Being Human S05E01: The Trinity

Beware here be spoilers

So, the first episode of the revamped Being Human, without any of the original cast aired this week, and you know what? It’s so good that it might make you maybe forget Annie, George and Mitchell. Ok, maybe not that good but the new gang are every bit as brilliant as the old one. After last year’s soft reboot introduced us to the new trio of Hal (Damien Molony), Tom (Michael Socha) and Alex (Kate Bracken), it’s really only this year that we’ll get to delve deeper into their characters.

For those who complained that Being Human, a show that started out as a fairly small scale show with supernatural elements, went a bit too epic with the whole War Child arc last series… well, it doesn’t look like the show is going to return to those roots any time soon, considering we’ve got the actual Devil in play now. The flashback scenes showing us the vampires and werewolves trapping the devil inside a mortal man were so far removed from Mitchell and George arguing over missing The Real Hustle, but still felt very much in the vein of the show that I’m willing to give it a chance. And besides, we still have all the humour and twists on the mundane aspects of British life that we’ve come to know and love; for instance, the devil is trapped in a seaside B&B. Where else would you get that but in Being Human?

The only real criticism of this episode would be that being a first episode a lot of it is just setting up for the rest of the series to come. But what seeds they’ve sown; once again, the sharply dressed man in charge of keeping all the beasties in check is an enigma, arguing with the Cabinet Minister one day and stabbing a witness in the eye with a pen the next. The newly sired vampire promising a grim future to those who’ve wronged him. And of course, the devil himself, playing his tricks and getting up to all kinds of mischief, all while never leaving his seat at the breakfast table.

Add to that, the effortless chemistry of the three leads (Tom’s moment with Alex ranks up there in the series’ top moments already), the also effortless comedy which is at times blacker than black (take Alex’s ‘unfinished business’ bit for further proof) and at others just hilarious (Hal begging to be released so he can clean the house), as well as a solid set up for the slightly shortened series this time (six episodes instead of 8), what you’ve got is the perfect season premiere.

4 out of 5 nerds