Being Human (USA) season 3 episode 9 review: Of Mice And Wolfmen
Being Human (USA) is still knocking it out of the supernatural park. Here's Kaci's review of the latest episode...
This review contains spoilers.
3.9 Of Mice and Wolfmen
Considering how bad the situation was at the end of the last episode, this week’s Being Human is oddly…well, cheerful. Barring the final scene, I don’t think there’s ever been a more optimistic episode of this series. I smiled through most of it, which is not at all my usual reaction to the shenanigans these characters find themselves in.
First, we have Aidan, who takes us on another trip to the Bad Accents and Wigs Department. I feel like there’s some kind of unspoken rule in American vampire television that all vampire fiction must include bad wigs and accents. Don’t believe me? Look at Eric and Bill on True Blood (mostly Bill) or Spike and Angel on Buffy (mostly Angel). Strangely, female vampires seem to be immune from this phenomenon, but I digress.
So we were right last week in the comments when we decided that we remembered Aidan mentioning he had a son. His whole human family is back this week, actually — wife Suzanna and son Isaac. Through his flashbacks, we learn that his wife figured out what he was and agreed to be his food source, though she turned down his offer to turn her, saying that she couldn’t do that to their son. She also refused to let Isaac see Aidan, saying that she would need time to get Isaac to understand that vampires are “part of God’s plan.” Then she made Aidan promise to fall in love again after she died, since the only reason she could see for immortality was to find love.
Back in the real world, Aidan’s situation is more dire. He’s been spending his days in bed, suffering, but he finally decides that if he only has a day or two left to live, then he wants to spend them being normal, and so he decides to go to work with the help of some of Sally’s magical make up for the risen dead.
At the hospital, Kenny begs Aidan to turn him before he dies, but Aidan says no, since now isn’t exactly a great time to be a vampire, what with their main food source cut off. Nora shows up to the hospital shortly after and acknowledges what Aidan did for her before telling him to go home and spend time with his friends. I’m not going to lie to you, I have missed this Nora. She’s my favourite character, but watching her be so obstinate in her hatred of Aidan this season has very nearly changed that. Seeing her get over it and be his friend again was really awesome, although at the very least she owes him a basket of blood and cookies or something at this point, after all he’s been through for her. It’s only polite.
Back at home, Aidan spots Blake outside his window and chases her down before she reveals that she and Kenny are renegotiating their deal for her to sire him. Aidan tries to fight her, but he’s too weak to do much of anything. All is not lost, however, because Nora comes home from the hospital with a peace offering: Kat! I mean, it’s no basket of blood and cookies, but I suppose it’s the thought that counts.
Aidan and Kat do more of their awkward, adorable flirting, before he ends up passing out with the “flu,” which eventually turns into a seizure. And then somehow, things take a turn for the awesome, and Aidan fights off the infection. He eventually realizes this is because he drank Josh and Erin’s blood, which acted as an “immunization,” against the infection, and I am 99% sure that makes absolutely no medical sense, but I don’t care because Aidan’s back, baby!
After stopping by Kenny’s bubble to promise to turn him as long as Kenny never talks to Blake again, he calls her up for a meeting to discuss his terms for handing over the secret to beating the infection. And look, I don’t want to tell you that Aidan struts in and out of that meeting like the badass vampire we all know and love, because it seems overly cliched to say that right after he’s magically healed from a supposedly incurable illness, but…well, he struts. And after forcing Blake to agree to not go anywhere near Kenny again, and to not touch Josh and Nora, he tells her that werewolf blood is the secret to beating the infection. And if him telling her that results in twenty vampires ganging up on a werewolf who was hellbent on killing Blake, then…well. No skin off Aidan’s nose. He’s got places to strut and sunglasses to dramatically don. (And Kats to passionately kiss.)
Meanwhile, Josh is trying to deal with being re-sired. Enter an old hippy werewolf Nora met in the forest.Unlike Ray, this old werewolf is actually kind of awesome. Pete is the kind of werewolf who is a vegetarian and likes to get high before his turns and who will bring over chilli and homemade wine. I kind of want to be a werewolf now just so that this guy could be my mentor. (I am praying that he’s not a plant from Liam. Please just be a nice guy, Pete. Please, for me?)
Pete is also the kind of guy who meditates to “meet” his wolf (whom he has named Gordon; I’m convinced he is a plant because otherwise Pete is a flawless human being so there has to be something wrong with him, right?). And Pete is only too happy to teach Josh and Nora how to meditate, too, which leads to Josh learning that his wolf is scared of him. But he keeps at it and eventually sees his wolf for the first time — and declares it “beautiful.” Is this the first step towards Josh finally accepting himself and being happy as a werewolf? Because I kind of teared up a little and then promptly judged myself for it.
And over in Zombieland (er…no affiliation!), Sally is deteriorating again (that special effect where she pokes a hole in her cheek while brushing her teeth is a thing of beauty). Luckily for her, there’s a fresh mouse in the trap and it works wonders for the decomposing.
Unfortunately, Nick apparently lacks the self-control that Sally has because he’s gone from eating cats to staring hungrily at Zoe and biting her hard enough to break the skin. When Sally tries to talk to him about it, though, he’s all, “Hey, do you expect all humans to be vegetarians? So what if my meat’s a little fresher than theirs?” and then he tells her that he’s not giving up his second chance at life and the fact that alarm bells don’t start going off in Sally’s head right then and there is exactly why she and I could never be friends. Because she is the kind of girl who, in the horror movie that is her life, would open the damn door, no matter how much the audience yelled at her not to.
On the other hand, when she realizes that she’s starting to crave bigger animals, she stops herself and comes clean to Aidan about the mouse before vowing to go cold-turkey and accept her fate. It’s commendable, especially considering that the decomposition is going to be a long, slow, horrible process. And the whole…witch getting her sole for unknown purposes when she dies. That’s a factor, too.
And honestly, if the episode had ended right there, I’d have called it the most cheerful episode of this show ever — Aidan’s alive and on his way to love, Nora made up with Aidan and brought him a peace offering, Josh is smiling and calling his wolf beautiful, and there’s even a sort of optimism to Sally’s acceptance of her fate. And then Zoe comes home and finds Nick having a little snack — before deciding that he’s still hungry and lunging for her.
This can not end well. RIP either Nick or Zoe — I love you both and I sincerely doubt that both of you are making it out of that cliffhanger alive.
I have to confess to you guys that the Aidan and Nora storyline was slowly wearing down my joy for this season, so having it finally resolved and everything back on track is like a weight off my shoulders. The writers are on fire and other than that one little misstep, they have thrown non-stop awesome at us all season. When all is said and done, this is probably going to be my favourite season of this show, and I cannot wait for next Monday.
Read Kaci’s review of the previous episode, Your Body is a Condemned Wonderland, here.
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