New season, fresh bite

The third season of “Being Human” on the BBC America had its work cut out for it.

The vampire, ghost and werewolf couple left alternately jobless, homeless and trapped in Purgatory at the end of season two and generally in flight for their supernatural lives needed to find food, shelter and employment, and to get their friend out of a jam.

In some ways, the same problems faced by billions of people every day. Except in Mitchell’s case -- Mitchell’s the vampire -- he needed to find blood. And his high moral sense wouldn’t allow him to kill for it any more. In past seasons he’d tried leading a movement to reduce mortality in feeding among the vampire community in Bristol -- yes, they’d formed a club -- but that didn’t work out too well when they were targeted by a group of religious zealots who blew up their combination clubhouse and mortuary.

A complicated set of circumstances at the end of the second season left Mitchell on the run from the law and from other vampires, so he and the others -- George and Nina, the werewolves -- took over a tacky boarding house in Wales.

Not to mention these same zealots got Annie, a ghost, trapped in Purgatory. She appeared on the television in their new home, screaming for help. Mitchell felt he could go after her. So while George and Nina got settled, Mitchell went to Purgatory.

Vampires

Just to step back a bit, I’m a relative newcomer to vampire lore and fandom. I didn’t even get into the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” series until it had been on for years and was already in syndication on FX. While it’s dropped off the schedule there, Oxygen has picked it up and those desperate for a “Buffy” fix can start watching it from the beginning this week.

“Angel,” the series spinoff from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” is centered on a vampire with a soul who opens a detective firm of sorts in Los Angeles. That’s still airing in the mornings on TNT, and the second season begins this week as well. Also, the CW has been airing a series called “The Vampire Diaries.” I haven’t had a chance to see any of it this season, but from what I recall of the first season I haven’t felt I’ve been missing all that much.

The vampire and werewolf lore are a bit different from show to show. Obviously “Buffy,” centered around a Slayer who is more interested in killing them, is quite a bit different from “Being Human,” where they are just trying to live their lives, be good friends and neighbors and limit the amount of death and destruction and villagers chasing after them with pitchforks.

Even as creatures are different from show to show, there’s not been a lot of consistency with Annie’s ghost within the series. She’s sometimes solid to the touch, sometimes she can pass through walls, sometimes she can simply appear out of nowhere, sometimes she can leave the house and sometimes she can’t, sometimes she can move objects about, sometimes she can’t, and sometimes she moves objects about without meaning to. And worst of all, sometimes ordinary people can see her or at least hear her, and sometimes they can’t. There doesn’t seem to be much consistency at all on that point.

Season Three

But the third season got off to the strongest possible start with its exploration of Mitchell’s character passing through Death’s Door to rescue Annie from Purgatory. Because as an undead creature, he could so easily be trapped himself. His guide, Lia, a young woman he’d killed in a feeding frenzy aboard a train some years before, takes him to different souls, different locations, different people he’d fed on and killed. In order to rescue Annie he has to be willing to give up his own life, and he agrees.

Fortunately, that’s the loophole. Also, it’s not his time -- Lia says he is involved in more people’s lives before he must return -- and mentions that he will be killed by a werewolf.

The second episode focused on George and Nina’s encounter with a vampire, Adam, a teenager who was sired 46 years before. He appears at the hospital they work in, feeding on his now ailing father.

As fate would have it, Mitchell -- who has enough trouble looking after himself, let alone a teenaged blood-hungry vampire -- is approached by a messenger from The Old Ones, who summon Mitchell to South America. This messenger, Richard, agrees to look after Adam, but Adam is not impressed with the depravity of their lives, so Mitchell gives Adam his invite, and leaves him to make his way in the world.

Richard and his wife, Emma, and their bizarre vampire sex parties aren’t the only weirdos encountered in Season Three. A group of werewolf enthusiasts abduct werewolves and arrange cage fights under the full moon – one of whom may be “the werewolf-shaped bullet” in Mitchell’s prophecy.

These groups and conclaves envisioned in these far-flung locales help to expand the storytelling of the show. As soon as they meet their personal needs of food and shelter, their attention shifts to reaching out to others like themselves, and the communities they discover are sometimes all the stranger.

“Being Human” airs new episodes at 9/8c Saturdays on the BBC America.