MovieChat Forums > Being Human (2011) Discussion > Why was Bishop supposed to be a bad guy?

Why was Bishop supposed to be a bad guy?


I am re-watching it and besides the fact that Aidan annoys me more and more (he has killed all the people/monsters that are close to him , apart from the main characters of course and he is always saying that he wants to be good while he keeps messing up! Damn at least be honest with yourself dude!)
So why did he save the Dutch guy and kill Bishop while the Dutches openly state that they want to kill humans and the Bishop says that he doesn't?
The story here doesn't make much sense.
Either Aidan is an ass and wanted to take charge, or the story doesn't make much sense.

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he is always saying that he wants to be good while he keeps messing up
You just described 99% of the people on Earth. Opportunity knocks once, but temptation leans on the doorbell. Aidan is a addict. He wishes he weren't, but struggles everyday with his addiction.

So why did he save the Dutch guy and kill Bishop while the Dutches openly state that they want to kill humans and the Bishop says that he doesn't?
BHUS.S01E05:

Bishop: Well, nobody sells eternal life like a priest.

Aidan: Since when do you need to sell it? Anytime that you want someone you just take him... or her.

Bishop: That's right, you missed the meeting. Um, I'm only turning the willing now. The influential? The useful? People like... Sarin and Father Gates? You remember when Lincoln used the Archbishop to sell the union cause?

Aidan: I was too busy fighting a war to read the paper.

Bishop: Yes, you were very young. It turns out that great monarchs have always had holy men by their side to consecrate wars, win over the masses... from Charles the first, to hell... George W. Everyone's used religion.

Aidan: Used it for what?

Bishop: You remember how we used to say that being a vampire was almost perfect? But the lying, the hiding, the stifling day job to cover our tracks... It was exhausting and tedious! When we have the numbers, and we have the power, we won't have to hide. We can live right out in the open.

Aidan: You're not serious!

Bishop: Don't tell me you haven't thought about it!

Aidan: How many times have you drove it into me? "Keep a low profile", "Blend in", "Be invisible"!

Bishop: Because we had to. Soon we won't.

Aidan: What happened to you, Bishop?

Bishop: You're asking me? I can barely stand to look at you, starving and weak!

Aidan: You're delusional?

Bishop: Now, I have been patient, understanding, and even helpful during your little "experiment", but it is time to wake up, Aidan! We live forever, humans don't! Do the math! It's evolution! It's nature taking it's course!

Aidan: There is nothing natural about us!

Bishop wanted the vampires to start a war against the humans so the vampires could take over and rule the world. How much more patently "bad guy" can you get than wanting to take over the world? Why do you think Marcus went to the Dutch? Over Aidan? No! Marcus got the Dutch involved because Bishop was going to upset The Balance, and he was hoping that the Dutch would sanction Bishop, and put him in charge of the Boston Family. Marcus was taking Bishop's plan to take over the world as an opportunity to sell out Bishop to the Dutch for his own career advancement.

Bishop knew he wouldn't be able to get the other vampires to fall in line with his plan without Aidan's support. (Aidan explained this to Josh in the beginning of S01E12) Aidan had been Bishop's son and his second. The duty to kill Bishop and stop the war fell to Aidan. (Which is why Rebecca told Aidan that he couldn't go with her when she died at the end of S01E11. "No. You have to finish this.") Both Aidan and Suren refer back to Bishop's plan in Season 2.

Remember the book He's Just Not That Into You? I am starting to suspect that's how you feel about the show. If you have watched it, and re-watched it, and still completely missed that one character wanted to TAKE OVER THE ENTIRE WORLD (yes, Starting with the Entire Eastern Seaboard), then maybe this isn't the show for you. You're watching the show... but you're not seeing it. To fully "get" the show you have to focus and study and analyze... and you're just not that into it! You've watched the show, what more do you want? I mean seriously.... how much more time do you want to dedicate to this series? I'm sorry if you feel you need to vindicate yourself for ranting about imaginary plot holes, but really, it's unnecessary. You would have to practically have the episodes memorized to find the inconsistencies in the show, and there really are no plot holes that can't be spackled with a good fanwanking. None!

But, if you want to persist... I'll be here.

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What was striking for me was how Bishop was bleeding people who voluntarily wanted to be bled, while the Dutches were still brutally killing people. How people are supposed to think Bishop was the bad guy makes no sense to me.

I don't think Bishop wanted to take over the world or declare a war against humans so much as he just didn't want to live in the shadows.

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Bishop in his rants talks about enslaving humanity and ruling the world.

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"You're a shark... Be a shark."

When both Bishop and in the UK version Herrick say this, they both summarize the problem with Mitchell/Aidan's attempts at... Mainstreaming, for lack of a better term. Abstaining from "live" just really isn't a viable long term solution. Aidan talks a good game but how often does he actually succeed in resisting his impulses.. He tries and fails over and over again like a drunk trying to white knuckle his sobriety, and I've noticed the body count and and collateral damage shVtstorm is gradually worse with each relapse. In fact if you followed Aidan and Bishop for a year and compared the death toll from Bishop feeding consistently to Aidan's failed sobriety blood binges I imagine the body count would be about the same between them.

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That part was really messed up. I felt like Aidan definitely should've took his father's side.

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Agreed. I was livid when they killed off Bishop's character - Mark Pellegrino was amazing as Bishop!!!

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What the others have said, Bishop's plan was crazy and would've been disastrous for both sides. But hey, give it up for good writing (and good acting from Mark Pellegrino)- they made a compelling villain you can't just dismiss.

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It is an extremely low budget show and i can only imagine how little the actors were paid. Due to little to no budget they could not keep actors tied to the show for very long. That is why at the end of season two they had the ridiculous aids metaphor of all the vampires dying from the virus. It was how they dealt w being unable to pay anyone for season three.
Even so Being Human is my new number one show and i bought all three seasons on blu ray. Even with the low low budget the series has amazing actors who give their all and i love the extreme violence since it is not a network show.

I find your lack of foreskin disturbing

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