Being Human: The Complete Second Season

Leading everyday lives is harder than it looks for three twenty-something supernatural roommates vampire Aidan (Sam Witwer),ghost Sally (Meaghan Rath) and werewolf Josh(Sam Huntington). Together, they share the creature comforts of a Boston brownstone while struggling to resist the temptations of their true natures and keep their secrets hidden from the outside world. Bonus Features: Season 2 Making-of Featurette, Behind-the-Scenes Interview, Being Human at San Diego Comic-Con 2012.

While some young, attractive supernatural entities lead the most interesting lives, the day-to-day just isn't getting easier for the three monsters-in-twentysomethings' clothes of Being Human, as this second-season set clearly illustrates. If the first season offered an undead version of how young people make their first steps toward adulthood, the sophomore season presents a similar take on the consequences of rash decisions and difficult circumstances. Vampire Aidan (Sam Witwer), having assumed control of Boston's bloodsucking population by eliminating his rival, must contend with not only a powerful vampire queen named Mother (Deena Aziz) but also her daughter, Suren (Dichen Lachman), who enlists Aidan in her power grab for the throne. Meanwhile, werewolf Josh (Sam Huntington) struggles to take responsibility for inflicting his curse on girlfriend Nora (Kristen Hager), which requires a particularly terminal solution. The ghostly Sally (Meaghan Rath) is once again relegated to a second-string storyline, despite the major revelation regarding her demise at the end of the previous season; her path to resolving that situation takes a roundabout route as Sally learns to inhabit the bodies of living people while also finding her way in a community of spirits lurking at the hospital where Aidan and Josh work. The story arcs laid out for each character grow more compelling with each episode and help to keep the program out of the sudsy, heavy-handed territory that on occasion threatens to overtake the show's unique premise, as do occasional touches of humor, most notably in Sally's storyline. Whether Being Human can maintain this balancing act between horror tropes and the requirements of episodic drama in subsequent seasons remains to be seen, but its second season certainly indicates that the show's creators have the means of making it work. The four-disc Blu-ray set includes an hour-plus making-of featurette that echoes the one found on the first-season set in regard to cast and crew interviews, though fewer glimpses behind the scenes are offered; the show's panel at the 2012 Comic-Con and a brief talk with executive producers Anna Fricke and coproducer Jeremy Carver are mostly for diehard fans. --Paul Gaita