After a relatively successful first season, the sophomore effort of Syfy’s ‘Being Human’ was back and the unlikely roommate trio of Josh, Aidan, and Sally deal with the ramifications of last season’s finale. “Turn This Mother Out” is a slow burn, taking time to develop the threads of season two’s theme while providing a cliff hanger of a final scene that will have everyone clamoring for next week’s episode.
Picking up a month after last season’s finale, Aidan has his hands full trying to take Bishop’s place as head of the Boston vampire clan. Not only is he trying to introduce them to his lifestyle of bagged blood he’s also trying to keep them calm from the rumors swirling around that Mother, the queen of vampires who is coming to town, will be culling the majority of the vampire flock. Though Aidan is a capable leader, the fact that he has his own issues dealing with his bloodlust as well as his concerns of Mother aren’t allowing him to be effective at his new station. Put that together with a contingent of vampires that have no idea what they are supposed to be doing exacerbates his troubles.
Where Aidan is struggling, things look peachy for Josh and Nora…at least on the surface. Despite her surprised bleeding the month before, her and the baby’s health are fine and she has been fully integrated into the life of the trio—sans her ability to see or hear Sally. But as the full moon approaches, her concern over potentially becoming part of the wonderful world of werewolves has her peppering Josh with questions. To Josh, Nora’s curiosity has more to do with her wanting to know him and, though part of that may be true, the bulk of her concern resides on the three scratches across her right forearm, scratches made by Josh during his transformation at the end of last season.
Sally, the final cog in the group, is still working on her newfound abilities of interacting with solid matter. When Nora finds Sally’s high school reunion invite, the group talks about the potential benefits to Sally attending before she relents and is on her way. There she meets Stevie, a former classmate who committed suicide as a junior. They bond over memories of high school and their current lives as ghost. It’s with Stevie that Sally first discovers that ghosts do in fact have the ability to sleep and dream. As Stevie says it’s a way to pass the time and considering she missed her door to the afterlife, time is definitely something Sally has a lot of. After sharing some moments with Stevie and helping a former classmate find her door, Sally does experiment with the dreaming aspects of her new condition. Things don’t go well as when she opens her door, a terrifying shade drowns out the light of her ascension and barrels into her before she’s able to awake. Whether this new entity is a portent on things to come or has already done its part in affecting Sally remains to be seen.
Though Sally’s new discoveries provide an interesting foreshadowing, the primary storyline for “Turn This Mother Out” revolves around Aidan, Josh and Nora. For the vampire, he awaits word on his status from Mother as the leader of the Boston clans. Though the Dutch Heggeman insists Aidan say as little as possible, he does speak in defense of an influx of vampires created by Bishop. He asks for the chance to help them find their way and though she looks impressed by Aidan’s strength to offer his opinion, her final judgment is to cull the population. Though not surprising in the least, her final decree, for her daughter to run Boston with Aidan as her second, is a surprise to the entire council. Questions arise at the daughter’s mental faculties and whether she is up for the challenge. Mother is not fazed by the doubts, leaving it up to Aidan to help her succeed. If he is successful, she will give Aidan his freedom from the ties of the vampire community, something he’s wanted but dared not hope to ask for. Of course, it comes with a price Aidan’s not even aware of; believing Aidan’s current situation is a distraction, Mother dispatches Heggeman to remove said distraction, which happens to be Josh, from the equation.
Speaking of distraction, the looming full moon has taken all of Nora’s attention. Her probing questions start grating on Josh’s nerves as his lycanthropic condition is the last thing he wants to talk about. Though he’s progressed from hating what he is to simply loathing (not too much of an uptick on the ‘accepting myself’ scale) he, like Aidan, has come to accept it. What Josh doesn’t want is for Nora to find that same acceptance of his monster alter ego. His primary ignorance lies in the fact that he has yet to realize that Nora, while understandably freaked, loves him. Not only that but judging by her interaction with the three roomies, she’s adapted quite well to the knowledge of the supernatural aspects of our world. Yes, her own fear of becoming furry during a full moon is a driving factor in her quest for knowledge but even if she were safe from changing, she is a person that loves all and wants to know everything about the one she loves, regardless of the circumstances.
Be that as it may, when Nora drops Josh off in the woods, hearing his screams as the transformation is upon him, her relief is stopped short when it becomes apparent that the scratches were enough to transmit the mutation to her as well. Her fear and panic carries through the air and Josh rushes back to her only to be shot by Heggeman. The image to carry us on is Josh fully transforming as Heggeman looks on, werewolf in his site and finger on the trigger. His finger slowly squeezes the trigger but all we see is the black screen followed by the crack of a gunshot.
‘Being Human’ is not an action packed show. Rather it is a clever blend of dramady, action and the supernatural mixed in with the overlying theme of the foundation of family. “Turn This Mother Out” is a testament to those elements and provides us with a well thought out precursor to a season where Josh, Aidan, Sally, and Nora will have to come to terms with their nature and what it will mean to those around them.
A Human Moment
One of the biggest scenes in the episode is also one of the more poignant in the ‘Being Human’ series. When Aidan learns that he’s to be Boston’s second to Mother’s daughter, he tells Josh he could become something very bad, something he doesn’t want to be but may have to become, if but for a little while. He tasks Josh with reminding him of the life they’ve created, the pseudo family they’ve formed; in effect, being Aidan’s beacon in a storm of blood, violence, and ruthlessness. Josh is unable to get the tenuous position Aidan has become trapped in and tells Aidan this whole being human thing was his idea. What’s the use if he knowingly drifts from that path? It begs the question, what are you willing to sacrifice in order to achieve your dream? For Aidan it’s freedom from the violence of his nature and the politics of his species but if he backslides, immersing himself back into that culture for a prolonged period of time, will he ever truly be able to be happy with that dream?
