Grade: B+
I’ve wrote before about how
Being Human likes to play with famous titles as their own titles with some sort of pun or turn of phrase.
”Partial Eclipse of the Heart” continues that trend in the penultimate episode & is able to resonate with the lyrics of the now cheesy song. Like some of the best episodes of
Buffy The Vampire Slayer,
Being Human is able to find that special spot of a supernatural story by focusing more on the ‘human’ aspect of the story & not just the big bad. While
”The Ties That Blind” was the most tense/exciting/action-packed episode of the season,
”Partial Eclipse of the Heart” finds that right balance to become the most emotional episode of the season.
The episode picks up right where
”Don’t Fear The Scott” left off & like expected we see Henry instead aid Aiden in taking down the two vampires he brought along to ‘capture’ Aiden. Much of what Aiden’s focus on the episode are the lengths he will go for love & we see him go to Atlee to ask for help on convincing the rest of the Dutch to have Mother stop chasing after Aiden & Suren. The real weight of the episode & its particularly resonating title are the stories of Josh & Sally & how this random eclipse affects them in very deep ways that involve very little action. After Josh confronts the wolf who turned him, Ray, he learns that Ray is able to now have a life with his wife & son by confessing to them about the wolf & chaining it every month. Of course, as Josh continues to struggle with coming clean in his returning romance with his ex-fiance Julia there is an eclipse that ends up creating some of the most havoc of the episode. Meanwhile Sally is trying to fix things with Zoe & it is during that eclipse that the ghosts that Sally shredded start to return.
While Aiden’s story resonates in a more easy to digest 'lengths of the heart' type of way, it is the stories of Josh & Sally that have the most impact as they don’t rely on any crazed action & concentrate on their emotional struggles. In the end it’s what we choose to hold in & what we choose to tell that have the most effect on the ones we love but its us who are left to deal internally with those decisions & Josh & Sally's stories both relay that particularly well. With one episode left, only Aiden’s story seems to have a clear conflict to end on while Sally & Josh have the harder to digest ending of dealing with the consequences of the eclipse & everything that led up to it.
