Blu-ray Review: Being Human Season 3
by Marc Patterson
I should probably start this review with a disclaimer. I’m not an avid follower of Being Human. I’ve watched several episodes from the first and second season. Going into the season three Blu-ray I had enough knowledge of what was happening in the series to simply pick this up and run with it. That’s the beauty of most television series. If they aren’t at least somewhat accessible they don’t fully work. Well, with the exception of Lost. That show was practically inaccessible even if you watched it weekly.
For those of you uninitiated, Being Human is perhaps BBC’s answer to US based series like Supernatural. It’s a bit more adult in nature than something like (dare I even say it?) The Vampire Diaries, but in many regards runs the same gamut, being a made-for-TV series focused on drama, supernatural characters, all the while dipping its toes into the horror genre. It’s geared towards a more female demographic, but leaves enough macho elements to appeal towards a male audience as well.
In season three things pick up with our cast fleeing their home in Bristol and heading to the countryside of Wales, where they hope to start their life anew, leaving the violent bloody past behind them. Not so easy. Annie, the ghost character, has been banished to purgatory. She needs rescuing. The two werewolves Nina and George are expecting a child, which has its own set of complications. The vampire Mitchell – well, let’s put it this way – he massacred a train full of people in the prior season and is holding that secret to himself. So yeah, there’s that. Lots of issues to work through and deal with.
Matters are complicated further by the arrival of two new werewolves that aren’t taking kindly to George living with a vampire. There’s also the inclusion of a female zombie character (Seems you can’t have a proper television series without a zombie these days). Basically, season three boils down to a show full of dark drama that is more intense than the preceding two thanks to tighter writing by the show’s scribes. At eight episodes Being Human runs on the short side of what US audiences expect from a typical TV season, but personally I like that. It means you have no time for filler or waste. I’d always rather be left wanting more than wishing for it to end.
Extras: All the bonus material is found on the third disc, which should tell you that there are no commentary tracks set to any of the episodes. The extras start with a deleted scenes segment that runs a bit over ten minutes, most of which amounts to fluff. Nothing of true substance was cut from the show, making this fairly uninteresting to watch.
Then there are cast interviews, which while they may be of interest to fans that have devoutly followed the series, didn’t appeal to me. If the cast members had been a bit more in-depth and revealing to the process of shooting this season then perhaps my interest may have been peaked. But as it stands, just more fluff.
Finally, there is a tour of the house in Wales the cast now occupies. I always enjoy this sort of literal behind the scenes sort of material, so I found this the most interesting feature in the extras.
The Bottom Line: Diehard gore hounds that crave copious amounts of guts, gratuitous nudity, and unadulterated violence need not apply. However, those who enjoy a bit of “Horror Lite” from time to time should find this a worthy series to seek out. In my opinion it sits a cut above anything else residing in the same sub-genre, comparatively speaking. Obviously, it’s a must purchase for fans of the series.
