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Okay, that was unexpected. I can honestly state that I've never seen a tv show do that before. Also sort of makes Joss Whedon and Kevin Williamson look like wimps and rather nice writers in comparison. Actually all American television writers look like wimps in comparison. Which is saying something.
Toby Whithouse literally killed off all my favorite characters and left untouched the only one that I found sort of annoying and not all that interesting? On the other hand, nice twist. Usually the black woman is killed off and the two white guys and white girl morn, here she is left alive and the two guys are killed. Along with Nina, dammit. I rather liked Nina. Nina was my favorite character on that series. And she dies off-screen and in an anti-climatic fashion? What happened, the actress chose not to continue her contract?
As one critic put it - the Brits are sort of used to this. Doctor Who after all changes its cast and its writers all the time. In the US - this sort of change would equal the death of the series and rarely works. The UK? Not a problem. It also sort of makes any attempt at comparison with the US version of Being Human null and void. Because there is no way the US version would do that. (American TV writers are wimps.)
Rather liked George and Nina. George and Nina were the only reasons I was watching Being Human. Although Annie redeemed herself mid-way through last season with her rejection of Mitchell. I loved how she dealt with Mitchell at the tail end of that season. It's odd, I know there were fans who hated Annie for rejecting Mitchell - I went in the exact opposite direction, I started liking Annie after she rejected Mitchell - prior to that I found her to be a bit of a whiny doormat.
See? This is something Whedon even wouldn't attempt to do. It's easy to kill off supporting characters like Wash, Anya, Tara, Jenny, Shepard, Fred, Cordy, Wes or Spike. But to kill off all the lead characters...this would sort of be akin to Whedon killing off Giles, Buffy, and Xander, leaving Willow to fend for herself. OR Angel, Wes, Fred, leaving Cordelia on her own with Gunn - actually that's pretty close. Since Annie annoyed me in somewhat the same ways Cordelia did, and I preferred Fred, much as I prefer Nina.
They do the mystical baby trope - the baby is human. Big surprise. Bigger surprise is that she's not the savior of mankind, but the war child that will help the vampires. Or that's what I took away from the episode. So in the future, the blond woman (who is probably EVE) gets herself killed so she can go back in time as a ghost and kill the baby, to save the world. That's a nice twist, the mystical baby doesn't save the world, she dooms it. I had a feeling that was the case when the vampire recorder goes out of his way to save her. He wants the vampires to win and destroy the world. I'm not sure I misread that or not. If you have a different interpretation, feel free to share.
Rather funny episode in places. Being Human is a bit of a tragic comedy.
My favorite?
Vamps put baby on sacrificial table to see if it will change...it doesn't
Vamps: it's the full moon.
Vamp Recorder: it's human
Vamp Leader: How disappointing. Anyone want a human baby?
Vamp Minion: What about the tribute to the old one's?
Vamp Leader: We'll just have to give them George.
Vamp Minion: The scrolls are on human skin?
Vamp Recorder: The Dead Sea Scrolls are very ancient of course they are on human skin
Vamp Minion: I bet the Magna Carter didn't have a nipple in the middle of it.
Vamp Recorder: The human baby of the moon...this child will end vampires, it's written.
Vamp Leader: Okay, we'll just kill the baby.
Vamp Recorder: No you don't understand, it's written. This is what will happen. We can't change it. There's nothing we can do.
Vamp Leader: Yes we can, we can kill the baby. Do it now.
Vamp Minion: You're going by tea leaves and horoscopes, we don't even know if it is true.
Vamp Recorder: Of course it's true.
Vamp Leader: We need to kill the baby now as tribute to the old ones and prevent our demise.
Vamp Recorder: What about George, thought he was the tribute.
Vamp Leader: Now it's the baby.
Vamp Minion: First it's the baby, then George, then the baby...the old ones are incredibly difficult to shop for.
Vamp Recorder: Wait, I have to do it. It has to be done a special way. And it will take time. I need to get a hat, robe, special knife, all sorts of stuff - will take me a long while to find it.
Vamp Leader: You have ten minutes.
I was spoiled about George's death, but had no clue how he'd die. I thought he died off-stage for some reason, so was surprised to see him still alive. Was not spoiled on Nina. Was very annoyed she was dead. So...didn't cry in this episode. Because I spent most of it trying to figure out how they were planning on killing off George. Also they had a confusing sub-plot about another Vampire/Ghost and Werewolf living together...apparently it's not that rare a thing for a vamp, a werewolf and a ghost to live together in England. Who knew? And we kept flipping 25 years into the future...where there's this lovely blond leader who collects the scrolls, including the missing piece (which the Vamp Recorder doesn't have) and determines that the baby must die in order for the world to survive. I'm guessing she's the baby, in which case going back to kill herself sort of creates a Butterfly Effect? Personally, I think she should go back earlier and just prevent the conception. But that might be a bit difficult story-wise. Time travel storylines are always a bit confusing. Toby Whithouse seems to be combining Sarah Connor Chronicles with Angel the Series by way of Forever Knight.