Misfits: S03 Ep02

What happened?

Curtis uses his power to turn into a woman as a means of getting back into his beloved sport of running. As both Curtis and his female counterpart, Melissa, he forms a romantic relationship with a fellow runner – but with the added complications of male advances and a date rapist trainer, Curtis is forced to reveal his secret to both the group and his girlfriend.

Meanwhile Kelly and Alisha set about following the Power Trader man and spy on him laying flowers at a grave to a person they don’t yet know.

Thoughts

Interesting episode, this, for the reason that there was actually little reliance of the super powers aspect. Save for the central conceit of Curtis’ sex change ability there were no other displays of powers. It was refreshing. If Misfits could be accused of a flaw it would be the way everyone around the place seemed to have some kind of power and were cropping up every episode. It’s telling that I was watching this episode rather expecting either the girlfriend or the date rapist to have a hidden power to be revealed, and it worked out better that they didn’t.

Stripped of super power shenanigans, this episode pretty much played out like a more conventional teen drama – albeit one with that specific brand of Misfits coarseness and profanity. Making Curtis the focus was much-needed for his character that appears to have been a little lost in the mix of late, though I do wonder if this might be his biggest time in the spotlight this series and now he’ll retreat to a more supporting role in the future.

The episode ended with him deciding that if he couldn’t feasibly run competitively then he would have to find something else to fill his life with. It seems like a reach, considering this is Misfits, but he could choose to become more heroic and use his powers productively (though this would, of course, depend on him getting a more useful power – with the presence of Power Trader remaining I fully expect that to occur for at least one or two of the gang).

Speaking of Power Trader, plot lines between he and Kelly are evidently being seeded. She wasn’t in it much, but Kelly almost stole the show. Her downbeat, pouting manner, even when singing her own praises at being a rocket scientist and so able to fix the car, were just fantastic. Her matter-of-fact remarks to Curtis about how he would have to put his bloodstained underwear in a hot wash were delivered pitch perfect.

Interesting question raised: If Curtis as a woman can have a period, does that also follow that he can become pregnant!?

The episode certainly wasted no time in getting down, literally, with Curtis exploring the sexual possibilities of being a woman. (I can’t believe he waited so long to investigate his own body! If there was a part of the episode that stretched credulity, that was it. The first thing every man would do were they in a woman’s body, I suspect, would be to masturbate and see how it felt.)

I liked Simon’s confused questioning of the matter of whether he was a lesbian or not – it’s certainly a grey area. And what I did think was interesting was Curtis’ reaction to Rudy ‘going down’ on him. He could laugh about it at the end, and during the episode he talked about Melissa as though she was a separate person. I’m not sure if Misfits is interested in going that in-depth with the idea, but there are suggestions of Curtis splitting his personality and experiencing himself as Curtis and as Melissa as two different people.

It’s not a totally farfetched idea that the programme could take this direction, as it would parallel Rudy’s own split personality power where two aspects of his character manifestly appear as distinct entities.

Yet, as I said, maybe I’m thinking too in-depth.

This wasn’t really an episode that particularly warranted massive analysis; it was an entertaining exploration of Curtis and his power that sprinkled a future plotline for Kelly and Power Trader but otherwise effected little else. Good fun but, in the grand scheme of the series, I would expect this to ultimately turn out to be a rather inconsequential episode.

What was the best part?

Standout sequence had to be the attempted date-rape of Curtis/Melissa. Not only was it a pivotal moment in the episode, but it also had the balls to show the full, well, cock and balls of Curtis back in male form. The scene needed that moment of stark clarification for plot purposes, but the fact that it was such an in your face full frontal makes me have to admire Misfits for always looking to push the boundaries.

What do I think will happen next?

From this episode I would have expected that the next logical progression would be to follow Kelly’s investigation into Power Trader man, though it seemed from the preview that Simon would be the main focus next. This is certainly welcome as the matter of why he pursues a course of action he knows will lead to his death ought to make for meaty subject matter for Misfits to grapple with (and possibly overcome).