In “All Out of Blood”, Aidan struggles for self-control, Sally looks into reincarnation and Josh confronts his past.

Aidan

“You keep your condoms in the kitchen?!? That’s inefficient!” – Julia

So, it looks like Aidan’s new girl didn’t end up a “Happy Meal”

Aidan is dating. This would be nice except that we all know what happened the last time Aidan had a steady girlfriend … Rebecca anyone? Josh is freaked out because he remembers Rebecca and how that ended – BADLY! Aidan claims he has self control so Josh tries to be a good friend and wishes him well.

How does he have control? Aidan brings bags of blood home from the hospital to drink so he’s not tempted to bite Julia. Smart move. Or so it seems at first …

… except that he’s hit a little snag. He’s taken so much blood that the hospital is on to him and they’ve beefed up security by barring everyone except higher ups from entering where the blood is kept. CRAP. Guess Aidan’s going to have to figure out a Plan B for control. Poor bastard.

During hot make-out session number 2, Aidan runs out of the room to drink blood but he’s down to his last bag. Aidan continues to struggle with the blood situation and he doesn’t want to go to a blood den because it would mean drinking live. Aidan tells Sally what happens when a vampire can’t get a regular supply of blood; basically, they lose it and binge. Drinking live is different. It’s impossible to control and he would become someone she wouldn’t recognize and wouldn’t want to know.

Sadly, in the end, Aidan does exactly what he didn’t want to do and ends up at the house of a woman who lets vampires drink her blood for cash. She has a bodyguard to protect her since “his people” have been “getting rough” lately. Aidan pays $300 to drink from her and feeds like a glutton to the point where he has to be pulled off and passes out on the floor in a drunk stupor. You could’ve switched blood for anything – cocaine, heroin, meth – and the scene would be the same … dark, sketchy and dirty, just like an addict going to a dealer. It was perfect.

Josh

“OK, I will let a ghost lock me in a storage room so I can let you tape me while I take my clothes off and turn into an animal.” – Nora

Ummm yeah … sounds like a great plan. Josh finds storage units where he and Nora can wolf-out safely. He also wants to tape them to figure out what happens when they change so he can “fix this”. Nora’s not feeling his storage-room-reality-show deal. And she doesn’t want to change alone. Josh tells her about Heggeman, but she already knows she killed him. She didn’t tell Josh so he wouldn’t feel guilty. She knows how dangerous she can be but she just can’t lock herself up. It’s a lot to take in, and locking herself up is admitting defeat.

Josh has become Nora’s mentor. He explains some more things that Nora might be feeling and going through right before a transformation. He gets Nora to smell scents down the street, and he explains her feelings and increased sex drive. Then, Josh and Nora get jiggy while Aidan and Julia go to town in the next room!

“Hey, so what was with the bang off I heard last night?” – Sally

And here, we have a CRAZY reveal. The next morning, after the boys are up and chatting in the kitchen, Julia comes down and locks eyes with Josh. Julia was Josh’s fiancee! The one he left behind when he ran away.

OMFG!!!

After jumping on the couch Tom Cruise style and breathing into a paper bag, I somehow managed to keep watching. WOW. That is just insane and one of the biggest shockers on the show to date! It was up there with Danny being Sally’s killer last season. It was THAT kind of reveal. I didn’t see that coming AT ALL. Damn.

The acting between Josh and Julia was gut wrenching. In a cruel twist of fate, Julia realizes she got her residency at the hospital where Josh works. Josh tries to apologize for leaving her the way he did and she slaps him. It’s hard to watch because from her perspective, you can get why she’s so angry … especially coming downstairs and seeing Nora; seeing that Josh has moved on. It’s doubly sad because we know why Josh left and why it’s so hard to tell the truth. In the end, no matter how much he tries, unless the truth comes out and Julia believes it, no apology will suffice. What a crazy good scene. This show just blew the roof off with this episode and this moment. Well done.

The next day, in an equally awkward scene, Nora runs into Julia at the hospital and she warns Nora that Josh will leave her the way she left him. They’re civil, but I squirmed through the entire conversation. Julia was really trying to be mature about the situation and Nora, likewise, but in the end, it’s dumped fiancee meets new lover and the conversation ends badly.

“If you wanted to protect me, you would have run away from me before you did this like you did for Julia.” – Nora

Nora – angry, emotional, and with heightened senses – starts to hunt Julia by following her home. At the last possible second, Nora almost gets smoked by a car and snaps out of it. She realizes, in horror, what she was about to do and runs back to Josh to get locked up.

“I’m so happy that you’re sleeping with my ex and not eating her.” – Josh

Meanwhile, Aidan tries to explain to Josh how this happened. Aidan didn’t know. It wasn’t on purpose and he never wanted to hurt Josh. He also vows to break it off. Unfortunately, Julia wants to keep dating Aidan, so he tells her it was just sex and to leave it alone. Ouch. He has to – there is NO WAY he can date Josh’s ex-fiancee and salvage their friendship. It’s just too close.

Sally

“Once you’ve opened some doors, you can never close them again.” – Josh

How sadly true for our sweet Sally … the dark shadow is still haunting her and she can’t seem to shake it off.

Sally visits the hospital and happens to end up outside a nursery. A nurse sees Sally – a LIVE nurse! She tells her to wait outside the nursery. Sally learns from another ghost that apparently ghosts can be chosen to reincarnate into a newborn but there are sticky rules involved. They can’t just pick any baby, the baby has to be the right mix for the ghost and child. There is special salt put down to protect the babies in front of the nursery so the ghosts can’t come in and arbitrarily body snatch.

The next day, Sally returns, and sees the ghost who told her all of this get his chance to be reincarnated. It’s beautiful … all glowing white light and serenity. Sally wants to be reincarnated badly so she speaks to the nurse managing the wing. Zoe can see ghosts because she was possessed by a ghost as a newborn – it was her first memory. Sally tells Zoe she passed on her door and tries to sell why she should be chosen to get reincarnated next. She invites Zoe over to see where she lives and who her roommates are to see if she’s a good candidate for reincarnation. It’s kind of like an adoption interview! After the interview, Zoe tells Sally that she can’t help her. She found out about Danny and that she tried to kill him. Sally’s an angry ghost and Zoe can’t have her move into a baby’s body. Sally, in desperation, tells her about the thing that hunts her and that if she could be reincarnated, it might leave her alone. Zoe, on the other hand, points out that if she helps Sally escape, she will be defenseless as an infant if it doesn’t work.

Later on, a cleaner sweeps away the salt barrier and Sally goes into the nursery to look at the babies, and contemplates body jumping. She’s desperate to leave but doesn’t do it and suddenly, the dark shadow shows up in the nursery. In the end, Zoe agrees to help Sally fight the dark shadow.

“What’s with the Suicide Hotline talk.” – Josh

Sally tells Josh she’s getting Zoe to help her out with something and that she can’t be reincarnated. She’s very depressed and disheartened that she is stuck in this limbo. Reincarnation looked like her chance to do life over. Josh consoles her and believes there is another way out.

Although Sally’s parts aren’t the scene stealers – like Aidan’s and Josh’s Julia situation – they are extremely interesting. We learn more and more with each episode about what Sally can and can’t do … or conversely, what she shouldn’t do (i.e. invite strange, black shadows into the house). I’m very curious to see what this sinister, creepy shadow is and why it’s hunting Sally. Hopefully, that will be fleshed out over the next few episodes. I knew Sally wouldn’t be reincarnated, I mean, c’mon, it’s the beginning of Season 2 and having a newborn as a roommate just wouldn’t work for the show It was an interesting sideline though and I enjoyed watching it.

Dark shadows, an awkward love triangle and Nora’s new wolf status … don’t miss out! Tune in with me Monday night for the next episode, “I Loathe You For Sentimental Reasons”.

Photo Courtesy of Syfy

This episode, while still chock-full of fun moments, took a more serious turn with Sally making a shocking discovery, Nora coming to terms with her wolf and Aidan making a life and death decision. All in all, it was another packed episode of Being Human.

Aidan

“That’s right, you’re a vegetarian now.” – Suren

After Aidan wakes Suren and lets her feed, he gives her the scoop and lets her know that he’s her “Second”, i.e. the “Riker” to her “Picard”. Apparently, she was punished and put to ground for 80 years for killing an entire room of people. At least that’s what we see in a few of the 1920’s flashbacks that are peppered throughout the episode.

So what’s Vampire Job #1? Aidan tells her they need to find someone to replace Bishop on the police force to quietly clean up killings. Suren wants Aidan to turn a cop, Cecilia, so she can ensure loyalty. Aidan refuses, saying that they shouldn’t randomly turn people. The cops under their control are good enough and she will have loyalty because she speaks with the authority of the Mother. Aidan doesn’t want to turn Cecilia so he throws her out of the hotel after almost drinking from her.

“I will work for you, but I can never be like you.” – Aidan

Suren can’t wrap her head around the fact that Aidan has changed; that he’s not the ruthless, calculating, powerful vampire he used to be when she idolised him 80 years ago. She’s disgusted with the “new” Aidan.

Suren turns Cecilia against Aidan’s wishes. Aidan hasn’t turned anyone in 80 years because of what was done to Suren. I’m guessing here it’s because she was punished so severely. It seems like she killed a room full of people, but this could also hint at the fact that she may have turned some of them without leave??? Given Aidan’s new way of life, she asks why he took this job, and he tells her that he was put there by Mother so he could work for his freedom. He wants to live how he wants and with who he wants and never have to deal with vampires ever again.

Later on that evening, Aidan ends up in a bar where he runs into the pretty resident doctor, Julia, who was interviewing for a job at the hospital earlier. She joins Aidan for a drink and sparks fly! She invites him over, and … drumroll please … Aidan has a decision to make – to go or not to go? Does he have the control to be with someone again after what happened with Rebecca?

Josh

“I did this to you … that night.” – Josh

At the last possible second, a wolf kills Heggeman and saves Josh’s life. It’s Nora. Josh wakes up and looks for Nora, while a very shaken Nora wakes up naked, in a pile of leaves. Josh and Nora go back to the apartment.

Nora is still reeling from the shock of her transformation. She can’t remember anything about her time as a wolf – even killing Heggeman, but as a bonus, Nora can now see Sally.

“I’m so sorry but I’m too drunk to pretend that I’m normal. You can’t fix this by pretending.” – Nora

Josh tries to help her feel normal by persuading her to go to the First Year Med Student mixer. Nora gets loaded at the party. She’s angry and blurting out TMI left and right to Josh’s horror. After everyone around her is uncomfortable, Nora abruptly leaves. She later apologizes to Josh because she can’t play “normal”. Josh, being the awesome and understanding guy that he is, doesn’t care and he’s right there by her side.

They’re an amazing couple. I love watching the two of them onscreen. They have a very authentic feel to their relationship. They’re just two people, very much in love, going through incredible difficulties together. Compared to many other TV romances, even shows I like, this is one of the more real and touching relationships out there. Josh and Nora aren’t supermodels, or perfect, or remotely normal. That’s what makes watching them so much fun and so much more enjoyable than your typical TV teen drama romance.

Sally

“What’s with the Lost Boys?” – Josh

Sally invited some “guests” to the house – Suicide Stevie from the high school reunion and a couple of his teen friends. Sally tells Josh that she dreamt last night – Stevie taught her how to sleep so she invited him over. She needs connection and right now, much to everyone’s annoyance, it’s these 16-year-olds for starters.

“I wish I lived every moment like this.” – Sally

Sally can’t believe her afterlife is doomed to be hanging out with teenagers, watching them act out Scarface. She’s bored so they take her “Raging”. It’s basically going to parties that they couldn’t go to when they were alive and hijacking other people’s bodies so they can feel alive again. Stevie warns her that it’s not that great. Drunk and high people have a lower resistance so they’re easier to get into but it’s still not easy to hijack a body. Stevie doesn’t like body snatching, because you’re still dead and you’re still who you are; it’s like drug addiction … you feel great for a while but you’re only deluding yourself for a short period of time. Sally ignores his warnings and attempts to body snatch. Her first few attempts fail horribly but the third time’s a charm and she inhabits some girl’s body. She starts eating anything that isn’t nailed down and drinking everything in sight! She can smell, feel, taste, and touch and it’s exhilarating. Stevie is right – it’s “ghost crack”. Sally goes buck wild and then all of the fun comes to a grinding halt when Dylan hits on her. Sally’s aware that it’s not her body and it’s wrong so she asks him to stop. He won’t and begins assaulting her! Stevie pulls her out of the girl’s body and he fights Dylan. In a split second, Stevie disintegrates Dylan! Apparently, ghosts can kill ghosts.

“I think it’s better to know what you’re capable of … then you know what you’re dealing with.” – Nora

Sally, recovering from the effects of the body snatching, which makes her look terrible and feels like a hangover, talks to Nora about what happened. She’s in shock; she could feel Dylan’s essence dissipate. Sally wishes she hadn’t learned that about ghosts – she doesn’t want to know that the little bit of reality that she has can be permanently taken away but Nora consoles her by saying that at least she knows what she’s dealing with, and even in the worst situations, it’s better to know than walk around blind.

This was another great episode. Nora and Josh were a delight to watch and Sally’s scenes at the party were hilarious. Aidan’s cliffhanger decision was a great way to end the show this week leaving us on the edge of our seats. Bloodbath or denial? Which will it be? Tune in with me next week to watch Episode 3: “All Out of Blood”.

Photo Courtesy of Syfy

SO glad to be back! It seemed like forever until we were reunited with our three fave ghouls but now they’re back to take away the January blahs with another exciting season of Being Human.

“How important really is it that the blood is warm?!?” – Sally

AIDAN

The bulk of this episode focuses on Aidan. It’s been a month since Bishop’s demise and this episode saw Aidan reluctantly saddled with the job as caretaker of Bishop’s newborn vampire army. They’re newbies, starving and looking for answers about the afterlife and Aidan doesn’t have the answers. When he killed Bishop, it really threw a wrench in the vampire order of things and now he has to deal with the fallout. Sometimes, even when you’re doing something good, there are still dire repercussions to your actions.

“I thought you said there were vampires who could clean this stuff up – like Merry Maids!” – Josh

Poor Josh. He gets to work and finds a newborn munching on one of his patients. He’s not impressed. He’s pissed that Aidan had them milling around the apartment for the past month and even more annoyed that Aidan can’t seem to control them. It’s putting a damper on the whole premise of “being human” when you’re the default vamp-daddy to a bunch of orphaned vampires. Aidan has to clean up the vampire’s mess. Josh is baffled as to what happened to the secret vamp “Merry Maid” clean-up crew but he’s finding out that after Aidan took out Bishop, all that fell apart and it’s DIY for now.

“No. They will be culled.” – Mother

Heggeman tells Aidan the council wants to give him the Boston coven out of vampire tradition. Aidan doesn’t want this and doesn’t think he would do a good job anyway since he’s been half-assing it and unable to control Bishop’s brood the past month. It seems that the harder he tries to be human, the more he’s sucked into vampire politics. All will be decided once “The Mother” – the head of all vampires – comes to Boston to make her decision.

The Mother? She’s is not very impressive. Scary? Not at all. I was kind of hoping for a vampire that looked like something out of 30 Days of Night and instead we get a poor imitation of Anna Wintour. During council, Aidan recommends mercy on the newborns when the council recommends culling. She decides that Bishop’s orphans are to be culled and calls Aidan’s beliefs a heresy. Instead of giving Aidan Boston, she gives it to her daughter. We think that Aidan is off the hook but then she announces Aidan will be her daughter’s “second”. If he wants Mother to overlook his heretical beliefs and be free of the coven, he will have to cooperate. What a nightmare for poor Aidan … freedom, but at what cost? As he said in the opening scenes: “Freedom is just that moment of calm before the dread sets in.” How fitting.

In the meantime, Mother adds a wee twist to the plot. In order to ensure Aidan’s success, she plots with Heggeman to kill Josh so that Aidan has no “distractions”. That was a shocker. I have to say this though – did you really think they were going to let Aidan off so easily? Other than Josh being a “distraction”, if Josh is gone, Aidan wouldn’t have that anchor or 12-step buddy to keep him on the straight and narrow. They can’t kill Sally – she’s already dead, and she has no power to help Aidan in the real world. With Josh gone, Aidan would be much more likely to just stay in the lifestyle once his obligations to Mother have finished. What else would he have to strive for at that point? Ok, so Mother’s not scary looking, but I will give her points for being smart.

“Josh, I’m going to need you to somehow remind me where we started” – Aidan

Unhappy about being saddled with all this responsibility and with no choice in the matter, Aidan tries his best to change the outcome of the culling by warning the newborn who was feeding in the hospital to get out of town. Then comes one of the best scenes in the show: Aidan has to tell Josh, in a heart-to-heart, that in order to gain his freedom, he might become something Josh won’t recognise and someone he won’t want to know. He asks Josh to ground him and remind him of why he’s doing this, to keep him human and remind him of the promise he made. The acting here was amazing; the friendship between these two is so believable and honest. I love their funny scenes together because of their chemistry but I also love Sam Huntington and Sam Witwer’s serious scenes. They nail the emotions and struggles of their characters incredibly well. Aidan asking Josh for support is an example of why people tune in to this show every week. The supernatural premise gets you there, but the acting will keep you hooked.

In the end, all is for naught. The newborns don’t heed Aidan’s get-out-of-town-by-sundown warning and come to attack Mother. Aidan is forced to defend her and stakes one of them. The other two overcome him and Mother saves Aidan by decapitating them with her fabulously manicured nails! Great – now he’s in her debt, too. In the end, they go out to dig up her beloved daughter and unfortunately, that tantalizing morsel is kept away from us until the next episode.

JOSH

“You want to hold my hair back while I vomit … essentially?” – Josh

Just like last season, Josh gets the best lines of the bunch and doesn’t miss a beat.

Nora’s getting her “Coles Notes/Cliffs Notes” on being a werewolf from Josh. He describes his feelings, cravings and behaviour right before he turns. He really has no idea why she’s asking but Nora is quickly doing her homework for what she perceives will be her fate later on that night.

Uh-oh … at work at the hospital, Nora is caught eating – or sniffing – raw meat by another nurse. She’s having the cravings Josh mentioned – raw meat, and a strong sense of smell. She tries to play if off as some new crazy palaeo-caveman diet and lucky for her, the nurse buys her story.

Nora wants to drop Josh off in the woods before he changes and Josh refuses. She manages to convince him that she wants to be there for him and he finally relents. The truth is Nora thinks she’s going to change. Josh goes into the woods and starts to transform, Nora thinks she’s dodged the proverbial bullet and goes to drive away but suddenly doubles over as her own transformation starts to take hold. She calls out to Josh and he hears her screams and runs, half transformed, to her rescue. I was surprised he could stop mid-way and go to her, but I think they have to do what works to make the show run smoothly. It’s just I was under the impression that once you start turning, you can’t stop. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Heggeman shoots Josh, yet he continues to transform! So while most of the show seems centered on vampire politics, Nora’s transformation and Josh’s shooting give us the most exciting scenes and the dramatic cliffhanger of the night!

SALLY

Sally’s scenes are the shortest and the least interesting until the very end of the episode. She’s still desperate to touch things and has a cute scene where Nora tries to talk to her in the kitchen. Nora finds an invitation in the trash to Sally’s high school reunion and convinces Sally to go to and check it out. What’s the worst that can happen, right?

Sally spends the reunion with “Suicide Stevie”, a classmate who overdosed at 16. He didn’t really think it was going to work and did it in hopes that someone would find him and stop him at the last second. Eeeech. He’s basically there to explain more ins and outs of the ghost life. He explains that she can make her door appear whenever she likes and that he has the ability to dream. They confront a girl, Diana Alcott, who was shallow and mean to him in high school and after she accepts the error of her ways, she gets her door.

Sally comes home and dreams of her door and it magically appears! She opens the door and it’s just a tunnel of light. She calls out to Aidan and Josh to come check it out but they’re not home. Suddenly, she sees someone approaching at the far end of the tunnel. It’s not something nice. The tunnel gets creepy and dark. Sally quickly realizes this was a mistake and tries to slam the door shut but the presence pushes its way through and into her! Great, she’s just let something sinister into the house and is quite possibly possessed. Another exorcism anyone???

This was a great opener to the new season! With all the vampire politics, Nora’s new status as a werewolf and Sally’s further forays into ghost life, we can expect to be well entertained! Tune in with me next week to watch Episode Two, “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?”

Photo Courtesy of Syfy

How was it a different experience going into a second season of Being Human versus the first season?

Sam Huntington: We loved the show so much, [and] I think I can speak for all of us when I say that and so we were all really, really excited to get back. You know the funny thing is I personally expected it to feel a lot like just one giant bout of déjà vu and to be honest, it really just felt as though we never had the hiatus. Because it was all the same crew and a lot of the same cast, it just felt like we had maybe a two day break and then we just rolled into Season Two. At the same time it was great because I felt like we were able to really just pick up right where we left off which was a really cool spot.

Sam Witwer: We were so exhausted after the first season, for months afterwards even the thought of doing Season Two would make me sleepy. When we got back, I guess I hadn’t expected to be as happy to see everyone as I was. The crew and all the directors and everyone, that carried me through the season. I wasn’t as exhausted this year, there was something about having a successful Season One behind us and knowing the characters and having that momentum that was really positive this year.

Meaghan Rath: Yeah, and I think script-wise it was a lot easier to just fall back into it this year because there was no establishing who our characters were and what our circumstances were, we just jumped right into it. And that’s reflective of the first episode, we just get right into the story immediately which was really great.

Sam Witwer: Absolutely. In the first season, there was so much heavy lifting on everyone’s part to establish these characters and to try make this all work. I think we had a little bit of competence going in this time.

Meaghan Rath: Yeah.

Sam Huntington: There was so much uncertainty in Season One. You’re kind of biting your fingernails the whole time just saying to yourself, “God I hope people like this and I hope people watch this.”

Sam Witwer: Right, and you’re second guessing yourself.

How do your characters’ story lines differ this season?

Sam Witwer: It’s extremely different, it’s very, very different. If Season One was about putting these people who are at risk into a safe environment, well Season Two is all about what is that risk about? I think it’s inevitable with these people and their adversities, you know specific risks that they have in terms of vampire, werewolf and ghost, what do those conditions mean? And basically what it means is these people are in trouble and we’re going to see a lot of that trouble this year. We’re going to see why they need so badly to have a sanctuary because things get a little bit darker this year.

How would each of you say that you balance your character’s humanity while dealing with the darker parts of of their nature?

Meaghan Rath: For me it’s important to keep in mind that these are real people and not to get sucked into the supernatural element of the whole thing. We are trying to play these as regular people. It’s a lot about keeping in mind what I would do in this kind of situation. I think that’s where the humanity comes from, just being a good person and being [faced] with these challenges that sort of question your morality and your values.

Sam Witwer: I think Meaghan is absolutely right with that. For example, in television we’ve kind of seen everything including vampires, werewolves and ghosts and we’ve seen people get killed and all kinds of crazy stuff. What we’re trying to do as three actors is bring as much humanity into those events as possible. If someone dies, we’re going to show you. Hopefully we’re going to tell a story where you realize that that is an awful sacrifice or that something has happened that is really, really terrible. It’s all about the character’s reactions. These three characters are the eyes through which the audience watches the show, so we’re really trying to keep our reactions to all this giant supernatural stuff very grounded. In terms of the dark stuff that comes up, I mean the messed up thing is that at first you’ll see our characters react with horror and shame and all this awful stuff, and then as time goes on you might see them kind of get used to it and that hopefully will be a very sad thing to watch.

Sam Huntington: I think you just kind of hit the nail on the head. I mean a lot of times on the show I can say I think the characters are almost seeing these horrible things happen for the first time, so they’re almost like the audience. You know they’re viewing these things and so hopefully that’s what the audience can kind of grasp on to. And also, as an actor, it helps form what you do. Because you’re like, “What if this person was killed? What would [be] the ramifications? Emotionally, what would that mean to me, and how would that affect me and every aspect of my life. We don’t just roll over these issues, we actually tackle them.

Will we see more tension build between the three of you as these darker aspects are explored?

Sam Witwer: We will be seeing tension between the three in ways that we didn’t see in the first season. Things get pretty serious.

Meaghan Rath: You will see a lot of tension between the three roommates because we all are on our own journey and trying to get ourselves out of these really desperate situations. So for the reason that we’re doing completely different things, when we do come together there’s a question of can we still relate to each other and how non-judgmental are we actually going to be towards each other? And that generates a lot of tension between us.

Sam Huntington: And you know the temptation this season is just a beast. You know what I mean? Just a beast.

Season 2 of Being Human kicks off tonight at 9/8c on Syfy and at 10 ET on SPACE.

Photo Courtesy of Syfy

The other sort-of-issue I had with this was that it took place outside of the timeline of the rest of the show. On the one hand, I completely understand why they did this. The season ended with cliffhanger, and it would make no sense to pick up there for a one-off Christmas special. But they could have inserted it somewhere else in the timeline. Personally, I would have been satisfied with a quick framing device in which one of the characters flashes back to this event that took place last summer. I just didn’t like it sort of floating around in the ether.

Anyway! All that said, this was a decent episode. The Trouble of the Week started when Christmas decorations start appearing all around Haven in July – and only Audrey thinks it’s weird. Nathan, in fact, claims that it’s Christmas Eve and claims that Christmas is always in July. Audrey has bigger things on her mind, though, when people start dying – including a guy strangled by Christmas lights – or just vanishing. It turns out that a girl named Hadley is accidentally turning the town into a replica of her snow globe. Her grandfather had had a toy store and accidentally made a toy train set come to life and his family disappear; his Trouble was passed down to Hadley and triggered by her grief and confusion over her parents’ separation.

Audrey and Nathan eventually realize that an invisible wall has appeared around Haven – like the outside of a snow globe – and cut them off from the outside world. As people disappear, those left in town forget they ever existed (except, of course, that Audrey remembers everything). By the time Audrey figures out what’s going on and finds Hadley, almost everyone in town is gone and a goopy paint-like substance is starting to cover everything in Haven. Audrey convinces Hadley to hand her the snow globe, but just giving it up isn’t enough – Hadley has to stop living in her fantasy world in order to make the real world come back. Audrey concedes that she and Hadley are the same: Hadley thinks she has to be alone, but “You don’t. We don’t.” Aww.

Elsewhere, Vince and Dave are discussing the future of the newspaper and the way that they adjust their articles to cover up the Troubles. Vince wants to consider selling, but Dave won’t hear of it. The paper ends up being extremely important in solving the case, though, as Audrey tracks disappearances through the population figure on the front page and uses its subscriber list to find addresses. After everything is resolved, Audrey uses this to convince them to keep the paper going.

Even though the developments in Audrey and Nathan’s relationship we saw at the end of the regular season haven’t occurred yet in this standalone, the pair do have a few cute moments. Early on, Nathan realizes that Audrey doesn’t like Christmas because she has no family, and thinks she’s pretending it’s not Christmas as a coping mechanism. When she keeps insisting, though, he eventually says “I want to believe you. I always believe you.” He decides to keep his faith in Audrey – and just when he’s saying “I should have trusted you from the beginning,” he’s one of the final people to vanish from Haven, leaving Audrey – like Hadley – all alone.

Once everything gets back to normal – or Haven normal, anyway – Audrey, the one person who knew all along that it wasn’t Christmas, throws a Christmas party. (Duke, hilariously: “Why are there so many cops in my place?”) Nathan and Duke have a touching (no, not that touching) moment under the mistletoe, and Audrey presents them with the Christmas gift they both wanted as kids. She could only find one, though, so they’ll have to share. Aww. In great Christmas movie tradition, Audrey ends the episode with a pronouncement to the group: “Today I was reminded how important friends really are. And how lucky we are to be here.” Indeed.

(Photo courtesy of Syfy.)

According to the Showcase Blog, production on Season 3 will begin in Spring 2012.

The series continues to be Showcase’s highest rated drama series, and continues to win over new fans across the globe, a fanbase that’s expected to grow even more when Season 1 begins on Syfy on January 16, 2012.

Season 2 will be on a brief hiatus after a new episode on December 18th. It returns on January 22.

What a way to kick off the weekend, right Faenatics?!?

Photo Courtesy of Showcase

The Haven Christmas episode was not only filmed in July, but that theme is actually part of the storyline. Was it a challenge to get into the holiday spirit in the middle of summer?

Yes. We laughed because [where] we film in Chester, Nova Scotia … we were like, “We really should have filmed this [episode] first because it’s so cold there the majority of the time. It would have been nice to start out with the Christmas episode and then launch into the rest of the season. We had a very, very small, small window of warm weather, and so to be filming it in the middle of the warm weather season, even though that was still pretty cold in Nova Scotia, it was really, really funny.

It [was] fun to see the town come out and take in the Christmas decorations … we’re not there in Chester over the holidays, to sort of get a glimpse ahead of what that would be like was really, really neat, although it was totally sunny and no snow anywhere. Everybody gets in the holiday spirit when you say, “It’s Christmas.” It was great.

Since Audrey isn’t able to remember her past Christmases, does this episode have her trying to figure out what it means to her?

Yes, it’s something that launches Audrey into her journey … and is the thing for her that she has to sort of overcome. The past is something that is really hard for her to literally wrap her head around. And what she does remember, whether they’re her memories or not her memories, what she does remember isn’t exactly the most pleasant thing. So [the episode asks] how does she overcome that and deal what’s going on in the day? I think it makes for a pretty interesting episode.

You could say that Audrey has always been slightly out of sync with Haven and the people in it. Did you find parallels between your character’s experience and Christmas happening at the wrong time in this episode?

There’s a common theme with Audrey consistently feeling like an outsider, and we revisit that scene frequently in the show. It kind of has disappeared a bit in the second season as she’s belonged more in the town. But this holiday episode is definitely one that revisits that because she’s the only one that’s experiencing – or should I say, not experiencing Christmas. She’s the only one that doesn’t think that it’s happening and thinks that it’s foolish and [asks] why would it be happening in July? So again, she’s feeling on the outside and has to try to solve things and kind of get everything back on track on her own. But she’s pretty good at that.

Can’t wait for tonight? Here’s a sneak peek for you that I actually got to see back at New York Comic Con:

Be sure to watch Haven tonight at 10pm on Syfy, or for Canadian viewers, this Sunday night at 11pm on Showcase.

Coming soon – video from the Haven panel!

Photos by Sheryl DaSilva – Copyright © 2011 TheTelevixen.com

The Season 2 premiere of Being Human hits the small screen on Monday, January 16th at 9/8c on Syfy. Canadian fans, I’ll keep you posted on its premiere date on SPACE.

At the beginning of the episode, Audrey’s trying to avoid Duke, though he claims he won’t actually follow his father’s instruction to kill her. Audrey then confronts Dave about the picture of him with Lucy, and Vince wants to tell her everything but Dave resists. It turns out that the woman now called Audrey comes to Haven with the Troubles, each time with a different name and a different person’s memories. The picture is actually of Dave with Lucy’s predecessor Sarah. They don’t know how any of it works or where Audrey/Lucy/Sarah goes when she’s not in Haven. Vince gives Audrey Sarah’s ring and is vague about his relationship with her – but Nathan calls Audrey away on a case before she can finish the conversation. After she leaves, Dave says Vince told her too much, but Vince replies: “She needs my help! And you’re not getting in my way this time.” Intriguing.

When Audrey meets up with Nathan, he seems a bit antagonistic at first, mad at her for being late for work, and I started to worry – until it became clear that he was just acting that way because he wasn’t sure how to proceed after the epic kiss last episode. He finally manages to choke out “We should have dinner. Together.” Audrey readily agrees, but renders Nathan completely speechless when she offers to make pancakes. He stammers and mumbles and literally hides his face with his hand before he manages to get out “Are we talking dinner or – or breakfast?” They stare at each other and nod and it’s basically the cutest thing ever.

Meanwhile, Duke’s father’s ghost is playing a visit – and Duke is not happy to see him. Simon tells Duke that he can “cure” people: if a Crocker kills a Troubled person, the Trouble dies with them and no one inherits it. Duke is disbelieving, and Simon tries to convince him that it’s his responsibility and destiny to be a Trouble slayer, but Duke is having none of it. Other people aren’t as against the whole murder concept, though: the Rev’s ghost is back, and he and the gravedigger have a hit list and are marking their victims with a red symbol.

Back in Cute Central, I mean, the police station, Audrey and Nathan are leaning against each other just a little as they use the computer together to try to find a connection between the dead people. And Nathan finally opens up to Audrey about his past with Duke: It’s a fight with Duke that started Nathan’s Trouble. A few years ago, Duke came back to town and claimed that he wanted to be friends with Nathan, and Nathan believed he’d changed. But it turned out Duke just wanted to use Nathan as a cover for his smuggling. They fought, and during the fight Nathan stopped feeling pain. Interesting. Nathan’s takeaway from this, of course, is that Audrey shouldn’t trust Duke, but he’s still not really objecting to hanging out with him all the time. Heh. They meet up with Duke at the cemetery where Duke is burying the weapon box – in the midst of returning ghosts, of course. Duke asks Audrey if it bothers her that she never really solves anything, but Audrey says she has no alternative. Duke: “But what if you did?” He’s clearly thinking about what his father said.

Nathan’s father’s ghost appears, and Audrey makes Nathan go talk to him while she goes off investigating with Duke. Nathan and Garland have some awkward small talk, as they would, and
Garland claims that he’s just there to see Nathan, not to settle a score like the other ghosts. He wholeheartedly approves of Audrey’s killing of the Rev, by the way. Nathan thinks his dad should have told Audrey about knowing Lucy, but his dad is concerned that Nathan is too worried about Audrey’s feelings.

Garland: “Are you in love?”
Nathan: “I don’t know what it is.”
Garland: “Well stop.”
Nathan: “What?”
Garland: “You two can’t be in love. She’s just too important to this town!”

Garland says that if Audrey’s in love with Nathan, she’ll take risks for him, and that would be dangerous for the town as a whole. The important thing is that Nathan must keep Audrey alive. “You came back to tell me that?” Nathan asks. “That I can’t be in love with Audrey?” When Garland says he did, Nathan promptly forgets that he’s claiming he doesn’t know whether he’s in love: “Well then. You wasted your time.” Careful, Nathan, your feelings are showing. And boy can you be articulate when you need to be.

Things can’t go smoothly, though, so just then the Rev is threatening to kill Audrey if Duke doesn’t go with him. Duke goes, of course, but since Audrey can’t see the ghosts she doesn’t know what has happened. When she meets back up with Nathan, he hedges about telling her what his dad said, and she gets flirtatious, swearing to get it out of him later. They have more immediate issues, though, as they follow the gravedigger’s wife into the woods and see that the Rev’s men are chloroforming the Troubled and putting them in a barn, which Nathan thinks they’ll burn. Soon Duke appears with the Rev – and Audrey and Nathan promptly get captured. Nathan thinks Duke is working with the Rev, but Duke denies it, and refuses to help kill people.

The gravedigger is part of the group even though he himself is Troubled, as evidenced by his ability to bring people back from the dead. He wants Duke to kill him to “save” his unborn child, but Audrey tells him not to. Simon tells Duke not to listen to Audrey and the Rev calls her a liar, but Duke says “No. She’s my friend.” Simon’s not buying it, because Sarah killed Duke’s grandfather and Lucy killed Simon, so Simon is convinced that Audrey will kill Duke. When Duke points out that he’ll actually be killed by a tattooed man, Simon says that Audrey “doesn’t have to do it with her own hands.” The gravedigger takes advantage of all the confusion and impales himself on Duke’s knife, thus forcing Duke to kill him. (Duke’s eyes go funny as they did in his confrontation last episode, so we’ll have to figure out what that means, exactly.) Simon keeps saying that Duke has to kill Audrey or she’ll kill him, and talking up the way his son will wipe out the Troubled, but Garland steps in “I have a son too. A damn good one. Just take care of our girl, okay?” Hm. I can’t decide if that was adorable or kind of creepy. (At least they didn’t reveal that one of Audrey’s previous incarnations had dated Garland, which is what I’d been fearing.) Now that the gravedigger is dead, the ghosts all go, and Audrey arrests all the living people who had been working with the Rev. Back in the newspaper office, Dave is mad at Vince when he realizes he had the gravedigger dig up and rebury Garland on purpose to bring him back. Vince: “It’s different this time. She’s different this time.” They’re being cryptic. I’m sure you’re shocked.

When we cut to Audrey all dressed up, making pancakes and lighting candles, it almost seems like we’re going to get a happy end to the season – but then she answers the door, expecting Nathan, and instead gets tased. Nathan shows up a few minutes later – in a jacket and tie! – and is alarmed when he finds Audrey’s door open and the signs of a struggle in her kitchen. He finds Duke’s necklace (which Duke had been holding when he first saw his ghostly father, if that’s important) and drives out to Duke’s boat to confront him. (The drive seems to take a while, given that I didn’t think Duke’s bar was actually that far from where he docks the boat.)

Duke is drinking alone, and when Nathan confronts him, he claims he didn’t do anything. “Why would I hurt Audrey?” he asks, perhaps forgetting that he spent this entire episode listening to his father telling him to hurt Audrey. Nathan is unmoved: “You’ve got five seconds.” As Nathan pulls his gun, Duke (and the audience) see for the first time that Nathan has the spiral tattoo of the man who will kill him – and then we pan out so that we hear a gunshot but just see the boat, and don’t see who shot whom. So. Whoa. I don’t actually believe for a second that they’d have Duke or Nathan kill the other, but that was still quite an ending.

We’ll probably have to wait until next summer for season three, but check back in December for our recap of a very special Haven Christmas episode!

Photo courtesy of Syfy.