Warning! Spoilers for the first episode here.
Wow. After months of waiting for the fourth season of BBC's Being Human to start, the premiere finally happened last night. How would the show survive Mitchell's departure? Would we see the birth of George and Nina's baby? And which actors would come into the show to replace Mitchell?
I had heard rumors of other people leaving, too. But I stayed away from those spoilers and was greatly surprised from the very first few minutes of the season opener.
SPOILERS after the break…
The first thing we come to understand is that Nina was murdered by the vampires. I paused the playback to see if I missed an episode or webisode--but no--Nina was killed off camera! A strange choice but I understand that Sinead Keenan decided to leave the show and not return even for a cameo.
George is left alone to care for the baby, which he can't bring himself to name. Poor kid, to make matters worse the crib is covered in crosses to guard against a vampire abduction. George was always a crazy comic relief character for me in this show. Without Mitchell and with the tragedy of Nina's death, George isn't so fun to watch in this episode. Lots of crying and screaming. Annie's trying to keep him together but not having much luck as cups of tea are not enough!
The vampiric Old Ones are on the way over from South America and they want to dance the tango on humankind. In the beginning of the episode we saw a cheesy future ripped off from "Days of Future Past" in the X-Men where the monsters are in control of the world. They want George's kid as a present. Despite the fact that Annie says she killed vamps before, one comes in and snaps up the kid pretty easily!
While I said I stayed away from spoilers, I did hear rumblings about Russell Tovey leaving the show. I assumed that would happen at the end of the year, but no way, it happens in the very first episode this season! He went out heroically but the writers wrung every tear-jerking moment possible in the end, as George named the baby Eve.
The writers did an incredibly gutsy move, getting rid of two of the big stars of the show, leaving only Annie as the original cast member around. Perhaps they were forced into a corner by both of the actors wanting to leave. I am honestly not sure how this will all shake out. Misfits got a bit dull in the third season after Robert Sheehan left. (I only just realized Michael Socha is the brother of Lauren Socha from Misfits.) It will be up to the next episode to see how Hal (Damien Molony) plugs into the cast and their house. Nuff Said!
You say 'gusty,' but I say stupid! If the actors wanted more money, within reason, the producers should've given it to them. And shame on the actress playing Nina for not even appearing at all in the episode. Assuming it was a choice and not some other pressing reason (like a sick relative or the like) then I've lost all respect for her. Sorry George, I don't want the other characters. I want what made the show special in the first place--a character based drama with lots of cheeky humor centered around Mitchell, George, and Annie. Nina I accepted begrudgingly. Tom I never could stand. No offense to the new actors and actresses coming in. I wish them luck. I just wish they could have their luck on another show instead of messing around with this one.
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