Wow, whole lotta stuff going down in this week’s episode! Josh and Nora experience another big bump on the road to a successful relationship, the Dutch are causing upheaval with Boston’s vampires and Danny and Bridget call in an exorcist to send Sally packing.
The following contains spoilers for this episode of Syfy’s Being Human.
Picking up right where last episode ended, Bishop, Marcus and Aidan are showing the Dutch what’s changed in Boston in the last 50 years. The Dutch are wanting to feed, so Bishop brings them to the blood den, something he considers to be one of their better additions to Boston. He’s reserved the entire space for their pleasure. The Dutch want to go to the harbor because they always go to the harbor to feed when they’re in Boston, but the modern vampires tell them the harbor isn’t what it once was. One of the Dutch notices the blood dolls in the den aren’t chained. Bishop explains they’re here of their own free will because they have an arrangement to feed but not to kill. Some hope to be turned someday, others have “issues”. Hegeman isn’t interested. “We do not feed on blood, we feed on life. This is appalling.” Bishop reminds him it’s a new reality and he did want to see how they did things nowadays in Boston. He brings forth Lola and gives her to Hegeman. This seems to convince them and they all gather a bevy of willing victims and take them all into one room. Hegeman is the last to enter. He says they will try this “city feeding”, but they’ll do it their way. He and the other Dutch proceed to slaughter every human in the place. As they watch the carnage, Bishop takes Aidan and Marcus into his arms and says it’s wonderful that they’re all back together on their last day. Because they have a traitor in their midst who’s told the Dutch everything, today they will die, because that’s the cycle of their endless life. He spares one last look for the Dutch. “So greedy. And they think we’re uncivilized.”
Josh sees Nora at the hospital, but she seems reluctant to talk. Apparently he was gone for two days for the dogfight and she wants to know what happened, but knows he won’t tell her. Josh stumbles through ineffective apologies and she just blurts it out: she’s pregnant. Of course, smooth operator Josh’s first question is, “with my baby?” Nice one, Josh, you pretty much just called her a slut. Nora immediately calls him out on it, then says she’s been rehearsing the conversation in her head for two days and it went so much better there. Josh figured it couldn’t happen and Nora automatically assumes he figured she would be on the Pill. He makes weak protests as she turns and walks away from him.
At the funeral home, Rebecca confronts Aidan and wonders why he’s back. He says he owes Bishop and she can’t figure out why. He thinks maybe he can make things better for everyone. “My God,” says Rebecca, “You’ve been here one day and you’ve got Kool-Aid coming out of your ears.” Aidan knows Bishop wants to take them public so they don’t have to hide, but he’s concerned that Bishop’s hunger is out of control. And he feels like he owes her too, but she says there’s too much blood under the bridge and it’s too late.
Sally’s sitting at home when Danny pokes his head in the door. Apparently he told the guys he was sending over an exterminator, but he shows up with Bridget and an older woman. The other woman immediately starts talking about the energy in the place and asking about the spaces involved. Sally assumes the woman is a real estate agent and Danny is putting their house on the market. Danny wants to get this over with and Bridget talks of moving on. Sally tries to warn her that moving her away from everyone is the first thing he does. The woman stops on the landing and announces, “This is where she died.” Sally can’t figure out why she would care where she died, but when the woman talks about clearing out the spirits room by room, it begins to dawn on her. And when she says the word “exorcism”, the other shoe drops.
"Whaddya mean 'exorcism'?" Credit: sidereel.com
Marcus is leading Hegeman through the funeral home. Marcus talks of their deal, so it’s obvious he’s the traitor. He wants confirmation that when the Dutch take care of Bishop, he will get Boston. Hegeman says he’s not sure death is necessary so long as order is restored. Marcus nervously asks if they’re planning to make Aidan leader instead, because that would be insane. He steps in front of Hegeman and places a hand on his chest, stopping the older vampire in his tracks. With slow-burning fury, Hegeman responds, “Please do not presume that you will ever tell me anything that I do not already know.” He tells a shaken Marcus that everything else will be discussed at the meeting.
The exorcist, Danny and Bridget are preparing the main room at the house for the exorcism by spreading salt around all the entrances. The exorcist explains that it keeps her bound to the house so she can’t sneak out and come back later. Sally rolls her eyes and attempts to leave the room, but the salt boundary acts like a force field. She tries to teleport outside, but she can’t do that, either. The woman begins by asking Sally to leave and find peace. Danny questions this, saying they could have done that themselves, but she tells him ghosts used to be people and people usually respond to “please” and “thank you”. The woman’s polite but insistent pleas only make Sally angry, causing light bulbs to explode around the room. The exorcist admits it might require more than “please” and “thank you” to get Sally to move on.
Bishop is in his chair with Aidan behind him and Hegeman opposite. Hegeman coughs and blames it on the city air before exchanging pleasantries. “Fifty years has it been?” “Who can forget,” Aidan answers in a measured tone, “You killed Carlo right over there.” It takes Hegeman a moment to even remember Carlo, and why they killed him. He was killed for Bishop’s heresy, which Bishop himself calls “youthful indiscretions.” Hegeman asks what Aidan would call his experiment of living with humans and he maintains he’s not living with humans, though he doesn’t mention they’re a werewolf and a ghost. Bishop wonders if there’s something else and Hegeman replies that they realize Bishop has been doing a lot of recruiting lately and it’s unbalancing the power structure between clans. Not only that, but they’re recruiting strategically so they can bring the family into the public. Bishop doesn’t deny it. So by going public and being more human, they expect to take over humanity and what? Does he expect them to submit? Bishop says some will, and some will be “persuaded” by mass murder and enslavement. Hegeman says they’ve tried to come out into the open many times in their history, but it never works. And Bishop’s plan jeopardizes everything. Hegeman lays out what will happen: he will cull his family by two-thirds and come back to Amish country with them and go into the earth for no less than fifty years. He leaves them to think about it and says he expects Bishop’s answer at dinner that evening. Aidan recommends Bishop take the deal and survive. Bishop knows Hegeman and the Dutch will run Boston into the ground keeping to their old ways. Aidan says if Bishop rejects the Dutch then every family on the council will be after Bishop’s head.
Josh is at the hospital folding towels when he gets the sudden urge to enter a patient room. There are balloons and blue baby gifts and Nora is in the bed cradling her baby. Josh nervously approaches and Nora seems quite calm and happy with her baby. He asks if the baby is healthy and she says she can’t get him to latch on, but he’s perfect. Josh steps closer to look at the baby and stumbles back horrified: Nora’s perfect little baby is gray and hairy. Josh shouts himself awake from his nightmare and finds he was napping in a wheelchair in the corridor.
Back at the house, the exorcism proceeds. The woman waves a lit smudge stick around while praying to God. Sally is starting to feel some ill effects from the exorcism. Through debilitating spasms, she shouts at Danny, “Why are you doing this? I left you alone, you won!” The exorcist continues her incantations and it’s obviously causing Sally considerable pain to the point where she screams and vanishes in a puff of ghost-stuff.
Exorcism hurts. A LOT. Credit: TVGuide.com
Aidan’s back at the hospital and sees Josh. He tells Josh he’s got to keep up appearances for the time being but he can’t come back to the house anytime soon. Josh tells him Nora is pregnant and that he botched receiving the news. After he can’t believe Josh handled things so badly, he congratulates him and tells him it’s a chance for him to be normal. Josh says if he were normal, he’d be telling family and people in Starbucks rather than trying to figure out how to tactfully bring up an abortion. Aidan takes him aside and tells him before he does anything drastic, remember the two of them made a commitment to try to have real lives and it looks like Josh will get his shot.
In the funeral home, they’ve got Rebecca folding napkins for the evening’s banquet. Marcus strolls in and tries getting her in his confidence by using the old “us against all the rest of them” tactic. Apparently both of them were mistakes: Rebecca was supposed to die without being turned and Marcus was turned so Bishop wouldn’t go home from a recruiting trip empty handed. Seems Bishop was after Marcus’ brother Silas, a Revolutionary War soldier. Rather than live as a vampire, his brother slit his own throat to die with honor. So Bishop took Marcus, a bookish man, not a soldier, then took Aidan shortly thereafter, getting the soldier-son he was denied earlier. He admits to her that he was the one who killed Bernie’s bullies. It was all part of Bishop’s plot to bring Aidan back to the family. He tries to get her on his side, but his revelation about Bernie has sent her over the edge and she storms out.
The exorcism is nearly done as they enter an upstairs bedroom. Danny is excited because it feels like it’s working. Bridget agrees, but she’s less than happy about it. Sally is there too, but she looks really rough and can barely speak out of swollen, cracked lips. Bridget calls for the exorcist to stop. She asks what will happen to Sally and if she’ll go to heaven and the woman gives a little non-committal laugh and says she doesn’t know what happens to the spirits, only that they’re gone. Danny jerks her aside and tries to reconvince her, but Bridget knows Sally is safe in the house and what if the exorcism sends her somewhere bad? Danny says they’re the ones in hell because every conversation turns into talking about Sally. Bridget thinks Sally deserves more than what happens after the exorcism. The woman resumes her ritual.
It’s time for the banquet, which turns out to be a woman pregnant with twins who has been compelled so she won’t scream. She’s lying in the center of the table with her very pregnant stomach exposed. Bishop entreats the Dutch to dig in but no one does. Skipping the pleasantries, Hegeman wants to know Bishop’s decision. Bishop sighs, citing business before pleasure. He grabs the woman’s wrist to make a toast but Aidan stops him. Aidan has a counter-proposal. He asks Bishop to scale back his ambitions so the Dutch could report back to the council that everything in Boston is under control. And if that doesn’t work, he will submit himself to the mercy of the Dutch and the council because he is the heretic in Boston. Marcus adds his two cents by suggesting Bishop consent to a power-sharing arrangement, presumably with himself, to make the council feel more at ease. Bishop laughs and stands. “Well gentlemen, I do believe you’ve just heard the clarion call of surrender. It’s kind of funny because I was going to stand up here and tell you that I reject your offer. I reject your theology. I reject your cowardice. And I was prepared to stand up here and fight you for what was right but I cannot do that alone and now it seems I stand here more alone than ever. My sons, in their own way, have rejected me. Lost faith in me. Deserted me.” He blithely continues, “Well, these things happen and so, a new toast. Forgive my heedlessness. I accept your terms. I surrender. My family will be reduced, Boston is yours, let’s celebrate.” He bites into the woman’s wrist and drinks as Hegeman begins to cough. Bishop offers the woman to the rest and tells them they should celebrate, but all the Dutch seem ill and out of it. He tells Hegeman he doesn’t look so well. Turns out, Bishop had everyone at the blood den on a steady diet of juniper. Had the Dutch just drunk from them, they would have been fine, but since they drained them dry, they got a heavy dose which acts upon the vampire body in much the same way as rigor mortis. Bishop says the effects don’t last long, but he only needs a couple of minutes to kill them all. Hegeman asks Aidan and Marcus for help but Bishop says they’re both useless. Aidan tries to talk him out of it but Bishop’s on a roll. He swings his sword and the first of the Dutch loses his head and falls to dust. Bishop says they may be old but they don’t have the market cornered on wisdom. A second Dutch loses his head and crumbles away. The sword swings a third time and Aidan upends the table with the pregnant woman over on Bishop and fireman lifts Hegeman and takes off. He’s stopped in the hallway by a metal pipe at neck level swung by Marcus. Marcus says that by killing Hegeman and the idiot who tried to help him escape, his place with Bishop is secure. He pulls out a stake and tells Aidan he’ll tell all his friends he died screaming like a pig. Suddenly, Marcus is staked from behind by Rebecca, who helps Aidan drag Hegeman away.
Danny tells everyone present a sob story about how Sally wanted a family but he could never give her that. Sally really looks like hell now and is shooting daggers at him for everything he’s done. Sally, on the verge of tears, cries, “You don’t get to talk about me like that. You don’t get to mourn me!” She launches herself at the exorcist and enters her body. She gets flashes of Sally’s last moments and how Danny pushed her down the stairs. She collapses against the bed as she relieves Sally’s death, physically overcome. Danny puts a hand on the woman’s shoulder and asks if it’s all over and she stands up, but it’s Sally’s face they see. “You. You did this to me.” Danny calls her a crazy bitch and she screams that she hates him. He grabs her around the neck and starts choking her as Bridget screams. Sally swings and scratches his cheek and he throws her against the wall, re-enacting how he killed her. Whether it’s the physical or psychic jolt, Sally and the exorcist part, the woman still suffering from Danny’s throttling. The woman, Ilana, knows what Danny’s done. She knows what he is. Physically recovered, Ilana rushes downstairs, collects her things and shoves them into her bag. Danny, in a panic, insists she finish the job because they paid her. She throws his money back in his face. Bridget asks what happened to Sally and Ilana says, “I don’t know, but I hope she’s still here. She deserves this place.” “And you?” she looks at Danny, “You deserve whatever she does to you.” Danny protests, saying Sally can’t stand for Bridget and him to be happy. Ilana turns on him. “No. The dead don’t lie.” As a final parting gesture, she kicks through the line of salt at the door. Bridget turns to leave too, but Danny says she can’t leave him like this. He grabs her and she first weakly promises she won’t tell anyone, but then she recovers her strength and demands he let her go in such a tone that he has no choice but to comply. As she leaves, she apologizes to Sally, who looks really bad now because of what she’s endured during the exorcism.
Josh corners Nora and tries apologizing again. “You ever say or hear something so many times the words lose all meaning?” she says as she gets up to leave. He convinces her to sit back down and she tells him, “Hurry up. I’ve got tons of guys to sleep with.” He admits to “deep, genetic-level problems” and says he didn’t think he could get anyone pregnant. And his whole family is screwed up. She is non-plussed by his “big confession”. She swore she’d never have kids and her family is screwed up on a whole bunch of levels. She’s normally paranoid about protection but there was something different about that night with Josh. “And it wasn’t that you jumped me and it was over in 20 seconds…” He laughs, “Yeah, I think it was at least 30.” They get serious and she says she can’t blame him for being freaked and he tells her he’s not going anywhere. The decide that they don’t have to decide anything just yet.
Aidan and Rebecca have gotten Hegeman to safety and he’s recovering. Aidan tells him Bishop needs to be stopped. Hegeman sternly replies, “Prepare. Prepare for what’s coming.” Then he runs off with vampire speed. Aidan compliments Rebecca on her impeccable timing. She tells him Marcus was responsible for the bullies. Aidan answers, “I don’t know why I didn’t assume that in the first place.” She warns him he needs to be careful because Bishop has everything planned out. She asks why he would offer to go underground and he says everything he’s done has been a mistake. She says she doesn’t think she was so bad. She tries to hand him a stake, he tries to dissuade her. She tells him she knows she was never meant to be. She died, she is dead – she shouldn’t be here. Aidan can’t stake her but she says she’ll do it herself if she has to. They won’t let her go because she killed Marcus and she wants to go out on her own terms. He says he’ll go with her but she tells him he has to finish things. They embrace, he eventually shoves the stake in and she thanks him before she crumbles to dust.
Aren’t we done with the Dutch yet? Now three of the four are gone, but Hegeman’s escaped to tell the council. Thanks a lot, Aidan! I find I can’t get myself too worked up about Hegeman’s warning because, really, they haven’t done anything to set themselves apart from your average run-of-the-mill vampire. We haven’t seen why everyone else in the vampire world fears them. And I’m not sure the writers can convince us without giving us hundreds of years to ruminate on it. The Dutch are boring and I hope Hegeman is going back to Amish country to go sleep off that juniper for another 50 years, though I know that’s not going to happen.
Josh and Nora kind of got short shrift this episode. We got the revelations that Nora is pregnant, Josh is a doofus and they’re both screwed up. So not much new there. I was expecting her to give him more hell about blowing off their date, but I guess the pregnancy took precedence. Since Nora, unlike Nina, is still human, I wonder how that’s going to work. Eh, no point in worrying, I doubt we’ll get an answer this season, though it does again call into question my theory about who Josh curses. At this point, it seems like it would be too tidy to turn Nora since she’s already preggers (with a pup?), but anything could happen, I guess.
The real stand out story this episode was Sally’s exorcism. Not only does someone else now know what Danny did, but it finally gave Bridget the courage to stand up to Danny. But what’s going to happen with Sally? The nearly-complete exorcism really left her the worse for wear. In the previews for next week, she looks like something out of a horror movie and seems more fixated on Danny than ever. I hope they find a way to reverse the effects soon, because I can’t imagine GrudgeSally holding interest for very long. And it would be a lot more satisfying for her to give Danny nightmares for all eternity when she has all her faculties rather than as some sort of zombie horror demon.
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