Blogger Laura McConnell thinks that being spoiled isn’t quite so bad, if the show is good enough, and Being Human is definitely good enough (SPOILERS for end of series three)
In my last blog here, I asked a favour. I asked for you kindly SFX commenters to not spoil me on the series three finale of Being Human . You lovely lot obliged me, and none of you ruined the episode for me.
However, I have a confession to make. While I asked that favour because I didn’t want to know any more than I did, I’d already been spoiled on the, ahem, big event of the episode. It happened quite by accident, and it was quite an odd experience for me. See, normally, if I get spoiled for a major television event, I get very angry. Incensed is not too strong a word for my reaction. I also lose any interest in seeing the show in question. I mean, what’s the point if I already know what’s going to happen? I’m one of those people who simply can’t fathom fans who enjoy spoilers, because, for me, they take away my enjoyment of a show nearly completely.
But this was different. You see, while I was irritated to have found out about Mitchell, I wasn’t half as angry as I was to find out something much more minor in Stargate years ago.
Part of this is because I’ve become more lax about spoilers in recent years. Frankly, it’s too much effort to avoid them these days, especially since I’m on Twitter. So I often don’t bother to try. But for Being Human , I put in the effort. I really cared about this show, so I avoided anything that even hinted at it like the plague. I avoided all mention of The Hobbit , too, as I knew Aidan Turner was up for a role in it. I didn’t want to know if he got it or not, because that would affect Being Human in obvious ways.
Somehow, I managed that. And none of my UK friends spoiled me, either. One tweet did make me certain that Aidan would be leaving the show, but I still didn’t know how that would occur, and I certainly didn’t know if it would be a permanent departure or not.
But then, two weeks before I got the series three finale, a random YouTube comment on a video I believed from past experience to be “safe” spoiled me. See, I couldn’t wait until Saturday for a little Being Human fix mid-week, so I loaded up a fan music video that is my usual hit. It was the same vid as always, but some lovely person (the first one – you know, the only one you can see without scrolling) decided to put the main event of series three up on display for all to see in the comments. I normally don’t read YouTube comments, but somehow I just happened to see that one. And then I couldn’t un-see it.
I hit the back button as fast as I could, but nothing could change the fact that I knew about Mitchell. I tried to tell myself that the commenter was just a jerk who might have made up Mitchell’s death (via George! Oh, yes, they gave the method, too!) just to screw with people, but I knew that wasn’t true. I had seen the writing on the wall. I figured that with the rumours of The Hobbit in the wind, the Being Human folks would have to hedge their bets. They’d have to have a plan to remove Mitchell from the show just in case Aidan got the role, so I suspected a “death” of some sort. So while I was surprised at the comment’s revelation of the cause of his death, I knew it wasn’t made up. I knew it was true.
Somehow, I wasn’t upset. It was the oddest thing. I was as calm as could be. This was a new experience for me. I was spoiled and okay with it? Strange. And even stranger still was the fact that somehow I now wanted to see the finale even more. I mean, George staked Mitchell? What? How did that happen? (This not knowing how it happened was why I asked for no one else to spoil me.)
And suddenly, I understood. I got how some people can see spoilers and not care. It’s still not for me, because being spoiled surely did affect my viewing experience – the drama and suspense fell a bit flat because I knew where everything was going. I didn’t like that one bit, but it wasn’t so very terrible, I suppose. After all, I only knew about Mitchell in “Wolf-Shaped Bullet.” I did not know about Herrick (oh, be still my heart!) and Nina (I really expected her to live but lose the baby), and I knew nothing of the wonder of “Though the Heavens Fall.” There were still reasons to watch – some awfully good ones, in fact. Had I blown off the rest of the season after I got spoiled to the final event, I would have missed one of the greatest moments of the entire show in Herrick’s return. So I’m so very glad I stuck with it. No question.
To me, this is a testament to how very wonderful Being Human is. This show is so good that it didn’t matter that I knew of Mitchell’s impending demise. Even knowing where we were headed, I had to know how we got there. (And frankly, I had to see Russell Tovey do the deed, which didn’t disappoint.) So cheers to Being Human for teaching me some valuable lessons about spoilers: one, they aren’t as bad as I’ve always made them out to be; two, they’re still bad enough; And three, well, three is best left unsaid in a public forum like this for many, many reasons.
So, now that that’s over, what about that big event?
Oh, I have words on that. Many words. I’ll see you next blog!
