Tv.com News

Misfits S01E02 & S02E02: "One" & "Two"

Editor's Note: Hey everyone! Logo has started airing Misfits again on Thursdays here in the U.S. (and they episodes are all on Hulu anyway), but we've been a little bogged down with fall premieres and unable to get these reviews posted. And be "we've," I mean *I* have been a little bogged down with fall premieres, and even though MaryAnn wrote these reviews over the last two Thursdays, *I* wasn't able to get them posted. So here they are now, and we'll return to a regular schedule of weekly Mistfits reviews next week! — Jen

A mysterious note sent via paper airplane (clever!) had our gang gathering around not-so-dead Nathan's grave just in time for Kelly to overhear him wanking off in his coffin because he's classy like that. Also, being buried alive probably gets really boring after awhile when you're immortal. That's why vampires always end up out of their minds after a couple decades underground, right? And I'm talking about Anne Rice vampires, not the sparkly ones. I'm also possibly talking about the Being Human vampires, but I'm pretty sure Suren was nuts before Mommy Dearest locked her up a few decades, so she might not count.

Anyway, Nathan was eventually freed from his grave, went home to visit his mother, and apparently shocked her so badly that she fainted and knocked a few teeth loose. I guess that means he'll continue to be homeless in the community center for the foreseeable future, then?

Catching up with the other ASBO kids, we learned that Simon is still pining for Sally the Corpse Bride, Kelly is really bummed about her almost-boyfriend getting impaled in the Season 1 finale, aaaand Curtis and Alisha are still the golden couple. With Sally on ice, Simon and the others have yet another probation officer, but at least this time he's full of dry sarcasm and general crotchety awesomeness. The third time's the charm, though, and someone—Sally's friend at the police station—has finally noticed the alarming frequency with which this particular ASBO group's probation officers seem to disappear.

The gang's new probation officer made them hang out in an art therapy class where Nathan made the mistake of mocking one of the girls, Lucy, and Simon made the mistake of pretending he didn't spend some quality time with her in a psych ward before landing his community service gig. So I wasn't at all surprised when Alisha appeared to come on to Simon. I mean, I was surprised, but I didn't think for a second that it was actually her, especially after her lips touched Simon's danger zone and he didn't go crazy with superpowered lust. It's all in the details, kids.

However, Simon didn't catch that minor detail and as though it was the blow job that blew his mind (and knowing Simon, it probably was), Simon decided to bury Sally once and for all.

Then everything got a little bit crazy. Stories with shape shifters tend to do that. Still rocking Alisha's face, Lucy went to Curtis and accused Simon of beating her up. Curtis was, understandably, not happy about that and intercepted Simon as he was moving Sally's corpse. Simon protested, saying that he didn't beat Alisha up, but that she totally went down on him, shifting Curtis's ire to his ladyfriend. Lucy's machinations started to fall apart when the real Alisha showed up completely unharmed and insisted that not only did she not hook up with Simon, but he didn't punch her either... by which time Lucy had morphed into Nathan.

Oh, and everyone found out about Sally the Dead Probation Officer. It was a bonding experience, though. Hiding a dead body tends to bring people together, for better or for worse. Usually worse. The realization that Lucy was rocking her Nathan costume and suddenly knew all about the pile of dead probation officers led to, well, ultimately another dead probation officer. But Curtis fixed that. "If I could tuuuuurn back tiiii-ime..." Yup, I'm still singing Cher to myself every time C-dog does this thing.

Lucy impaled Nathan, but now that we know he'll be fine my reaction was more LOL than OMG.

Letting all her crazy hang out, Lucy finally donned Simon's face and devised a plan to confess to the killings of Tony and Sally. She was certain that Simon would end up back in their old unit at the psych hospital, where they would rekindle their friendship and live happily ever after. Working his invisibility mojo, Simon followed Lucy to the police station, where he apologized for having ignored her earlier and made a case for his freedom. No, things weren't perfect with his group of friends, but he HAD a group of friends. Simon admitted to finally being happy and being content with who he was. He couldn't go back to the psych ward with her because he just wasn't that Simon anymore. He's come a long way, hasn't he? We should all be very proud.

And in the span of one episode, Lucy made some progress herself. Despite the obvious obsession with Simon that led to her antics in the first place, Lucy managed to reach an understanding with her former target and maybe even an understanding with herself. Simon said that he liked the person he became during their time apart, a concept that Lucy initially didn't seem to understand, asking Simon if he REALLY thought the other ASBO kids would want to be friends with someone like him. Simon nodded. It was small and a little bit uncertain, but it was there, which speaks clearly to how far his social ineptness and basement-level self-esteem have come.

If the powers on Misfits are meant to reflect an aspect of an individual's personality, then the fact that Lucy can take another individual's (or animal's) shape and essentially become someone else for an extended period of time fits well with her disbelief that Simon could have changed, grown, and evolved into a happy and healthy person who is comfortable in his own skin. Simon essentially outgrew her, which is sad for both of them, but it's one of those things that happens. Relationships change as the people in them change.

So of course I have to ask, does this mean that powers can change too? Or is that just crazy talk?

– Will we see Lucy again? Do we WANT to see Lucy again? (I kind of want to see Lucy again.)

– Is impaling Nathan for laughs the new thing? I can't decide if that would be hilarious or annoying. I'm leaning toward annoying.

– I really like the new douchebag probation officer. Tell me this one doesn't meet (another) untimely demise.

View the original article here

Misfits S01E05: "Five"

With confirmation that the superpowered Breakfast Club had something to do with her fiance's disappearance, probation officer Sally pulled out all the stops on the train to Creepster-ville to get Simon to roll over on the others. It didn't work out quite as planned, but really, do these sorts of things ever go as planned on Misfits?

She started out well enough; sensing Simon's social anxieties and insecurities, she offered him the attention and care that he so desperately craved. She cultivated a romance in a matter of days, and just in case that fell apart, she had her Shygirl18 online persona waiting in the wings. So of course, when her deception came to the surface, Simon took it about as well as any other maladjusted mutant would and accidentally bashed her head in. Or rather, the door handle bashed her head in after he gave her a good shove. After all, she WAS trying to escape with a cell phone full of damning evidence and she DID seduce him AND slam his head into a lady's room mirror. It's all fun and games until someone gets murdered by an emergency exit.

Sally's seduction was hard to stomach, not so much due to the age difference, since really, she can't be that much older than Simon, and not entirely due to their authority figure/underling relationship (though that was certainly alarming), but really, I just didn't want to see Simon get hurt. Out of all the ASBO kids, Simon might just be the least deserving of his punishment. Despite his hurt at being humiliated by a childhood friend in front of people he very badly wanted to accept, Simon still had to get himself good and drunk to go through with his plan to burn the guy's house down. He made sure there were no humans at home when he tossed the flammables through the mail slot, and even though that doesn't make his attempted destruction okay, it at least points to a sense of morality, of right and wrong. He ultimately abandoned his plan and put the fire out (by peeing on it—THERE'S a classic drunk idea) when he realized that there was a cat inside, rationalizing that it wasn't the cat that hurt him.

Despite clearly being a few sandwiches short of a picnic, Simon has generally tried to be an upstanding member of society. The problem is that society doesn't seem to have a place for him. So imagine his delight when Sally came along, took a real interest in his admittedly creepy (someone needs to talk to him about boundaries) films, offered him rides, drinks, dinner, and even the possibility of sex. I don't think she could have gone about a crueler way of trying to turn Simon against the others and Simon's final refusal to join Sally in selling out his ASBO mates, "They're the only friends I've got," speaks to both the depths of that betrayal and Simon's continued search for acceptance. Despite his past experiences and the new heartbreak with Sally, Simon would still prefer to be a part of the world than not. While the fact that he considers Curtis, Kelly, Alisha, and even Nathan to be his friends despite their casual mistreatment of him is touching, it's also a sad commentary on his desperation that he would be willing to accept so little.

– When asked if he learned anything from his community service experience, Curtis answered, "Yeah, don't get caught." I know he mostly meant it as sarcasm, but really, that's the best lesson you COULD learn, isn't it?

– The third time is the charm. Or the sixth, seventh, and...how many times DID it take Curtis to finally break up with Sam? And do we think that's the last we've seen of her?

– While Nathan and the mind-controlling baby was a cute distraction from Simon and Sally's Worst Romance Ever, it felt kind of like a shoehorned plot just for the sake of getting some Nathan screen time. It was nice to see everyone teaming up to track him down after he kidnapped the infant, though. They even included Simon!

– Kelly and Nathan might just be the most sarcastic couple ever, after Scrubs' Dr. Cox and Jordan. I like it.

View the original article here