Red Dwarf and other blog news

The Dwarfers are back!
From digitalspy

First off: Red Dwarf is coming back! It's official: two new series, one for 2016, one for 2017. What with this blog and its history of following Red Dwarf stuff, I'll of course be wanting to talk about them when they come out. That may or may not happen, but if there's anything which can give me motivation to continue Nostalgia Filter, it's two new series of Red Dwarf.
     So, about continuing Nostalgia Filter. My plans to review The Walking Dead more or less fell through - those reviews will probably be written at some point, but right now I have neither the time nor the motivation to sit through The Walking Dead's early season drudgery. Nor will there be articles on Orphan Black or Game of Thrones - I can't really analyse them in detail and I just enjoy watching them without doing that sorta thing.
     One thing I have considered is going back and finishing my reviews of Misfits, finally explaining what stopped me reviewing and covering the final season and a half. If that happens, it's likely to start in the summertime - right now I'm spending half of my time doing coursework and the rest procrastinating studying dutifully for my exams.
     Talking about Red Dwarf, I've wanted for a while now to find some way of revisiting those old reviews - anyone can see that my writing style has changed since my 2010 reviews, and even since my 2012 reviews (my style now seemingly being that I don't write any more, I say with bitter laughter). Revisiting all of the episodes might be a little difficult though, and it really would affect the infrastructure of the blog to have two or more reviews for each episode of what is a half-hour-format comedy. If I did revisit them, I'd have to make sure that I had something original and useful to say, and that's difficult.

      Before I stopped writing I did have something to do with Star Trek reviews - I almost started reviewing Voyager's third season, but I then put off writing a review for Flashback, the 30th Anniversary Special, and then didn't bring that boxset to Uni with me. I do however have some Deep Space Nine boxsets on me, and this summer might see either individual episode reviews or season overviews. I have to be honest with myself about what I'm capable of now that I'm this out of practice.

Thanks.

Farewell, Misfits

I don't know much about Misfits' future, or whether it'll ever get the chance to continue after this year. I don't have a real problem with the way the series seems to be headed, and I've every confidence that it'll have some highs. But for the time being, I'm not going to continue reviewing it here on Nostalgia Filter, for the simple reason that I don't have anything to say about it any more and I procrastinate enough as it is without having one more thing to do. I'm still watching it, of course, but it's lost the importance that it used to.


It's been a blast, Misfits. But I can't find things to say any more.

Thanks.

Review: Misfits 4.5

Finn and Grace.

You know what? Maybe Rudy's the problem after all. See, Curtis is gone and that's the end of the original gang and boo hoo. But Finn actually carried it out this week, and it's his second hit after the intriguingly creepy second episode. And while Alex and Jess's storyline becomes ever more intriguing and creepy, Rudy's characterisation remains compeletely stationary as an annoying, sex-obsessed dinosaur. I'm still not confident in the new characters' abilities to actually carry the series, and I hope our team expands from three soon, but our new characters did a bloody good job for once.
      Having discovered last week that his so-called father was in fact an interloper, Finn's journey to find his birth-father took him to his real, dying father and his step-sister Grace, whose power allows her to sustain life without actually curing her father's disease. His father asks Finn to distract Grace to allow him to die in peace, and on their night out Finn takes the opportunity to spy on a suspicious Alex, who is seen talking to someone in a hidden place. Finn confronts Jess with his suspicions, and despite her doubts she passes them onto Alex. Finn stops Grace from prolonging her father's suffering, and they all live happily ever after - apart from Alex, who catches someone and makes a rather disturbing request.
     There was no monster-of-the-week this time, and much like the episodes focussing on Nathan's past, we got to see Finn's family history in a reall well-executed way. After being a bit off in the premier, the writers have really developed Finn's character, and he's almost a replacement for Simon in terms of character development. His storyline again focused rather strangely on a larger real-world dilemma - the second episode of the series had been about the overall gender politics of young relationships, wheras this episode was about the argument on Euthanasia and whether or not it's right to allow someone to die. Heavy stuff.
     The problem, perhaps, came with the story's crossing over with the other subplot regarding Alex. As a character I'm finding him pretty limited, with the strangely juvenile, Pramface-style gay debate shrouding a larger and slightly more distrubing secret. The episode's sting and its sheer wtf nature was lended to more by its odd vulgarity rather than any sense of surprise - I initially thought Alex was simply a hitman, which would have lended a darker tone to the rest of the series, but the result instead is something that not only am I unable to guess but am also perhaps unwilling to.

I don't think I want to know Alex's secret.

      The loss of Curtis and of the last remnants of the "old regime" may have hit Misfits a little harder than it can handle, but it still remains standing. Next week's episode looks to be a good lot more absurdist and disturbing, and while I'm all for experimentation I am worrying that the spirit of Misfits as a gritty deconstruction of the super-hero genre with great characterisations is being lost somewhat in a cavlecade of Inbetweeners-style vulgarity and distinct unsubtlty. Next week... I don't know what's gonna happen. And that's making more more worried than I really should be with this show.

Thanks.

Review: Misfits 4.4

Curtis has to accept his fate.

Man, this shit's intense! After being built up for several episodes, the character of Lola (Lucy Gaskell) gets a chance to shine on her own, and boy does she bring the house down. It was also a look-in for Curtis who, spoilers aside, finally gets the chance to bow out. Unlike the mad time-travel antics of Simon and Alesha, Curtis gets to leave with some dignity and for the first time this series, Misfits made me feel something. However, it did leave me wondering whether that feeling was justified....
      Lola is chilling with Curtis when an old boyfriend (Andrew Gower, another Being Human alumni) arrives. She tricks Curtis into thinking that her ex has assaulted her. Rudy offers Finn dating advice. Lola pretends that she's getting death threats, and says that she's leaving. When Curtis offers to go round and see him, she offers him a gun and he takes it. When he goes round, Curtis accidentally shoots him in the stomach. It turns out that Lola's having it off with someone else as well, and that she isn't a trainee probation worker. Keen to discover the truth, Curtis goes to use his otherwise-useless power to bring her ex back to life again. The gang are there to help out, the plan being to resurrect him and then have Finn club his brain in when he goes Zombie. They manage to stop him before he escapes, but Curtis gets bitten.
     Curtis is forced to try and resist his zombie urges while still investigating the truth behind Lola's activities. He discovers a tape which reveals that whoever Lola used to be was brainwashed in the storm after playing her as a character. The character is intent upon using every man who comes her way, using her next boyfriend to kill the previous. Lola burns herself to get her present boyfriend to pop over. In the meantime, Curtis manages to escape the wrath of the probation-worker by flirting with him, to his surprise. Curtis, despite having the others considering killing him, still wants to break Lola out of her stupor while he still has the chance. He's knocked out by her new boyfriend, and taken to a warehouse. He can't kill Curtis, so Lola kills the boyfriend and then shoots Curtis. He bites her, and takes her out before saying goodbye to Rudy over the phone and comitting suicide.

The extent of Lola's manipulation is uncovered.

     Lola's character then, ultimately, served as a tragic plot device to see Curtis' doom. Curtis is unfortunate amongst the main five from the show's beginnings in that he doesn't really have that much of a characterisation - despite being the most likable and morally sound guy at the beginning, his character remained static and never got much to do besides having a line of love interests who either left him or died. 4.4. was both clever and disappointing in that it played up that side of his personality and ultimately used his fucked-up power as part of the solution.
     I was annoyed that after two episodes Lola was used much more as a device rather than a character, with her personality and history only lightly touched upon before she was offed. And that was rather true of a lot of things this week. The various tiny subplots running around beneath Rudy and Finn didn;t seem to really go anywhere, and that didn't help the main plot any. Whatever the reason for Nathan Stewart-Jarett's departure from the series, I'd hoped that it would have been in a slightly more thought-out way than this episode unfortuantely gave us. Whether the show can survive soley on its new characters is yet to be seen, but if Jess doesn't get anything to do then we're gonna fail.

Thanks.

Review: Misfits 4.3

Grr.

Some rudimentary psychology for you. Everyone has at their base three personality states - Child, which runs on the id and acts submissive; Adult, which is the central and rational version of the self; and Parent, which aims to control others. It's another version of the Id, Ego, Superego idea and Misfits is using that perfectly when it comes to Rudy. This time we're introduced to the idea that Rudy hasn't just released Frudy upon the world, but has also got a Dark Side - or, as I will say, Drudy. It's new dynamic, and an interesting one that this episode uses to add a slice of variety to our regular characterisations (and to give Joe Gilgun a chance to be a bit more serious).
     Drudy has just been released from some very accepting prison after having beaten someone up in a club, and comes back to re-integrate with Rudy and take over his body. Social worker Lola (Lucy Gaskell) arrives to act all sexy around Curtis, while Drudy makes his mark by thieving from Jess's locker. He manages to get inside her head when they talk, and he creeps her out. Finn gets seduced by his step-mother, but gets abandoned by Jess, leading him to walk out on her. Frudy comes back to find Drudy has returned, and a short exertion of Rudy's central personality almost allows him the chance to escape. While Finn is shown up in public, he also has another run-in with the probation worker who's acting as bit more mental. Finn's stepmother comes back again and she's more desperate for a relationship; he's too much of a chicken to break it off.
     Curtis flirts with Lola and Jess flirts with Alex, after which Drudy freaks Jess out some more. Finn is forced to stop his stop-mum from telling the truth to his dad, but he doesn't get their in time and he has a father-son chat. He reveals that he isn't Finn's real father, and thus disowns him. The probation worker discovers someone has stolen a wedding cake, and tears a strip off of the three - meeting his match with Drudy. When they talk, Jess catches on that his personality has changed. Drudy explains some of the mechanics while Jess explains some some of her background. Drudy nearly strangles Jess so she stabs him with some scissors. Before he dies, she convinces him to let his two other selves go. They bury yet another corpse, and Finn makes it up with Jess.

The probation worker meets his match in Dark Rudy

     This week's episode wasn't very funny, but I feel that it took a very successful Being-Human-esque movement from comedy to drama and used the various characterisations to make it work. It was the best episode so far this series, for the simple reason that I enjoyed all of the characterisations. While yet again Curtis got relegated to putting his penis into people (which, 1.4 aside, is basically his only consistent ability so far), the other three characters got a lot to do and a lot of background. It wasn't laugh-a-minute, but it did have the oomph of good characterisation from all hands. Good show.

Thanks.

Review: Misfits 4.2

Sadie is held captive by Finn.

Man, I wish Misfits had episode titles. Written 5/11/12

While last week's premier was ok, it didn't really capture a lot of people's imaginations. In that regard, this week was a hell of a lot more confident with its characterisations and dilemma, picking up the cliffhanger from last week and turning it into a funny if crude examination of love and gender roles. I suppose you could say that it was Finn-centric, but the episode managed to juggle all of its characters and give them a decent amount to do - even if, for some reason, Karla Crome's character doesn't seem to be getting a lot of focus.
     As Finn (Nathan McMullen) continues to for some reason hold his girlfriend hostage, gagged and tied up, the new probation worker (Shaun Dooley, whose performance I am absolutely adoring) orders the four to help out at a sculpting class for the blind. There they meet a beautiful blind girl, Ally, who Curtis initially likes until it turns out that, despite being blind, she is incredibly racist. Rudy is kicked out of his accomodation, and barges into Finn's place to stay the night. Soon he becomes suspicious of his locked room, and when the gang confront him he reveals that Sadie, his girlfriend, had a mind-control power that forced him into being the perfect boyfriend. In order to preserve his free-will, he's gagged her so she can't effect him - but he doesn't want to leave her, since she's his first girlfriend and he's still in love. When Frudy releases Sadie, Finn initially goes back to being under her control just to make the relationship work - until Jess has Seth do one last job before he returns to Africa, taking away Sadie's power and ending their relationship. As the episode ends, we find that there's a smoking-hot new trainee-probation worker, Lola (a much more aggressive Lucy Gaskell, Being Human and Casualty) eyeing up the group.
     If I thought Nathan McMullen was a bit shakey this week, he's come into his own here. His character beats are a subtle mix of Nathan and Simon - he's a social pariah, but he's like that with good reason. The dilemma of the episode is actually quite a topical one; was Finn right to go to the lengths he did to retain his personal freedom in the relationship when he'd only ever been good at being a boyfriend while under her control? It's a greater argument about whether personal freedom is better than the overall greater good, and that's a very poweful message to be inserting alongside the nob gags and three, count three, sex scenes.

Lola (Lucy Gaskell) looks like trouble.

     The blind girl subplot was a tad weird, to be honest. As Rudy lampshades, the series seems to be throwing an awful lot at us under the umbrella of, "the storm did it." In this case, a blind woman (who somehow happens to be racist) has been telepathically connected to her guide dog, who rather literally acts as her eyes now. It gave Curtis and Rudy something to focus their efforts on this episode, but it only led to an oddly vulgar sex scene involving clingfilm and a rubber band. New character Alex, who's probably going to provide Jess's main subplots in this series, was strangely cryptic and ultimately unsatisfying.
     However, this week did manage to have a bit more pacing and drive than the premier, as well as providing better characterisation for Nathan McMullen's Finn. It felt like Misfits again - the gang back together, all working towards common goals. I get the wonderful feeling that the loss of Nathan, Simon, Alesha and Kelly really won't harm this series in the way that I was afraid it would - Rudy and Finn now feel really engaging and this episode at least shows that they can carry an episode on their own. That leaves one missing link - Jess, who despite Karla Crome's best efforts seems to be left out. Hopefully this will improve, given time.

Thanks.

Review: Misfits 4.1

Jess (Karla Crome) and Finn (Nathan McMullen) join
the team under stressful circumstances.

When it started, people compared Misfits' urban appeal to that of E4's flagship show, Skins. And we had to hope, really, that that comparison continued when not one but three of the original cast members left last season; two in story and one that may or may not be because of an unfortunate incident where Lauren Socha racially abused a taxi-driver. So we've got two new guys, Jess (the wonderful Karla Crome, who was in Hit And Miss which I reviewed before I gave up on it half-way-through) and Finn (Nathan McMullen). Now with a cast that looks rather different from the original, we have to wonder whether Misfits can survive the change. As far as I can tell, it has. And rather well.
      Jess and Finn arrive, suspicious of their new "probation worker" Rudy. Rudy and Seth are torturing two people in order to find out the combination to a briefcase - including Curtis, whom the two new recruits release from a freezer. Rudy explains that Seth returned from war-torn Uganda (where Kelly has apparently stayed). The three were touched by a gangster carrying the briefcase, whose power made them obsessed with opening it and getting the cash inside. Rudy cut the gangster's hand off in the night. Believing them to be in cahoots with Curtis, Rudy drugs the two new guys and throws them in the freezer. They argue and flirt, with Finn telling an imaginary story about being sexually abused as a child.
     The thief gets dumped in with them, and he explains that ever since he stole the money, everyone around him has been desperate to get it off of him. Finn gets affected by the power just as the theif dies. Seth knocks Rudy out, but Frudy is still around to stand-in. He lets them out, and after explaining that he's not the real Rudy, he tells them that it was he who stole the briefcase. He retrieves it and discovers that Finn and Jess have both been affected by the thief's ability. Finn runs off with the case and there's a confrontation on the roof. The thief takes the case and falls off the roof, opening it and letting the cash fly free. Everyone makes up and they bury yet another body. A new Probation Worker turns up, and he's a badass. Finn goes home, and it's revealed that he keeps a girl locked up.

The new line-up.

     Karla Crome stands out immediately - Jess is confident, witty and wise and she's an absolute joy to have on screen. Nathan McMullen's Finn took a bit longer to convince me, but his optimistic yet jittery persona gave a replacement to the original Simon that wasn't as creepy as fuck. In short, yeah, I really liked these new characters. It seems like both have places they could go, and I thought that their introductions were handled a lot better than Rudy's last year, which seemed to consist of, "Here's the new Nathan, deal with it." This episode felt much more balanced between a genuinely intriguing plot and the new character beats. The comedy came hard and fast, and worked well with the rest of the story to provide a good all-rounder.
     So yeah, I was really impressed by this week. It managed to get everything right in a really intriguing way, with both a fascinating scenario to work in and a set of new characters with impressive opening resumes. Heck, at this point Curtis feels like a bit of a weight, and I'd really like it if his veteran position on the team could be exploited more this series. Other than that, then, this premier was just what I'd wanted - interesting, well-aced and just very, very funny. Good job, Misfits. Keep it up.

Thanks.

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.

Review: Misfits 3.7

I've never liked cats. They go and play tricks like this.

"You kill numerous probation workers but you can't kill one cat?"

Misfits has already done Zombies. Not real zombies, of course, but they took on the genre and parodied it relentlessly in the Series One finale, where the modern interpretation saw people becoming overly-moral Christians. Seeing Misfits actually try a straight version of this storyline feels a little weird, especially this close to Chrismas and far from when it would have been more appopriate in Halloween.
     Following on from last week, Curtis and Seth prepared to bring the latter's dead girlfriend back to the land of the living. Shannon, played by the massively underused actress Charlene McKenna, is incredibly bewildered by her return to life and by what Seth has become. Curtis enjoys his new ability, bringing back to life a dead woman's cat. As cheerleaders visit the centre, Rudy expresses disgust. Curtis visits the old woman again, to find that the cat he ressurected has killed the owner and begun to drink her blood.
     Seth dumps Kelly, and admits what he did. The team then head across to kill the evil cat, Mr. Miggles. As they debate over killing the cat, the old woman gets up as well and tries to eat Rudy. The gang realise that it's the Zombie apocalypse and Kelly goes off to warn Seth about Shannon, who's eaten his pet iguana. Kelly accidentally spills the beans on Seth's cheating heart. Rudy reveals to Simon and Alesha why he hates Cheerleaders so much; he walked in on his parents having sex as a young child where his mother was dressed as one. As Kelly and Curtis plan her demise, Shannon bites a neighbour.

Emotionless stares: the height
of the McKenna repertoire.

      The neighbour escaping, the team arrive to off Shannon and the couple hide in the neighbour's flat. As the neighbour gets the munchies, the team raid the flat to discover it empty. They leave, and Shannon tells Seth everything. Later that night, Seth himself prepares to kill her, but can't bring himself to destroy the one thing he loves. Instead, he askes Curtis to kill her instead. As Simon prepares to kill Mr. Miggles, he discovers that the cat has infected the entire cheerleading team. They make their way through the entire team (including another probation worker) until a final confrontation with Shannon, who is killed by Seth. The bodies are buried in the Woods, and the issue is forgotten.
    I'm just feeling rather empty about a lot of the storylines in this year's Misfits. They aren't as specifically heartrending as Series One, and they aren't as clever as Series Two. Rudy's links with Alesha have never been mentioned again, and Simon's future as Superhoodie was the focus of only one episode. This year has been the year of Seth and Kelly, and that's certainly left me feeling rather cold. This week, which supposedly featured the culmination of Seth's character arc, saw absolutely no poignancy from that side of things at all. I felt like crying out, "Seth! Your dead girlfriend has been brought back to life! Show some emotion!!!" I think that's one of the main problems with this storyline on the whole; neither character is known for their broad scale of emotions. Kelly was better as a defrosting ice woman, trying to spurn Nathan's awkward advances.
     What made the zombie storyline so much worse was that it was predictable. You knew that Zombies would appear, that people would be infected, that the team would have to kill them. When the new probation worker was killed, it felt more tragic to me than overly funny because it was so damn predictable. Nothing about this episode added to the series or to the characters. Seth is the same now as he was before, as far as we can tell. None of the characters has learnt anything of any particular interest, and while fascinating to watch, the episode didn't have any obvious tension or power behind it.

Simon is strangely... bloodthirsty this episode. In any case
he felt more manly, which I assume was a nod towards his
character progression next episode. Touch wood.

     You wouldn't think that Zombies a bland script would make, but that's what happened here. In the grand scale of things, nothing happened, which was a shame because it struck right at the epicentre of the plotline that this series has been reluctantly centred on. I didn't care for the straight-played Zombies and the bland, bland, bland characterisations, and I can only hope that next week's pre-Christmas finale will sort things out.

Thanks.

NEXT WEEK: All of the villains from Series One return. Really. Oh, and Simon becomes Superhoodie. WOOOO!

Review: Misfits 3.6

Rudy has some membership issues.

A much more comedic tone this week, despite a lot happening in all of the subplots. As this series is eight episodes long, this episode wasn't the usual finale, and really it didn't at all feel like one. Regardless, Misfits continued on its rampage of outrage and mischief.
     Rudy gets off with a girl and then admits that it's a one-night stand. She uses her power on him, but he walks away hunky dory. Kelly and Seth have been having a... prolific love life. The team have been chilling, as their probation worker is obviously dead. Curtis' power begins to malfunction. Simon discovers via short-term premonition (and then experience) that Rudy has been given an STD, one that will cause his penis to fall off. Simon and Curtis try to help Rudy remember which of the three girls he had that night gave him the disease, but their search isn't productive.
    They manage to find what they believe is the flat in question, but despite Rudy's offering of flowers the girl turns out to not be the girl; simply the flat in which he did the deed. Finding suspect pictures, they track down "Amy Goodwin". Curtis' power troubles continue. Seth wants to take Kelly to Morocco. Curtis discovers that the reason he keeps switching back to Melissa is that he/she's preggers. Rudy, thinking he's found Ms. Goodwin, accidentally flashes a ten year old. Upon speaking with her, it's still the wrong woman - she's a lesbian. Curtis works out that he's probably the father of his own baby.

At least you're not Govenor of California

     On their way to find the last of the three girls, Rudy is cornered by a Policeman for indecent exposure. Getting the wrong end of the stick, Seth finds the positive pregnancy test and believes that Kelly is preggers, and that's why she doesn't want to go to Morocco. Soon after, Curtis becomes Melissa permanently. In police custody, Frudy berates Rudy for his macho attitude. Seth confronts Kelly and is reassured of her non-pregnancy, and is then told via phone that one of his associates has found the thing he's been looking for. They track the girl towards a nightclub. Seth gets what he wants - an unknown power from an old man.
     Rudy finds the girl and it's AMY MANSON!!!! I'm a fan. He gives a heartfelt apology over the club kareoke and Manson (Leia) eventually forgives him. Seth is mourning his dead girlfriend again. Curtis goes to Seth and asks him to take the power away to try and fix his condition. In return, Seth requests that Curtis use the power he's just collected to revive Seth's dead girlfriend..
    I found myself very apathetic about Kelly and Seth this week, as their storyline climaxed last week and kept butting in on this week's main plot. It was all well and good last forthnight, but this week's more humour-focused ramblings made it stick out a little. The main plot wasn't all that perfect either, and it certainly pales in comparison to this time last year. While 2.6 was a piece of shit on a high scale, it was still exciting and something that we'd been waiting for for a series. Where is the Superhoodie Storyline? Where is anything that we were promised in Series Two? I've certainly enjoyed this series, but the different, mundane powers just make this a lot less interesting.

"Outcasts"? No idea what you're on about.

     I think it's also notable that this is Misfits' first eight-part series, and like Being Human the series definitely feels much more lax without the stress of just two fewer hours. Overall, less has happened with any meaning ful scale. Again, in 2.6 the team were vaulted to international fame and power. Here, Rudy hunts around the estate for a girl he shagged and Curtis impregnates himself. Even the latter doesn't last for very long; I was hoping for a storyline that lasted over the remaining week, helping Curtis to grow as a character and complete the arc he began in 3.2. I suppose what I'm saying is that Misfits has lost its grandeur. Its pizazz. And without that to spark up its storyline, what has it got?
     Funny. But fluffy.

Thanks.

P.S. I really, really, really, really, really, really, hope that Amy Manson is a recurring character.
NEXT WEEK: Curtis revives a wonderous irish actress (Charlene McKenna in something else!) , and starts a zombie apocalypse.

Review: Misfits 3.5

Jen is a coma victim with a difference.

If there's one thing that Merlin has done to me, it's made me detest "not in their right mind" plots. I can't stand them. In the space of a few weeks this particular trope has become such a personal pet peeve to me that it stains everything that wants to use it. However. Misfits as ever provided a brilliant subversion of the concept and executed it in a powerful, touching way. It was less of a spotlight episode for Kelly and more for Lauren Socha, whose performance as a completely different character threw me from the off, while the rest of the cast got a fiar share of development too.
     Power lender Seth went to the Community Centre to visit Kelly, and he was immediately set upon by Rudy. Later, Kelly had the misfortune to walk in on a dying coma patient with the power to Bodyswap, and soon she was trapped in the old body while the coma patient walked away. Coma girl goes to her boyfriend Dom's house, and tries to reveal her true identity. In the meantime, Kelly is standing Seth up. Dom (Nick Blood, Trollied) is incredibly freaked out, but Coma girl tries to rectify that by changing into her own clothes and making full benefit of her new, more buxom body.
     Comagirl (Jen) awakens to discover Dom gone, still waiting at the hospital bed. They argue, and Jen decides to switch off the machine. Dom, disgusted, leaves her. However, Alesha and Simon have recognised Kelly's body and take her back to the Community Centre. Jen ends up having to face Seth, who she rebuts. Later, Seth inquires about Kelly and Alesha discovers that she's in the Hospital. They track the source down, and discover the coma patient, working out that they've bodyswapped. Seth, pretending to be the patient's brother, is told that they're going to turn the life support off - and soon. They hijack the body and take it back to the community centre. As Rudy is sent to collect Jen, Frudy talks with her in the pub - and Frudy finds out about Jen's true nature.

Seth is worried for Kelly.

     Frudy guides Jen back to her body at the Community Centre, but the desperate woman stabs Shaun to escape. She grapples with Seth, who argue about relationships. Jen laments about how Dom doesn't love her any more, and Seth asks for her to give he and Kelly a chance. The Misfits reveal their powers to a dying Shaun and Jen finally agrees to return to her body.  Later, Seth gives Dom one last chance to see Jen before he cuts off the life-support. Seth is announced as "part of the gang" when Rudy learns his name and uses his car to dump the body of yet another probation worker.
     Other subplots were also interestng from a character perspective. Rudy revealed to Simon how he was put on community service; his clone battered someone. During an anger management session, Rudy's clone keeps threatening to emerge. While the clone waits outside, it discovers that the therapist is having some problems of her own, and as the more sensitive side can understand. Let's call him Frudy. The next morning, the Therapist gets it on with Rudy, to his apparent delight, at the same time that Curtis was experimenting with female mastrubation. Rudy discovers that Frudy is also having it off with the therapist.He promptly breaks up with her, causing a misguided Frudy to get slapped.
     What was it then, that distinguished this "not in their right mind" episode from all of the others I've watched in the past month? Acting, that's what. Lauren Socha is a clearly different character, and despite retaining her thick accent she still felt like Jen the coma patient over Kelly. Also, it wasn't a transfer done out of malice or of manipulation. It was a move of desperation, a natural human act. Despite this, it did feel quite similar to a lot of stories this series, which I feel is about change. The Misfits have changed their powers; the lead role has changed hands. Each of the characters has changed into something that has advanced their character. Rudy is more sensitive, Curtis more aware of his feminin side, Simon more aware of his superheroics and now Kelly being shown the things she takes for granted in life. I also thought that the double focus on both Kelly and Rudy/Frudy helped a lot to examine both sides of this theme.

Rudy and Frudy got Fruity.

     It could have been terrible, but Misfits delivered yet another moving episode that touched upon this series' key theme of change. Lauren Socha and Joe Gilgum were on top form and I'm really looking forward to next week's quasi finale.

Thanks.

NEXT TIME: Rudy gets an STD, Kelly is Pregnant and Curtis is a girl for keeps.
P.S. This episode's soundtrack was very heavy on the Anna Calvi. I approve.

Review: Misfits 3.4

What respectable time-travelling protagonist hasn't considered killing Hitler? Our lot at Misfits have, and based on a throwaway remark about such from last year's Crimbo special, we get this interestingly Character-oriented piece that throws our kids into a world where Hitler is Irish, Homosexuality is gay and where Godwin's Law does not apply.
      A somber old Jewish man, regretful of not having done something during the War, buys Curtis' old power and goes back in time to try and kill Hitler. He unfortunately fails, but instead gives Hitler advanced knowledge of the future when he drops his mobile phone. He returns to a world where the Nazis succeed and still rule over Britain. Kelly and Gary work under the Nazi-controlled community service, where Simon (conscripted) and Shaun work as Nazi officers. Shaun has dragged in Seth to discover people with powers and to create supersoldiers with them. Rudy is soon discovered by a Nazi raiding party. Curtis and Kelly are working under a resistance movement, and Curtis gives Kelly the mission of killing Seth.

Poor Catrin Stewart is killed by the Nazis.

     Simon is also working against the regime, and steals antibiotics to save the dying time-traveller. Rudy tries to join the resistance. The... Irish head of the regime receives ice powers (courtesy of a returning Catrin Stewart!), and once again kills Gary. Kelly goes to poison Seth, but she finds that he has tried to hang himself in the meantime. Kelly saves his life, to Curtis' anger.
     The Nazi general, Smith, decides that Seth needs to see the benefits of their regime. As they take Seth to a more luxurious prison, they are stopped in the road by armed figures wearing Hitler masks - The resistance. They drive off with him. Smith is pissed and orders the entire estate searched. Simon helps the Jewish man recover as this universe's Kelly and Seth do some more flirting. Smith has, however, discovered their hiding place and the Rebel base is raided. Rudy and Simon appear nonchalant, but there's a tense scene where Shaun discovers Seth and Kelly's hiding place. The resistance, sans Kelly, are all arrested.
     The Jewish guy awakens just as Shaun discovers his letter, and Seth takes the power from him. Smith gets their just in time, and tells Simon to kill the Old Man to threaten Seth into destroying the power. Simon refuses, and so Smith does it anyway. Seth is then forced to put the power back into Curtis, whom he kills.  Alesha comforts Simon. Kelly, dual-wielding shotguns, raids the Community centre. Simon and Alesha help out. They break out Seth, but Smith has soon returned, and the gang are soon cornered by Nazis. Kelly distracts them with a "grenade" (a drinks can) and there's a firefight. Seth reveals he never gave the power away, and gives it to Kelly with a kiss, who returns to the 40s and nuts Hitler to save the world. Upon her return, she's the only one that remembers the Alt.Verse. She goes back to Seth, who takes the power from her and gives her back her rocket scientist power.

Smith and Shaun

     One thing that I found rather jarring was that this was a very, shall we say, British Nazism. None of the characters expressed any right-wing ideologies; it was more of an abuse of power thing. I never expected them to create a realistic study of what life would be like under a Nazi-regime Britain, but I felt like it didn't exploit that aspect as much as it could have. In many ways it felt rather juvenile about the whole thing, keeping the idea of the Nazis very much in the terms of today's modern slang terms. This was true from the first revelation of these events; Kelly standing on a street corner muttering, "Bloody Nazis". It wasn't Nazism - just an authoritarian regime. The Virtue Teens felt more oppressive. And the reason for the change doesn't feel right either. Hitler gets a mobile phone... so what? Even I, an Electronics student, find a lot of microcircuitry indecipherable. How would 21st Century data storage on a micro-circuit inside a rather basic mobile phone be able to let the Nazi's win the war? Also, it's all very... local. Smith comes to this estate, with our central characters. The plot revolves not around a multi-nation empire spanning over the breadth of the civilised world, but on one small section of urban Bristol where for some reason, everyone speaks English.
     As far as characters were concerned, this episode felt very transitionary. Both Seth and Kelly's and Alesha and Simon's relationships felt important, but one seemed to pass over to the other. Unlike the tease between Kelly and Nathan in the first two series, I feel that this relationship is being pushed a lot more, sometimes to the point where it overdid other areas. And, at the end of the day, it was the only character work in this episode that actually had any ramifications. 

Rudy and Rudy help to save Seth.

     The new setting allowed for yet more reinvention of the characters and their interactions, which I felt dragged away from the characters' progress. It was an interesting hour with some brilliant concepts, but a lot of them weren't translated that well. It was another typical episode of Misfits that held my interest throughout and at times made me jump up and down in joy. It just fell apart in the details.

Thanks.
    
NEXT WEEK: A Seth and Kelly episode.