After a busy year, in which they won a BAFTA and suchlike, E4’s Misfits is back! The Skins/Heroes hybrid turned out to be better than any of us expected, and has been rewarded accordingly. The new series, happily, picks up where the last one left off, with hardened smart-arse Nathan accidentally buried alive.
But fairly soon, we’re into uncharted territory, with yet another new probation worker and a mysterious masked man who looks like being the big storyline for the new year. So how does the return of Misfits look? Will it be as good? And, more importantly, as overtly distasteful?
Look, That’s Just Disgusting
Well, the signs are good. To be honest, Misfits isn’t a programme I watch for ridiculous conspiracies; that’s one aspect of Heroes I hope it never emulates. No, I’m here for the jokes, the desolate aesthetics, disgusting genital references and a sense that anything could happen, particularly if it’s sordid or silly. Yet somehow, it makes sense.
And that’s all here, happily. It’s still fun. In this new episode, reticent Simon takes centre stage when he’s stalked by a shapeshifter, and we get a demonstration that he has grown a little. Not too much, of course, and I hope Nathan never stops calling him “Barry”, but I enjoy feeling that last year actually mattered.
New For This Year!
As mentioned, we have a new probation worker, who’s a good change of pace after the last two. Also, they play a little game with our expectations, based on what happened to them. It’s a clever bit.
And the masked man, at this point, could be anyone. Hopefully by the time his unmasking comes, we’ll have a few good candidates so it seems properly shocking.
In short, yes, I really liked this. If I had to complain, I did hope they’d make more out of resolving last year’s cliffhanger, but it’s kinda brushed aside. On the other hand, I enjoyed the hell out of the new episode anyway, so maybe they should ignore me.
And according to celebrity geek Jonathan Ross at the Misfits series two premiere, it only gets better in the next few weeks. Watch the new episode on 4OD and come share in my glee in the comments below.
More Misfits on Dork Adore | Dork Review: Misfits series one
Nick Bryan
Nick learned to read and write at an early age. This has developed into an unhealthy need to either write stories or consume them for later dissection. He reviews film and TV on Dork Adore and The Digital Fix, lives in London and enjoys a nice white beer.
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Was it just me, or did next week's trailer hint that Curtis might be the masked fella? It would be an interesting path to take him down, as I think the whole 'see the future' thing might start to feel a bit repetitive.
Overall though, I loved the episode, roll on next week!
Considering how few other characters there are on Misfits, it does seem likely that the masked guy might end up being one of them. And Curtis travelling back from the future would make the most sense.
I don't know… Misfits seems quite set on enforcing the “one person, one power” rule – smartly avoiding the rampant “power creep” of Heroes, where certain characters ended up being able to do several different and barely-connected things. Curtis time travels (maybe at some point, I could see this stretched to super-speed, but that's about it). Super Hoodie does parkour, but it's *super* parkour – the man litterally leaps tall buildings in a single bound. So I would think *that's* his power; some sort of super-strength, maybe, or super-agility, which manifests as drastically increased athletic ability. Nothing precludes him from working with Future Curtis, though. Oooh, maybe Future Curtis working with a Future Nathan? You know, the whole Wolverine “constantly regenerating muscle tissue/constant peak physical condition” thing? I'm just tossing that out there.