Misfits: S03 Ep05

What happened?

A girl in a coma manages to body swap with Kelly and attempts to get back with her boyfriend. The rest of the Misfits gang realise that ‘Kelly’ is behaving curiously and discover what has happened and manage to make the girl realise she cannot remain. However, the girl in Kelly’s body stabs the probation worker and he dies before she relents and returns Kelly back to herself.

Rudy meanwhile has a split with his ‘other half’ when he wrecks a relationship with a counsellor, with ‘Rudy B’ refusing to fuse back together with ‘Rudy A’.

Thoughts

This felt a lot more like old style, classic Misfits. Scattered, fast-paced, rude and outlandish and then, just when you’re lulled into amused entertainment, along comes a sucker punch of poignancy to hit when you least expect it. The death of the probation worker was that bombshell in this series’ most bittersweet moment.

Fusing comedy and tragedy, as the probation worker lay dying the gang revealed the secret about their powers, I liked how he practically summarised the show. Insulting them all as “dicks” and scoffing at the idea of them as superheroes. Because Misfits is the anti-superhero comic book series, presenting a group united by special powers that absolutely dodge and fail the superhero mould at every turn, even though in their own way they are often to be found thwarting evil. Only Simon exhibits anything like traditional superhero tendencies – a trait that Alisha constantly attempts to suppress.

Simon and Alisha were relatively background this episode, along with Curtis. Indeed, the three came together to basically amuse us and themselves at Curtis using his powers for the wonderful purposes of being able to masturbate as a woman. (The issue of why he does indeed choose to do this in the community centre storage room is a fair question with no clear answer provided here. Best explanation would surround Curtis revisiting fond memories of his times with Alisha, but there’s been no indication he misses her or feels any twinges of jealousy towards her and Simon.)

The real focus here was on Kelly and Seth (I did like how Rudy contemplated whether or not he was now a part of the gang and actually asked the question about what his name was – that was something I didn’t know until Simon said it!). Seth really cemented himself as a vital part of the group, and the show, with this episode. Indeed, he has the manner that might make a good leader out of him. If the Misfits were ever to be compared to X-Men then Seth would be their Professor X.

Lauren Socha just about sold her changed performance when she was inhabited by the coma girl. Since we never actually got to see what coma girl was like as a person in her own right the only gauge was in how different ‘Kelly’ was from the regular Kelly, and I was mostly convinced that she was distinct.

I thought there might have been more to explore from what the boyfriend said, when ‘Kelly’ threatened to turn the life support machine off, about how she was not the same person he knew. I liked the idea that, due to her period in a coma, a dark streak had formed in her character. You could argue it was manifest in her stabbing of the probation worker, but that came across more like a desperate act than a deliberate murder. The notion that she had been fundamentally changed and had come back with an evil element within her seemed compelling – but possibly I am channelling old memories of a b-movie I saw as a kid called Chiller.

Look it up! It's utter shit!

Rudy this episode was on good form, much better handled for straddling his irritating traits for comic effect. From launching himself at Seth to his reaction at getting an impromptu handjob off the counsellor he was good value. And it’s the best kind of antagonism that may be emerging, with the two aspects of his personality unwilling to inhabit the same body – that’s a concept with a stack of mileage in it; whether they exist in conflict or find one suffers whilst the other flourishes. Ultimately I’d imagine they’ll discover they cannot live apart but, whilst the split exists, I hope Misfits makes the most of it.

For me this was probably the best episode of this series so far. All the bits and pieces that make *Misfits* unique and enjoyable were in place – jangling interesting ideas with lowest common denominator humour. Throwing in the pathos of the probation workers death (gotta love how the burial of another dead body has become commonplace!) gave proceedings an unexpected emotional tug and, for the romantics, Kelly and Seth finally appear to be sweetly hooking up.

In all honesty, I don’t really buy him being into her but I liked the sincerity in his voice when he talked of how it might not work but they at least deserved a chance to find out.

What was the best part?

The extraction of coma girl from the hospital was the most entertaining part for me. Kind of shocking, totally outrageous (Seth directing people to grab the beeping machine, the breathing machine, etc) and then just flat out funny as they made their escape – via Rudy distracting the nurse with his “grandad’s prolapse” story to the look on Simon’s face when Seth triggered the alarm and then headed out to make a dash for it.

What do I think will happen next?

The previews curiously seemed to lay the suggestion that Curtis, in female form, may have become pregnant and is thus unable to change back. (Admittedly the editing of the preview cajoles me into making connections and speculation that might see me getting the entirely wrong end of the stick.) However, it was shown that Curtis is transforming uncontrollably and there’s suggestion that Kelly may be pregnant – so that’s the 2 + 2 I’ve put together.

I did actually raise the question a few weeks back that, since Curtis can have a period as a girl does it not follow that he could also get pregnant, so it is a possibility that has been seeded so I’m rather hopeful it’ll bear fruit. Of course, if Kelly is pregnant, it raises the question of coma girl’s boyfriend being the father!

Otherwise there surely ought to be suspicion raised about the disappearance of another probation work and, of course, there’s the intrigue of who the next probation worker will be. . . Maybe this time it’ll be someone with a superpower of their own!