Review: Misfits 3.8

Sally (Alex Reid) is back for revenge.

The finale of this turbulent series has finally arrived, and we face a finale that extends back to both of the preceeding years. This year was a time for a lot of change, both for better and worse. Now that we know that we have another series, we have to hope that this finale will provide the sense of closure and excitement that we received from previous years. (I consider last year's finale to be the Crimbo special.)
     A medium is operating out of the community centre, and based on his comments it's obvious that he has the power for real. Simon, chilled by his remarks about Sally (Alex Reid), then sees the deceased probation worker. She appears before him in the Lair during a vision, and kisses him. She meets him in the bathroom and tells him that the medium has brought her back, and that she's always had feelings for him. The gang talk to the medium, who discusses his ability to talk to and bring back the dead. He accidentally brings back the Virtue-girl, who Rudy flirts with relentlessly. She has come back because, realising upon death that there is no God, she wants to do things she avoided in life.
     Seth and Kelly's relationship is on the rocks; she's unhappy with him dealing powers without regulation. He tells her that he is quitting power-dealing. While Simon is haunted by Sally and Kelly by Tony, Virtue-girl gets absolutely bladdered and tries to shag Curtis. In a scene that mirrord the pilot, the gang were chased by Tony and Kelly hits him with a fire-extinguisher. Tony is, however, quite civilised and tries to find Sally, who is in a store-room chatting up Simon.

He's dead, Jim.

    Sally and Simon head back to the Lair, where she blackmails him into making love with her - which she films on Simon's phone. She sends the video to Alisha (I've been getting the spelling wrong forever!) who watches it and is shocked to discover what's been going on. She confronts him. Sally tries to throw Alisha off the roof, but Tony explains why he died. The two dead probation workers reunite and pass on. Simon and Alisha kiss and make up. Virtue-girl is unhappy because she has done everything she can think of and she can't pass on. As the two love-birds get their mac on in a storage closet, Virtue-girl gets hold of a stanley-knife and slits Alisha's throat Sweeny-Todd style.
     Simon reveals to the others that he is Superhoodie, and that this is the time he must go back. With the help of Seth and Kelly, they manage to get a one-way time travel power for Simon. The gang bury Alisha and Simon goes back to Series One. He discovers the derelict Lair, and trades Seth the power of Immunity. As he leaves Seth's place, Superhoodie is born. The modern gang is now left with only Kelly, Curtis and Rudy/Frudy.  
    Sally's storyline was a little off-putting. 1.5's key draw was that we knew that Sally was leading Simon down a false road. The question there was whether any of the affection that she showed Simon was real. Here it doesn't just feel like a retread, but it's also jarring because it doesn't make sense; nothing tells me in 1.5 that Sally really felt anything for Simon in a real way. And if she was being deceptive, then surely this more mature Simon wouldn't fall for it a second time. Virtue-girl's plot, while funny, didn't feel that necessary to the story until the very end. In a way it felt silly; Sally's plot was more of an unnecessary scapegoat that developed Simon and Alisha's relationship to the point where her death would be absolutely gut-wrenching.

Superhoodie is born. In a rather convenient orange hood,
which sidesteps a continuity issue about his appearance
in the first series. Nice.

     The episode's main problems really came down to the fact that nothing of any consequence happened until the last ten minutes. The Series One villains were nice to see, but their storylines didn't really have anything that we need from a Misfits finale. They weren't all that potent; they weren;t reflective and most of all they weren't at all epic in scale. Series One's finale saw a group of people hypnotised into zombies; Series Two saw the gang shot to fame and then stalked by a psychopathic killer.
    On the other hand, the last ten minutes of the episode might as well have been completely different from the rest. A simple music track, and the benefit of hindsight, allowed crude Series One comedy scenes to be imbued with a fantastic sense of poignancy. It was a shame that the cause of Simon's timey-wimey path was something as mundane as a slash by stanley-knife, and it's also sad to think that Simon's actions did nothing. In Misfits it appears that time-travel, in Simon's case, leads only to a Whatever Happened, Happened scenario.
     And so it ends. Series Three's finale was just like the rest of the series. It was fun in places and there were a lot of entertaining things, but in the end it didn't quite fall together and any moments of brilliance were confined to small nooks and crannies. Despite this, I am curious as to how the show will continue with only two-fifths of its original cast remaining this time next year. I'll see you there.

Thanks.