Being Human: There Goes the Neighborhood (S1E1&2)

So I finally got around to watching this.  The US version, not the UK one (I do kinda want to get around to watching that one too, but since the US one just started, it's easier to catch up).  It is actually pretty good... if you like vampires, werewolves, and ghosts.  Haha.  I think basically the idea was to throw them all into the same (modern) world and see what they'd be like if they were friends.  If you hate blood, don't watch this.  There's a fair amount.  If you hate vampires, can't help you out.  They really are pretty vamp-y, even down to the chiseled cheekbones.  No aversion to sunlight though.  If you hate werewolves, so far it hasn't been a really big part, just that it's ruining the guy's life for one night out of every month.  If you hate ghosts, well, she's not the creepy type.  She's just kinda there.

Did I get all the weird things out there?  Well, anyway.

The promotional poster Syfy had for Being Human.
Top left: Aidan the vampire. Top right: Josh the werewolf. Bottom right: Sally the ghost.

This is a two-parter, aptly named "There Goes the Neighborhood Part 1" and "There Goes the Neighborhood Part 2."  This post will apply to both of them.  A few spoilers.  You were warned.


The first episode starts out with the vampire Aidan narrating, kinda explaining obliquely about his life to his date, Rebecca.  You see the werewolf Josh running out into the woods naked and then his transformation sequence (which seems pretty painful).  Rebecca invites him up and Aidan ends up slashing her throat open and calling for help for the cleanup.  He looks pretty torn up about it and he watches as they take her away (in a cardboard box!).  You see the next scene is Josh waking up naked next to a bloody deer (he probably ate it, shudder) and stealing a flowery dress off a clothesline.  He meets up with Aidan who gives him his clothes back and his necklace with the Star of David.

Aidan and Josh outside the hospital on their lunch break.

Fast forward and they're in the hospital.  Aidan works as a nurse and Josh as an orderly.  Apparently Aidan's been trying to convince Josh to live with him so that they can be themselves ("monsters") in their own space without having to worry about everyone around them.  Josh is hesitant, but finally agrees.  As he tells Aidan, he used to believe that the curse was only once a month, but the curse really was the rest of the time.  He says maybe if they live together, they'll get some sort of normal.

They end up finding a place.  It's a little run-down, a little gloomy, but they think its perfect.  Josh is super excited at first (even with Aidan trying to play it cool to get a better deal) but gets a little weirded out when Danny, the guy who's trying to sell it to them, tells them that his fiancee died there.  They end up taking the place anyway, and things seem to be looking up.  Aidan even finds a place where Josh can transform without fear of hurting people (although he thinks it looks a little bit like a prison cell).

Sally, as she watches Danny from the stairs.

Unexpectedly, they find they have a third roommate: a ghost named Sally, the same fiancee of Danny's who can't leave, even if Josh tells her to (which he does, constantly).  She's excited, though, because these are the first tenants that can actually see her.  She doesn't even mind that they're monsters.  She's still in love with Danny, and has tried to leave constantly for around 6 months since she died.  You find out later that she feels too scared to do it, fearing that she'll disappear forever.  Also Danny tells how she dies (to the guys) since she doesn't remember.  She has some power over the house, as she can cause the electricity to short and pipes to burst when she's feeling particularly emotional.

The Bad Guy, Bishop.

Throughout the episode, you see there's a man named Bishop who seems to be pulling a lot of the strings in the vampire world.  Apparently he's the one who turned Aidan back in the Civil War era, and now he's a bit put out that Aidan's not drinking from humans anymore (he's on what they call a "blood bank diet").  He has a lot of pull in society, even working as a cop, which helps when they're trying to cover up any killings.  He has persuasive powers, able to convince his partner to leave.  It's unclear as to whether or not Aidan has them.  Bishop also turns Rebecca, even though he had only agreed to a cleanup, and she comes back as a nasty bitch who doesn't have Aidan's scruples about killing people.

For Josh, he finds his sister, Emily, in the hospital visiting her girlfriend.  You find out from her that Josh ran away from home and that he was her best friend.  She says he was "perfect" and assumes it was the pressure from their parents that caused him to break and run.  He even left a fiancee, Julie (we haven't seen her... yet).  He hasn't told her about his being a werewolf, and asks her not to tell anyone at home that she's seen him.  After she follows him into his safe place during the full moon and gets locked in with him, Josh freaks out and calls Aidan and Sally because he's afraid he'll kill her.  That's where the first episode ends.  I won't tell you what happens, so go watch it yourself.  

The final moments, sitting outside their place.

My thoughts

I like all the quirky humor in this.  There's good on-screen chemistry between all the leads.  Sam Witwer (who plays Aidan) has a kinda Penn Badgley-esque vibe going, especially with the voice and the lip pout.  He also has kinda scarily defined cheekbones, reminiscent a little of the Twilight movie vamps.  As for Sam Huntington (who plays Josh), I kind of flash back to "Fanboys" a lot, especially when he says anything particularly geeky (which happens quite a bit).  Meaghan Rath (who plays Sally) grows a bit on you.  I thought she was a little annoying at first, but her personality works well with the others.

I'd recommend this to anyone who likes, even generally, the supernatural genre.  It's fun and engaging without being too out there.  They're all reluctant monsters, just trying to be human.