I have a huge aversion to vampires. I have not seen a single Twilight movie and have a feeling I'm not missing out on much. I don't buy into the whole "vampires are cool" craze. There are just too many darn vampires on TV these days. So I found myself surprised when I could not stop watching the UK version of Being Human. It came highly recommended by a fellow potsy with great taste in television, so I decided to give it a try. Aside from being permanently scarred for life by a few gory scenes, I actually gleaned quite a lot of good out of this show and found myself empathizing with the main characters' struggle to be "normal" humans.
Being Human features a werewolf, a ghost, and yes--a vampire--as roommates living together in Annie the ghost's old house which George the werewolf and Mitchell the vampire rent from Annie's former fiancé (Annie the ghost is invisible to most people). Later on Annie remembers that Owen her despicable sociopath of a fiancé was the one who pushed her down the stairs, resulting in her untimely death. Annie is definitely the character I related to the most. She cannot be seen and heard by most people and leads an isolated life mostly confined to the house. The characters all seem to spend a lot of time at home, however George and Mitchell are out in society working at a nearby hospital and masquerading as human.
As irony would have it the "monsters" and ghost are not the true evil characters on the show. It is the Catholic priest, the misguided professor and the sociopath fiancee (all real humans) who are perhaps the most evil and seem to lack any sort of profound moral compass. Although they make big mistakes, the non-humans are actually good-hearted and consistently try to help people in spite of their own issues.
Here is how I personally relate to each of the main characters:
Annie: I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of POTS and EDS patients easily relate to Annie the ghost. She spends most of her time at home as a quiet observer of the goings-on around her. She is invisible to almost everyone and cannot be heard either. She cannot really "live" her life as she is a ghost and had all her earthly dreams and goals ripped from under her when she was pushed down the stairs. Her afterlife lacked purpose and she is often struggling to find her place in the world. She is arguably the nicest character on the show and genuinely goodhearted and wholly undeserving of what happened to her. She also wears the same outfit in every episode. Comfy clothes and cute Ugg boots.
George: George is a good-hearted werewolf who wants desperately to lead a normal life. He has to hide his secret from friends, coworkers and even tried to hide it from lovers. Although I don't deem his problem to be quite as severe as the vampire or the ghost's considering he only has to deal with spontaneously transforming into a werewolf one night a month during the full moon, it is still a huge disruption to his life. I relate to George because I too transform into a very unpleasant person during the first few days of my period and therefore I try to lay low and avoid people during that time so I don't say something I'll later regret.
Mitchell: Although I find it hard to relate to Mitchell much at all, a part of me does feel sorry for him. Sympathy for a vampire? That doesn't sound like me at all, but it could have something to do with the fact that he is really, really, ridiculously good looking. Although he has some bad relapses, he tries hard to be a good vampire and not feed on humans anymore. Mitchell perhaps most strongly resembles the drug addict the show's writers had originally intended for his character. He also struggles to form meaningful and lasting relationships with the other characters except for George and Annie that is.
The first three seasons of Being Human (only 8 episodes each!) are currently available on Netflix. I highly recommend this show if you like sci-fi or drama. Be prepared to shut your eyes for a few scenes if you have a weak stomach like me. Other than that it's a great show that can teach you a lot about humanity, values, and perhaps most significantly, the struggle to maintain normalcy with an unwanted affliction. Many of us with chronic illness can relate.
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