Being Human (UK): Hold the Front Page (S4 E5)

Being Human (UK): Hold the Front Page
Season 4 Episode 5
Writer: Tom Grieves
Director: Daniel O’Hara

Very spoilery, so don’t read if you don’t wanna know!

Adam is CHICKA-CHICKA back!
Bringing back teenage vampire Adam Jacobs for a supernatural-being-of-the-week episode was pure brilliance. I’ve got to admit that I sussed out the big reveal in this episode very early on (the moment Hal wouldn’t shake Yvonne’s hand because of wearing those wet washing-up gloves), but regardless, this week’s ep Hold the Front Page was a joy to watch. So much so that I found I forgot to miss Mitchell and George. Is this a sign that the new team has taken firm hold with fans at last?

The baby-faced and devilishly dirty-minded Adam (Craig Roberts), last seen in Season 3 departing for places unknown, returns to hide out at Honolulu Heights with his new paramour, the no nonsense, middle-aged headmistress Yvonne Bradshaw (Selina Griffiths). They are an odd couple of lovers and on the run from the national media, for the press is all atwitter over the newsworthiness of a 40-something teacher running off with a jailbait-aged schoolboy. However Adam’s best efforts at secrecy have proved less than effective, for he has led the gutter press straight to the trio’s front door.

“And that Brad Pitt guy, he was all over you like a rash, wasn’t he?”
Another problem for the 15-year-old-looking Adam who is actually 47 in human years, is that he’s neglected to inform his inamorata that he’s one of the undead. Oops. And it seems that Yvonne has a pesky little problem of her own. She is actually a succubus – a female demon who takes the form of a human woman and appears in the dreams of men in order to seduce them. To this point Yvonne has never consciously suspected the true reason behind her overwhelming attractiveness to every single man she meets, choosing instead to believe that her curious unnatural appeal is just her own special quirky cross to bear. Go figure!

“I brought her here, so she’s sodding well MINE.”
A simple touch is all it takes for both Tom (Michael Socha) and Hal (Damien Molony) to fall under Yvonne’s seductive spell. Soon they are both experiencing erotic dreams featuring the schoolmistress, and competing with a disgruntled Adam for her affections. The difference in the attempts at wooing Yvonne is nothing short of hilarious, for Tom’s puppy love dopey looks and Hal’s courtly habit of quoting of Keats could not be further apart in manner and tone.

The various Looks of Love:

“Thomas, you’re about to become very, very famous!”
While all this is happening at Honolulu Heights, Cutler (Andrew Gower) has been slinking around in the background and schmoozing with a vampire-hunting reporter (Sacha Dhawan) who suspects far more than he lets on at first.

I’m supposing that Cutler had initially hoped this reporter would assist him in his campaign to out the werewolves among us. But the nameless red-shirt reporter (the credits list him as “Pete”, but I don’t remember anyone actually speaking his name), unwisely shares his own past experiences and his current suspicions of the vamp, and gets it in the end, of course. It seems that you can’t fight evil except with evil in the Being Human universe. (hint, hint) Cutler then uploads his video of Tom’s werewolf transformation to the web, where it can be expected to go viral on YouTube immediately.

“If I accept that, then I have to accept what I am, too.”
Hal may be the one who deduces Yvonne’s supernatural nature, but it is left up to Annie (Lenora Critchlow) to explain and persuade Yvonne to face the harsh truth about herself and the real reason for her attractiveness to Adam. After one aborted attempt at giving in to her demonic side, poor Yvonne is forced to accept what she is, while the disappointed Adam finds that he must choose between his vampirical lust for blood and the peace of love’s spell. So long as you aren’t still all squicked out by the vast age gap between the two lovers, it’s very touching. All-in-all, this little romance gone awry makes for a very nice filler ep, well worth being in the roster this season even if it doesn’t add very much to the War Child story arc. Which is okay as far as I’m concerned. I think we all know where that arc is going eventually and I don’t need to get there too quickly. I much prefer this fun ride along the way.

Read my review of the previous episode HERE.