Being Human Recap: Episode 2.08 – I’ve Got You Under Your Skin
The question in this week’s episode has to do with limits and violence. How much violence can one inflict, or be inflicted with and where does one draw the line. Aidan even says to Sally at one point that even monsters have their limits. I’m sure we’ve all questioned hypothetical situations and have wondered how much, as an individual, we can endure when it comes to violence, both receiving and dishing out. It’s an ugly thought to be sure, but it’s also human…which fits right in with the basic premise of this show.
Suren is back this week and along with her, we’re back to the vampire hierarchy story. I’m rather conflicted about the character of Suren. It’s not that I don’t like her, but I find that her character interrupts the flow. She’s a wrench in the machine if you will. I’m sure that’s the intent, because things can’t all be cupcakes and rainbows for the trio, but something about her just rubs me the wrong way. On the flip side of that, Josh’s sister Emily is back, which is a good thing. She’s rather fun, and I like when she pops up. She tends to make things a bit interesting.
Josh
Reeling from his breakup with Nora, Josh has spent about a week in bed. Aidan does him a solid however by calling in for reinforcements in the form of Emily. Hellbent on forcing him to get his shit together, Emily firmly suggests that Josh go to work, then they can meet for drinks and get properly plastered. Josh reluctantly agrees. Later on he shows up at the bar to meet Emily, but he’s about two hours early. Turns out that Emily had another drink date planned for that time and much to Josh’s horror, it’s with Julia…..Josh’s….and Aidan’s ex. Awkward! Josh gets irritated with Emily, thinking the invite to drinks was a ploy to, as he put it, “Parent Trap” him and Julia, but once the awkwardness subsides, Josh settles in for drinks.
Emily has a few too many and ends up licking a girl at the bar. Her boyfriend doesn’t approve and Josh, Julia and Emily have to make a hasty exit. They take Emily back to Julia’s house and this gives Josh and Julia time to reconnect a bit as they put a passed out Emily to bed and remember how they did the same exact thing when Emily went to her prom. Once Emily is all tucked in for the night, Josh looks around Julia’s apartment and she confesses that she came to Boston to look for him and how she’s still trying to understand why he left everything behind.
Josh explains to her that after he was mauled he changed. In a rather emotional scene, Josh tells her that if he had stayed, he would have turned violent toward her and he would have changed her and alienated her from everything she knew. While he never says anything about being a wolf, he more or less tells her the truth about him, while not really telling her anything.
The next day, Emily tells Josh that he missed his chance for a night of drunken rebound sex with Julia. Josh tells her that he can’t ever be in a relationship with Julia again, but thanks Emily for making it so he and Julia don’t hiss at each other in the halls at work. This would be Josh’s limit. Knowing what he did to Nora and making sure it doesn’t happen again. Especially with Julia.
Sally
It’s been almost a week since the Reaper told Sally to prepare and say her final goodbyes. She’s been on edge ever since and her nerves are getting the best of her…and the house for that matter. Things are shaking and breaking all over the place. As she’s trying to calm herself, Reaper shows up and tells her he found a loophole that will enable her to stay. The catch is, she would have to take over his job. Aidan tells her that he thinks this ghost is just messing with her but she questions if she could actually destroy a soul.
Sally finds Stevie and asks him about shredding. He advises her not to try, because it will make her dark. She tells him about Reaper and while he begs her not to do it, he tells her how. Back at the house, Reaper shows up and when he asks for her decision, she shreds him. Well, she tries anyway. Much to her dismay, she’s not powerful enough and Reaper comes back to rub it in her face. He asks her what it felt like and she admits to getting a rush from it. He tells her it’s like that every time and that she was chosen for her darkness, which is a result of how she died. After much discussion about keeping the balance, and doing something that matters, Sally decides that maybe she can do the job after all.
Reaper takes Sally to her first victim, and it happens to be Stevie. She tries to convince Reaper that Stevie’s not bad and that she can help him. He explains to her that Stevie has been on a shredding binge and it needs to stop. Sally tries to talk to Stevie but finally sees that she can’t help him. Reaper takes it from there and shreds him, but tells Sally, come the next day, she’s got to do it. Aidan arrives home and sees Sally on the couch and asks her what her decision was, but she tells him she doesn’t want to talk about it, and vaporizes.
Aidan
Aidan is in the middle of a big ole chess game at the moment. He’s trying to save Henry, yet also appease Suren while also handling the orphan problem. Suren tells him that Mother is headed back to Boston to check on their progress and they need to make sure that the orphans are dealt with before Mother arrives. Aidan goes to meet Henry, who has taken shelter in a human’s house. Aidan tells Henry to gather the orphans, and Aidan will help get them to safety.
Once they’re all gathered, Aidan tells them the plan is to move them to Baltimore. As he’s trying to get out of the house with Henry, Suren is purchasing the house from the human so that she can uninvite them all, which will effectively kill any vampire in that house. Aidan makes it out with Henry, and they watch as the others turn to ash. Henry’s mortified that Aidan would kill the orphans, but it was the only way that he could save Henry. He tells Henry that he told Suren it was Henry who gave up the orphans, so that she would accept him back.
Aidan presents Henry to Suren, who is still a little bitter about how things between them ended. She tells him that she needs her “pound of flesh” and she means that literally. She goes into this long dissertation about the art of flaying and tells Henry that he must endure it as his punishment. Since he’s a vampire, his skin will grow back, but it’s gonna hurt something fierce. Aidan says that he did warn Henry about the price for messing around with royals then reminds Suren that Henry is his son and tells her that he better be alive when he returns for him. As Aidan leaves, he can hear Henry screaming for Suren to kill him. Nice. I’m really glad they decided to keep that scene behind closed doors.
There are clearly some lines with each of our characters here. Aidan will murder a group of vampires, but not his progeny. He knows that the torture Henry has to endure at the hands of Suren is necessary, and will, in the end, save his life. Sally will try pretty much anything to save herself, but seems to be struggling with the “shred or get shredded” option. Josh left Julia because he didn’t want to hurt her, but ended up not leaving Nora and actually did hurt her, but does his best to make sure that it won’t happen again. He’ll have to sacrifice his happiness, and a sense of normality in order to accomplish this, which will have its own set of issues I’m sure.
Tags: Being Human, Being Human 2.08, Being Human I've Got You Under Your Skin, Being Human Recap, Being Human Season 2 episode 8, Kristen Hager, Meaghan Rath, Sam Huntington, Sam Witwer
