Misfits: S03 Ep08

What happened?

A super-powered psychic brings back ghosts from the gang’s past. Sally visits Simon, believing she is there to seek revenge for the murder of her boyfriend. However, her boyfriend arrives and tells her that she is not there for vengeance and, with their spirits having found each other, they disappear.

Whilst Simon and Alisha go through a rocky spell as a result of Sally’s actions they make up. However, another spirit, who the gang once killed after she attempted to brainwash them, believes she is there for vengeance and slashes Alisha across the throat and kills her.

Now believing Simon has found his destiny, of being in an endless loop of going back in time, saving Alisha and then dying, he acquires the power to time travel and goes to his past. The remaining gang members figure all they have left to do is see out their probation period and try to live happily ever after.

Thoughts

There’s a great temptation to wonder, with this being the series finale, if this episode doesn’t mark the end of the show. There’s a sense of a closed loop regarding the Simon and Alisha romance and timeline, and this episode practically closed out having briefly returned to the beginning. The remaining characters have mostly found resolutions but, although it might feel anticlimactic, there’s a definite vibe that if this were the very last Misfits episode it did provide closure.

I don’t think that’s the case. There’s still one or two ruffles in the plotting that hang in the balance and, with this show being the way it is, nothing can ever be considered final. This episode saw the return of characters long since dead from the first series, and far from being incidental they were instrumental in what happened.

Simon being reunited with the wonderfully distant Sally was the main drive of the episode. Sally was always good for possessing a chillier side to her crocodile smile and she effortlessly brought that back from the afterlife, too. Her ploy to destroy Simon’s life wasn’t exactly an arch-mastermind plan, and it’s arguable that it was too-easily resolved – although the old romantic in me did enjoy seeing her get back with the probation worker and then disappear after a kiss.

I did also like seeing that first probation worker return. He was barely in the first show for five minutes before he became a snarling, raging madman. So barring a few fire extinguishers to the face he fared very well. And his conversations with the others, them detailing how the other probation workers had fared, was very amusing. In hindsight, Alisha’s defiance about how they had just been trying to save their own lives and she considered they had been doing very well would turn out to be bitterly ironic.

Alisha’s death was the big shock moment. Even in this show, where anything can happen, the moment it did it felt like one of those events that was tragically permanent. Curtis could have resurrected her but only as a zombie – he no longer had the power that has previously undone the terrible. There was, indeed, bitter irony soaked through this episode.

It did make sense that Alisha had to die in order for Simon to find the will to travel back. (I can’t believe it never occurred to me that it would take something like that to make it happen, actually. Probably because he went back to save her life made me figure hers was a life that stayed saved.) Yet as Kelly romantically noted (and hasn’t she discovered her softer side thanks to Seth!?) it was a beautiful notion that Simon had plunged into an endless loop, to save her and allow their love to blossom over and over.

Yet there is a fly in the ointment, unless I have really missed something. The photo of the two of them in Las Vegas. Now, maybe I’ve missed something here, but I was under the impression that this photograph existed almost like a permanent marker of a future event and until that future event occurred then Simon would never go back. Now (again, assuming I haven’t missed anything) the photo has come to mean something else: hope.

Simon took the photograph back with him, presumably because it’s a picture of something that has yet to happen even for him. Which does suggest there is some hope, some possibility, that he can properly save Alisha and the two of them will make it to Las Vegas. If that’s the interpretation I am supposed to reach then it’s really clever writing. (If I just bloody missed the fact that they’ve already been to Las Vegas and had that picture taken then I am a complete idiot that hasn’t been watching closely enough.)

It was a fine end to the series. I wasn’t at all hopeful that there would be resolution to the Simon-Alisha timeline in this final episode so it was thrilling to see him assume the role, organise everything he needed to go back with him and become the man in the mask. Misfits was right to allow itself to get serious and let its hero have his big hero moment with the music and the direction of the sequence and it was a real treat to see.

Just like the remaining band of heroes were left on a rooftop, staring into the distance to their hero theme tune, Misfits signed off on an epic chord leaving me wanting more. As I understand it, this isn’t to be the last series. It’s a show that’s gaining in popularity and credentials and quite right, too. Hopefully they will all be back next year!

What was the best part?

Whilst I did appreciate the shock value of Alisha getting her throat cut (and I also liked the fact that it was righteous vengeance – our heroes do have blood on their hands!) the best part was what followed, with Simon becoming the man in the mask, facing up to his own future (and certain death, no less). Way to finish on a high.

What do I think will happen next?

Tough question, considering the ending to this was left more wide open than the rooftop view the series closed out with. If Simon and Alisha have now just been written out of the show then the Misfits world will certainly seem like an emptier one. At time of writing I am still scratching my head about the Las Vegas photo, though, so that being said I’ll predict: If Simon and Alisha are in the next series then Simon will develop a power that will allow everything that has happened to happen and still save the pair of them! If they are done, then there’s room for more new faces to join the gang – and that’s not something I can predict at all!

Misfits: S03 Ep07

What happened?

Using his new power to bring the dead back to life, Curtis resurrects Seth’s girlfriend, Shannon. Whilst Seth breaks up with Kelly to attempt to make things work, Curtis discovers that his power causes the dead to return as bloodthirsty zombies.

The gang are forced to band together and stop the growing number of undead to prevent an outbreak that involves killing an old lady, cheerleaders and their latest probation worker. Seth kills Shannon and both he and Kelly declare their love for one another.

Thoughts

This is more like it. Misfits firing on all cylinders, meddling in the right genre with the prerequisite dose of unpleasantness, bad language and outrageous behaviour. It was such a return to old school form they even bumped off a probation worker; a staple that has now become a signature event!

The throughline of Seth attempting to reconcile his past with Shannon almost strayed into unsubtle territory when he was once more a supplier feeding her habit, only this time instead of drugs it was blood, and this time rather than kill her off and regret it he found love. And then kill her off. It certainly warmed the heart to see Kelly find such joy; hard-faced and blunt she may be, we’ve seen that she has a heart of gold merely diminished and wearied by a life of hard knocks. She deserves happiness.

Everyone was a pleasure to watch this episode. Take Simon and Alisa – him agog at the cheerleader display only for her to suggest that she might wear such an outfit to please him, later touted as a threat after she was blood-splattered following vigorous zombie-cheerleader slaying with the pulverised remains at her feet.

It’s a credit to Misfits that it can suddenly drop in a troupe of cheerleaders purely for explicit purposes of them becoming zombies and it not be considered ludicrous. Point is, it is ludicrous, but that preposterousness is the skill of the writing and the in-built joke of the show. It inhabits a strange, off-kilter world, surreal and self-aware, whilst still keeping itself real. Same goes for the probation worker. That many missing workers would have aroused far more suspicion, but like the countless bodies the gang have buried, this is a world where such things are just about allowed to let slide so long as there's been just enough done to keep it quiet.

Curtis has managed to wrangle himself back into the thick of things when he was, above everyone, the most in danger of becoming irrelevant. Clearly his power was the key driver of events, though quite what he does now with a power that can basically create zombies is anyone’s guess. I suspect he’s going to want to trade that in (but then to do so would mean risking such a power being in someone else’s possession!). Curiously, I am finding Curtis to be the most amusing character. He doesn’t splurge outrageous remarks and wisecracks like Rudy, but he’s often the ‘straight’ character forced to deal with the most bizarre and freaky occurrences and it’s his very reactions that are the source of much humour.

All in all, this was a Misfits classic. Throwaway and indispensable, tying up longstanding plot threads whilst delivering a standalone slice of entertainment. With Seth and Kelly now established all that really remains is for the plot of Simon and Alisha to run its course – though whether that happens this series remains to be seen.

Of course, the matter of whether or not another probation worker will ever emerge should be addressed. They’ve gone through two this series, so you’d have to figure that if another one should arrive on the scene they ought to survive the series!

What was the best part?

The whole episode was on top form, but really the scenes with our heroes rushing around taking out zombie cheerleaders was absurd and gory and brilliant. From Alisha’s ruthless slaughtering, to Rudy cowering behind a door whilst blood splashed against it as cheerleaders got pulverised, it was nothing but delightfully demented entertainment.

What do I think will happen next?

The preview for next week’s episode looked like a corker, with previous characters that have died during the show’s lifespan returning to the Misfit gang. Given we’ve had the dead physically resurrected I have to assume this ‘return of the dead’ phenomena will happen via some other means (perhaps a totally psychic, mental guilt thing). The big question, since this is the last episode, is whether Simon and Alisha’s timeline turmoil will find a resolution. I find it hard to imagine it will – Simon doesn’t seem anywhere near ‘finished’ as the man in the mask to fulfil his destiny.

Misfits: S03 Ep06

What happened?

Rudy searches for the girl he slept with, that used her powers on him to cause his penis to apparently rot and drop off unless she prevents it. With Simon’s help he tracks down the girl and manages to convince her to reverse the damage and claims to be a changed man.

Curtis discovers that, as a girl, and as a consequence of masturbating as both male and female, he has managed to get himself pregnant. Ultimately he turns to Seth, asking him to get rid of his power. Seth, however, has just acquired the power to bring people back to life and requests that Curtis take the power in exchange and use it on his dead ex-girlfriend to bring her back.

Thoughts

This was perhaps my least favourite Misfits episode ever. It feels like a harsh statement because there’s nothing about it I can directly point to and say, This is why this episode sucked. But tellingly there’s nothing I can point to in this episode and say, This is why the episode worked. It was fundamentally a filler episode, and whilst Misfits has often thrown out episodes that don’t particularly further the drama they’ve never felt like they were bridging a gap.

Misfits episodes usually feel like they’re the best of a bunch of ideas; ones that made the cut, concepts that were too cool to ignore. And here we had the issue of Cutis becoming pregnant as a girl, which was a massive (and potentially powerful concept) and yet it felt like a b-plot. Trouble is, the ‘a-plot’ of Rudy trying to find the girl he slept with also had a distinctly low-rent feel to it.

The girl who used her powers on Rudy was a total unknown. Misfits generally affords its villain-of-the-week some screentime and personality exploration (or, at least, clarification) but with this girl we got nothing but a sense that she’d been treated badly in relationships before and so had inherited a power that allowed her to emasculate men in the worst possible way. Yet, by the end, all it took was a couple of clumsy sentiments from Rudy over a DJ microphone to have her reverse her rather terrible actions.

And with that all was well that ended well!

Unconvincing.

I did actually enjoy Rudy, though. If anything he carried the episode and made it entertaining, managing to crystallise what he was about. His little speech at the end where he basically admitted that his bravado and selfish actions were merely a cover for his insecurities was a nice admittance, but nothing we as an audience couldn’t see for ourselves. I still don’t feel like the two ‘halves’ of his characters have been as distinct as they could have been (the previous episode did it better) and I was actually rather annoyed that their dispute from last time, where they refused to be ‘together’, had evidently been brushed over and forgotten about. That was a promising angle, I thought, utterly squandered.

Simon and Alisha were absolutely wasted in this episode. Alisha being an amused bystander to Curtis’ plight I can understand, but Simon has his own fate to fulfil and surely wouldn’t still remain the grinning wallflower he appeared as here. It was like Simon from series 1 dropped by to tag along for Rudy’s ride.

The explanation as to how Curtis managed to get pregnant was glossed over, but it made sense since it basically came down to his best guess. As an audience we could have arrived at our own possible explanations as to how or why it happened. For a brief moment there did appear to be the chance that Curtis, as ‘Melissa’, was contemplating the magnitude of having a life inside him when s/he was looking in the mirror. As such, his decision to terminate the pregnancy by the act of having his power taken from him ought to have carried more gravitas. Effectively he was committing abortion.

As it was, the episode ended with the promising set-up that Seth, having finally obtained the power to bring people back to life (kudos to me for predicting as much a few weeks back!), was now set on getting his girlfriend back. Clearly this is going to be problematic for his and Kelly’s relationship. Kelly is at the point where she’s put herself at her most vulnerable and so means she’s not going to take it well, although I did like how she handled Seth questioning her if she was pregnant. That was the one flash of ‘old Kelly’ we got here – the rest was a bit soft and smitten (understandably so, and she’s always had that tender underbelly to her steely façade).

Ostensibly if this episode doesn’t at least mark a distinct change in Rudy’s personality as a consequence of his experiences then it’s basically just been a long-winded detour to get to the point where Curtis will resurrect Seth’s ex-girlfriend, Shannon. Filler, basically. I’ve come to expect better.

What was the best part?

Slim-pickings, but I was highly-amused by the telephone exchange between Curtis and Rudy. Curtis called Rudy to ask him if he had raped him, to which Rudy flatly denied it and then in the next breath was remarking about how he had to go because his cock was going to drop off. The look on Curtis’ face was priceless; the guy knows how to pull off a disgusted expression to a tee!

What do I think will happen next?

The preview for the next episode looked ace – zombie cheerleaders! I got the impression that the consequences of resurrecting the dead bears with it a kind of Pet Sematary vibe where the returned-dead aren’t quite the same as they were alive and harbour evil intent. I expect that Seth perhaps wants to resurrect Shannon to apologise and atone for what he did to her – though I anticipate Kelly and bitter jealousy is going to assume he wants her back properly. Whatever, it looks like it could be quite the riot.

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!

Misfits: S03 Ep04

What happened?

A holocaust survivor has the power to travel back in time and attempts to kill Hitler, but he botches the task and re-writes history when Hitler takes his mobile phone and uses the advanced technology to win the war. An alternate universe is created where Nazi rule runs amok, and in the present day they are keen on harnessing powers to use for their own ends.

Fighting a resistance movement is Kelly, Curtis and Rudy, who try to stop the Nazis from controlling the power dealer. Simon and Alisha, working for the Nazis but not agreeing with their ideology, eventually form a part of the resistance movement in a battle to the death. Kelly acquires the time travel power, goes back in time and takes the phone back from Hitler. At the episode’s end, remembering all of the alternate history, she visits the power trader and requests he rid of her the ability to time travel and lets her be a rocket scientist again.

Thoughts

What initially started out as a really promising episode for me quickly went south and ultimately disappointed. Probably it was because the inherent issue of the alternate timeline was one I knew had to be resolved before the end of the episode so there was little for me to invest in. I was also left confused by the time travel logic employed here – specifically to do with Kelly’s memories – which marred my enjoyment.

I’ll come to that.

There was some good stuff, though. I liked how the ‘missing’ Misfit from the first episode appeared here (and was once again killed off by someone else’s power!). And I liked how the probation officer was given more time here – he is an unsung comic hero of the show and it was good to see him utilised more. As a self-serving, cowardly toad of the Nazi party his character couldn’t have been better defined!

Less well-served here were Simon and Alisha. Simon, especially, I expected to emerge into something more heroic (like turn his gun on the commandant when ordered to shoot the old man) but perhaps that was the point; without the original timeline’s ‘man in the mask’ identity he is the shrinking violet. Although it appeared that he and Alisha still found time to get it on! Apparently, no matter what timeline, those two are destined to hook up – if that was the point it just about translated.

I’m not quite buying the pair of them as the doomed, star-crossed lovers Misfits potentially wants me to perceive them as, though. They just fall short of epic. (Mind, that’s Misfits in a nutshell – always deliberately falling short of epic despite conjuring the ingredients to do otherwise.)

I quite liked Curtis operating his bar as a cover for a resistant movement (albeit one with very few members!). It at least gave him something to do, and his death was a brutal one (although totally lacking in shock value on account of the previously mentioned certainty that this was not a permanent timeline and so the reset switch would inevitably get pushed).

Rudy, meanwhile, although more tolerable this time out was something of a spare part. Or even spare parts. He did bag some of the best lines and the scene with him bluffing that he and Curtis were a gay couple and, upon hearing homosexuality was outlawed, were actually cousins was the standout funniest scene.

Kelly and the power dealer continue to have some form of relationship, which I thought they might have consecrated in the alternate timeline. They didn’t, but I’d be surprised if it didn’t happen for them before the series is done. Unless power dealer gets to save his dead girlfriend, something his capacity to trade in the power of time travel may enable? (I doubt it – this undoing of the past plotline has been well-worn on Misfits, and now this series, so I can’t see it occurring again.)

The issue with Kelly and her travelling through time is the most confusing aspect. Because really it seems that the ‘original Kelly’ got erased here to be replaced by the ‘alternate timeline Kelly’. Now this clearly doesn’t quite stack up because at the end she wanted her power of rocket scientist back, so she evidently had awareness of the original timeline.

It’s like she has both: awareness of the original timeline and the timeline when Nazis where in charge. And I find that exceedingly hard to reconcile logically! It’s tempting, because of the show’s low-budget, rough around the edges nature, to say that it’s not supposed to be viewed rigorously but when I consider Simon’s future fate plotline, which clearly needs to be watertight, I’m not so quick to let Misfits off the hook.

Unless I’ve seriously missed or overlooked something, I’m calling it a plot hole.

Similarly, what happened to the old man with the power to travel in time? We saw him again in the reset timeline – but what about his time travel power? Doesn’t he still have that? Where there not then two ‘time travel powers’ in this timeline – the original one from the old man and the one Kelly inherited in the alternate timeline?

Again, perhaps I can be accused of thinking about this too much but I don’t think that’s acceptable. Or I’ve seriously missed something.

Fact is, Misfits has usually kept itself logically intact and self-contained in this respect, and the impression of loose plot ends (generally where Simon is concerned), are invariably be covered by the assurance that the writer has it all under control. At least we do now have – with the power dealer in possession of a time travel – a means by which Simon will one day travel back in time. But all those other ripples and niggles this timeline altering episode has conjured have made it one of my least favourite instalments of the show. Shame, really, because in principle it was Misfits at its most high-octane, high concept, boundary-pushing best.

Ironically, if it turns out I am the one that’s not understood things properly and the episode is totally shipshape then it’s actually one of the best Misfits episodes there has ever been! (But I don’t think I’m wrong, so it’s not.)

What was the best part?

The pre-credit sequence (suggesting so much promise!) with the old man writing the letter and venturing back in time. Managing to install instant sympathy and understanding about this man’s entire life story and motivation, and wasting no time getting to Hitler and a brutal stab (reminiscent, I thought, of a stab scene in Saving Private Ryan) the show packed more in those couple of minutes that most shows would dare tackle in one single episode. Having Kelly smoke a cig and sum it all up with “fucking Nazis” just stamped the Misfits brand of foul-mouthed humour perfectly.

What do I think will happen next?

There’s not much in the way of progression from the previous episode. The power dealer did hint that there was much about him Kelly didn’t know, so I envisage that may come under greater scrutiny. And, of course, there is now the means as to how Simon can travel in time on the board to play with, suggesting that the Simon vs Fate plot might find its conclusion this series. . .

Misfits: S03 Ep03

What happened?

Simon saved a guy called Peter from being mugged, instantly winning Peter’s adoration. Simon doesn’t realise that Peter has his own power of being able to draw events that will then happen for real. Using this power Peter controls Simon and tries to split him apart from Alisha. However, when the gang stop Peter’s plans he draws a final scenario where he kidnaps Alisha only for Simon to rescue her and kill him in the process.

Kelly gets to know the Power Dealer more, learning that the girl in the cemetery was his previous girlfriend who suffered an overdose he feels responsible for. As such he’s finding it difficult to submit to a new relationship. Alisha, now back with Simon, makes him promise to burn his outfit and stop trying to fulfil his destiny of travelling back in time. He says he will, but in secret hides the costume.

Thoughts

A Simon-centric episode is the one that offers up the most engaging subject matter for Misfits fans interested in the larger story arc. This episode very much raised the questions tucked at the heart of the timeloop and Simon’s fate, but didn’t take any closer steps towards answering them. I don’t think this was the chief reason why this episode failed to lift off for me, but it was certainly part of it.

I did think Peter was underserved here. The reveal of his power was deftly uncovered, and as ever fitted with his character (being someone powerless to make things go his way in real life, as the story of the stolen handbag revealed, and thus granted a power to shape the world and events as he wanted). Yet I felt like we didn’t really get to understand what he was all about, and so his final act of showing Simon that dying for what you believe in by making the ultimate sacrifice didn’t quite land perfectly.

Was that his intention all along, when he was trying to separate Simon from Alisha? Or did he have a change of heart and mind once his first scheme failed? I’m tempted to believe he intended it all along, and breaking Simon and Alisha up was his way of testing their relationship’s resolve, but it’s impossible to really call for sure.

I liked Simon’s performance here, adopting a muscular comic book pose when he was under Peter’s control was a nice touch. It did seem a tad remiss that his power of foresight was never employed, although he has stated in a previous episode that it’s not something he is able to control. Didn’t particularly serve him well here!

The ending to the episode was a compelling build that, alas, felt anticlimactic. I did like how Simon’s burning of the corpse was depicted very similar to Luke burning Darth Vader at the end of Return Of The Jedi (are we to deduce something more meaningful about overcoming the dark side from this!?). However, Peter having ended his comic book with a ‘to be continued’ felt underwhelming; I expected the camera to pan towards a stack of comic book papers he had drawn already, basically mapping out events yet to come, which I thought would have been both cool and interesting in the sense of challenging notions of free will.

Simon’s very predicament is determined by the sense of doing what he believes must be done against what free will would suggest he is able to do. The compelling opinion of Alisha, that he doesn’t need to go back in time because she already got saved, feels right! If Simon never goes back, what happens? Does the space-time continuum unravel? But time travel logistics would suggest that Simon doesn’t have a choice. His fate is as predetermined as the drawings in the comic book. He will go back in time and die because he’s already done it. It’s set down. Drawn in black and white. Inescapable.

I’m torn 50/50 on whether Misfits will proceed with this tragic plot or, somehow, find a way around it so that it happens without Simon being really dead. There’s all manner of ways around it (on a show where anything can happen, where anyone can do anything, solutions are plentiful). He could be cloned. It could be an alternate timeline permutation. Someone could have the ability to reincarnate the dead. . .

This brings me on to the power broker, and the nice interplay between him and Kelly. His story of the dead girlfriend was less mysterious than it first seemed, but the reason why he can’t let her go and give Kelly a whirl makes me think he is looking for a power that will allow him to bring his girlfriend back. Maybe all of his power trading is a means for him to eventually acquire the power to bring back people from the dead, and this quest might dovetail into Simon’s tragic fate. Stranger things have happened.

Really enjoyed Kelly in this episode. Her straddling between awkward and vulnerable to cocksure and profane is really well-played. Lauren Socha performs it to a tee. High-fiving when she once again uses her powers as a rocket scientist, to bemoaning getting cum on her face, to laying her cards out and admitting she likes the power broker – she’s a subtle and unsubtle standout in every scene.

On the flipside Rudy was rather irritating this episode and got on my nerves. He was a rather redundant player in proceedings and yet still hogged screentime that would have been better used with Simon and Peter. For every funny scene, like Rudy suggesting the probation officer was abused as a child, there was a boorish misfire where his obnoxious sense of humour and witlessness clunked up proceedings. I wouldn’t want to see him befall the same fate as Curtis (present in scenes despite being utterly superfluous) but his character needs the most work to wrestle into someone relatable.

Lastly, and I know it’s debased and pathetic (so quite a good fit for Misfits!) but a word of praise for Alisha’s breasts this episode. The tops she was wearing, and the camera shots that amply showed her off, meant I could barely take my eyes off her chest when she was on-screen. More of *those* please! (I’ll break with tradition and stick a pic of her here for, uh, artistic purposes.)



What was the best part?

Despite the weighty thematic ideas, the actual execution of events wasn’t particularly slick in my opinion. Peter’s death scene felt rushed when it really ought to have been the best part. As such I’ll plump for Simon burning Peter and then making his false promise to Alisha, intercut with the flashbacks and comic book frames. The climax didn’t quite deliver the punchline I felt was coming, but it was still captivating and felt momentous.

What do I think will happen next?

Beyond the longterm quandary of whether Simon’s fate is sealed or he will fulfil his destiny and yet survive the only other ongoing thread concerns Kelly and the power trader. As previously suggested, I can’t help but figure he’s not given up hope of getting his dead girlfriend back. However, next week’s preview hinted at a deranged Nazi-inspired happening (time travel involved? Simon could be discovering his means of going back!) featuring the probation worker, too, so looks like demented fun.

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).

Misfits: S03 Ep01

What happened?

Rory, a man with a power that means his personality physically splits into two separate persons runs into the Misfits gang now free from their probation duties, and also from Nathan who has gone to Las Vegas. With all of them now possessing new powers they struggle to make the best of them, with Simon most successfully employing his ability to perceive potential consequences with his burgeoning parkour skills to become the ‘man in the mask’.

Rory reveals that Alisha once broke his heart after sleeping with him, and the pair of them find themselves at the mercy of a murderous girl with the power to freeze in time her immediate surroundings. Luckily Rory’s alter-ego comes to their rescue. Shortly after the gang are caught driving a car Rory stole and, before they know it, are back on community service, musing on whether or not the next 7 weeks will pass by uneventfully.

Thoughts

The big question facing Misfits for this third series was how it would cope with the unplanned departure of Nathan. Clearly leaving a massive hole in the group dynamic, not to mention the show’s signature outrageous comedy value, he was as close to a ‘lead’ as Misfits had and was not going to be an easy patch to cover. So whilst this episode did focus more on new boy Rory I suspect the show is going to lean more than ever on functioning as an ensemble piece.

How does Misfits fare with the departure of Nathan? Actually, not bad.

New character Rory is, naturally, going to be the major talking point. I personally found him a tad annoying but mostly enjoyable. The only aspect to him that kind of bugged me was that his power had him split his personality; one being egotistical and over-confident and the other being insecure and wracked with conscience. The trouble was when these two personalities were combined the personality that was presented was barely dis-similar to the over-confident one. I think I would have preferred the ‘joined’ Rory to be more balanced to better emphasise the extremes of his individual components.

Maybe the point is that the insecure Rory is just a small part of him that he kept buried, like he shielded himself from it after his suicide attempt. The powers a person has invariably feed back into some aspect of their characters so Rory’s split is just a power that makes him confront the very thing he wants to repress; the moral conscience and constant reminder of all that he would like to forget. If I consider it in those terms then his rather objectionable (although funny) coarse personality that dominates makes more sense.

So, Rory, he’s no Nathan, but if Misfits can traverse the fine line between his full-on manner and level-headed decency then there’s the makings of an interesting dimension to the gang. I did like his remarks about how there was definitely going to be trouble coming for the group; clearly this was the writer making a knowing in-joke but Misfits is littered with such moments, with the characters literally speaking the opinions of the audience, and it’s cheeky enough to get away with it. Indeed, it’s part of the charm.

Kudos to the opening rooftop scrap Rory had with himself; Misfits is evidently a show that operates on a small budget but they do wonders with it and the effects here looked great, particularly on the subtle touches like their shadows when they were stood together.

Elsewhere our gang have all undergone something of a reinvention and the other big question hanging at the end of the last series was what new powers they would now have. Kelly’s was the ironically dumb revelation that she was a “rocket scientist”; a power that felt like it had been given to her purely so she could make the self-aware remark of incredulity that she was “a fucking rocket scientist”. The danger is that, now that joke is done, it doesn’t leave her character with a particularly interesting or useful power.

I do wonder if the ‘rocket scientist’ power isn’t going to be a temporary one and that before long she will seek out the man who can give and take powers and manage to bequeath herself something a little more potent. (I did note that the preview for next week’s episode suggested she was pursuing him out of some form of love interest, so maybe that will be a part of it.)

Curtis had the most eye-opening power at being able to transform into a girl. I did like how he stated he had basically ended up with it because he had let everyone else go first and it was the only one left! What direction that will take his character in remains to be seen but, at the moment, he feels like the least vital member of the group. Possibly could be a mind-boggling situation for him, though, if as a woman he gets involved with another man. . . Will that make him gay!? Confusing!

Lastly, Simon and Alisha have the two ‘best’ powers. Simon is clearly focused on becoming the ‘man in the mask’ so he can fulfil all the amazing rescues and acts we’ve seen him perform already. His power of being able to foresee consequences ties into what we saw in series 2, where he was busy making sure certain things happened in order to make everything turn out as it should. The big issue for him is that he knows his own death date and the big question for the show is: Will Simon actively try and avert that?

It’s hard to determine if that’s a question this series will even tackle. The Las Vegas photo informs us that Simon and Alisha have to least go and have that picture taken before he meets his fate (and, presumably, encounter someone with the capacity to send him back in time). For now it seems they have time but I would hope it’s a matter that does get addressed.

Alisha’s power to see things from another person’s perspective is a natural extension of her new-found empathy from the selfish person she used to be. It’s certainly a handy power to have and will surely be useful many times during the series. Of all the characters she’s the one that’s come the furthest, although Simon is not far behind and, whilst he still retain that otherworldly creepiness about him, he’s the one with the best ongoing plot arc and the most character depth.

All in all it’s good to have Misfits back and even better to see it’s endured the loss of a major character and barely suffered in the process. Profane, funny, fast-paced and, so far at least, inventive and logically-sound. It’s a misfit from the rest of the TV crowd and all the better for it.

What was the best part?

I really liked the sequence where the girl who could freeze time did so in the pub upon seeing Rory with another girl (who was totally hot, shame they killed her!). Just the way the music was slightly fuzzy as action-time went to a crawl and the girl wandered through the room before bottling Rory in the face with bloody retribution was a standout moment.

What do I think will happen next?

Kelly will pursue her interest in the power broker; whether for romantic reasons, or to trade for a new power, or both remains to be seen. Otherwise I anticipate questions surrounding Simon’s fate will be addressed by both he and Alisha. Beyond that the world of Misfits has been thrown wide open and no doubt it will be populated with the usual array of other people with powers that will invariably create problems for our unlikely superhero group.