Being Human: It's a Shame About Ray

"I made the mistake of letting a Jewish werewolf loose on our crustacean."

- Sally Malik

"It's a Shame About Ray" is the first episode of season three of the North American version of the supernatural drama series Being Human and the twenty-seventh episode of the series overall. It was directed by Stefan Pleszczynski and written by Jeremy Carver and Anna Fricke. It first aired on Syfy on Monday, January 14th, 2013 at 9:00 pm. In this episode, Josh and Nora must deal with the consequences of their encounter with Ray. They spend the next year trying to find a way to get Sally out of Limbo. Their only salvation appears to be at the hands of a witch and soup kitchen volunteer named Donna Gilchrist. Aidan is unearthed, but his mind is fractured after being starved for blood for so long. He reunites with Atlee who reveals that a virus has been sweeping through the vampire ranks, killing off scores of the undead.

Synopsis
Fifteen months later: Josh, Aidan and Sally are all in the kitchen at 3638 Mayford. They all seem healthy and happy. Sally picks on Josh for the way he is butchering a lobster. The topic turns towards the inevitability of death, but Aidan smiles and chants repeatedly, "We're not going to die." In the present day, a few weeks earlier, Aidan awakens in his coffin mumbling "We're not going die". He is emaciated and disheveled and suffering from severe mental trauma.

Nora and Josh go to see a psychic - the latest of many in the hopes of making contact with Sally, who has gone silent shortly after disappearing into Limbo. The psychic's vision offers them little, but they reflect upon the events of the previous year when Nora was forced to shoot Ray. Having shot him in the shoulder, she wanted Josh to finish him off so they would be cured of their lycanthropy. Ray attacked Nora and Josh was forced to bludgeon him to death with a heavy rock.

Exhausted with the never-ending search for psychics, Josh begins to lose confidence in their search, but Nora reminds him that Aidan and Sally are still out there and that they mustn't lose hope.

Limbo, Sally, Stevie Atkins and Nicholas Fenn race towards the door of the Mayford house. It is locked however and Sally screams for Aidan and Josh. This is the latest in a long series of attempts to escape Limbo and Stevie and Nick are ready to give up. Sally turns around, but her fellow ghosts have disappeared.

At the Suffolk County Hospital, Josh sees a vampire being wheeled in on a gurney. He is a victim of a new strain of influenza that has been striking the vampire community. He has lesions all across his face. Josh asks him if he knows about Aidan. Though the vampire is familiar with him, he does not know where he is.

Flashback: Shortly after killing Ray, Nora and Josh wait until the next full moon to see if they are cured. Josh paces about in the storage unit until enough time passes. Elated to see that he has not transformed, he goes to free Nora, but she is still a werewolf.

Josh and Nora see Ilana hanging out front of their house. He recognizes her as the woman who once tried to exorcise Sally. They confront her, but Ilana is nervous and says that there is too much dark energy circulating about this building. They explain their situation, but she cannot help them. Instead, she refers them to a witch named Donna Gilchrist. In Limbo, Nicholas suffers through another death echo of drowning in a lake. Sally rescues him. She then saves Stevie from a similar echo, in which he is hanging from a tree in front of his parents' home. He comments that this is not even how he originally died.

A man named Mickey Dorrin finds the patch of ground where Aidan is buried. He digs him up and upon seeing that he is too weak to take any action, places a metal restraint mask on him. He pulls him up out of the ground.

Josh and Nora go to the Miller Avenue Community Kitchen where they meet Donna Gilchrist. They explain that they need to retrieve Sally Malik's soul from Limbo, and Donna tells them that she has the power to accomplish this, but it comes with a high cost. In addition to her fee of $2,000 (which Josh chokes at), the spell requires the heart of a human that Josh has killed. Josh repeats the demand out loud in astonishment, commenting about "some guy I killed". Donna takes note of Josh's vaguely implied confession. When Josh balks at the notion of Donna's capabilities, she spoons him a ladle filled with soup and maggots. Josh recoils and Donna comments, "Knees soft, right?" Aidan awakens in a dark and dirty room. There are IV bags filled with blood hanging from the walls. Mickey comes in and begins draining more of Aidan's blood. He tells him that other vampires will pay highly for it because it is "pure". Aidan has no idea what Mickey is talking about.

Josh and Nora go out to the woods and dig up Ray. Josh withdraws a knife and Nora wonders if the experience is becoming too much for him. Frustrated, he exclaims "I can't do this". The breast plate is too thick. He drops the knife in favor of a bone saw. They bring the heart back to Donna, but it is hardly fresh looking. Donna tells them that the heart is the most important part of the ritual, because it connects spiritual life lines. Now she needs to make a salve for "the body". Josh and Nora stare skeptically at the implication until Donna reveals that they are not just trying to restore Sally's soul - they are going to bring her back from the dead.

Meanwhile, the vampire Atlee comes to Mickey's place. Guarding himself with a stake, Mickey tells him that he is willing to sell Aidan to him, but at a very high cost. Atlee attacks him and impales him with his own stake. As he comes into the light, he has lesions upon his face and is apparently suffering the same symptoms as the vampire from the hospital. He frees Aidan who then scrambles to drink Mickey's blood. Atlee stops him and tells him that it is too dangerous. He puts the weak and delusional Aidan into his car and explains that a strain of human flu has spread across the world. Although a vaccine has been administered for humans, it is lethal to any vampire who drinks from an infected person. Death comes within two to three days.

Josh and Nora go to the cemetery. Josh bribes the caretaker to let them in whereupon they dig up Sally Malik's remains. Josh remains steadfast in his goal to bring Sally back, but Nora questions, "As what?"

In Atlee's car, Aidan continues to hallucinate. He believes that Josh, Sally and even his former mentor Bishop are in the car with him. Atlee believes that Aidan's blood may hold the key towards a cure. He has been instructed to bring him back to the others where they will all feast upon him. Looking at him however, Atlee determines that Aidan is too scrawny to feed the entire pack and bites him himself. The result is very unexpected however. Rather than curing him, Aidan's blood causes Atlee to dissolve into dust. The car skids off the road into a tree.

Donna Gilchrist performs the ritual over Sally's mummified remains. After doing so, she lets Josh and Nora have her body, but warns them, that Sally is to have absolutely no connection to her previous life. It may take some time before they see any results.

In Limbo, Sally, Stevie and Nick approach the door once again. This time however, it opens. Sally steps through it and Stevie and Nicholas follow her. In the real world, her body begins to breathe. Josh and Nora remove her dressings revealing a revitalized and living Sally Malik. She whispers hoarsely that Stevie and Nick have come back with her.

Donna Gilchrist goes out to the woods. She has a vial of blood that she pours all across the ground. The blood trails off in different directions and seeps into the earth. The ground opens up revealing the remains of someone buried beneath.

On the road, Aidan lies on the ground in front of the ruined car. His body begins convulsing.

Notes & Trivia

 * This is the first episode of Being Human of 2013.


 * This is the third episode of Being Human directed by Stefan Pleszczynski. He previously directed "Mama Said There'd Be Decades Like These" and "The Ties That Blind".


 * This is the eleventh episode of Being Human co-written by Jeremy Carver. He previously co-wrote "It's My Party and I'll Die If I Want To".


 * This is the eleventh episode of Being Human co-written by Anna Fricke. She previously co-wrote "It's My Party and I'll Die If I Want To".


 * Actress Katherine Denkinson is uncredited in this episode.


 * "It's a Shame About Ray" is also the title of the fourth episode from season two of the HBO comedy series, Girls.


 * The opening scene with Aidan, Josh and Sally in the kitchen, all seemingly happy and healthy, takes place fifteen months after the events after the events of "It's My Party and I'll Die If I Want To". The flashback scenes take place immediately after the events from that episode, while the main story takes place a little more than a year after the season two finale.


 * The title to this episode is a bit of a spoiler in regards to the end of "It's My Party and I'll Die If I Want To". In that episode, Nora, Josh and Ray all square off and the screen goes black and then you hear the gunshot. While it is fairly obvious that Ray is going to be the one to die, this episode title really does cement that fact before the viewer actually gets to see it.


 * This is the first appearance of a witch and witchcraft on Being Human.


 * Death of Ray. However, he is later resurrected as a reanimate in "If I Only Had Raw Brain".


 * This is the second and final appearance of Mickey Dorrin; dies in this episode. Mickey appeared last in the season two episode, "I've Got You Under Your Skin".


 * Mother is revealed to have died some time between season two and three as a result of the virus.


 * Atlee returns after having barely survived being hunted by the werewolves in "It's My Party and I'll Die If I Want To". This is the fifth and final appearance of the character; dies in this episode


 * This is the second appearance of Ilana Myers. She appeared last in "Going Dutch".


 * James Bishop appears as an hallucination only.


 * This is the fourth appearance of Stevie Atkins. He appeared last in "When I Think About You I Shred Myself".


 * This is the fifth appearance of Nicholas Fenn. He appeared last in "Partial Eclipse of the Heart".


 * Scott the Reaper appears in flashback only.


 * Zoe Gonzales appears in flashback only even though Susanna Fournier receives a guest starring credit.


 * Mark Pellegrino is uncredited in this episode as James Bishop even though his character makes a prominent appearance (albeit as an hallucination).


 * Actors Ellen David, Andreas Apergis and Kyle Gatehouse all appeared in the 2011 TV miniseries Killer Wave. The show was produced by Being Human producers Michael Prupas and Irene Litinsky.

Allusions

 * The title of this episode is taken from the 1992 song "It's a Shame About Ray" by The Lemonheads, which was also the title of the album upon which it appeared. The song is the third track on the album and was written by Evan Dando and Tom Morgan.
 * In season two, it was revealed that if a werewolf kills the one who infected them with the curse, then they would be cured, which is why Nora insists that Josh needs to be the one to kill Ray. Clearly, the solution does not extend to Nora as well.


 * Nora compares the psychic she visits to a ghost whisperer. Ghost Whisperer was the name of a CBS television series starring Jennifer Love Hewitt wherein her character had the ability to communicate with ghosts.


 * When Sally mumbles "Stevie and Nick are here", Josh mis-hears her and thinks she says "Stevie Nicks is here". Steve Nicks is an American singer and songwriter and the former lead vocalist of the band Fleetwoood Mac.

Questions

 * Is Mother really dead?


 * Is Donna Gilchrist going to be the "Bid Bad" of season three?


 * Will Josh remain cured?


 * What is the nature of the Vampire virus?


 * With Mother gone, will Aidan become the leader of the vampires?


 * Is Sally back for good?

Quotes

 * Aidan Waite: Nobody is going to die.

...
 * Josh Levison: We're bringing Sally back.
 * Nora Sargeant: As what?

....
 * Sally Malik: You're about to be eaten by a pack of rabid, virus stricken Amish vampires.

...
 * Josh Levison: Did she just say, "Stevie Nicks is here"?

Episode links



 * "It's a Shame About Ray" at the Being Human Wiki
 * "It's a Shame About Ray" at the Being Human Wiki
 * "It's a Shame About Ray" at the Being Human Wiki