Being Human 3x05 - The Longest Day
Aug. 28th, 2012 05:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
keep_countingThis is everything I dreaded and everything I hoped for at the same time.
It would be hard to follow up The Pack with an equally as well-written and intense episode, but The Longest Day does manage to do this. It's just intense in a completely different way, which is oh-so very enjoyable, because if this show does one thing well, it's being varied in the things it shows us. Each episode has a specific theme and a different way to show us this theme - yes, a lot of the time the theme has been the same: family, redemption, past hauntings etc. But they have been executed (somewhat) differently each time, leading our characters furhter on their journey to wherever the hell they are going.
The Longest Day would not be as interesting or emotionally exhausting if we didn't have two and a half seasons worth of character development. If we didn't know everything we do about the current situation: about Annie having found a self-confidence she didn't have before, about George accepting so many parts of himself, about Nina's very strong moral code and Mitchell's fuck-shit unlife in general.
Before I start talking about Herrick (and OMG do I want to talk about Herrick!), I need to address Nina and Mitchell first: because they are definitely not pals. With George (and Annie) as a link, there is a certain amount of respect and care for each other, that you need to have when you both love the same person as deeply as Nina and Mitchell loves George (and Annie) (but in different ways, of course). They wouldn't be able to live together if they despised each other completely. But that doesn't mean they are friends. That doesn't mean that Mitchell isn't self-rightous about her and that Nina doesn't think he is a murderer. I am just so fascinated by their relationship: they are complete opposites, in everything: male, female, light, dark, vampire, werewolf (their tense relationship didn't start until Nina became a werewolf and discovered what Mitchell was in the process, so I'm not counting the time when she was still human). And then their personalities clash as well: for both of them, the rules can be bend and broken, but for Nina this is only when someone else is in danger - George, their baby, even Herrick this episode -, while Mitchell mainly does this for a selfish purpose - killing being the main problem here. Nina has very strong principles - especially about killing - and she isn't afraid to state these. She cannot be friends with Mitchell, because he feels that in certain situations, murder is acceptable. It most certainly isn't for Nina. And that's what we end up with this episode: Mitchell realizing that it has to be Nina, that she is the 'little bullet' and Nina, horrified at what Herrick's shown her, calling the cops on Mitchell. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god.
Everything sucks.
NOW FOR HERRICK. I didn't even realize how much I missed him until now! I'd forgotten how absolutely talented Jason Watkins is. That man can play emotions across his face as easily as I breathe, and he made me go 'aaw' and sit in tense silence at least a couple of hundred times just this episode. I want to over-analyze everything he does and says, every little meaning behind his words and demeanor. Because he starts of so terrified and lost and then he's so... calm. Still looking harmless as a puppy, but eerily, scaringly calm. I have no idea if he's faking the whole thing or not. No idea and I LOVE IT! I love that the writers doesn't give us an outright clue yet, but lets us sit in morbid anticipation, waiting for the backlash. Is Herrick being manipulated? Will Mitchell get the secret of resurrection out of him? Will they bring back Ivan? Will Herrick kill Nina and the unborn baby as revenge for what George did to him? Look, I cannot ignore the fact that George killed Herrick. He tore him to pieces. GEORGE WHY ARE YOU NOT TERRIFIED THAT THE PSYCHO VAMP YOU KILLED IS STAYING AT THE SAME HOUSE AS YOU AND YOUR GIRLFRIEND AND YOUR LITTLE UNBORN BABY?? When he discussed the whole stake/stake-not situation with Nina, I honestly expected him to bring it up, but he didn't. And that George, is why you are a nutter and why I love you so much. Because Nina is right. Even if it turns out that Herrick is faking it, right now, their thoughts on him are as a lost, harmless kitten. How can they harm him without knowing for sure that he is a threat? That would make them maybe even worse than he used to be, and it would hang over their lives like a dark cloud forever. See, people, this is how good villains are made: they ruin the protagonists lives simply by exisiting and it is so good its giving me goosebumps.
I think I'm sticking with the theory that Herrick really was a bit brain-damaged there, but... the old him is so lurking around somewhere. I mean, has the sentence 'It's going to be the most beautiful day' ever managed to sound threatening before? Clearly only Herrick could pull this of.
Also, Mitchell needs to apologize to Annie for being a prick. And NICOLA WALKER HELLO YOU WERE IN SPOOKS. She has the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen a human being have. Oh, and Cara killed herself, but tbh I found her a bit annoying so whatevs. And yes, Herrick os cold enough to not care that his progeny/lover/whatever just did that, if it helped his plan. I mean, how can they NOT believe him now?
That last sequence was beautifully executed as well. Nina running, the cuts back and forth, her pulling out the phone and then the voice-over in the end there. I didn't watch the 'Next Time' bit for once, because I'm too scared and excited at the same time. Gah!
QUOTES:
'She couldn't see you. I can see you, those others they can see you. That idiot woman, she couldn't. Why?'
'She's not an idiot. She was nice'
'Nice? Who wants to be nice?'
'Just tell me how you do it.'
'Guess.'
'Give me a clue, little lady. Chuck me a bone. What are you?'
'What am I? On to you. Is what I am. I'm on to you. Little man'
'It's the Jehova's, isn't it? I knew I shouldn't have been nice!'
'Mitchell, this is, ah, Wendy. And Wendy is a community psychiatric nurse. Isn't that just something? I mean 'wow', is all I can say. Mega wow! Oh, the vista. I know. Oh god, sometimes, sometimes, we just pretend to surf in front of it. Don't we Mitchell!'
'Wait. I didn't agree. Because, you know, if we're really going to execute an amnesiac psychiatric patient like we're the governor of shitting Texas or something, then we should all have a vote. And I didn't get my vote.'
'You're the best friend I've ever had. And probably ever will have. But I will turn my back on you. I will wipe you from my memory and I will never mention your name again. I will never tell my son or daughter that I had a friend called Mitchell. It will be as if we'd never met. That's it. Now you make your choice.'
It would be hard to follow up The Pack with an equally as well-written and intense episode, but The Longest Day does manage to do this. It's just intense in a completely different way, which is oh-so very enjoyable, because if this show does one thing well, it's being varied in the things it shows us. Each episode has a specific theme and a different way to show us this theme - yes, a lot of the time the theme has been the same: family, redemption, past hauntings etc. But they have been executed (somewhat) differently each time, leading our characters furhter on their journey to wherever the hell they are going.
The Longest Day would not be as interesting or emotionally exhausting if we didn't have two and a half seasons worth of character development. If we didn't know everything we do about the current situation: about Annie having found a self-confidence she didn't have before, about George accepting so many parts of himself, about Nina's very strong moral code and Mitchell's fuck-shit unlife in general.
Before I start talking about Herrick (and OMG do I want to talk about Herrick!), I need to address Nina and Mitchell first: because they are definitely not pals. With George (and Annie) as a link, there is a certain amount of respect and care for each other, that you need to have when you both love the same person as deeply as Nina and Mitchell loves George (and Annie) (but in different ways, of course). They wouldn't be able to live together if they despised each other completely. But that doesn't mean they are friends. That doesn't mean that Mitchell isn't self-rightous about her and that Nina doesn't think he is a murderer. I am just so fascinated by their relationship: they are complete opposites, in everything: male, female, light, dark, vampire, werewolf (their tense relationship didn't start until Nina became a werewolf and discovered what Mitchell was in the process, so I'm not counting the time when she was still human). And then their personalities clash as well: for both of them, the rules can be bend and broken, but for Nina this is only when someone else is in danger - George, their baby, even Herrick this episode -, while Mitchell mainly does this for a selfish purpose - killing being the main problem here. Nina has very strong principles - especially about killing - and she isn't afraid to state these. She cannot be friends with Mitchell, because he feels that in certain situations, murder is acceptable. It most certainly isn't for Nina. And that's what we end up with this episode: Mitchell realizing that it has to be Nina, that she is the 'little bullet' and Nina, horrified at what Herrick's shown her, calling the cops on Mitchell. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god.
Everything sucks.
NOW FOR HERRICK. I didn't even realize how much I missed him until now! I'd forgotten how absolutely talented Jason Watkins is. That man can play emotions across his face as easily as I breathe, and he made me go 'aaw' and sit in tense silence at least a couple of hundred times just this episode. I want to over-analyze everything he does and says, every little meaning behind his words and demeanor. Because he starts of so terrified and lost and then he's so... calm. Still looking harmless as a puppy, but eerily, scaringly calm. I have no idea if he's faking the whole thing or not. No idea and I LOVE IT! I love that the writers doesn't give us an outright clue yet, but lets us sit in morbid anticipation, waiting for the backlash. Is Herrick being manipulated? Will Mitchell get the secret of resurrection out of him? Will they bring back Ivan? Will Herrick kill Nina and the unborn baby as revenge for what George did to him? Look, I cannot ignore the fact that George killed Herrick. He tore him to pieces. GEORGE WHY ARE YOU NOT TERRIFIED THAT THE PSYCHO VAMP YOU KILLED IS STAYING AT THE SAME HOUSE AS YOU AND YOUR GIRLFRIEND AND YOUR LITTLE UNBORN BABY?? When he discussed the whole stake/stake-not situation with Nina, I honestly expected him to bring it up, but he didn't. And that George, is why you are a nutter and why I love you so much. Because Nina is right. Even if it turns out that Herrick is faking it, right now, their thoughts on him are as a lost, harmless kitten. How can they harm him without knowing for sure that he is a threat? That would make them maybe even worse than he used to be, and it would hang over their lives like a dark cloud forever. See, people, this is how good villains are made: they ruin the protagonists lives simply by exisiting and it is so good its giving me goosebumps.
I think I'm sticking with the theory that Herrick really was a bit brain-damaged there, but... the old him is so lurking around somewhere. I mean, has the sentence 'It's going to be the most beautiful day' ever managed to sound threatening before? Clearly only Herrick could pull this of.
Also, Mitchell needs to apologize to Annie for being a prick. And NICOLA WALKER HELLO YOU WERE IN SPOOKS. She has the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen a human being have. Oh, and Cara killed herself, but tbh I found her a bit annoying so whatevs. And yes, Herrick os cold enough to not care that his progeny/lover/whatever just did that, if it helped his plan. I mean, how can they NOT believe him now?
That last sequence was beautifully executed as well. Nina running, the cuts back and forth, her pulling out the phone and then the voice-over in the end there. I didn't watch the 'Next Time' bit for once, because I'm too scared and excited at the same time. Gah!
QUOTES:
'She couldn't see you. I can see you, those others they can see you. That idiot woman, she couldn't. Why?'
'She's not an idiot. She was nice'
'Nice? Who wants to be nice?'
'Just tell me how you do it.'
'Guess.'
'Give me a clue, little lady. Chuck me a bone. What are you?'
'What am I? On to you. Is what I am. I'm on to you. Little man'
'It's the Jehova's, isn't it? I knew I shouldn't have been nice!'
'Mitchell, this is, ah, Wendy. And Wendy is a community psychiatric nurse. Isn't that just something? I mean 'wow', is all I can say. Mega wow! Oh, the vista. I know. Oh god, sometimes, sometimes, we just pretend to surf in front of it. Don't we Mitchell!'
'Wait. I didn't agree. Because, you know, if we're really going to execute an amnesiac psychiatric patient like we're the governor of shitting Texas or something, then we should all have a vote. And I didn't get my vote.'
'You're the best friend I've ever had. And probably ever will have. But I will turn my back on you. I will wipe you from my memory and I will never mention your name again. I will never tell my son or daughter that I had a friend called Mitchell. It will be as if we'd never met. That's it. Now you make your choice.'
