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"Being Human lands itself a quality guest star this week, with Mighty Boosh comic Julian Barratt coming on board to play Larry Chrysler - a boorish weatherman forever transformed by an encounter with a vicious lycanthrope\u2026 that&amp;#039;s a werewolf, to you and me. With hotel manager Patsy having fallen prey to the devil, Hal (Damien Molony) has been appointed acting manager of the Barry Grand Hotel, putting further strain on our favourite TV bromance. However, Tom (Michael Socha) may have found a new man-crush, with Larry arriving at the hotel under his new guise as a motivational speaker - think Alan Partridge if he had a strong reaction to a full moon. The pathetic, lecherous Larry&amp;#039;s waffle doesn&amp;#039;t win over many hotel residents, but for Tom, the new arrival is the sharp-suited, sharp-tongued adult that he longs to be. The newcomer promises to school Tom in the ways of being an &amp;quot;expert werewolf&amp;quot; but is really taking advantage of his young ward...  After a Hal-heavy premiere and last week&amp;#039;s Alex-centric episode, Michael Socha take centre stage in &amp;#039;Pie and Prejudice&amp;#039; - he&amp;#039;s nailed the sensitive man-child bit by now, and while it&amp;#039;s not the first time we&amp;#039;ve seen the wide-eyed werewolf taken for a ride, it&amp;#039;s as awful as ever to see the painfully sweet Tom duped. Socha gets to take the character in a new direction here as he grows unusually cynical and frustrated, before finally confronting both Larry and his own dark side. That fine Being Human balance between emotion and humour is struck again - Tom&amp;#039;s efforts to emulate Larry with his ill-fitting suit and shoddy business cards are brilliantly funny, but the emotional confrontation between Hal and Tom at McNair&amp;#039;s grave is Being Human at its most affecting, and the final sting - in which Hal throttles Larry - is the show at its most thrilling.  &amp;#039;Pie&amp;#039; also sees Hal renews his acquaintance with Lady Mary (Amanda Hale), a spirit from his past. Damien Molony&amp;#039;s stuffy vampire is keen to do his best Pride and Prejudice bit with his old flame, until throughly modern Alex (Bracken), intrigued by the prospect of meeting a fellow ghost girl, insists on crashing the party. Lady Mary, though, isn&amp;#039;t quite the woman that &amp;#039;Lord Harry&amp;#039; believes her to be - watching the character transform into a party animal is amusing not only because of her earlier prudish behaviour but also because some Being Human viewers might be familiar with actress Hale from her performance as sheltered, painfully fragile housewife Emily Reid on the BBC&amp;#039;s latest drama hit Ripper Street. Like Tom&amp;#039;s arc, this overtly comic plot also takes a more serious turn, however, as we learn just why Mary&amp;#039;s been living a lie and see the ramifications that Hal&amp;#039;s deceit has had on her state of mind. Again, Being Human flips wonderfully back and forth from the broadly comic (&amp;quot;I push people over sometimes if I don&amp;#039;t like their shoes\u2026 or faces&amp;quot;) to the emotional, and without it feeling jarring - the show&amp;#039;s writers and its stars are equally adept working with either tone.  A final subplot this week concerns Rook (Steven Robertson), who&amp;#039;s furious that his ghoul-busting government department is being eradicated due to cuts - we imagine Being Human fans had a similarly violent reaction to a certain piece of news last week. Let&amp;#039;s hope that none of them went quite as far as Rook - who&amp;#039;s driven to a deep depression, first calling sex lines just to have someone to talk to and later contemplating suicide... It&amp;#039;s an immediately arresting subplot and one that could&amp;#039;ve done with further exploration beyond the few brief scenes we&amp;#039;re given. At least with Hal hiding yet another dark secret, it&amp;#039;s looking like Rook will be drawn back into the fold next week. This latest Being Human is often fun, frequently poignant and boasts strong guest turns from Barratt and Hale, but with no sign of Captain Hatch and precious little Rook, the series arc doesn&amp;#039;t take much of a leap forward here - a risky move when you&amp;#039;re dealing with a mere six-episode run. The end result is that &amp;#039;Pie and Prejudice&amp;#039; is plenty engaging but ends up feeling - for the most part - a little lightweight, and not quite a match for the past two weeks&amp;#039; instalments.  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/being-human/review/a458590/being-human-review-new-episode-pie-and-prejudice/>