7.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Three twenty-somethings share a house and try to live a normal life despite being a ghost, a werewolf, and a vampire.
Starring: Sam Witwer, Sam Huntington, Meaghan Rath, Mark Pellegrino, Bobby CampoSupernatural | 100% |
Horror | 52% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Four-disc set (4 BDs)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
It’s almost always a crapshoot as to what roommates or housemates you’ll end up with at a certain period in your life, a tendency perhaps only exacerbated by such online sites as Craigslist (as evidenced by the seemingly nonstop array of co-tenant lawsuits that populate such shows as Judge Judy). While outsiders might think of the three main characters on Being Human as their personal worst nightmare in terms of having to live with any and/or all of them, the trio themselves probably count themselves lucky that they’ve found other “outcasts” with whom to share their decidedly unusual fates. Being Human is a North American revision of an extremely popular British series, but, while popular, seems to have not attained quite the same cult status as its English sibling. The show continues to mine the adventures of a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost with some decent enough plots and halting (almost soap opera tempo) character development, but increasingly the series seems to be coasting, attempting to invigorate its already dense mythology with some new characters as well as returning folks from previous seasons. Being Human picks up its third season quite a while after last season’s cliffhanger ending (this series has exploited cliffhangers quite a bit, something that’s actually made part of a featurette supplementing this latest season’s Blu-ray release). As a matter of fact, it might even be argued that the second season of Being Human ended with several cliffhangers, which may be the single biggest clue about a certain desperation that increasingly creeps into the show as the third season trundles along, as if the writers aren’t quite sure what they want to do with the by now incredibly convoluted and interwoven fabric of various plot threads. The series is to be commended for not aping its British progenitor like a Xerox copy, but at the same time, it hasn’t really pushed the boundaries in any meaningful way itself. As with the two previous seasons, the show still offers a refreshingly insouciant sense of humor which at least lets the audience know that it isn’t taking itself too seriously, but there’s a certain accrued weight to the show by now that keeps dragging it down from the ebullient highs of the first couple of years.
Being Human is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Entertainment One with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This digitally shot series continues to look very nicely sharp and well detailed on Blu-ray, though this season is perhaps a minor step down in quality, if only incrementally. That may be at least in part due to the increased use of CGI, which in this series has always tended to have a slightly soft quality. Colors continue to be just slightly pallid, per the previous seasons, though some of the more gruesome elements pop quite nicely. As with previous seasons, the various directors sometimes play with various techniques (see the fisheyed view of Josh in the second screenshot for a good example), sometimes pushing contrast so that whites bloom, or intentionally desaturating the image beyond even its normally kind of pale appearance. Despite these effects, the overall look of Being Human is very precise and clear looking, and remains almost entirely free of artifacts, save for a few transitory issues like minor banding.
Being Human continues to offer a nicely consistent sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 experience on all the episodes of this season. The show still tends to only fully exploit the surrounds with some of its fanciful sound effects, which regularly append scenes of mayhem or transformation. Dialogue is always very cleanly presented and some of the source cues utilized in the series offer some surprising low end. Fidelity remains excellent throughout this season, with wide dynamic range and no damage of any kind to report.
Being Human starts out its third season pretty strongly, with three (actually four if you include Nora) interesting developments which resolve in one way or the other the cliffhangers from last season. But there's no real suspense here, either—we know going in that the show is not going to jettison one main character who seems to be in peril, and anyone with any sense is going to realize that another character, who seems to be radically changed at the beginning of the season is going to "revert" to old ways by the season's end. Making all of this all the harder is the series' increasing tendency to both stuff episodes full of tangents with frankly too many characters to keep track of or at the very least to really care about. That tendency is offset somewhat by the continuing exploitation of a kind of dark but often quite funny sense of humor. I'm not quite ready to write off Being Human yet, but I'm getting a bit closer. That said, this third season, while on the edge, still is enjoyable enough to come Recommended.
2014-2015
1988
2014-2016
1966-1971
2012
Season 1
2013-2014
1992
2009
1997
Extended Bite Me Edition
2010
2015
1968
Restored Edition
1981
1998
2009
La noche del terror ciego | Standard Edition
1972
1982
30th Anniversary Edition
1989
2019
4K Restoration
1987