by Kimmie Chameleon:
Being Human Recap: “A Spectre Calls”
Original Air Date (BBC Three): Sunday February 26, 2012
Series 4 Episode 4
Ever meet someone that completely won you over with their charm and wit that you reassessed your other friendships? This new person came along and told you what you wanted to hear…but what you didn’t know was that your new “buddy” had a different agenda…one that wasn’t so groovy. Some people get a kick out of playing emotional mind games with others. This week Annie and the guys welcome into their fragile home a ghost who they believe was sent by the dearly departed Nina.
A Rota
A rota is a schedule, and Annie has taken the liberty of creating one for all of the roommates to abide by. It is decorated with glitter and everything! Caring for baby Eve has exhausted Annie, so she wants to run a tight ship with the help of Tom and Hal. There is a knock at their front door, and no…they don’t see Mary Poppins…but who they do see is a leisure suit wearing 1970’s guy. He introduces himself as Kirby. Hal and Tom inspect him for any weapons and burns on his arms, but find nothing. Kirby tells them that Nina sent him to help Annie care for Eve because he used to be a nursery school teacher. The proof he gives Annie is that he was told by Nina to mention something about George’s GQ magazine. This somehow convinces Annie that Kirby may come in.
When Kirby visits Eve’s room he points out how drab and dull it is. Annie agrees and sends Tom out to fetch some paint and furniture to spruce up the room. When Tom returns home, he presents Annie with an old box chest that he found…not exactly what she had in mind. Tom does not want to disappoint Annie, and neither does Hal. The two have compromised their schedules to willingly help care for Eve.
Kirby visits Tom who is resting in his room. He points out to Tom that he does whatever Annie tells him to do. Kirby also tells him that Hal and Annie treat Tom like a child still. Kirby asks Tom what the wall full of cut-out pictures of random things is. Tom answers that it is his “What I Want to Do” wall. Magazine cut outs of people in love, travel destinations, and a child blowing out birthday candles surrounded by friends are some of the images we see. Tom admits that tomorrow is his 21st birthday. Kirby lies to Tom and tells him that Annie and Hal are planning a huge surprise party for him tomorrow. It is suggested by Kirby that Tom ignore the rota tomorrow and take off until the evening so that they can get the party ready. Tom agrees to follow these instructions. He has never had a party before…or even a birthday cake with candles. Closest he has ever come was a muffin.
Tom and Hal, the Happy Couple
The house comes to a standstill when Eve develops a fever. The roommates all agree that they must have a house call visit from a doctor. They come up with a plan that they hope will deter the doctor from becoming suspicious about an undocumented baby living in a house with two men. When the doctor arrives, Tom nervously answers his questions and needs Hal to help him. Hal reluctantly comes downstairs. We now see what they planned…they are posing as a gay couple. The doctor confirms that Eve has an ear infection but warns Hal and Tom that he will be alerting the authorities about the unusual situation Eve lives in. The doctor leaves and Kirby follows him to his car. Kirby does not want the doctor stir up any problems for Annie, Tom and Hal…so he causes the doctor to have a heart attack by means of ghostly suggestion. Since the doctor cannot hear Kirby he cannot hear Kirby crabbing about how back when he was alive he used to just kill people with a knife. Uh-oh. Kirby is a serial killer.
Kirby returns to the house and Hal finds it odd that the doctor suddenly had a heart attack and died. Hal doesn’t think this is a coincidence. When Hal’s questions Kirby, all Kirby does is becomes defensive and points out that he knows all about Hal’s past…all of the innocent people he has murdered over the years. Hal better keep his mouth shut or else he will tell Annie about Hal’s past. Kirby tells Hal that he really likes Annie a lot and wants to help her, but if she knows that there is anything devious about him she will not like him. Nina sent him after all! This looming weight in Hal’s head gets the best of him and so he decides that it would be best if he just told Annie about his past, but Annie doesn’t want to hear about it.
It’s a new day and Tom enthusiastically jumps out of bed. It’s his birthday!!! And he is going to be the center of attention later tonight when he gets home for his “surprise” party. Tom plays it off to his roommates that it’s just another day and takes off.
Hal is reading the newspaper and notices that there is a story about the “box tunnel murder”. The report shows that the murderer had human flesh in his stomach. This case refers back to Mitchell. This story upsets Hal because he knows that the police have covered up the murder that Mitchell committed, but pin it on some innocent guy. Hal tracks down the doctor that that blamed the innocent man and asks her who she is working for and why they are blaming it on a person that is not at fault. Dr. Wilson tearfully explains that she has been forced into this situation because she is terrified that the vampires that are forcing her to do this will harm her family. Hal backs off from antagonizing the woman any further. Later we see that Dr. Wilson is approached by the vampire Cutler. She tells him that there was another vampire questioning the investigation. This angers Cutler because he wants to know who is investigating, but she can only describe Hal. Cutler loses his temper and kills the doctor.
Surprise…???
Tom has returned home. He rehearses his “surprised” reaction before he enters the house, but when he enters there is no surprise. In fact, Tom is greeted by a very grumpy Annie who is pissed that Tom took off all day and ignored the rota. Tom runs to his room and sobs. He is so hurt that he tears down his cut outs off of the wall. Kirby comes to visit Tom and spits out more lies to him. He tells Tom that Hal told him that he wants Tom to remain in his kennel just like his “dad”. Tom is now completely infuriated and rushes to Hal’s room where he picks a fight with Hal. Annie must intercept and Tom takes off into the city. He gets hammered and ends up getting arrested for beating up a vampire. He later gets bailed out by a mysterious vampire that tells him that if he ever needs help to give him a call. But we know who this vampire is…it is Cutler.
Back at home Hal has now caught on to all of Kirby’s lies and manipulations. Kirby is so upset by Hal’s insight that he enters Hal’s bedroom and tosses things around because he knows how orderly Hal things need to be. Hal is now really angry. Kirby vanishes and appears in Eve’s bedroom. Hal runs to help Eve, but when he walks into the room Kirby is holding the baby. Kirby begins to shout for Annie, and when Annie enters the room she is stunned to see Kirby cowering in a corner pretending to be protecting Eve from Hal. Kirby has made it appear that Hal was going to cause harm to Eve. Annie commands Hal to leave the house at once and Hal so respects Annie that he does so. Tom later finds Hal and the two of them patch things up because they now know what Kirby has been up to and are aware of all of the lies that were told. They must hurry and get back home to Annie and Eve.
Pillow Talk
Annie is now an emotional wreck and Kirby consoles her. He asks her what Nina meant about the whole GQ magazine thing. Annie explains that one time her and Nina were thumbing through the pages of the magazine and looking at all the gorgeous men that were out of their league. Annie had told Nina that she could have just one good one…so she believes that Nina sent a good one to her, and that was Kirby. Kirby begins to charm her with more compliments, but then he begins to say some awfully rude things. He tells her that she is drab and dull and scared off her roommates. He even tells her that she drove Mitchell to commit suicide. He then confesses to her that he was never a nursery school teacher, but that he was a toy salesman with great aspirations to become an infamous serial killer. Kirby pounds more and more demeaning insults on her until she slowly disappears and fades from existence.
Kirby now has baby Eve all to himself. He begins to celebrate but is then interrupted by the TV. It is future Eve telling him to finish the job she required him to do. Tom and Hal storm into the house and demand to know where Annie is. He tells them that she is gone. Kirby grabs a knife and thrusts it towards the baby but is stopped just in time by Annie. She has returned! With all of her might she obliterates Kirby.
Now that Kirby is gone, peace has been restored in the house. Hal helps Tom re-pin his collage onto the wall and Annie surprises Tom with a birthday cake…with candles! Hal excuses himself and goes to his room. We now see why Hal was able to keep his distance from Eve. He pulls down his shirt and we see that he has a burned arm. Could Hal be the one destined to cause Eve harm?
Quotable Quotes:
Kirby to Annie: “Eek. Someone fell out of the wrong side of the coffin this morning.”
Kirby to Annie: “Evil is like traveling first-class. Try it once and you never go back.”
Kirby to himself: “Damn it! I’m so good. I’m Starsky AND Hutch!”
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