The interesting thing here was seeing the angle writer Howard Overman takes with Alisha's contentious super-power (turning men into sex-crazed loons if they touch her.) It's initially shown to be a mischievous power trip for Alisha, as she drifts through nightclubs firing her own brand of Cupid's arrow into everyone around her. Alisha's the good time girl who can now get sex on a whim with no fuss, but it's actually proven to be something of a curse, because Curtis (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) reveals he has genuine feelings for her but is reduced to a lusting bag of testosterone whenever he gets close.
It was also a clever idea to write Alisha as the sexual predator (didn't she essentially rape Curtis when she touched him on purpose, "forcing" him to have sex with her in a toilet cubicle?), but there's still the danger that she'll touch men she can't dominate and accidentally condemn herself to rape. There's definitely some fascinating ramifications of Alisha's power and how she must deal with it (what happens when she touches family relatives?!), and this episode ends with Curtis and Alisha deciding to give romance a go without tactile contact. It's the Pushing Daisies dilemma with the specter of sexual molestation hanging over it.
Lauren is asked by probation worker Sally (Alex Reid) to make amends with a girl called Jodie she's bullied, but even Lauren's ability to hear her enemy's thoughts doesn't iron the situation out. Later, Lauren is shocked to discover all her hair falls out while showering, forcing her to wear a wig and baseball cap that Nathan (Robert Sheehan) soon whips off to expose her baldness. What's going on? Well, turns out Jodie was likewise caught up in the storm and can now infect those she disliked with the Alopecia she suffers from. It's a ridiculous super-power, no doubt, but another good example of the angle Misfits is taking on the superhero mythos -- where the abilities all compliment the owner's traits and fears.
We also got some unexpected movement on Simon's mysterious internet chat-buddy "shygirl18", who turns out to be probation worker Sally. Apparently the missing Tony was her boyfriend, and she suspects the young offenders know what happened to him. So, she's been trying to unnerve them with "I Know What You Did" flyers and dig for the truth by befriending Simon online. Fortunately, Simon has hidden their tracks well by using Tony's credit car to book an airline flight, making it look like he simply fled overseas. But surely Sally just has to ask the airline if Tony boarded the flight he booked?
Simon himself spent the episode trying to endear himself to the others by recounting a few of his clever ideas, but just faced more acerbic backbiting for his efforts. There was also a nice attribute revealed to Simon's power of invisibility, in that he's so painfully shy he can't turn invisible in front of people who are watching. This essentially means even Simon's super-skill is something he can't share or impress anyone with, as he simply fades into obscurity when alone and sits around waiting for the effects to wear off. Aren't we all invisible when nobody's there to see us? Ooh, philosophical.
Overall, episode 3 was pretty decent and included some worthwhile developments. The gang have dug up their dead bodies and are intending to replant them just before the council pour concrete into the foundations being built for the monitoring centre, and through this there were signs the teenagers are starting to learn how to work together as a team. Curtis and Alisha are now an item, Kelly isn't as icy towards Simon (who himself is quite keen to make friends with everyone), so it's only really loudmouth Nathan keeping everything tense and edgy -- and all that's just habituated, immature bluster. So, we're already half-way through the series and Misfits has proven to be a refreshingly honest, witty and interesting twist on the overplayed superhero genre, and next week's episode looks fantastic.
26 November 2009
E4, 10pm
written by: Howard Overman directed by: Tom Harper starring: Antonia Thomas (Alisha), Lauren Socha (Kelly), Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (Curtis), Iwan Rheon (Simon), Robert Sheehan (Nathan) & Alex Reid (Sally)
