Misfits episode 6 review

This was an unexpected and courageous end to what has been a fantastic debut series of a show that must return for more (or I’ll have stern words with E4). We were treated to an episode that felt like a one-off special; a self-contained story in which the misfits battled against a rival tribe, the ‘Virtue’ clan, a puritanical youth group on a mission to brainwash teenagers into living a chaste life, a bit like the Silver Ring Thing in the States.

Of course it wasn’t a battle for battle’s sake. It was there to create a reason for the most shocking of conclusions: Nathan’s death, and resurrection. Hands up who saw that coming?! All jaws were on the floor in my household, I don’t mind telling you.

Nathan, in an heroic speech delivered from the terrace of the community centre, spoke out in defence of teenagers being screwed up and tried to will them all out of the trance caused by “Derren Brown voodoo mind shit”. He looked over his people, his defenceless comrades who had been sucked into the beige-wearing tribe and he yelled, heartfelt: “It breaks my heart! You’re wearing cardigans!” In a last passionate moment he fell into a tussle with the lead voodoo girl and, with Simon unable to hold onto him, ended up tumbling to his death by gruesome impalement on the community centre railings. His death breaks the spell and sets everybody free from the trance.

The scenes following the death were fantastically done, showing the misfits genuinely grieving for their lost pal, especially Kelly, who has been growing closer and closer to Nathan in a rather unlikely romance. Lauren Socha was lovely and touching as Kelly watching the DVD that Simon had made for her, showing Nathan in all his glorious larks from the past couple of weeks of community service. I actually had a tear in my eye along with Kelly, aghast at the possibility of this being the end of the lead character and therefore, quite possibly, the end of the show.

Then came that crucial panning over the cemetery, which was when the penny dropped. Our hero figure who had sacrificed his life for the cause was stuck six feet under, waking up, and realising his superpower was the ultimate one of all: immortality.

Did he panic? Well, a little bit, yes. Soon, with his good nature and ability to make the best of a bad situation, he plugged himself into the iPod Kelly had so sweetly tucked into the coffin at the funeral, and started chilling out to Blur’s To The End.

And it does, indeed, look like we’ve made it to the end. But there is so much more to come. Finishing the series with a scene within Nathan’s coffin, we can only look forward to the start of the second series which will somehow get Nathan outta there and into some more brilliant trouble above ground.

So, our hero is immortal. Good job he wasn’t cremated.

Read our review of episode 5 here.

Misfits airs in the UK on Thursdays at 10pm on E4 and 11pm on E4+1, with repeat showings the following Wednesday at 11 and 12pm.