New boy Finn’s dark secret is revealed: the lad is keeping his poor girlfriend a bound and gagged captive. Forcing her to go potty into a big orange bucket (it must be relevant, since everyone keeps going on about the girl’s toiletry arrangements) Finn and Sadie must keep playing their own private re-enactment of The Disappearance of Alice Creed until he can find a way of curing her terrible power and the effect it has upon him.
That power? Sadie has the ability to turn Finn into the perfect boyfriend – making him do such terrible things as buy her presents, hold a conversation and tidy up after himself. But Finn really does love her, in his own way, so on go the ropes and in goes the gag while he tries to figure out what to do with her. When he discovers that Seth (currently packing his things to join Kelly in Africa) has the ability to take people’s powers, it looks as though he might have found a solution to all of his problems.
After last week’s rather odd episode in which no one was quite themselves, it’s nice to see Misfits return to some semblance of status quo again. Although with Misfits, nothing is ever quite what it seems. This Finn-heavy episode lets us get to know the newcomers a little better. What we discover about Finn might not be very nice (all sympathy for him is lost when he decides to, ah, ‘wipe’ himself on Sadie’s top) but it looks like he’ll fit in just fine with Rudy and the guys. The girls are missed though, with only Jess to balance the testosterone. She doesn’t have much to do in this episode, although she does emerge as the most likeable presence.
At least Curtis is given something to do, vying with Rudy for the affection of a pretty young blind lass they’ve been charged with helping in a clay modelling class. Cue plenty of Lionel Richie ‘hello’ jokes, all of them hilarious. This subplot is an amusing one, taking in the usual Misfits mix of ridiculous powers, filth and social commentary – in this case, the blind girl is a racist. It’s tackled in the show’s inimitable style, culminating in a disgusting incident with Rudy, a rubber band and some clingfilm.
As ever, Joseph Gilgun makes the horrible things he says and does seem sort of adorable. Finn is afforded no such luxury; his creepy actions here combined with the ill-advised sexual abuse joke last week make him appear slimy and weird. He’s like a darker version of series one’s Simon, before he became heroic and all loved-up with Alisha. As Seth heads off into the sunset (rendered redundant by his love interest’s sudden axing from the show) maybe it’s time for the likes of Curtis and Jess to shine. Elsewhere, Curtis makes a new acquaintance, the new probation worker swears a lot and two of the boys are rendered homeless.
This second episode is prime Misfits; filthy, inventive, violent and morally very questionable. Next week promises three times the Rudy, which – given that Gilgun is the best thing about the programme – can only be a good thing.
