Being Human: uncut spoilers for 1.2

[meganbmoore]

I've started watching the BBC series Being Human, which is about a ghost, a vampire, and a roommate as housemates. So far (2 episodes) I enjoy it, though it isn't quite amazingly brilliant or anything. Shockingly, I like the angsty vampire. (Literally "shockingly," if you know me and most vampires.) Less shockingly, I also like the ghost. I am annoyed by the werewolf, who does far too much angst wallowing for my taste. Also, I don't need to be seeing his nekkid butt this much.

Speaking of the werewolf, have a scenario: You are a guy. You are (presumably platonic) roommates with a guy and another girl. You bond with a houseguest who is charming, despite being rather bad at manners when it comes to cohabitation. While you and your male roommate are out, your guest attempts to sexually assault your female roommate, which your roommates later confront you and your guest about.

Poll #3638

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 5

View Respondents

Do you...

View Answers

Throw your guest out and tell him never to come back?
1 (20.0%)

Punch your guest in the face, since the victim is only quasi-corporeal and so may have a little difficulty doing so herself.
4 (80.0%)

Apologize to your friend after getting out of the way of your other roommate, who looks like he wants to beat people up.
0 (0.0%)

Yell "She probably loved it!" and announce that your guest is staying.
0 (0.0%)

If you picked the last option, you win!

In the spirit of providing visual aids, this is the character who was almost assaulted:




This is the assaulter:



And this is the guy defending the assaulter:



This is the other roommate stopping himself from ripping heads off over it, which did endear him to me, while simultaneously making me sigh sadly over other parts of it:



Can Annie actually be physically assaulted? Probably not. As near as I can tell, she's only corporeal when she wants to be, and even that's limited. (Which is why I don't actually have a problem with the attempted assault itself, just with this part. That and the "sexist come ons are cute if you're socially awkward, and the woman you were sexist to should apologize to you for calling you on it" from earlier in the episode.) And it was clearly regarded as an awful thing to say. But the writers still thought that this was an acceptable thing to have one of your main protagonists say, with the expectation that the audience would still like him and find it forgivable, and did not feel the need to have the character actually apologize for saying it. The proper term for that is "rape culture."

Comments

[salinea]

haha yeah, werewolf is an asshole. Hilariously enough they try to pass him out for the best of the three. He doesn't get better either.

[meganbmoore]

I'm very sad at how frequently that's the case.

[shewhohashope]

George has an awful case of Nice Guy syndrome, but my love for the show and various characters waxes and wanes constantly.

[meganbmoore]

I enjoy it in spite of him. The actor is charming and likable, but it doesn't make up for the character. (I also get the feeling that a lot of his loserness is meant to encourage us to like Annie/Mitchell. Which I'm sure we'd be capable of doing without that.)

[shewhohashope]

I find the character occasionally charming and likable! But he's also a wretched nice guy, and I'll avoid discussing how that develops.

I don't think that the show ships any of the main three with each other, although there is subtext in all directions.

[meganbmoore]

Having just finished the season: you are probably right about the show and shipping. It's just that all the hugging and forehead nuzzling can confuse a person!

[wilhelminabenedict]

What? ewewewewewewewew

And to think I actually thought about getting back into watching this. Ew. Ew. Ew.

[meganbmoore]

Aside from him, I'm enjoying it. The thing is that we're supposed to see him as wrong when he says these things, but only as being "socially awkward" and to find it forgivable and the character charming. But I like the other leads and some supporting characters, and actually find the vampire plotline fairly interesting. (Which may mean that people who typically like vampire plots wouldn't.)

[wilhelminabenedict]

Maybe I'll pick it up again. I just hate being expected to like asshats despite them being asshats. Especially -- and I don't know how well this applies to Being Human -- when it's played off as 'oh, I know he's an asshole, but isn't it secretly cute/quirky/an acceptable part of his personality?' Kind of like they did with Dean from SPN in later seasons.

[havocthecat]

(Which may mean that people who typically like vampire plots wouldn't.)

I typically like vampire plots, and I find this one interesting as hell.

[havocthecat]

Have you gotten farther? Because I felt like they did end up saying it wasn't acceptable, and that the character who was defending it (which is TOTALLY NOT LIKE HIM) ended up owning up to being a total nitwit. And jerk. To both Annie and Nina.

The BH characters are flawed. VERY, VERY FLAWED. SO VERY. And the things they do that are wrong aren't, ultimately, excused. (I feel.)

ETA: Um. I feel like they're not ultimately excused by the meta, anyway. Do the characters themselves rationalize like hell? Oh, yes. Quite often.

[meganbmoore]

(finished the first season)

I think the show sees George as faily because he's socially awkward, whereas he comes across to me as very egocentric in a rather Xander-ish way, and I am decidedly not fond of Xander. He apologizes in a general way over the other werewolf, but not specifically for that, and not only does he not apologize to Nina for the sexist come ons, but the show makes her apologize to him for telling him to shove it, despite the fact that she was in the right. George is kinda the most annoying kind of default viewpoint character for me. I appreciate his role in the show, but of the main characters, he's the only one I don't care for.

[havocthecat]

You know what's really annoying me (about myself)? I didn't see that. I mean, you're right. George does some even shittier stuff in season two that I don't excuse him for at all. (And really, I root for Nina to leave him over these things.) But I could have sworn he was abjectly apologetic to Nina in that instance, not just about Tully (the other werewolf), but also because he was an ass.

And this is not the kind of thing that I normally miss. In fact, normally it stands out with the mental equivalent of red blinky lights on it, I notice it that much. But not this time, and I don't know why.

I adore Annie unconditionally. Even when she's making poor choices, they're out of the best of intentions, and they're well-meaning, and she sees the best in people until it's proven otherwise, and incontrovertibly so. Annie is amazing. I like Mitchell quite a lot, as the guy knows he's flawed as hell. Though, well, every now and again, I want to smack him and tell him to grow up.

There are times when I like George, though, and I thought that the awkward was the fact that his characterization hits my embarrassment squick a lot. (Second season does make me cringe. A lot.) But you're right, he's got a case of Nice Guy that's hard to get over.

(I love Xander in the moments he actually acts like a grown-up. But those are few and far-between, because I felt like his characterization often got sidetracked for laughs, or the plot, or sometimes even for no good reason.)