I'm in. Last week's episode was a little weak, but I thought this one came through beautifully. Josh got a little bit of a short shrift this episode but he had a major story line last week, and this week had some of the best lines.
It is impossible to live forever, perfectly
Granted, it was Josh's line about Aidan, but what a beautiful and telling line. We learned a lot about this series' version of vampires in this episode. Josh asked Aidan why he didn't burn up in the sun, a question I expect a lot of viewers were wondering. "We evolved" was the lovely answer. Used to be nocturnal, now just photosensitive. Nice! We already knew they had
superspeed, we learned that last week. Now we learn that they can brainwash people. We saw Bishop do a "these are not the droids you're looking for" move in the first episode, and it wasn't clear if he was doing this but now we know that they can enter people's brains and actually pick out and erase certain memories, but that it takes practice and skill, and when it is done incorrectly the human brain can be wiped clean or left in madness. They do, however, retain the classic requirement of needing to be invited into a home before they can enter.
No one says Hi to the neighbors any more, know why? Cuz we're the neighbors.
In the UK version it was just a get together; I love that in the US version it was a neighborhood watch group. The two quirky organizers were a little too quirky, and added a little too much lightness to the episode, but not to the point of distraction. It did eventually turn into an opportunity to show what happens to Josh when his adrenaline gets pumping, and how he felt about it afterwards.
Another adaptation for the US market that felt totally right was to make the potential reveal about Aidan the fact that he probably murdered a police officer's father when the police officer was ten years old. The UK's fear that the two men were actually child molesters, turning the neighbors to mob violence, was a little too raw for a SyFy show, though it would have worked on AMC or HBO/Cinemax/Showtime. This series just doesn't have that dark a vibe, though given the nature of the show it escapes the lightness of Eureka and Warehouse 13.
"I don't see a lot of ghosts like you." "Ones with backbones?"
Not Josh's lines but the new ghost, to Sally, and it captures exactly the difference between Sally in the US and Annie in the UK. Sally has backbone. I loved her line about Danny not coming over: "Is he such a pansy ass that he can't handle a little creepiness?!" She wants to be with Danny but she's thinking it's because that's what needs to be resolved before she can move on. She doesn't want to leave the house, but it's not because she's timid, it's because she thinks she'll disappear. Her absolute joy in being able to touch Tony was a treat, but her character still feels like it needs a bit of - sorry - fleshing out to make it as compelling as the other two. She is almost too strong. It will be interesting to see how she deals with Danny's potential new girlfriend.
Still, a solid episode that continued the development of the three characters nicely, and definitely makes me look forward to the next one.
First published by Good To Be a Geek 2/2/11 http://bit.ly/hDwF5f
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