Episode 5 was slower than previous efforts, but still splendidly absorbing thanks to the subtle, tight performances of Reid and Rheon. Simon's the most sympathetic character on the show, but also the most mysterious and creepy, so it was great to get inside his head. We learn that he's a gifted filmmaker, for example, but it was a shame the episode didn't have the time to show us his family. However, watching Simon slowly relax and even smile in Sally's company was quite wonderful (the highlight being a tête-à-tête at a pub), if tainted by knowledge that Sally has an different agenda. Still, the possibility existed that she'd grow to genuinely like him (and I think she did, actually), so the possibility of some form of happy ending always felt possible.
Sadly, it wasn't to be. Simon eventually discovered Sally's been leading him on, when he catches her with his phone learning the terrible truth. A combination of anger, humiliation and self-protection then compelled Simon to turn invisible and attack Sally before she could go to the police... leading to her accidental death when she cracked her head on a door handle. That's a third dead body to deal with, only this one's much harder to defend because it was entirely preventable. It's also worth noting that Sally (while painted as the manipulative villain because we empathize with Simon) was essential just trying to expose her boyfriend's delinquent killers -- and who can argue with that?
Two small subplots slithered through the episode, both fairly entertaining in their own right. Curtis (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) is struggling to split-up with Sam (Anna Koval), who now exists as his girlfriend in this timeline thanks to his efforts to alter the past last week. It was essentially a fun Groundhog Day scenario, with Curtis trying to find the ideal way to dump Sam without her crying, as his subsequent guilt would cruelly drag him back in time to just before the unsuccessful breakup. Amusingly, success only came when he followed Nathan's (Robert Sheehan) advice and quoted a line from Spider-Man, and it was nice to see Alisha (Antonia Thomas) so understanding when Curtis explained the temporal reason for his two-timing. As she said, is it cheating if your time-travelling boyfriend has unwittingly manufactured his own adultery to save your life?
The weakest (well, strangest) storyline belonged to Nathan, who became infatuated with a three-year-old boy called Flynn attending a Community Centre playgroup with his single mother. At first I was convinced Nathan's strange behaviour was a clue to his as-yet unidentified super-power (the ability to make his secret desires, for fatherhood in this case, come true?) But it turned out it was the baby who had a power; the ability to make men fall in love with him to become its missing father figure. I'm not sure I like the idea Kelly (Lauren Socha) can read baby's minds, though -- or that they know the word "prick" -- but it was a fun little twist. I keep forgetting that so many people across the neighbourhood have been given powers as a result of the storm, so I can still be surprised in that regard.
Overall, this was another very entertaining and involving hour of teenage drama, again impressing by how it barely touches on its status as a superhero show. The superpowers are almost incidental to Misfits, and the show's all the better for it. This episode worked as a heartbreaking story of a reclusive boy coming out of his shell, only to be crushed underfoot, and I'm genuinely excited to see next week's finale. It's just a pity there aren't more episodes in the pipeline, so the show had room to breathe and could ratchet up tension and expectation over many weeks. But, equally, there's no fat on its bones.
10 December 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), Anna Koval (Sam)
