Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Death dominates 'Being Human' season two finale, but what comes after?

In SyFy's second season finale of Being Human, "It's My Party and I'll Die If I Want To," each of the central characters are forced to face their mortality. Sally (Meaghan Rath) decides to destroy herself to go to limbo and try to help the ghosts that she sent there. Aidan (Sam Witwer) makes a play against Mother (Deena Aziz). When he fails, she kills Suren (Dichen Lachman) and buries Aidan alive. Josh (Sam Huntington) attempts to murder Ray (Andreas Apergis) to end the curse for both himself and Nora (Kristen Hager), but the three end up in a stand off, and someone shoots as the screen goes black.

Josh faces the most immediate threat in his cliffhanger in "It's My Party and I'll Die If I Want To." Ray is pointing a shotgun at him, while Nora has her own weapon trained on Ray. With no visual given for the gunshots, it sounds like both firearms are discharged. But it is not clear who is shot, if anyone.

The odds are, all three are still alive, though someone may be injured by a bullet. The reasons for this are clear. First, Josh is one of the central Being Human trio, and since this isn't the British version of the series, the American producers are unlikely to mess with the essential formula, at least not this early in the show's run. Similarly, it's hard to imagine that the werewolf curse will be lifted from Josh and Nora because it screws up the premise, so by that logic, Ray is safe. Unless the theory about murdering him to save the ones he passed his curse on to is merely a myth. Nora, the most expendable, has no gun aimed at her, so she's probably unharmed. So what at first appears to be the biggest cliffhanger, actually might be the plot with the lowest stakes.

Aidan's situation is more dire. With Suren dead, he is dealing with some heavy grief. He really loves the girl, and the initial burst of anger he feels at watching her murdered quickly subsides. As Mother tosses dirt onto the coffin Aidan lies in, there is a sense that Aidan may think he deserves some form of punishment for not protecting Suren. At minimum, he will take some time down there to deal with his sadness. But eventually, he will come out, of course, and then Mother had better watch her back.

While Josh and Aidan have wonderful arcs in "It's My Party and I'll Die If I Want To," the best story is reserved for Sally. Wrestling with her own sanity, and facing some very dark deeds that she does while going crazy, Sally feels responsible for the fate of a number of ghosts. So she does the only thing that she can to save them: rips herself, essentially killing the last vestiges of her soul.

What will limbo be like? From the murmurs of spirits that reappear during the eclipse, it is not a pleasant place. Given what Sally has been doing, a number of the people that dwell there have great reason to be furious with her and want revenge. So Sally is willingly going into a place that is not only highly unpleasant, but also very dangerous for her. There is little doubt that she will succeed in her mission, but there is no telling what obstacles she will have to overcome to do so.

Having left the original show it is based on far behind by this point, anticipation as to where the writers take things next is high! Being Human has been renewed for a third season, and will return to SyFy in 2013.

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