Misfits, Christmas Episode

Premise: Community service ends and three months passes. In the meantime, some dude has discovered he has the power to take powers from people and pass them on to others, which he is doing for money. Another dude is a vicar who’s not getting much of a flock for his community centre based services. The misfits are down and out and tempted by the prospect of exchanging money for powers. Vicar dude is tempted by the opportunity to buy powers and pretend to be the second coming of Jesus, thus attracting a much bigger flock, and pulling people for quick shags.

There were many things about this episode that were glorious. Let’s just start with Nathan in a Santa costume pulling a pregnant girl who turns out to be as dappy and blunt as himself. Much as I am firmly Team Nathan/Kelly, I thought this was wonderful, and worked perfectly from start to finish. I instantly liked her, and I instantly believed in the relationship.

Alisha wanting to sell her power was utterly convincing, and probably necessary. A six or even 12 episode arch about how shit it is to not be able to touch people without them being driven to have sex with you has some mileage. But it felt like this series they were really struggling with the fact that this is not only a fairly useless power, it’s really hard not to make episodes that involve it creepy from the point of view of thematic implication.

They also handled the ‘second coming’ storyline with all the shocking good humour you would expect from the Misfits crew. I’m not religious, and so not really in a position to gauge the offensiveness of this, but seeing as it’s not really Jesus, it seemed to me that they were dancing rather skillfully around the edges of blasphemy.

I did have some issues, though. I believed that Alisha would sell her powers. I found Nathan’s attempt to sell his power for money for his new girlfriend’s baby rather touching. I found it funny that he got so little for it, despite being aware that, yes, he does have something from the A list. I’m not entirely convinced he would have done it, but I could go with it. But Nikki and Curtis? I just don’t think they would. Curtis has a power that doesn’t affect him adversely at all, and, whilst demonstrably frustrating for her, if I had the power of teleportation I’d be willing to spend more than 3 months trying to work out the kinks before getting rid of it. Also, unlike the other misfits, they both have jobs and seem to be doing OK for themselves.

The other big issue I had is that Alisha and Simon appear to have got together as a result of the reveal in the previous episode… which didn’t happen, because Curtis rewound time. Might they have gotten together in the preceding three months anyway? Probably. But that’s not how it’s presented, and the only person with any memory of the future where they got together (Curtis) didn’t actually have the opportunity to find out that they were together.

But ho hum. For all its flaws, it was still greatly entertaining, which is what I want from Misfits, really. What I want to know is how the cliffhanger we’ve been left with will be resolved in the next series. If you don’t want spoilers for the end, look away now:

So, the misfits have lost all their powers, and have the chance to get their old powers back, or have some new ones.

Alisha can’t have hers back, and I think that’s probably all to the good.

It’s not actually clear whether Simon sold his power – we don’t actually see it. So, I’m intrigued to know whether he has or not, and whether he might now get two. It looks as though some form of ‘power immunity’ is on the cards for him anyway, but where does the time travel come from?

I’ll be disappointed if Curtis doesn’t get his back, as he could actually save Nikki, and, apart from the fact that I really liked her as a character and don’t like losing her so soon, I don’t think it would sit well with his character to just abandon her. Or does Curtis get a better form of time travelling power? We shall have to wait and see.

Nathan: I want him to get his immortality back. Yes, he could have a more useful power for his everyday life, but immortality seemed to suit him pretty well, and he said the reason he wanted it back was so he could make sure he was there for the baby.

Kelly: I’m not sure if I want her to get rid of the telepathy. It suits her, but they haven’t used it well this series, and I have a suspicion that the writers are bored with it. In fact, I have a feeling there may be a general shakedown coming for that reason. I suppose whatever keeps them interested and writing this show I love is good. Plus, telepathy is one of those stereotypically female powers (like empathy), and while there’s nothing necessarily wrong with Kelly having that – as I say, it suits her – it might be good to have them mix it up a little bit.

So, it’s wait-and-see pudding, as we say in my family. And that could be what I want, or not what I want, but I suspect it’ll be pretty good anyway.