31.10.11
Pumpkins are not the only thing orange this Hallowe'en
The third series of Misfits crashed onto E4 last weekend. Or, it should have done – unless a Facebook fan or ardent E4 viewer, it might have come as some surprise. Well, it did for me, and hopefully for someone else. I mean, I knew it was expected sometime this autumn – but it's still June, right? Anyway, talk about minimal advertising. E4, maker of stupidly indulgent Skins adverts, how could you dismiss Misfits? (They did, didn't they? There wasn't some massive ad campaign that completely flew over my head? I live in fear of being so thoroughly de-looped that I am out of any and all loops.)
The welcome strains of The Echoes signaled the return of E4's best drama this decade, but I felt rather out of it. No curly-haired pillar of deliciously inappropriate snark in the guise of Robert Sheehan? How could my tear-filled eyes cope? It's like there were two versions of me: one screaming with grief over Sheehan's departure, the wounds I'd believed healed bursting open in shock. And the other me, the rational one who had faith in Howard Overman's writing, calmly advising that all would be okay. And then both versions kissed and made up in a strange alternate universe where this is all okay.
What I love about Misfits is the sheer rudeness of it all. It is a necessary programme, to challenge the beige mediocrity of middle-class BBC-friendly drama. It's frank and brutal and realistic, in a world where anal sex is lewdly championed and Fisherman's Friend is a recommended pleasuring device for oral sex (and it works, too – ahem). As undoubtedly the rudest member of the orange-clad gang, it is natural that Nathan's personality would be extended onto the aptly named Rudy.
But Rudy, as we soon learn, is more than a Nathan substitute. He is forced to confront something Nathan rarely had the opportunity to: his hidden depths. These depths stare him right in his face and stab him in the shoulder with a pair of scissors. So while Rudy acts like a swaggering cock-of-the-walk (and just "cock", really), his own double is a conflicted and insecure man haunted by a lovelorn past.
While frustrating for Rudy, it's his power which is arguably the most coveted in this series. There have been complaints from many Internet quarters (well, four, then) regarding the unimpressive nature of the gang's new powers. I disagree. So often in power-based dramas – and including the first two series of Misfits – we hear of a group of people coincidentally gifted and cursed with the one-hit KO wishlist of magical powers. Giving the gang dud powers is actually a clever move, as clever as it was to refresh their powers in the first place. This series we have gender-switching, rocket science and the ability to see through a different perspective; I want to see how this inventory of underdog powers will be combined to ultimately save the day. The creativity required here is far more interesting than having the big guns of telepathy and immortality wheeled out again.
I am guessing a rocket will be involved at a crucial plot point. But I have the intellect of a fucking rocket scientist, so that was easy for me to guess. Here – let me build you a rocket!
Also, I love that Kelly's new power is basically the manifestation of this Mitchell & Webb sketch.
Two continuity quibbles, however. When Curtis transform into a girl to divert the police, he is still wearing his bright green tracksuit – police officers are surely not that short-sighted! And when Rudy boots Crazy Bernard's Watch Girl in the face, how on earth does she die? It cannot be possible to fall backwards and bleed from the sudden impact of a flat surface. Y u make no physical sense, Misfits?!
On the more complimentary side, though: gender-switching and auto-erotic potential on mainstream TV? Sometimes I think fandom wished this show into being. Stay fabulous, Misfits. I'll even paint my nails orange for you.
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