I had to really sit down and take a breath and decide exactly how I felt about this episode, even though I knew right away that I liked it.  I would say that as a season finale, I found it really satisfying, but it was definitely a major change of pace from the last several episodes.  There was still a lot of action, but it was different.  Everything had kind of a sad vibe.  And you know, I think that’s exactly what made it FEEL like a season finale–there was a sense of a lot of things ending with a lot of hints about what was coming.  I liked that.

Basically all of the action centered around Aidan and Bishop’s impending battle.  I did appreciate the quieter, scheming nature of the big twist of the fight, which was that while Sally was making plans with Josh for him to fight Bishop, she was actually scheming with Aidan to keep Josh out of it.  And you know, I understand her choice.  Not only did she prevent Josh from having to kill (although we know he’s done it before, he hates it), but it really was Aidan’s fight.  The important thing was that Josh WANTED to help.  That’s what really mattered.

And you know, all of this was especially effective with flashbacks of Josh and Aidan meeting each other peppered in.  We’ve seen all sorts of flashbacks this season, but we knew relatively little about how they met.  I always just assumed it was at the hospital.  And you know, the vampires have always been really heavy-handed with the dog insults, but this episode really did kind of subtly examine how Josh is very loyal to Aidan and how Aidan kind of really did take him in like you would a stray.  But not in an insulting way, in a sweet way.  And I think that in any life, Josh probably would’ve had that puppy quality, you know?

Alright.  Speaking of puppies.  Nora is finally in the loop and took it like a champ, given that Josh scratched her, she watched him turn through a window, her werebaby went all full moon on her, and now she is probably a werewolf.  Um.  That is a lot.  And she just sits there in a cute sweater, drinking a cup of tea.

Speaking of sweaters, Sally is making me really reconsider what I’m wearing every second of the day.  What if I have to wear it for ETERNITY?  Like, what I have on now?  If I die in it, I will die.

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Only one more episode to go until the finale!  This one wasn’t quite as much of an adrenaline rush as the last episode, but a lot went on and most importantly, it was HIGHLY quotable.

I don’t know if the quote I chose for the title was the most hilarious, but I liked it because me and That Bitch Amy basically began our long and dysfunctional descent into friendship with The Grudge.  Well, actually it was The Birds, but The Grudge was our first solo date.  And Billy and I had a confrontation with a row of 14-year-olds at The Grudge 2.  My point is, The Grudge has been … memorable … in my life.  Also, as a horror buff, it’s one of the only horror movies to actually give me nightmares.  I can’t explain it, the Japanese ones always freak me the fuck out.

What were we talking about?  Oh right, awesome lines from this episode.  Other favorites included:

• If we videotaped Sally and showed it to someone, they’d be dead within three days!  (Love a good The Ring reference, right?)
• It’ll be Grey Gardens for the supernatural set!
• You sound like you’re interning for Hannibal Lecter!
• So, it’s official, Nora’s gonna have a litter of werebabies!

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Uhhh … did I miss something?  Was this the season finale?

(Spoiler alert: it was not.  But it sure as shit felt like one, right?)

SO much happened in this episode and it was all amazing.  The three roommates’ stories were pretty separate this week but they all REALLY worked, so well, in fact, that I am torn on where to start.  So great.

I think that, actually, the easiest storyline to tackle is Josh’s (and that’s saying a lot).  After Josh not showing up at Nora’s for a barbecue (on account of being kidnapped by vampires and forced to be in a dogfight in his werewolf form), she informed him that she’s pregnant, thanks to the night of doggystyle.  He of course freaks out because, like Edward Cullen, he thought he couldn’t knock a bitch up, and, like Edward Cullen, he was wrong.  Dear Monsters Everywhere, Edward Cullen is a cautionary tale.  Sincerely, Twihards Everywhere.  So now Josh is going to have a little Renesmee of his own, and if it turns out anything like his dream, that shit is a NIGHTMARE.  But probably it won’t be that bad.

And Aidan … ohhhh, Aidan.  He was so sweet.  And happy for Josh.  I loved that, and it seemed so in character–Aidan loves kids, knows what it’s like to be a father, and is always trying to get Josh to mellow out a little and embrace his humanity.  It was a nice moment, even in the midst of Josh freaking out.

Josh and Nora seemed to leave it at, “It’s early, we don’t have to decide anything yet,” (which, there again, I wonder how many full moons we’ve had since doggystyle night).  I feel sort of weird about the way I feel about this, but … I sort of want them to have it!  Odd because I am usually firmly Team Throw That Baby In The Ocean.

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Can you guys believe that this was episode TEN of a thirteen episode season?  It’s really flown by.  This episode managed to tie several stories together with a lot of skill, and I continue to be impressed with the mythology build that the show is currently working on.  In a way, I think it’s made for a bit of a herky-jerky season, but I think that it’s ultimately working into a good show and I think there’s a lot of material being set up to lead into a really spectacular S2.

We finally got some backstory on Bishop, and it’s crazy how he and Aidan have not-exactly-but-for-all-intents-and-purposes swapped roles in the last 50 years.  Again, I think that flashbacks are used to great effect on this show–they actually tell us a lot about the characters and the different time periods are great (and make sense).  And again, I wish we had more time with this story.  I was completely involved in Bishop’s human/vamp relationship and I wanted to see more of it, and I wanted to see more Asshole Aidan.  I had enough time to get invested in that story but not quite enough time to make the leap to choosing to rule Boston over his true love and how he ended up killing her.

And you know, it’s weird, because on a lot of US shows, or regular network shows, whatever, I find myself thinking it might be better for them to have shorter seasons, to have to tighten up their storylines.  I think it’s interesting how on this show, I actually wish they had MORE episodes to be able to give some of these stories room to breathe and maneuver a bit.  I know Being Human got renewed for S2, I just don’t know what the episode order was.  My guess is 13 again, so I’ll be curious as to whether the pacing changes or not next season.

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Goddamn, y’all.

Guys, I couldn’t even process all this last night.  I really only got as far as “oh my god, I’m so depressed now!”  Aidan’s story was one of the heaviest, darkest things I’ve seen, not just on this show but maybe on TV.  And it HURT.

Everything that happened with Bernie was awful.  (Especially Billy’s Weekend at Bernie’s jokes.)  But from the very beginning with Aidan watching Bernie getting bullied and staying away because he just didn’t know what to do after The Vampire Porn Incident™, to Bernie getting hit by the car and ALL THAT BLOOD, to his mother’s crying, to Aidan having to kill him AGAIN?  It was all just so SAD.  And goddammit, why doesn’t someone just kill Rebecca already?  She is such a fucking disaster.  And everything she does is one bad idea after the next.  Every time she comes on the screen, I’m just like “for real?”  I can’t handle it–she’s always either wreaking havoc or about to wreak havoc and also, Aidan?  You are WAY too hot for her!  I mean, waaaay.  So pull your shit together, man!

I still maintain my Marcus love–not for the character himself (although he is delightfully evil), but for the continued story potential.  I think that in a story like this, there’s room for unabated evil.  Plus, I like this weird, reverse prodigal son story that’s playing out between Marcus, Aidan, and their strange little father figure, Bishop.  How despicable was it of Bishop and Marcus to stage a child vampire murdering some kids?  That shit is LOW.  And juicy.  I know I talk about Supernatural pretty much every time I write about this show, but I think that there were clearly some lessons learned here about having real stakes.  So far, we haven’t lost any main characters, but a willingness to kill of children, and especially one we already love, that’s pretty serious.

And Aidan, crying at the table?  That hurt too.  I know that tortured vampire is a cliche, you know?  But I think there’s a big difference between “I’m so angsty because I don’t want to bite people and I could hurt this weak girl!” and “I’m crying at my kitchen table because I just had to kill a kid that I really liked and I don’t know if I even want to go on living.”  Josh was sweet-ish in that scene, but he was also pretty hard on Aidan during the rest of the episode, so I felt like that was the least that he could do.

Alright, speaking of Josh.  Yeah, he just was sort of a bitch this week, and it wasn’t even his time of the month.  He was a bitch to Aidan, a bitch to Sally, and most of all, a total fucking bitch to Nora, who I love.  And I might love her even more after last night.  Guys … she’s a REALLY good actress.  Like when Josh was talking to her about the party and wanting to slow things down, all the emotion on her face?  It wasn’t like watching it on TV, it was like … watching it happen to your friend.  Or being able to see yourself in the mirror while it happened to you.  And her assessment of it was so dead on–he wanted to see her the same amount and care about her less, and that is BULLSHIT.  But I liked how it ended up, with both of them still holding back some information, but both of them in a more honest place.  And I think that maybe Josh is starting to understand that you can’t control the intensity.

And of course, there was Sally, who was chillin’ in the ghost ward of the hospital, reading messages, when she apparently recognized someone that she knew.  And you know, he was cute, in a very “when I went to college” way, which probably would’ve been around the right time frame.  (Also.  We find out here that Sally died at 23.  Anybody else feel like they should’ve made her a little older, like 26 or so, just for purposes of aging while the show is on?)  Anyway, he relived his death every day, which I thought was interesting, since it’s definitely a part of ghost mythology.  And I like the idea that the death experience is different for everyone.

Here’s the thing about the ghost plots, though.  I really want one to last longer than an episode.  I know that we’re in a 13 or so episode season right now, and there’s no guarantee of pickup, but I would like to see some of these characters developed a little more and some of these ideas developed a little more fully.  I assume that this show will be renewed, and when it is, I think this is a good goal for something to work on in S2.  I mean,  they’re creating good ancillary characters, which is so important, and it says a lot that we care about them after just an episode.  I just want MORE, and I don’t necessarily want Sally to learn a lesson per episode.  So if we don’t see cute college guy again this season, I hope they consider bringing him back next season to develop this some more.

I just feel like at this point, Josh has Nora, and to a lesser extent, his sister.  Aidan has Bishop, Marcus, and especially Rebecca to interact with.  Sally needs a more stable character to work with besides just the boys, because her story is feeling very confined right now.  But SHE’S good–nothing against the actress, I love her and think she does a great job with what she’s given and seems versatile.  I do think that a renewal and possibly a longer season would do a lot for this show, though.

What did you guys think?  I know I’m probably forgetting a ton of stuff since I’ve had a day between watching and writing, so point it all out in the comments!  Tell me your favorite lines, moments, any observations you might’ve had, theories, reactions … shiiiiit, you know the drill.  Let’s just talk it out!

Wow, you guys.  I loved this.  I thought the writing was good, the interactions were (mostly) light and fun, there was lots of Josh and Nora, and it was totally quotable, which you know I’m always down with.  Some runners up for post title:

• Just because I’m dead doesn’t mean I can’t have a life.
• Well … maybe she’s into bastards, I don’t know!  As long as she’s happy …
• Me no hide.
• “Wow, stalk much?”  ”No, not much.”
• You bloodsucking TURD.

Speaking of titles, did anyone notice how similar “Children Shouldn’t Play With Undead Things” was to the Supernatural episode title “Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things”?  Just an observation.  But while we’re on the subject of Supernatural, Aidan was a total Dean Winchester in this episode, right down to Lisa and her single parenting of a ten-year-old boy.  And since I am a Dean Girl and Cindy Sampson can do no wrong, I was down with this.  I mean, if I can’t get a happily ever after with Dean and Lisa, is this going to have to suffice as the vicarious experience?  Possibly, except for the fact that Aidan is a vampire and Rebecca is a crazy bitch, and also, Aidan can’t keep his porn hidden.  Really, dude?  I would think that after 257 years, you would’ve found a hiding spot or two.

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Hi boobs!  That was my favorite line from last week, when everyone was gathered around Rebecca’s snuff film.  But I’ve gotta be honest with you … my head was totally in the clouds last week while watching the show, and then all this week, and I don’t remember most of it very vividly.  I mean, I remember it in broad strokes–snuff film/torture porn, beat up sister, most adorable date in the history of ever.  I know a few of you (KIMBER!) were really excited to talk about last week’s episode, so thanks for being patient, go for it below, and I’m sure it’ll start to come back to me.

As for this episode, also totally awesome, and I’m excited that I’m starting to see story possibilities open up. I love Josh interacting with his family, because even though he didn’t stay, I do think that we could see them again, and maybe a lot.  And they were pretty weird.  But for me, Josh’s family was mostly comic relief, and what really caught my eye was the Aidan and Marcus fight.  Guys … I think there’s some serious material there and I hope they use it.  And, given Jeremy Carver’s Supernatural pedigree, I think he might–the brother thing is familiar territory.  But unlike the Winchesters … sort of … Aidan and Marcus seem like a study in brothers who hate each other vying for their father/Bishop’s approval, attention, and love.  I find Marcus infinitely more interesting than Rebecca.  Bishop too, although I do like that he at least puts Rebecca to use.

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Okay, so listen.  I have a long history of not watching doctor shows.  (I also am not really into cop or lawyer shows, but that’s a different, although related, subject.)  I don’t watch Grey’s Anatomy, I was never really an ER watcher, and all of the other minor ones pretty much blur together into one giant ball of “I’ve never seen that.”  The only exception here is Scrubs, which I loved but probably never would’ve gotten into if I hadn’t met Billy and trusted his judgment on what was funny.

And you know, I did love Scrubs mostly for the comedy, but also because when it had the serious life and death moments, they were really, REALLY good–very thoughtful and emotional and touching.  And I find myself liking the hospital setting on this show for the same reasons.  I think it helps for me that ALL of this show doesn’t happen at the hospital, but what does is interesting, and relevant to the overall story (if not to what’s immediately happening), and it provides an interesting contrast to the characters’ lives.  In this episode in particular, I thought the beginning was REALLY well done.  Unlike on a show like Scrubs, where death is happening in contrast to life, the death on Being Human was being shown as a PART of life, a very human thing that was in harsh contrast to Aidan’s vampire life.  He might die for good, but he’s not going to have a slow, natural death.

And also, maybe the older you get and the more people you know who die, the more it gets to you, but that whole opening scene with him fluffing the pillow and positioning the morphine button KILLED me.  I got a little teary.  I think about people who do that kind of stuff for real, and it’s so important and I can’t even imagine.  I just think that being like a hospice worker or the like shows a real respect for human life, and so I think it was especially touching in the context of the show to watch Aidan doing that.

The whole thing with the guy coming back, and the priest, and Bishop trying to infiltrate the hospital … it’s not really working for me.  I just need for something to actually HAPPEN.  I get the feeling that the show is having a hard time coming up with a compelling story for Aidan himself, but he is EXCELLENT at interacting with other characters so it keeps me content with him in the meantime.  I’d just like to see a more challenging story for two people as talented as Sam Witwer and Mark Pellegrino, because I know that when the material is there, they’ll destroy it.

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Every new episode of this show is my new favorite.  Is anyone seriously still not watching this?  Because if so, OH MY GOD, WHY NOT?

Besides being awesome story-wise, this episode was also hilarious and highly quotable.  Other contenders for title line included (but are not necessarily limited to):

• Why are you dressed like a douche?
• I think the wolf eats its own poo.
• I know that look!  Someone got some stink last night!  [Editor's note: GROSS.  So you know I laughed.]
• I’m willing to bed that after a drink or … fffffour, we end up in sex.  In bed!  Sexing in bed!  Or whatever.

I mean, let’s just briefly discuss … Josh is like every awkward Sam Winchester moment that I have ever loved, wrapped up into one cute werewolf, and multiplied by several moments per episode.  He is SO WEIRD, and I love him.  He cracks me up, and is the perfect antidote to the broody vampire thing that, let’s face it, is becoming … familiar.  (I refuse to say “boring”, as I’m not bored with it yet, but I am interested in seeing new, different angles, and I think we did tonight.  But we’ll get there.)

Alright, before we get into the plots themselves, did anyone get a certain True Blood vibe at points during this episode?  I think particularly Ray was doing that for me, with his weirdness, and countryness, and general southern slow talk.  And there was a lot of bloody, gross sex, too.  I think the combination of it all just sort of took me there, which leads me to … does anyone else think that Boston is kind of a weird location for the setting?  I mean, I get that they wanted a city that people would walk in, and granted, I don’t know anything about how much is around Boston in the way of woods, but it seems like … BOSTON, ya know?  There’s a lot of baggage in setting a show there.  I mean, NO ONE on this show has anything resembling a Boston accent, we’ve seen no Boston scenery porn (which, fine with me), or any of the usual Boston tropes that seem very near and dear to pretty much all Bostonians (and I do, of course, mean the Red Sox and all that that entails).  It just seems like, why go for somewhere so loaded?  Why not a fake city, or somewhere less … BOSTON?  I mean, my initial thought was DC–you can bring in the south and colorful southern characters, there’s a lot of nature relatively close, but then it kind of suffers from the same shit.  Probably a college town would’ve worked, or a small southern, east coast city (that still has some seasons), like Richmond or whatever.  Anyway.  Just thoughts.  Let’s get crackin’ here.

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Oh, you guys.  I am so sick and kind of barely coherent, so I hope this makes sense, but I’m not promising anything.  But I did inform you all via Twitter that this show is my new boyfriend and you WILL like it, goddammit, and either way, WE ARE TALKING ABOUT IT!  But seriously, I really hope you guys like it because I’m in loooove … man, this metaphor is probably more accurate than I’d like to admit.

Anyway, this week the big focus was Sally, and I loved it again.  I feel like she’s the holdout for a lot of people with this show, but for me, she adds the very necessary human component that all supernatural stories need.  And as you guys know, I watch a shitload of supernatural shows.  And it’s funny, because I can totally see how that colors my expectations of what will happen, especially with Sally.  I keep thinking something horrible is going to happen or be revealed, and every time it doesn’t, I’m a little more in love with the show because … I don’t know, I just get so SAD.

Have you guys ever had anyone close to you die?  I feel like a couple years ago I went through a major like avalanche of death where three people in my life died very close together, and it was all under very different circumstances.  I don’t know if I’m normal in my responses or if anyone really is, like, if there IS a normal, but I spent a LOT of time around that time thinking about death, and what happens to us afterward, what my funeral would be like and if I should plan it or not, and whether you can actually communicate with dead people … oh, and I read a book where a scientist tried to tackle the afterlife.  And a book that my grandpa gave me before he died … let’s just say it was a very thoughtful time.  Maybe that makes me sound weird, but … I don’t know, it did feel kind of human.  Anyway, I think that’s why Sally is so fascinating for me.  I mean, as far as we know, none of us are going to become werewolves and none of us are going to become vampires, but eventually, we WILL all be dead.  Whether it is or isn’t, I think it’s normal to imagine that, and even just picturing it makes me feel a lot of the same ways that I feel when I watch Sally.  And because death is one of those topics that probably we don’t think about on a real regular basis, there’s sort of like … this untapped part of our psyche that’s getting poked around by the show, and I just am really into it.

Everything with her and Dave breaks my heart, and again, I think it’s because I can SO picture it.  Their lives seem fairly similar to mine and Billy’s, and if I died, I’d totally want to visit him and hang out while he slept and try to touch his hand and yell stuff at him until he noticed.  (It’s possible I do all that stuff NOW, for the record.)  I can totally understand why someone who died at the stage of life that Sally is in … and that I’m in … why they wouldn’t want to leave.  And it makes me sad.

And you know, that was one of the things that I thought was a really … hmmm, insightful, maybe? … response from Ghost Tony, where Sally was like, “You never, in your entire life, loved somebody?” and he was all, “I didn’t have an entire life.”  It’s so true, and so sad … some people don’t get a full life.  It sucks.  Also, could I say “so sad” a few more times?  (You know what else is funny?  This is where this post goes, AFTER I keep telling people this show is lighter than Supernatural … AND IT IS.)

Okay, speaking of Tony, I really loved him.  He was absolutely Being Human’s Ash, and I kind of wish he could’ve stuck around longer.  I liked him dropping ghost knowledge on us and he was fun comedic relief, and I thought that it was a little TOO easy for him to just get his door after knowing Sally for like two days, but I can see how he didn’t really fit with the overall tone of the show and did serve his purpose, so at least there’s that.  Although I do think that since Tony was wearing clothes fit to make Dr. Badass himself drool and probably had  been since his death in 1987, we should probably go ahead and abandon all hope of Sally ever changing clothes.  Sorry, buddies!

I did like how Sally was pissed at Bridget when she came over, but it turned out that she was just there because both Dave and Bridget were missing Sally.  It was sweet.  (Although I wish that the promo monkeys hadn’t wrecked that one for me, but if they hadn’t, they wouldn’t be promo monkeys, I suppose.)

Alright, to wrap up with Sally (and to segue into the boys’ stories), I love the growing relationships between the roommates.  I like Sally and Aidan, and the vampire quizfest was informative, but mostly I just love the ways he’s really considerate of her without saying much.  But really, I LOOOOOVE Sally and Josh.  I think they have a great sibling relationship that, again, obviously someone who wrote for Supernatural would be familiar with.  He obviously cares about her (and doesn’t want her to live somewhere else), but she also gets on his damn nerves, which anyone who has a sibling is familiar with.  And this rings really true also, as Josh was obviously close with his sister, so clearly that type of relationship is familiar territory for his character, and y’all … I LOOOVE character consistency.  It’s totally magical to me and makes characters become real, which just seems so … impossible, you know?  I don’t even understand how people do it.

And Josh and Aidan are hilarious.  I love the bromance, and the voicemail Josh left Aidan was hysterical.  Sarcasm is always a win for me.  It’s funny to me that Aidan, who is, in a lot of ways, the least “human” of the bunch, is always pushing Josh to do normal human stuff, like have people over and do neighborhood watch.  And I do hope the guy he was out patrolling with ends up being his friend–I liked that dude, especially when he was like, “Hey!  Who am I?” and did the choking motion.  Hee!  I loved it.  Josh just feels too many feelings to be a loner forever, you know?  (Also, lone wolf joke and also, excellent guard dog joke.  Too sick/lazy to fully actuate.)

Aidan’s big story was getting recognized by a cop, whose father was killed by Aidan years ago.  Ugh … there’s the conscience thing biting you in the ass if I ever saw it.  And I’ve seen it … remember, I am now a Buffy/Angel watcher.  Of course I love Bishop … Mark Pellegrino is amazing.  I don’t care if I’m a broken record, I’ll say it as many times as necessary, week after week, because it just keeps on being true.  He’s creepy, menacing, but also oddly calm and … comforting?  He really was the perfect Lucifer on SPN, and he’s great on this show too.  He has what Cesar Milan would call “calm assertive energy,” except he uses it for eeeeeevil, and I like that.  Plus, I like his little lapdog Marcus, and whatever is up with him and Aidan.  I feel like that’s a dynamic that’s ripe for the picking.  But the thing that this story got me the MOST curious about?  Who the fuck is Celine?  Man, I am so excited to find out.

Alright, my sick ass needs to be in bed, but you know what would really make me feel better?  If you guys would chat about this show with me.  It is my new love.  Are you guys liking it as much as I am?  Favorite moments?  Quotes?  Storylines?  Anything I forgot?  Thoughts on the death element of the show?  Et cetera, et cetera, so on and so forth?  Comments!  You’ll make me the happiest girl alive!