Half Man (TV series)

In early 1987, Niall, a shy, bullied, 15 year old teenager, is told by his mother that his violent, 17 year old half-"brother", Ruben, will be returning to their home and sharing Niall's room with him. Ruben has recently been released from juvenile prison for biting-off a man's nose. Although Niall is terrified of Ruben, the two eventually bond and begin to look out for one another, with Niall helping Ruben cheat on an exam and Ruben defending Niall from school bullies. Things take an uncomfortable turn when Ruben "assists" Niall with losing his virginity to Ruben's girlfriend, Mona. When Ruben reveals he pre-planned the whole thing, Niall is visibly uncomfortable. In a flash to the present, it is revealed that Niall is getting married and Ruben has gatecrashed the wedding. After the ceremony, Ruben corners and verbally and physically confronts Niall in a barn on the idyllic country property where the wedding is held.

Two years later in 1989 Niall, now 18, goes to university and tries to build a life which excludes Ruben. At his mother's behest, Niall struggles socially but eventually befriends two flatmates, a French foreign exchange student and a girl named Joanna, who takes a keen romantic interest in Niall, unaware that he is gay and closeted. After a humiliating incident on a night out, Niall calls Ruben to come to his side; Ruben openly flirts with both girls, much to their shared glee until Ruben verbally humiliates Joanna and spits in her face.

Niall develops a secret attraction to Alby, an openly gay student, and the two begin to bond. A game of spin the bottle goads them into kissing, and later Alby and Niall kiss more passionately in private, stopping when Niall panics about Ruben finding out. Alby encourages Niall to come out in order to diminish Ruben's power over him, but Ruben interprets Alby's words as a personal attack and brutally assaults him. Later, it is revealed that the person Niall is marrying is actually Alby, whose face has been permanently disfigured from the assault.

Four years later in 1993, Niall and Ruben have had no contact since Alby's assault. Niall's friend Joanna continues to make romantic advances towards him, which he pretends to reciprocate. Niall is waiting for a letter of confirmation from Oxford University to study for a master's degree, believing this will finally give him the freedom and space from Ruben that he needs. Niall's plans are thwarted when Ruben's and Niall's mothers beg Niall to lie and testify in court that Alby sexually assaulted Ruben, thereby justifying Ruben's attack as self-defense to help him avoid jail time. Niall is conflicted, which upsets Ruben, who angrily screams at him that he should always be on his side. Scared of what might happen if he doesn't, Niall agrees to the lie. However, after Joanna convinces him that he must do what is right, and becoming unnerved by the prosecutor's implicitly homophobic line of questioning (arguing that Alby, who spent six months in a coma resulting from Ruben's attack, is a sexual deviant), Niall relents and tells the truth. Ruben viciously screams and lunges at Niall and swears he will exact revenge as he is removed from the courtroom by police officers.

Fourteen and a half years later in 2008, Niall and Ruben are now in their mid to late-30s. Ruben was sent to prison for assaulting Alby. Niall struggles with financial problems and completing the latest draft of his new novel, which he frequently manipulates a young local librarian into printing for free. Still insecure and in denial about his sexuality, Niall regularly engages in watching other men have sex with each other while he and other men masturbate. One day, he catches his former school bully, Gus, in the act, and the two have a drink and bond over shared troubles. Gus inadvertently reveals that Ruben has received an early release from prison and is living in relative affluence with his wife, Mona, the girl who forced Niall to lose his virginity, staged as a gift from Ruben.

Terrified and paranoid, Niall confronts his mother with his fears. She reveals that she knew about Ruben's release from prison and did not tell him. When she also reveals that Ruben has been paying off Niall's debts, Niall has a breakdown and tells his mother he hates Ruben. He also reveals he is being blackmailed for two-thousand Pounds by a resentful older librarian, who secretly videotaped Niall having sex with other men in the library's public toilets. Joanna, his friend from university, tells Niall that she cannot again help him financially, and bitterly ends their years-long friendship.

Enraged, Niall tracks down Ruben's expensive house and sees him enter it with Mona. Niall tries to destroy Ruben's car but only succeeds in breaking-off the hood ornament and triggering the alarm. An intense chase between the two ends with Niall hospitalised after the car he is trying to escape in is hit head-on by another car. When Niall awakens in hospital, Ruben is sitting next to his bed. Ruben physically, sexually, and verbally abuses him. Niall fights back, admitting that while he admires Ruben's power over those around him, he does not think that Ruben is a good person or that he will ever change, blaming both Ruben and Ruben's mother for the way he turned out. When Niall expresses despondency over his life, revealing that he is being blackmailed, Ruben relents and offers to help. The two tearfully embrace.

In the present day, police are summoned to Niall's wedding after the ceremony and break down the locked door to a barn where previous episodes have shown Ruben violently attacking Niall. The police carry a man away on a stretcher. Niall's mother breaks through the police line to remove the white sheet covering the face of the victim, revealing him to be Ruben.

Two years later in 2010 and both Ruben and Niall seem to have adjusted well to their new lives. Ruben is in a seemingly loving marriage with Mona and Niall has started dating Ava, who has just found out she is pregnant. However, after the four of them meet together, Ruben privately demands the money Niall loaned from him back immediately. Niall nervously states that he actually spent all of the money and could not afford to give it back anyway, on the account of Ava being pregnant. Ruben reacts hysterically, tackling Niall to the floor and tries to remove his clothes before he is interrupted by Ava. Ruben concedes that Niall can do Ruben's housework and gardening for free in exchange for a reduction in the money he owes.

Ruben becomes convinced that Mona is cheating on him. She starts teaching dance classes as a self-empowerment project, which enrages Ruben, who is threatened by her self-confidence and independence, believing that Mona is his "property". Ruben demands that Niall "keep an eye on her" at class, which he reluctantly does. Niall sees Mona hug a male attendee, Benji, but says nothing. Later he bonds with Mona over drinks.

Niall's mother is unconvinced that Niall has successfully "turned straight", which is what he claims he did in order to turn his life around. He insists that Ava knows about his "past" and that she is unbothered by it. After a day of cleaning, Niall comforts Mona who is increasingly distraught over Ruben's controlling and abusive influence over her life. The two have sex but when Niall confronts Mona about it the next day she admits that she has cheated on Ruben before, including with Benji.

Ruben confronts Niall about the debts at his house, in the presence of Ava. It is revealed that Ruben has been out of work for a year and needs the money to maintain his new lavish lifestyle with Mona. Niall later admits to Ava that he spent the borrowed money on "conversion courses" with a charlatan practitioner and cannot pay the money back. Ava comforts him but later leaves Niall when he admits he cheated on her with a male prostitute.

Niall reluctantly tells Ruben about Benji, whereafter Ruben drives to Benji's house with Niall desperately following, arriving to see Ruben stomping Benji to death. Niall collapses in shock on the floor. In the present day, Ruben locks himself and Niall in the barn.

Four years pass, and Ruben is in jail for attacking Benji, but he wants to turn his life around for Mona and their son, Baird, who was born while he was in jail. Niall's semi-autobiographical novel about his experiences with Ruben becomes a hit, but the public is more interested in Ruben than in him. Ruben's mother Maura dies, and Niall informs Ruben in prison, causing Ruben to lash out at Niall. Niall's lifestyle of drugs and sex spirals until he reunites with Alby, years after Ruben's assault, and they rekindle their romance. With Alby's encouragement, Niall visits Ruben in prison and finally comes out to him. To his surprise, Ruben is accepting, having always suspected, and criticizes him for wasting his life trying to belong. Niall blames Ruben's language for his self-loathing, but Ruben deflects back at Niall for rejecting his own truth. Ruben also reveals he was a victim of sexual assault from his own father when he was young, resulting in him feeling like a "half man." The two become open and vulnerable to one another, but the mood sours when Niall reveals that he slept with Mona and fathered Baird, infuriating Ruben. In the present, Ruben attacks Niall in the barn during his wedding for sleeping with Mona, and they have a grueling fight. Niall manages to stab Ruben's side, mortally wounding Ruben, but Ruben manages to smother Niall to death, telling his brother that he loves him. The dying Ruben sits down on a bale of hay, staring at Niall's corpse.