BEING HUMAN 5.6 ‘THE LAST BROADCAST’ REVIEW

And so the end is near and we face our final multicoloured retro blinds…

The Devil rises without the aid of Viagra and the trinity must overcome their differences to kill him and save the world. And what about Rook? Will he be good or bad? Will he get his department back? That can all be done in an hour right? Easy.

Well it is easier if you take some shortcuts. Alex escaping from her grave for instance. After ending last week on such a cliff edge it feels a bit of a cheat for her just to escape in the first minute, like there was a bit of script missing or they didn’t have time to elaborate further. It confirms just how this series has suffered from being six episodes long. Setting up the friendships of a new trinity while at the same time signing their death warrants. Good work Zai Bennett, good work. Anyway, let’s not quibble about channel controllers with no grasp of telly… Alex is free and she’s on a mission.

“DON’T GET ME WRONG, I’VE KILLED ENTIRE PHONE BOOKS OF PEOPLE”

Given Hal’s past (and future) I had always imagined that when he turned evil in the present it would be by commiting something far worse even than the Box Tunnel twenty. Perhaps that would be too obvious? Instead we get him tearing up a few locals in a pub and dancing around them singing show tunes. Like you do. It should have been to ‘The S Club 7’ but that’s being picky. It cues up a showdown long in the waiting – Kick Vampire ass Tom versus Lord Harry. LH may be a dickhead but he’s a funny dickhead. Declaring his intentions to his new and soon to be dead army and Tom angry, confused and hellbent on avenging Natasha’s death. More choreography this time, just less about the footwork and more about the stakes and fists. It’s funny, gory, dark and quite brilliant. Alex arrives just in time to stop him. I guess we can be spared the VERY FAST train journey it took her to get there. Even though BigBadHal is still being a prick, the trio unite because in his words “the apocalypse is bad news for everyone”.

“I WAS THE VILLAIN. AND YOU ALL BECAME MY TRIBUTE ACT”

The BBC3 budget clearly can’t cope with shooting an apocalypse so they’ve gone with the less is more style and it kind of works. What it lacks in mass hysteria is more than made up by one man. Phil Davis. Finally. WE have waited a long time for this. Suited and booted. No longer hiding in a corner and now a fully formed monster. His speech down the camera is delivered in a cold, almost methodical manner and it is mesmerizing, calling the human race out on all it’s faults and to be fair he had a lot of good points. The rhetoric recalls the black heart that has run through the show since it’s inception. Inception? Hmm. More of that later.

AU OR ARE YOU NOT WITH HIM ON THIS ONE?

BANG. What ‘The Last Broadcast’ does more than any other episode in the shows history is take you utterly by surprise. And this is the moment when the rug is pulled from under our feet. The captain takes the trio into separate “realities” and other points in their lives. For Hal and Alex it’s back to the brink of their deaths. For Tom it seems a whole new fabricated world where he is with Allison and she is three months pregnant with his baby. It’s obvious this could never be the real deal because Tom must’ve had sex! This is Michael Socha’s greatest moment as Tom. That wide eyed innocence meets with the heartbreaking realisation that what has been put before him is an illusion and the thought processes of whether he should accept it anyway. The Hal he loves is dead but the bond is still strong enough for him to resist despite a lovely new origami wolf placed on the mantelpiece. That’s commitment.

Alex is taken back to a static caravan in Wales, which yes agreed, doesn’t sound like an ideal alternative reality but the added incentive is her family. Her Dad is here and there ensues a conversation about ashtrays, brothers, her bitch of a mum and cancelling that date with a certain someone. It’s more emotional than it sounds. Kate Bracken once again gets the mood and tone spot on.

It’s arguable that Hal had the hardest decision of all. He is still human and minutes away from being recruited. Leo, or rather a hallucination of Leo plays symbolic mind games which are dispelled but did our vamp commit a(nother!) mistake when he tells the Devil “You know where you went wrong, you should have put us together?”. My feeling is that Hatch would have done so anyway as it was obvious they were all calling out to be with each other. So, for once we’ll let Harry off with this one. He still let the Devil loose in the first place though, the silly sod.

In an instant they’re back in the TV studio. From here on in things get confusing. Ok, more confusing. After a failed attempt at the ritual, the broadcast is cut short by a shot to Hatch’s head. The culprit is Rook – the grey suited sniper assassin that he is. Out of the mad mans mouth comes his last words, some mumbled French, presumably not “Papillon. Pamplemousse. Bibliothèque” but you never know. Oh.. forget to mention that before the shot was fired, the Devils spirit fled his body. Yeah. Quite important that. Fade out…

“THEY’RE GONE. WE’RE HUMAN”. OR NOT

Fade up. A warm, suspiciously dimly lit Honolulu Heights. A news report explains the mass deaths of South Wales, seemingly covered up by sniper Rook. All is well. Kind of. Hal is still Lord and about to leave Barry Island for good but Alex is insistent on staking the bastard. The name dropping of Being Human’s cast list in this scene was clunky at best and not needed given the final shot but we soon learn that The Devil’s taken over Rook and this time, once and for all the trinity perform the ritual. The Devils spirit is trapped and Hal stakes him. The Devil is dead. Long live the Devil!

On first watch, I admit to shouting at the TV the moment Alex started bleeding. When Hal was walking up to the mirror I was screaming “NO! NO! DON’T SEE YOURSELF” When his reflection appeared it’s safe to say there were a few expletives. The strange scene in the kitchen did not sit right either and when it came to THAT final shot I was literally watching through my hands and totally missed the origami werewolf. A happy ending resulted in an unhappy me.

So, are they really human? Or are they in a shared reality? Or a dream? Or heaven? They maybe even oblivion? Apparently Alton Towers is quite nice this time of year. For what it’s worth, they are not human to me. And never will be. If they are then I must have been watching a different show for the last five years. All the theories will be in another blog post or we’ll be here beyond our own realities. Whatever and wherever they may be.

Did Toby write a happy ending and put that twist in for us miserable gits. Did he write an unhappy ending that gave people hope? Did he write an open ending just in case?  Ultimately it was a finale that gave full justice to the shows history. It looked stunning and was played to near perfection by all involved. The conclusion was a complete cop out AND a total masterstroke at the same time.

Goodbye Being Human. Please DON’T rest in peace X

9/10

– How long had Hatch’s suit been waiting to be worn? Surprisingly free of creases for a man who had no care for hygiene.

– Alex took off her bra of doom and put on some of Tom’s cargo pants of doom.

– Rook got his department back but surely he had more punishment for Frith than making him walk?

– A good new insult for people “Stop it. You’re just symbolic!!”

– Is it an origami Werewolf or a dog with worms? It might change the perception slighty if it’s the latter.

And finally – In tribute to our wonderful trio of trios.