Misfits, my favourite TV show of recent times, is back for its third season. For those who haven’t encountered this wonderful show yet, Misfits is about a bunch of juvenile delinquents from a London council estate (Thamesmead, where part of A Clockwork Orange was shot 40 years before) doing community service and gaining superpowers from a freak weather phenomenon. Heartbreak and hijinks ensue.
It’s a wonderful show, because it’s very dark, very funny and a scathing indictment of contemporary British society disguised as a comedy. What is more, the teen characters ring absolutely true (and are played by great young actors). I have had kids like the five main characters in my classes. And I have rarely seen a teen show which makes me go, “Yes, these kids could be my students” like Misfits does. Because all too often teenagers on TV are sanitized and behave like adults wish they would behave. These kids aren’t sanitized. They act and speak like real teens, complete with all the awkwardness and embarrassments of being a teenager. And rude words. Plenty of rude words.
I must confess that I was a bit worried about season 3 of Misfits. In recent years, too many British speculative shows that started out wonderfully lost their way somewhere in their second and third seasons and turned into unwatchable messes. Being Human lost its way toward the end of the second season, Torchwood lost its way from season 2 on upwards and got increasingly worse with every new season, Doctor Who started losing its way from season 3 or 4 on. Never mind that any show focused on teenagers is generally only good for two or three seasons, before it starts to either get stupid and repetitive or moves too far away from what had made the show interesting in the first place. So would Misfits be able to avoid the season three curse of British speculative TV dramas and teenager focused shows in general?
What is more, Misfits had come to a sort of natural end point at the end of season 2 with the kids finishing their community service and three of the main five characters getting a happy ending of sorts. So really, where could the show go from there?
Finally, there was also the fact that one of the original five characters, Nathan as played by Robert Sheehan, would not be appearing in season 3 due to a scheduling conflict. Now I have never viewed Nathan as the “star” of the show, because Misfits is very much an ensemble piece. Nor was he my favourite character – that would be Simon. Nonetheless, Nathan was very important to the first two seasons of Misfits, because he was responsible for some ninety percent of the jokes, since Nathan was a big mouth who always says the most unbelievable things.
So would Misfits manage to maintain the high quality of the first two seasons and survive the loss of a crucial character? I must say, I was ever so slightly worried. Though I needn’t have been, because Misfits is still very, very good. Whether it manages to reach the heights of season 1 and 2 remains to be seen.
Word of warning: There will be spoilers under the cut, not just for the current episodes but also for seasons 1 and 2. And Misfits is the sort of show one should really watch unspoiled. Because that way the two major mysteries of season 1 and 2, “What is Nathan’s power?” and “Who the hell is the man with the mask?” will be that much more impactful.
So if you have never watched Misfits before, stop now, get yourself a copy of seasons 1 and 2 and watch them before coming back here: Continue reading →
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