Tom and Hal are both on ‘childminding’ duties in the fourth episode of Being Human’s fifth and final series.

After cleaning up Hal’s mess last week, Rook turns up at Honolulu Heights calling in a favour in return. Hal is tasked with dealing with vampire Crumb who’s been feasting on the local population with new friend Alan. Instead of just staking them (which would make his job a hell of a lot easier!) Hal decides they need help getting off the blood. So it’s time for some vampire ‘rehab’ and cold turkey for the odd pair. Meanwhile, Tom is designated the job of taking care of a werewolf called Bobby. Amidst all this, Hatch is plotting the next part of this plan.

After last week’s detour from the story arc, things start to progress again as we enter the final half of the series. While the episode starts things off on a bit of a bad note, due to some misjudged Crumb scenes, the episode thankfully gels into something more compelling as it progresses.

Crumb is an unlikable and annoying character, even more so at the beginning of the episode. It doesn’t help that there’s some particularly hammy overacting from Colin Hoult (Hamza Jeetooa is also rather wooden as his partner in crime Alan). Crumb gets a fair bit of screentime in this one, but thankfully there’s a few quieter and more restrained moments later with helps to redeem his character somewhat and doesn’t make it all painful to watch. When his fate is decided, it’s a little easier to sympathise more him.

In trying to help Crumb, Hal ends up stirring up some unpleasant memories of his vampire days he rather forget. This is where the episode really shines as it allows Damien Molony to be at his captivating best. He’s on the edge more and more throughout and it culminates in a great scene when Hal flips between his nice and dark persona.

The Tom part of the storyline is fun as he is paired up with a character not too dissimilar from himself. In contrast to Crumb, Ricky Grover is very likeable as the simple-minded Bobby. There’s some nice moments as he bonds with Tom. Alex is a bit of a third wheel in this one and she doesn’t really have a great deal to do aside from going on a predictably disastrous date with Crumb. It does result in some amusing lines though.

After last week’s absence, Hatch is back to his devilish best here. Lurking ominously in the background of scenes throughout, he soon has a bigger part to play when he begins plotting once he meets with Rook. The scenes they share are fantastic and full of menace. If only the episode had capitalised on it more.

Overall, it’s an improvement on last week, but still not up to Being Human’s best.

7/10