ORBzine - Misfits TV Review
[Season 1 !Season 2 !Season 3 !Season 4 !Season 5 ]
Season 1
- Robert Sheehan ( Season of the Witch ) as Nathan
- Lauren Socha as Kelly Bailey
- Nathan Stewart-Jarrett as Curtis Donovan
- Antonia Thomas as Alisha Bailey
- Iwan Rheon ( Game of Thrones ) as Simon Bellamy
- Craig Parkinson as Shaun
- Matthew McNulty ( Musketeers ) as Seth
Misfits [Season 1, Episode 1]
Shown 12th November 2009 [Wednesday]
A group of teenage convicts are serving their community service when they are caught in a mysterious electrical storm. It seems they may have been changed, and have become the most unlikely superhero team in the world.
Misfits [Season 1, Episode 2]
Shown 19th November 2009 [Wednesday]
Nathan (the Irish teen from Cherrybomb) discovers that other folk have superpowers as well. Men (EG The Hotness, now a policeman) become sex maniacs when they touch Alisha the black girl's skin. An OAP woman can make herself seem like a teenager again, for example. And a man can turn into a dog!
The acting is as good as the writing, with lots of great dialogue. Nathan's mother is played by Michelle Fairley , soon to be in HBO's new show Game of Thrones .
Misfits [Season 1, Episode 3]
Shown 26th November 2009 [Wednesday]
Alisha ( Antonia Thomas ) uses her superpower to become incredibly promiscuous. In reality, she is beautiful and does not need another superpower to get her laid. Anyway, she uses her power on Curtis Donovan (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) without his consent. He is very upset at her because of this. This is all in spite of the discomfort she felt in the previous episode when she discovered men become sex maniacs when they touch her skin.
The shallow grave is in the site of new construction. The bodies must be moved, but the only car the kids can access belongs to the suspicious social worker.
Misfits [Season 1, Episode 4]
Shown 3rd December 2009 [Wednesday]
Curtis Donovan (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) wishes that he could have saved his girlfriend from being arrested for drugs possession. This makes his superpower kick in, and he goes back in time six months to just before his arrest. He has several goes at changing the timeline. However, he forgets that he played a vital role in the fisrt episode. If he is not around to save everyone, the show would be different.
Nathan (Robert Sheehan - Season of the Witch ) has a different storyline. He gets himself in trouble at a bowling alley, and is so estranged from his dad (Dexter Fletcher - Kick-Ass ) turns up to bail him out Nathan would rather the manager calls the cops on him. This explains how Nathan got his community service.
Misfits [Season 1, Episode 5]
Shown 10th December 2009 [Wednesday]
The nosey social worker decides to manipulate the quiet guy (Iwan Rheon - Game of Thrones ). This will not end well.
Misfits [Season 1, Episode 6]
Shown 17th December 2009 [Wednesday]
A gorgeous Xian girl ( Jessica Findlay Brown ) is proselyting her creed using Voodoo mind sh*t, brainwashing her victims into becoming boring gits. This time the ep centres around Nathan (Robert Sheehan - Season of the Witch ), the arrogant git who does not seem to have a power of his own.
The ending is something of a cliffhanger. There are a few loose ends that will hopefully be tied up in Season 2. For example, will Nathan be back? And who is the BMX Bandit who helped him?
Season 2
Misfits [Season 2, Episode 1]
Shown 11th November 2010 [Thursday]
Nathan (Robert Sheehan - Season of the Witch ) is still buried. Only a hi-tech free-running Ninja somehow knows he is still alive. But one of the others is a mind-reader, remember? Nathan's power could make him the new Kenny ( South Park ), with a spectacular death scene every episode. There is a new Social Worker. And they have not even disposed of the last one's body.
Invisible boy (Iwan Rheon - Game of Thrones ) has his past come back to haunt him. A girl from the psych ward is obsessed with him. And she is a shape-shifter who can impersonate the others. Which leads to some great suspense.
Misfits [Season 2, Episode 2]
Shown 18th November 2010 [Thursday]
Nathan's younger brother turns up. Of course, Nathan (Robert Sheehan - Season of the Witch ) never even knew he had a brother. Their dad (Dexter Fletcher) was two-timing their mothers. And while the two brother manage to bond easily enough, getting on with their father will be a lot more difficult.
The team go to a rave. Unfortunately the illict drugs there have an unforseen side-effect: they reverse the effect of everyone's power.
The Ninja guy is still hanging around, doing back-flips on rooftops. So who is he?
Misfits [Season 2, Episode 3]
Shown 25th November 2010 [Thursday]
The gang go up against a psycho with a magic tattoo pen. He messes with their minds - for example, Nathan (Robert Sheehan - Season of the Witch ) tries to seduce Invisible Boy (Iwan Rheon - Game of Thrones ).
Sex girl tries to find the Ninja guy. Her plan works - sort of.
The gang meet a new girl, Nikki ( Ruth Negga ), who becomes a recurring character.
Misfits [Season 2, Episode 4]
Shown 2nd December 2010 [Thursday]
The team have a new member, a teleporter. This does not work out the way they expect, but we learn why it was important to meet the new girl Nikki ( Ruth Negga ).
The streets are being stalked by a fellow who thinks he is living out a GTA-style video game. He is the most frightening villain so far, because as well as being a complete psycho he somehow has the entire arsenal of weapons used in the game!
Misfits [Season 2, Episode 5]
Shown 9th December 2010 [Wednesday]
There is a new girl named Jessica at the community centre. Nathan (Robert Sheehan - Season of the Witch ) thinks she is a serial killer. She fancies Simon (Iwan Rheon - Game of Thrones ), which Nathan takes as another sign of insanity.
Kelly the chavette gets a BF. He is a big ape-like fellow named Bruno, on the run from the cops - just her type.
They all attend a fancy dress party in superhero costumes. The runner and Nikki ( Ruth Negga ) the telepath get it on, just like in his vision of the future.
Misfits [Season 2, Episode 6]
Shown 16th December 2010 [Thursday]
One of the other people with superpowers is a nerdy type who has lactokinesis - he can move dairy products with his mind. Then he goes public with his power!
The ASBO kids are exposed too, and manage to make the most of it. They get a manager, and are sent to a luxury hotel. But they have to fight a proper supervillain!
Misfits [Season 2, Episode 7]
Xmas special
Shown December 2010
It is three months after the events of the previous episode. The ASBO kids have finished their community service, and are now free to get back to their normal lives. Nathan (Robert Sheehan - Season of the Witch ) dresses like Santa, and meets an unwed single mother-to-be named Mary - err, Marion! Well, it is Xmas after all!
Invisible Boy Simon (Iwan Rheon - Game of Thrones ) is training himself as a free-running Ninja, with mixed results. Somehow he remembers his future, even though the reset button was pushed last time.
The kids realise they can make quick money if they sell their powers. A sociopathic ex-priest is buying them so he can pretend to be Jesus.
Can they get their powers back? And should they stick to their original powers, or get new ones instead?
Misfits [Season 3, Episode 0]
Vegas, Baby!
Shown 15th Sept 2011
Nathan (Robert Sheehan - Season of the Witch ) takes Marion to Las Vegas, Nevada. His plan is to use his new superpower to cheat the casinos out of all their money. Naturally, it is all bound to go wrong for him.
The ending introduces the new guy, Rudy (Joseph Gilgun - Lockdown ), who replaces Nathan for the rest of the show. And the fact is that Gilgun is an amazing actor who does an incredible job.
Misfits [Season 3, Episode 1]
Shown 30th October 2011 [Sunday]
The new guy, Rudy (Joseph Gilgun - Lockdown ), is a mouthy git. However, he is a lot less vicious than Nathan (Robert Sheehan - Season of the Witch ) - and thus more likeable. He has a doppelganger (unlike Tracey in Heroes , who just had a split personality).
Rudy’s alter-ego (AKA Rudy Too) flirts with a fellow ASBO convict, a blonde babe who looks like The Girl Who Played With Fire . Her power is that she can freeze time, but she is a bunny-boiler! Can the others save Rudy from her (and himself?).
Rudy has a history with Alisha ( Antonia Thomas ), who is now shacked up with nerdy boy. And nerdy Simon (Iwan Rheon - Game of Thrones ) is training himself to become the BMX bandit he is destined to be.
Misfits [Season 3, Episode 2]
Shown 6th November 2011 [Sunday]
The runner dude gets a chance to use his new trans-gender superpower. He passes himself off as a woman so he can apply to run in the 2012 Olympics. Naturally there is the usual comedy-of-terrors as he negotiates the trans-gender cliches. He gets sexually harassed, and so on.
His one-night stand prefers him as a woman, but does not realise that the two versions are so alike they could be siblings. she thinks he is cheating on her with his other self!
Misfits [Season 3, Episode 3]
Shown 13th November 2011 [Sunday]
Last Season there was a tattoo artist whose drawings come true. This time it is a comic-book artist, a teenager who befriends Simon (Iwan Rheon - Game of Thrones ). He turns Simon against the others, breaking him up with his GF.
Misfits [Season 3, Episode 4]
Shown 20th November 2011 [Sunday]
The estate is now part of an alternate universe, where the country is run by Nazis. The social worker is head of the Gestapo, with Simon (Iwan Rheon - Game of Thrones ) conscripted as a uniformed thug. The girls do admin work and catering. The athlete still works in the bar, and secretly masterminds the Resistance. Rudy (Joseph Gilgun - Lockdown ) is a random suspect, targeted in a crackdown.
The Nazis capture the man who can take peoples' superpowers. The plan is to have him strip the powers from all the suspects, then give them to Nazis.
Being broadcast in November, this is obviously themed as the Remembrance Day episode. A pity it was broadcast a week too late.
Misfits [Season 3, Episode 5]
Shown 27th November 2011 [Sunday]
Kelly visits a comatose woman in the hospital. But the coma patient's power is to swap personalties with anyone she touches. So Kelly is trapped in a dying body, while her body is hijacked and taken for a joyride to see her boyfriend Dom (Nick Blood - Agents of SHIELD ).
Rudy (Joseph Gilgun - Lockdown ) the new guy is forced to see a court-mandated psychologist for anger management therapy. However, his alter ego ends up starting a relationship with the lonely lady shrink. It will not end well.
Can the team work out what is wrong with Kelly? Can they save her dying body? Can they get the murderous body-snatcher to swap back?
Misfits [Season 3, Episode 6]
Shown 4th December 2011 [Sunday]
There are problems with everyone's genitals. Rudy (Joseph Gilgun - Lockdown ) shags a bunny-boiler, who thinks she deserves better than a one-nighter. He is coyote ugly at best, she had a narrow escape, but gives his penis leprosy anyway.
Curtis (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) cannot control his changes. He accidentally changes while getting served an ice cream by Hannah John-Kamen . He is hormonal - a sign of pregnancy ...
Kelly and her BF have their ups and downs. He still wants his old GF back ... From the dead!
Misfits [Season 3, Episode 7]
Shown 11th December 2011 [Sunday]
Curtis (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) has the power to raise the dead. First he brings back the Dealer's GF, then he revives a dead cat. Unfortunately there is a side-effect - they are flesh-hungry zombies. Although they are faster, smarter - more like Vampires, really.
A bunch of cheerleaders are performing in the community centre. Guess who gets the form the nucleus of the undead invasion.
Misfits [Season 3, Episode 8]
Shown 18th December 2011 [Sunday]
A Medium holds a séance in the community centre. As a result, three of the arch-villains return from the dead. The psychotic community worker from the first episode chases the chav girl. His obsessive girlfriend manipulates Simon (Iwan Rheon - Game of Thrones ) the sensitive nerd again. And the purity girl who brain washed everyone is back as a complete slut.
Season 4
Misfits [Season 4, Episode 1]
Shown 28/Oct/12
A couple of new ASBO kids turn up at the community centre. Rudy (Joseph Gilgun - Lockdown ) is their Social Worker.
This being the Fourth season, the show has transitioned from being a series to being a format. The core characters are replaced.
Misfits [Season 4, Episode 2]
Shown 04/Nov/12
Rudy (Joseph Gilgun - Lockdown ) gets evicted from his flat. He cajoles the new boy into letting him crash at his place. But his suspicions are drawn by the mysterious door with lots of locks. Is the new boy keeping a talking dog there?
The Misfits get ordered to act as life models for a group of blind people who do sculpting. Rudy and Curtis (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) fight over a beautiful blonde girl. But she has powers of her own, and she has an evil side too.
Misfits [Season 4, Episode 3]
Shown 11/Nov/12
Rudy (Joseph Gilgun - Lockdown ) has a third personality. We discover this when he is released from jail, where the other two sent him after he beat someone almost to death. He wants revenge on his other selves - and something far worse. This is a masterful performance by the actor, who convincingly portrays three completely distinct versions of the same character.
Curtis (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) continues to get the attentions of Lola, the mysterious lady who calls herself a trainee Social Worker. Strange how none of the other characters ever get to interact with her.
The nerdy little guy gets sexually harassed by his stepmother. He is entirely a victim in the process, which is a strange coincidence considering how his ex-GF was a super-powered hen-pecker. However, everyone holds him responsible - the bunch of victim-blamers! Remember, rape is never funny - unless the victim is a man!
The pretty girl Jess ( Karla Chrome ) tries to get her own life sorted out. Evil Rudy understands that she was betrayed by someone, and she has trust issues.
Misfits [Season 4, Episode 4]
Shown 18/Nov/12
Lola, the woman who claims to be a trainee Probation worker, claims that her ex-BF beat her up. Curtis (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) is such an uncultured twit he does not recognize that she is using every Femme Fatale cliche in the Film Noir genre. But it turns out that this is linked to her power, so it is actually relevant to the plot ...
Rudy (Joseph Gilgun - Lockdown ) hangs out more with the weedy little bloke. It seems like a milder form of the Nathan/Simon relationship.
Curtis still has the power to raise the dead. However, they still turn into bloodthirsty zombies. And guess who gets bitten?
Misfits [Season 4, Episode 5]
Shown 25/Nov/12
After the ultra-depressing ep last week, we have a slightly more light-hearted story this week. The replacement Simon goes looking for his real dad. The good news is that he finds him - and a half-sister. The bad news is, the dad is dying of cancer and the sister is keeping him alive (but in agony) with her power.
The nerdy kid takes his sister on a trip to the pub. They get sidetracked when they see Alex, the barman who Jess ( Karla Chrome ) fancies. The nerd suspects the barman is a closet homosexual. However, this is part paranoia and part jealousy - he wants Jess for himself.
Misfits [Season 4, Episode 6]
Shown 02/Dec/12
The survivoring Young Offenders go to a rave at a drug-dealer's flat. Unfortunately the Dealer's superpower is that his hallucinations come real. And this time his hallucination is a psychopathic killer with a golf club ... and the head of a white rabbit!
This is a bit like Donnie Darko , with a bit of Alice in Wonderland thrown in for good measure.
The gang try to get their sex lives sorted out. This is a result of someone's power accidentally tattooing their number of sex partners on their head. Rudy (Joseph Gilgun - Lockdown ) has 99, but now wants to settle down with the perfect woman he meets. The Nerd has only one, but he lets Rudy give him advice on doubling it. The barman Alex has 46, but has to explain to Jess ( Karla Chrome ) why she is not 47 yet. He fell victim to someone's power.
Misfits [Season 4, Episode 7]
Shown 09/Dec/12
Alex the Barman gets another lead on his missing property. But he has a gun, and is willing to go to extreme lengths to get it back.
Rudy (Joseph Gilgun - Lockdown ) bumps into the girl of his dreams again. But she is unavailable for a reason.
Misfits [Season 4, Episode 8]
Shown 16/Dec/12
Alex the Barman has his missing bit back, but he is a lot less sensitive than he used to be. Will his relationship with Jess ( Karla Chrome ) last?
Rudy (Joseph Gilgun - Lockdown ) attempts to settle down with his dream-girl, but is prevented by a gang of nasty nuns. He never stops to ask, what is her super-power? Are the nuns bitches, or are they genuinely scared of her?
The Four BMX-riding Ninjas of the Apocalypse make an appearance!
Misfits [Season 5, Episode 1]
Shown 23/Oct/13
A satanic scoutmaster is brainwashing everyone ... Like the Christians did in Season One, but a different kind of evil!
Luckily, Alex the cheating barman has a new power - when he has sex with someone, he removes their power. But Jess ( Karla Chrome ) will not believe him, and thinks he is a sex addict.
Rudy (Joseph Gilgun - Lockdown ) Too wants to attend a group therapy session for people with powers.
Misfits [Season 5, Episode 2]
Shown 30/Oct/13
Rudy (Joseph Gilgun - Lockdown ) discovers his dad is having an affair with Liz May Brice .
It turns out that some powers may be hereditary. This is turning into Haven , with everyone in the entire town having a power.
Misfits [Season 5, Episode 3]
Shown 06/Nov/13
Abby the amnesiac girl meets another young woman, and the two of them shack up together. Then they realise what their real relationship is, and the amnesiac's origins are revealed.
Unfortunately, the bogeyman is on the loose. It is all perfectly logical in the overall context of the episode.
Rudy (Joseph Gilgun - Lockdown ) Too meets the flying kid at the therapy group. This could be the first step in creating a proper team of superheroes.
The Social Worker tries to seduce the little fellow. How many Social Workers have been killed at the community centre so far? What is this one's life expectancy?
Misfits [Season 5, Episode 4]
Shown 13/Nov/13
Rudy Too (Joseph Gilgun - Lockdown ) gets turned into an old man. Yes, just like in Buffy and Warehouse 13 there is a thief-of-youth at work. Like the girl who Nathan got involved with in Season one, but with more of a predatory, vampiric nature.
Rudy must learn to care for his older self. He actually begins some character development, and Jess ( Karla Chrome ) might actually have a chance with him.
Misfits [Season 5, Episode 5]
Shown 20/Nov/13
Rudy (Joseph Gilgun - Lockdown ) tries to put Finn off Jess ( Karla Chrome ), so he secretly videotapes her on the toilet. Unfortunately, he does not just email the video to Finn ...
Finn meets a girl at the support group. Unfortunately, he ends up getting entangled with a girl who can use people like VR avatars. Worse, she uploads HIM into a VR world like The Matrix .
Misfits [Season 5, Episode 6]
Shown 27/Nov/13
The Misfits are sent to help at a centre for terminally ill young people. The care assistant is the Scottish girl from the final Season of Being Human . She has the power to fade out - like invisible girl, not like a ghost.
The barman is back to his usual selfish self. He refuses to be a good samaritan for a frigid girl with a Norn Iron accent, so she puts a gypsy curse on him.
Rudy (Joseph Gilgun - Lockdown ) and Jess ( Karla Chrome ) try to take their relationship to the next level. But Rudy has problems. In contrast, Rudy Too is making progress with the electro-girl who looks like someone from Wolfblood .
Misfits [Season 5, Episode 7]
Shown 04/Dec/13
The raper gets used by Sara ( Erin Richards ), a girl with hypnotic tits. He feels rejected when she is finished with him, since this time technically SHE is the raper - she used her power to take away his ability to consent.
Abbey and Rudy Too (Joseph Gilgun - Lockdown ) hold a birthday party for themselves. After all, they were both created by the storm - and it is the One Year Anniversary. Yes, somehow it has only been a year since Season one ...
The Encounter group are all invited, as are Rudy Too's superhero group - The Jumper Posse. How the gamer dude (who killed a major cast member in Season 2) is still at liberty is not explained, never mind how he still has access to guns. The guy is a massacre waiting to happen, and nobody bothers to try to cure him ...
The drug ecstasy has the effect of reversing a superpower. Bad news if you have x-ray vision, good news if you are trapped in the form of a tortoise. Naturally, Rudy does not tell everyone in time. This could have potentially apocalyptic consequences ...
Misfits [Season 5, Episode 8]
Shown 11/Dec/13
Jess ( Karla Chrome ) realises what an insensitive git Rudy (Joseph Gilgun - Lockdown ) is. She picks up a one-night stand who is a super (and has an obsession), and she ends up a year in the future. Rudi Too's superhero team does not work out the way he intended. Apparently the jumper was misleading him.
The Misfits have to take on a group with much better powers. Ironic, since all Jess had to do was to go back in time and prevent the timestream going bad, rather than risk her life (and everyone else's).
Jess lets her moral compass wander. Ironic that Rudy Too would not tolerate his electrician GF becoming a murderer, even to the point of having his old team wipe out his new team ... so he must never find out about Jess committing murder