Perchance to Dream Is to Be Human

 
Episode 305: “Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Mouth”

[Photos: Phillipe Bosse/Syfy]

The fifth episode of the season kicks off with Liam hunting down vampires, Sally chowing down waffles (seriously, how much would you love to have her metabolism!?), Josh giving her crap about it, Aidan tired from his new overnight shifts at the hospital and hungry from lack of clean blood, and Nora giving him crap about it. Poor Aidan crashes out, only to wake up with the ghosts of the two girls he killed upstairs in bed with him. Their intent: lifelong torture of Aidan.

The torture continues even as Aidan is at the hospital performing his duties, particularly with Kenny. The two nubile ghosts egg Aidan on to collect his blood for consumption, but the extra blood samples raise Kenny’s suspicions. He tests his theories on Aidan to humorous effect, but Aidan convinces Kenny that his vampire theory is bunk. Kenny admits that in his loneliness, he may have in fact cooked up a little dramatic entertainment for himself. Aidan seems genuinely to like his new food supply, and agrees to watch TV with him, only to wake from a bad dream with eyes blacked out and fangs bared. Kenny is now in the know.

Sally’s job at the funeral home seems to be going well, and her relationship with Max appears to be progressing nicely. Nick and Zoe plan to visit Sally at the brownstone, and Sally asks Max to be the fourth wheel. Once Max agrees, Max’s mother’s ghost Linda reveals herself to Sally and hopes out loud that Sally fares better than all of Max’s other failures. Wow, great mom.

The night with Nick and Zoe goes fairly well, although Linda drops in to ridicule her son further. The subtle awkwardness of the situation is comic genius, as Nick, Zoe and Sally can all see and hear Linda talking smack about her son, and Max is the only one not privy to the insults. Sally stands up and gestures with only her eyes for Linda to meet her in the kitchen, and I swear, I am going to watch that gesture over and over just to see how Meaghan Rath pulled it off. So well executed. Sally shoos Linda off after learning that the creepy mom always goes on Max’s dates. Just what every son needs: a helicopter mom in the afterlife.

Zoe and Sally take a minute to catch up alone in the kitchen, where Sally reveals that when the new ghosts appear at the funeral home and ask for help, Sally just disperses them. Zoe expresses shock that Sally, with her background and all the ghosts and people and supernaturals who helped her, wouldn’t help out the ghosts who need it. Sally does have a point, however, when she says that every time she’s ever tried to use any powers, it’s resulted in disaster with people getting hurt. Nonetheless, Zoe and Nick happily depart after an enjoyable evening, Sally hugs Max and leans in for the kiss…and he leaves.  Whaaaa…?

The next day at work, Sally and Max eat lunch together uncomfortably. Sally finally broaches the subject of the unfulfilled kiss, which leads to nookie in the viewing room of the funeral home and out of our view. Afterwards, Max freaks out about his lack of professionalism, and skedaddles. Linda re-appears and says a few unkind things about Sally’s moral code. Next thing we know, Sally quits her job, says a few rude things of her own to Max, and walks out.

Turns out, Ms. Linda possessed Sally so that “Sally” could irreversibly damage the relationship with Max. Sally pays a visit to Zoe, who points out the karmic irony, but gives Sally a Thai necklace called a soul block. Sally returns to the funeral home to exorcise Linda, but they actually manage an understanding instead, since ultimately they’re both invested in Max’s happiness.

Sally and Max meet later, and sweet, vulnerable Max tells her that she hurt him. Do men really say things like that? Not in real life in my experience, but it was a tender moment, and the two reconcile. These two win my vote for cutest couple on this show, like ever.

Liam drops by the hospital to ask Josh why Connor had written $1700 worth of checks out to him. Josh is truthful, and admits he was working on a way to control the condition, but it raises the question: how exactly is it that Josh is no longer a wolf? Josh confesses he killed his maker, but Nora quickly adds that Josh was protecting her. Fortunately, this is a moral justification with which Liam can live, and he leaves for the time being. Alas, it’s short-lived.

After an attempt on Aidan’s life that didn’t go as planned, Liam follows Aidan back to his home, only to realize Aidan, Nora and Josh are one big happy. Liam being the bossy, entitled patriarch that he is, he instructs Nora to kill Aidan. Josh and Nora discuss it, and Nora has the audacity to consider the possibility. Really, Nora?

Josh isn’t having any part of it, and he visits Liam at his hotel room along with his buddies Smith and Wesson. Josh warns Liam that Aidan is important to him, that he’s told Aidan that Liam is a threat, and warns Liam to leave them all alone. Liam shows up to the house later with Erin in tow; is this a peace offering? Liam corners Josh and tells him that while his hotel visit was stupid, it was also brave. He recommends that Josh take better care of his family than Liam did of his own. Props to both of them. I like principled men.

So Josh is doing the right thing by everyone, but what’s going on with Nora? Why is she all of a sudden going after Aidan? Sure, Aidan has done terrible things, but he’s also done some incredibly noble things that have managed to keep Josh alive. And as Nora has pointed out ad nauseum, Nora has done some pretty horrible things herself. She’s foolish, because ultimately, she’s putting Josh in the position of having to choose between Aidan and herself. Either Josh chooses Aidan, and Nora is out of the picture altogether, or Josh chooses Nora, and Nora loses respect for him. Of course, the latter appears to have happened already, given Nora’s catty comment about not “letting” Josh handle Liam. Thankfully, Josh manned up to her. At this point, I’m not digging Nora too much, and I’m eager for her to re-calibrate. If that has to happen forcefully, so be it.

See you guys next week, when Sally meets her brother, Kenny begs to be changed, and apparently, we kick of the four-episode arc that Sam Witwer and Anna Fricke promised us back just before the season began (article here). Looks to be good times!

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