So, Erin’s dead, Josh is turning back into a werewolf, Aidan has the virus and Sally is rotting. Oh and Nora is annoying. A lot happened last week.
We start with a flashback of Aidan going off to war and saying goodbye to his family, sideburns, accents and all before he wakes up to painful reality. Y’know he has enough reasons to angst, we don’t have to raise the spectre of his dead family to add more. Everyone’s all depressed and even Sally’s awesome bringing of breakfast doesn’t really life the mood. To escape the fun, Aidan decides he’s going to work (yay avoidance) because if he only has 2 days to live, he’s going to spend it being normal.
I wish to make it clear now, if I only have 2 days to live there is no way “normal” is going to happen if there’s an unopened bottle of booze within 20 miles of me.
Josh points out the flaw in this plan, no-one wants a nurse with lesions on their face.
Meanwhile Nora has spent her night in the woods during the full moon (hey who needs storage lockers, we just hope no campers run across her and get eaten). Dresses, heads out and runs into a naked man. He’s Pete and he’s real happy – and a vegetarian though his wolf spent all night howling at the meat Nora hung as well; yup, he’s a werewolf.
At the house Sally uses her corpse make up to cover Aidan’s lesions as best as she can (the kit is meant to make dead people look alive so is missing his skin tone “pasty white”) , it’s a touching moment though Aidan is sure he can smell something
Paranoid about the rotting thing, Sally runs to the bathrooms and vigorously brushes her teeth – and pokes the tooth brush through her cheek. Aie, ow, aaargh I didn’t need to see that!
Back to the woods it seems Pete is in the area to make friends – but not a pack, wolves think clearer without a pack, he points out wolves are only in packs when bonded by blood or love (thank you, a rather rosy, but more realistic look at actual wild wolf packs beyond the whole GRR ALPHAS RAWR!) and he lives quite happily in a trailer in the woods.
At the hospital Aidan drops in on Kenny who instantly notices he’s not well and that Aidan must have the virus. Aidan says he can’t turn Kenny, not like this it’s too much risk. Kenny begs him to turn him, that he can’t live in his sealed room any longer – but Aidan says goodbye and leaves.
Back at the house Sally is trying to find something to eat – when a mouse is caught by the mouse trap. I was ready for another ick moment but the camera cut away as, yes, Sally chowed down in Mickey. At which point Nora comes in panicked to see Josh and he tells her about the scratch. Nora instantly jumps on the “rawr, Aidan evil, Rawr!” train. Sally, upstairs, realises that her cheek is healed – and her hairline after she ate the mouse. You need living flesh Sally – by the way, Nora’s just downstairs. Just saying. Nom nom nom.
Nora (escaping brain eating death) goes to the hospital to see Aidan, Josh has told the full story and they have a reconciliation moment over Aidan taking the blame for Brynn’s death. It’s touchingly awkward and Nora tells him to go home, she’ll cover the rest of his shift. She tells him to go be with Sally and Josh.
At the house Josh is trying to deal with becoming a werewolf again and Aidan is remembering some of the good times of them all together with a sad music backdrop followed by reminisces of his mortal life. Instead of spending time with Sally and Josh he has a visit from Blake, who’s had a call from Kenny – and, of course, Aidan is too weak to warn her off him.
Sally is out walking with Zoe who describes Nick as acting oddly (possibly the cat eating thing). Particularly in bed – he bit her, which Sally tells her is completely normal (love bites and all) except… he broke the skin. And Nick has taken to staring creepily at her all the time (does he also mutter “braaaaaaains”?). Zoe is getting scared. Shotguns and aim for the head – remember the brain!
At the house Josh and Aicdan are trying to do the awkward “can I get you something dying man?” thing when Nora comes home with Kat (see, Nora now trusts Aidan! Redemption, please let it last!) who is obviously worried about Aidan as he ran off mid conversation with goons last they talked. In the kitchen Nora even describes bringing Kat round as a peace offering to Aidan even while Josh thinks that while the supernatural is out of control it’s a bad time to introduce normal people. Kat asks Aidan what’s up with him – drugs, gambling debts etc and Aidan answers by passing out. Now there’s one way to avoid an awkward question.
Time for a flashback of Aidan returning to Susannah, his wife, after becoming a vampire and him starving himself to death. Something Susannah’s not having and is quite happy to give him blood if it means keeping him. Back to the present and Nora and Josh convince Kat that Aidan has the flu and is just being rather melodramatic.
Sally has gone to see Nick and, in classic Sally style, she doesn’t do-si-do round the subject and says outright “I ate a mouse” to which Nick responds with relief that she’s doing it as well and adds that he’s ok with it – humans eat animals all the time they just need them fresh. Sally concedes the point and sees it as not awful (given the givens). Though Nick’s “I’m not letting go” has a vague sinister undertone of “no matter what” to it.
At the house Pete drops by for a visit, bringing chilli and home made wine – perfect timing (Josh asks Nora why she insists on befriending every stray wolf that comes by. On the plus side, Nora assures him he’s very very different from every other wolf you’ve ever met). Still Josh leaves and Nora explains they have some issues going on
Sally is walking home and assesses the small furry animals in a pet shop. Getting hungrier and more intense as she moves up from rodents to cats to dogs and turns the same look on a small child – horrifying herself.
Josh watches Aidan resting and comes down to tell Pete and Nora that he seems quiet – Pete made a tea for Aidan using garlic (“let’s them be what they are” in season 1 we saw garlic forces a vampire to show their vampiric eyes and fangs). Seems Pete has had a few vampire friends – he’s not a hater. He’s done a lot of travelling since he was scratched when he was 14 and he’s finally, after a dark time come to terms with his wolf (he also claims to be 39 – while looking a lot older. The change takes it out of you) and made peace with it, even naming it Gordon. He advises they try meditation and helps guide them through the process. As he meditates Josh sees himself in the middle of a forest. When asked about it he says he just saw woods and Pete says that’s because his wolf is afraid of him – since Josh spends all his time and energy trying to kill his wolf after all.
Aidan’s not feeling so hot and is still flashbacking to his wife who was a very very very very very sensible woman. While he tries to angst and moan she tells him there’s nothing unnatural about being a predator – just like a hawk or wolf. He woozily wakes to Sally and Josh standing over him and begins to convulse, bleeding from his eyes, nose and mouth while they try to hold him down.
We cut to Josh leading Nora into Aidan’s room telling her she has to see this – and Aidan’s alive. Not only alive, but doing well, no lesions, no bleeding, nothing (well except some dirt and smeared blood). They try to brainstorm the possible causes of the cure; especially since the seizure isn’t normally what happens when the vampires die from the plague. What causes seizures? Werewolf blood. Aidan has drank werewolf blood twice, but other vampires won’t have because vampire instinct is to not touch it. Everyone is all “wow this is huge” but Aidan sees the downside of it getting out – it will put werewolves in danger. He also worries about Liam – Liam expected him to die and he hasn’t. But Josh declares won’t let Liam anywhere near Aidan: even better, Nora says the same thing.
Love the sentiment, but Aidan, as a well fed, healthy vampire, can turn Liam into chunky salsa any day but the full moon. Also does this immunity mean he can drink infected blood.
Which means the next day Aidan can go tell Kenny the deal’s back on. And he can go see Brooke with several extra levels of badass. He tells Brooke he will tell her the vaccine but he meets her conditions or suffers eternal torment. She agrees to any conditions – their community is dying and she values it even if Aidan rejected it. He tells her what the vaccine is (it only takes a sip, no-one has to die) and that Josh and Nora are off limits – if he ever suspects they’re being targeted by vampires, he will rip her head off. She’s surprised he tells her because he hates vampires but he says they’re part of the natural order. Besides, they shouldn’t have to run scared from wolves.
Back at the house Aidan and Sally have a moment and Sally tells Aidan what’s been happening in her life (I love the “not judging” quick response) and she goes to great length to avoid “rotting” she hates that word. But she can’t bring herself to live on living flesh – especially since she’s already twigged she’s going to need something more substantial than a mouse. She’s not going down another slippery slope like she did before. She has resolved to let go when she has to.
This causes Aidan to flashback (really Aidan – you zone out while Sally is talking about her inevitable death?!) to his wife making him promise than when she is dead and he is alone, he will accept love again. Y’know this woman was all kind of wise. With this remembered advise Aidan goes to the university to see Kat and greets her with a kiss.
And Brooke leads a large gang of vampires against the werewolf that had been stalking her. Dinner time.
Josh meditates again back to the woods, calls out and sees… his wolf. And actual wolf that surprises him into saying “you’re beautiful.” He moves quite close to it before it runs off.
And Zoe comes home to find Nick covered in blood chewing his way through a furry animal. Oops. More oops is when his eyes turn a ghostly blue and he growls “I’m still hungry” and charges her… uh-oh.
One of the best moments for me was Nora and Aidan’s reconciliation. Not only because it’ll stop me wanting Sally to eat her brains, but it’s an overt acknowledgement of how important the friendship between Aidan, Sally and Josh is. Nora is back and back in some of the best scenes.
Ok, it nearly got me. I started this episode with a “there’s no way they’re going to let Aidan die”. And as he made more goodbyes I’m still sat thinking “yeah, miracle cure’s going to happen” And it kept happening and for a second, a SECOND, I thought “oh… maybe it is going to happen – I mean being Human UK changed its cast” So kudos to that, they NEARLY got me.
Of course it wasn’t going to be. Can we call Aidan’s issues resolved now and have the angst put on hiatus?
But, if there was one episode when everyone could gather round, I would have thought it would be Aidan on his deathbed. Obviously Sally has her own issues, but if she thinks these are Aidan’s last 2 days alive I wanted her there, like Josh. Especially after Nora made the bond between the three of them so clear – why emphasise how powerful and meaningful the bond between Josh, Aidan and Sally is, a bond so powerful even Nora acknowledges she’s not part of it – and then have Sally running off doing her own thing? And then she comes back, confides in now healthy Aidan and it inspires him to a flashback and personal growth. Really?
There’s no excuse now – Josh has his transformation he is making peace with, Aidan’s just got a romance plot – focus. On. Sally.
