Being Human - S02E05

Seeing Mitchell (Aidan Turner) in 1969 was such a treat. It was so perfect, and fantastic. We were able to learn so much about what happened to him back then, what he was like and how he changed, how he was already different even then. And while the episode did focus mostly on Mitchell, I did like the small developments we got with George (Russell Tovey) and Annie (Lenora Crichlow).

So, Annie is still not visible. It's possible that that's not going to happen again, which is a little disappointing. I mean, it completely limits the possibilities of what the writers can do with her character if she can only interact with other supernatural beings. Then again, if ghosts start randomly dropping by her house all of the time, that could be quite entertaining. Seeing her deal with a ghost baby and go from incapable to really happy was very sweet, though the idea of a ghost baby is just depressing. Then again, we also learnt that ghosts have active social lives and go on dates with each other and such, so maybe Annie will have an alright time of it.

As for George, I totally agree with Mitchell. He's going to crash and burn and take Sam (Lucy Gaskell) with him because he's not being careful at all. He's still mad about Nina (Sinead Keenan) and the moment he sees her again, he'll be just as much of a mess as he was before. Besides, if he infected Nina, he can infect others, including the daughter! It'll be interesting to see how that sorts itself out.

But, really, it was all about Mitchell. I loved, LOVED the flashback segments. The moment I realized just who the girl was, I felt such joy. It was a perfect moment. Josie (Charlene McKenna) was the love of Mitchell's life until now. She allowed him to be himself, to not feel the urge to feed. The notion that Lucy (Lyndsey Marshall) is going to replace that is hilarious - she doesn't have the same kind of compassion for one man that Josie had. Lucy sees the entire race and their place in society. Frankly, Mitchell's had problems ever since it became about his people and not just about himself. Killing that cop is going to have some pretty awful consequences. What those are, I can't really say yet, but things are about to get worse, and they were already pretty bad.

So where does it go from here? Annie still can't be seen, George has become practically manic and blind to sense, Nina is still in the hands to those insane people, and Mitchell is holding back chaos with Scotch tape. What do you think will happen next?

Merlin - The Labyrinth of Gedref, S01E11

In a place where magic is despised, I suppose I can understand how a unicorn could be considered a beast to be hunted rather than revered, but I never disliked Arthur (Bradley James) so much as the moment where he so casually killed the beautiful beast without any appreciation for it. Though rather impressive...I suppose he used Merlin (Colin Morgan) as bate, though I thought the lure was always supposed to be female...ah well.

I loved that such a terrible curse followed the horrid act. I imagine that lesser men affect smaller areas, only drying up the water and wheat on their own lands, but Arthur is a Prince and his actions affect all his people. Probably a good thing he has yet to unite the entire country or all of England would have been in dire straights. Not that I was ever worried about it lasting, ever worried that Arthur would not be able to pass his tests when he finally put his mind to it.

The first test was easy enough. Arthur takes no pleasure in executions, particularly not when he understands the motivation behind the illegal actions taken. Starvation is a very powerful motivator, particularly when it is the starvation of one's children that is the issue. But the second test was far less fair. Certainly Arthur's pride was wounded, and that did cause him to attack, but he has been raised to believe that a slight against honour must be replied to with such a response, and the man in question not only mocked Arthur, but his father, and had robbed food from the starving people of Camelot. Perhaps his motivations weren't entirely selfless, but they were not entirely selfish either.

Finally, Arthur had a final test, meant either to redeem him and Camelot or forever curse them. The choice was whether he should allow Merlin to die to save himself, or save Merlin by his own death. Frankly, Arthur acted completely selfishly here. He could not live with himself if he allowed Merlin to give his life for Arthur's error, and so he chose to die even though that would leave the entire people of Camelot without an heir. Self-sacrifice is perfectly acceptable if you are only a knight, but when you are the crown prince, so many other responsibilities come first.

Still, it was decided that Arthur passed the test and that he was pure of heart. I suppose he just needs to continue getting lucky and only having brushes with death...but it certainly begins to prepare us for just how forgiving he will end up being with those he loves who will become his enemies - Lancelot, Guinevere, even Mordred... The only person whom Arthur knew whom he could decide against is himself.

I was pleased with the ending, where Arthur buried the unicorn horn, and that unicorn was reborn because he had proven himself, but, I ask you, do you believe that he properly passed his tests with a pure heart?