“Since Curtis’s death have you suffered feelings of loss and despair?” Hardly. A brief bit of grief counselling for Rudy aside, Misfits barely seems to register the loss of the show’s last original cast member. For better or worse, Curtis Donovan is no more. Onwards and upwards, eh.
Like Being Human, a new cast muddles together to keep the programme afloat. Unlike the new Being Human, it largely succeeds by not losing sight of what made Misfits popular in the first place – foulmouthed characters, black humour and a completely irreverent attitude to superheroism. Like Skins, there’s a sense that the programme can keep changing its cast every few series without too much decline in quality. Although that does depend on the characters themselves.
Odious Finn is the focal point of this episode, attempting to track down his biological father. Having motives (just) outside of getting laid does the lad some good, rustling up some much needed sympathy for the (step) mother effer. After an amusing encounter with The Thick of It‘s Justin Edwards, Finn manages to track down his old man – played by familiar Scottish face Henry Garrett. It emerges that Finn also has himself a half-sister, with whom he quickly bonds. With this newfound family come the politics therein – Finn finds that his father is dying and his sister has a power of her own. Well, who doesn’t in this X-Men version of the Chatsworth Estate.
In-between getting to know his dad and sister, Finn also finds time to stalk Jess’s new boyfriend, convincing himself in the process that the hunk is secretly gay. While I doubt that this is the case, he’s definitely hiding something from Jess. It probably involves a power of some sort. It doesn’t take long for Rudy to start sniffing around Finn’s sister either. He promises to leave her be, but it’s surely only a matter of time before he attempts to have his wicked way with her. Jess still isn’t given much to do; hopefully an episode dedicated to her won’t be far away, fleshing out the show’s most sympathetic character a little more.
As with last week’s episode, the humour takes a backseat. There are some good lines and a couple of funny jokes, but there are some surprisingly touching moments by the end. It feels occasionally like a filler episode (although with the apparent lack of any arc, it’s starting to feel like a filler series) but is more solid than the previous few weeks’ disappointments.
The episode ends with Jess’s new boyfriend attacking someone in an alleyway, demanding to see their knob. Curtis may be gone, but it’s business as usual for Misfits, then.
