy to watch and I quite frankly can't wait till Saturday.

That's right people, as though I wasn't enjoying the show enough, it airs on BBC America on Saturdays so I don't even have to worry about DVR conflicts. I'm pretty sure I couldn't ask for anything more...

Here's a clip. It's probably not the most exemplifying clip in the world, but it's the best one I could find: