Review: Misfits 1.1

The "Misfits" get their powers.

Channel Four, as a company, always held a strange position around the TV dinner table - BBC the responsible mother figure, ITV the precocious teenager and Channel 5 the little brat in the armchair. C4 and its various spinoff channels hold the role of "quirky uncle", sitting on the sidelines and firing off obscure, under-the-table jokes and ideas. In essence, Four was the eptiome of the "alternative," and couldn't escape its mixture of reality shows like Big Brother and its weird comedies.
     Then, in 2007, E4 premiered Skins, an innovative and gritty teen drama. Suddenly, "innovative and gritty" became E4's thing, the channel nearly typecast as showing either American reruns or "innovative and gritty" dramas, and parodied as such. Oh well, they said. Howard Overman (a mainly BBC writer, know for Hotel Babylon, New Tricks, Hustle and Merlin) was brought in to write a show of his own creation. That show was a Skins-reminiscient superhero drama called Misfits. It was, indeed, "innovative and gritty". With that in mind, how does the premier of this new show fare? Let's just say it didn't do badly.
     Misfits 1.1 is quite strong in terms of storytelling because it holds the show's characteristic energy and determination, firmly setting down strong characterisations while pushing forward an amusing and mildy intriguing plot. Of note is the way that the show manages to dodge many of the main tropes plaguing the superhero genre, keeping it firmly about character instead of spectacle.
     As you should know (if you've read any of my Misfits reviews so far), the episode focusses around a group of  five six delinquents working on their community service - cocky irishman Nathan, chav Kelly, sexy Alisha*, shy Simon, runner Curtis and thug Gary. The episode starts with the six being adressed on their first day by frustrated probation worker Tony, each being very strongly characterised from the off. We get our Mass Super Powering Event - a storm, which imbues all of the characters with their abilities.

The five six characters paint some benches

     While not wearing now, the episode uses Misfits' commonly seen "freak of the week" plot, where the group are stalked by a super-powered murderer. Here, Gary is offed by a power-induced-rage filled Tony, after which he attempts to assault the group while they hide from the storm in the Community centre. Simon is the first to mention his abilities (turning invisible when people ignore him), followed by Kelly (who'd been hearing people's thoughts.) After a few conveniences, Alisha and Curtis' powers are also revealed (a sex-inducing touch and time reversal, respectively) and Kelly manages to dispatch Tony with a whack from a fire-extinguisher. They, frightened at being blamed for the two murders, drag the bodies away and buy them under the motorway.
     As an introductory episode, 1.1. does a very good job of painting the pattern that the series will follow. The most refreshing thing is of course the more-or-less realistic dialogue - the powers aren't the core focus of the series, and there isn't any melodrama beyond Nathan's usual madness. A sign of good things to come, perhaps?

Thanks.

*Spelt differently in subtitles, promotional material and other sources, as well as in these reviews. For the remainder of my Misfits reviews, she shall be refered to using one i - "Alisha".