TV REVIEW Murder on the dancefloor
THE ONE WHERE Annie takes a trip to the future, Hal falls off the wagon, and Tom becomes the unwitting pawn in a Barry disco massacre.
VERDICT Utterly compelling – if we could award six stars, we would. All the threads that have been running through the series are ingeniously braided together, in an episode that once again underlines Being Human 's remarkable versatility. The previous episode was laugh-a-minute; this one is a complete tonal reverse, often downright chilling.
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It’s a episode crammed with shocking revelations, such as Eve’s destiny, and the future paths of Tom, Annie and Hal. But the real kicker is the death of Alex. It’s not difficult to guess what happened to Cutler’s wife, back in the ‘50s, but having Hal’s love interest befall the same fate is a stroke of genius. The parallels between then and now have a pleasing symmetry, and the irony is so dark that it practically leaves you with the taste of black bile in your mouth.
Damien Molony deserves to be singled out for special praise: he’s proved to be an extraordinary talent, with incredible range. When interviewed by SFX last year he spoke about how he’d prepared for the role by doing research into alcoholics and drug addicts. He channels that preparation into his performance extremely effectively here. When Hal succumbs to temptation, it’s as difficult to watch as it would be to see a friend who's a reformed addict plunging a syringe into their arm.
Eve and Annie's mother/daughter exchanges are heartbreakingly sad, because they are, by necessity, so brief. Even Cutler’s plan to expose the werewolves – the least convincing element of this year’s story arc – finally pays off. It still seems like a pretty daft scheme, but seeing the wide-eyed Tom’s naive trust so horribly abused is a real gut-punch.
Any weaknesses? Well, the revelation that Eve is the nemesis seems like a bit of a cheat (although in the swizz stakes it's not on the same scale as discovering that the “Wolf-shaped bullet” was just some guff made up by Lia). And it’s a slight shame that we can’t see any of the panicking crowds of the vampire-devastated future, and have to make do with a monologue from Eve instead; still, that’s BBC Three budgets for you, can’t be helped. Otherwise, “Making History’ is simply immaculate.
FEATURED MUSIC The soundtrack to Hal’s confrontation with Cutler is “Who Needs The Sunshine” by The Heavy . Annie sings “Que Sera Sera”. The pumping dance track in the nightclub is “Black Powder” by Motor (playable video below).
REFERENCES Annie and future-Eve walk under a gateway with the legend “Through me you pass into eternal pain” spelled out in wrought iron – a quote from Dante’s Inferno. Cutler name-checks Gorillas In The Mist . Alex gets Ghostbusters mixed up with Rentaghost .
NITPICKS Given the importance of Cutler’s scheme, wouldn’t it be a good idea to leave someone guarding Hal, just in case? Or at least, y’know, tie him up? That door doesn't look that sturdy.
LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION The nightclub is the Icehouse room at Oceana, Cardiff .
SPECULATION Episode six took great pains to remind us that when Annie finally works out what she needs to do to pass over, it might not be a good thing. Killing a baby would surely count… So is Annie moving on? If so, we’re going to need another ghost to complete the traditional line-up. Could the plan be that if a fifth series is commissioned, Kate Bracken will become a regular? Kinda hope so. Sad as it would be to bid Annie farewell, the Hal/Alex relationship has huge potential.
BEST LINE Alex to Hal: “Luckily for you, I’m yet to have sex under the coalition government.”
Ian Berriman twitter.com/ianberriman
Read more of our Being Human series four reviews .
Read our interview with Damien Molony and our interview with Toby Whithouse about “Hold The Front Page” .
