Post image for Monsters Redux: <i>Becoming Human</i>

Monsters Redux: Becoming Human

by Rob on March 22, 2011

Note: The following review contains spoilers for all episodes of Becoming Human.

I’ve been watching Becoming Human, the excellent web series spin-off to Being Human, each week, though I decided not to review on a week-to-week basis, as the installments were each too short for me to have enough to discuss. Last Sunday, however, on the same day that the final episode of the series appeared on-line, BBC Three aired all eight episodes in a row as a 50-minute special, which I saw as the perfect opportunity to revisit the entire series as a whole. There are advantages and disadvantages to viewing Becoming Human in one sitting, the major downside being that it feels a bit structurally odd to see the episodes in this format. These mini-episodes were clearly written and produced to be viewed separately from one another, and so from a pacing standpoint, the flow feels a bit uneven, as if an engine is being revved up, then abruptly shut off, revved up, and abruptly shut off. This isn’t as obvious when watching full-length episodes of television in a row, because the start and stop of each don’t follow on one another so closely. In a row, we also lose the audience interactivity that the extra material that appeared on-line each week between episodes provided. On the other hand, however, watching them back-to-back does allow the viewer to notice all of the little writing links and continuity references between episodes that might otherwise have gone unnoticed. It can be difficult enough to remember fine details of an hour show watched once a week, let alone the details of a scant six minutes or so, a week later. As such, the character development and evolution are much clearer, and the overall structure easier to appreciate, without the puzzle pieces being broken into such small chunks over such a long period of time.

What I love most about Becoming Human is how well it functions as a companion series to Being Human. It plays in the same mythological playground, so to speak, and is respectful and consistent with the rules and philosophies of the Being Human universe. At the same time, it examines the same issues from a different perspective, namely that of teenagers (or, in Adam and arguably Matt’s case, teenagers-in-spirit) experiencing the juxtaposition of the supernatural and the mundane at an earlier stage of life than our other beloved “monstrous” housemates. Whereas Mitchell, Annie, George, and Nina struggle with issues such as how to raise a family, maintain a job, or have social ties when one isn’t altogether physically human, Adam, Christa, and Matt’s issues are based more in adolescence, the social stratification/caste system of school cliques, and the current hot-button topic of bullying. Most impressively, writers Brian Dooley, Jamie Mathieson, and John Jackson manage to  handle some very serious issues with a gentle touch and some deft, dark humor without ever making light of these serious issues. The moment that really sums up Becoming Human‘s brilliance to me is the subtle gag that occurs in the flashback of Matt’s murder. He is carving the phrase, “I love Christa” into a bathroom stall, but is interrupted by his attacker and drowned in the toilet before he can finish, leaving graffiti with a very different context, namely “I love Christ.” The writers mine more darkly disturbing humor out of the fact that even Matt’s disappearance doesn’t inspire humanity in his bullies, who continue to deface his Missing posters by sketching on pirate eyepatches and beards to his pictures’ faces.

This cruelty that zaftig Matt faces on a daily basis is one of the major reasons he has become a ghost, and Becoming Human never shies from depicting how it has affected him psychologically. Matt has a great deal of anger surrounding his extreme loneliness and pain. Meanwhile, for years, he has also been harboring feelings for Christa, who has ironically only begun to notice him now that he is a ghost. The writers manage to make him a very complicated character in a short amount of time, with truly impressive economy. Actor Josh Brown’s fantastic performance makes Matt rather sad and pathetic, but also full of sublimated rage, even as he is rather lovable, both due to and in spite of his sometimes duplicitous actions. We realize over the course of the series that Matt hasn’t only remained in this realm to discover who killed him but in order to finally live the life he has always wanted, with friends who care about him. And this friendship is never depicted in a cuddly or saccharine manner. Both Adam and Christa spend a great deal of time sniping at each other, and seeming to not enjoy one another’s company, and the complications of Matt sometimes actively working against them in order to stretch out their time together and other times pining for the uninterested Christa make for fascinating drama, concisely presented. Over the course of the series and the investigation, they all become friends in spite of themselves, all while dealing with their own monstrous natures–Christa trying to avoid the inescapable fact that she is a werewolf, Adam continuing to struggle with his desire for blood, as well as his desire to be the normal teen he will never be (witness his painfully awkward attempts to be cool before he inevitably succumbs to being part of a “loser” group of friends).

The final revelation as to who Matt’s murderer is, is absolutely inspired. For a moment, I wasn’t fully sold on the idea that the seemingly weak Mr. Roe was the killer, but as he began to describe his motives, they began to coalesce and make complete sense, particularly with the major themes of the series. Just as Herrick on Being Human represents the worst of Mitchell’s most hedonistic and destructive vampire past, Mr. Roe is a worst-case scenario version of what Matt could have become, had he survived his teenage years into adulthood. Like Matt, Roe has spent his whole life friendless, unloved, and ignored. He isn’t depicted as some sort of scenery-chewing, over-the-top villain but as rather a sad, little man who finally snapped when paranoia as to his own persecution caused him to completely misinterpret clues as to who had keyed his car, and who then desperately tried to cover up his tracks. Is it a huge stretch to believe that Matt couldn’t have similarly snapped after years of such treatment, particularly when we see his interrogation of his bully in the second episode? Ironically, his murder at the hands of a nightmare version of himself is what causes him, after death, to be able to break this chain of events and begin his life fresh. Additionally, the fact that Mr. Roe had always been listening to Adam and Christa’s conversations is an extremely clever meta nod to the general conceit on television shows that no matter how loudly our characters might speak, other characters in the room can’t hear them unless the story requires it. Over the course of these eight episodes, we assumed Mr. Roe wasn’t listening, due to expectations we have had from a lifetime of other similar scenarios in television and film–expectations that were used against us.

Returning to the idea of Mr. Roe as a variation on Matt, I find it very interesting that the kids get rid of him the same way that Annie got rid of Kemp on Being Human, namely by dragging him through a door that wasn’t his. For starters, as Adam describes it, this leaves him open to be a villain should the series return. Matt will possibly continue to be ironically haunted by a future that he is managing to elude in forging his current friendships, despite having been literally killed by this future–quite nifty writing. This also leads me to wonder, however, whether this is an indication of a similar, impending resurrection on Being Human. If Roe can return, can (and will) Kemp?

Overall, Becoming Human is a truly stellar series. The quality of its writing and acting, from the authentic performances of all three of its leads–Craig Roberts, Leila Mimmack, and Josh Brown–not to mention its supporting cast, is such that it doesn’t seem out of place, aired on television. In fact, the filming and framing of the shots are often as beautiful as those on display on Being Human, and if it isn’t quite as great an overall production as that show, it is a more than worthy entry into Being Human‘s world, offering a different but related look at the same concept and presenting characters nearly as involving as Mitchell, George, Annie, and Nina. I would hope that the BBC is considering bringing Becoming Human back as a regular series, after debuting it on TV now. These characters could only grow fuller and more complex with the benefit of full-length episodes in which to further develop them.

All Being Human Reviews

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