Misfits series 4 episode 4 review

This review contains major spoilers.

Just when we all thought Misfits couldn’t write out any more of its main cast members, the writers have made it five in the space of five episodes. It seems that, without original characters Simon, Nathan, Alisha and Kelly at his side, there was really no place for Curtis on the show anymore, and we’re given a rather lacklustre and anti-climactic ending for the longest serving Misfit. Is it a good thing for the show in the long run? Maybe, but it’s certainly a surprising turn of events when placed in the middle of a series.

Fittingly, the episode is Curtis-centric, and involves the ‘trainee probation worker’ he met a couple of weeks ago. Despite none of the others meeting her, and no confirmation that she actually works at the community centre, the old romantic has fallen head over heels and gets into a sticky situation with her apparently violent ex-boyfriend. This poor guy can never catch a break, and a psychotic love-interest plot as his final adventure is a bit of a kick in the teeth for fans of the character. He’s always been a little boring, but he was the grounding force in a show filled with borderline psychotics and irresponsible ‘yoofs’.

Going after the aforementioned ex, Lola hands Curtis a gun to protect himself, but a scuffle causes him to accidently commit murder. Finding that his new squeeze might actually not be who she says, he revives the guy (in one of the first displays of powers this year) to find out more information. Lola has turned into a pantomime femme fatale, demonstrated by the stylised shots of her smoking seductively to a soundtrack of Lana Del Rey, after the storm struck while she was taking a drama class. Since then, she’s been seducing guys into killing each other, and Curtis is next on her hit-list.

From here, the episode is a bit of a desperate mess, the possible reason for which is revealed in the shock ending. Jess doesn’t get anything to do after a busy week previously, and Finn and Rudy are given a strange and horribly forced bromance to contend with. Since the end of season two saw the last of Simon and Nathan’s uber-popular relationship, the series has been trying to find a new friendship to capture audience attention, but this is not the way to do it. That kind of TV magic has to develop organically through fan interest, and not one moment between them this week felt genuine.

It’s made all the more worrying by the apparently permanent departure of Curtis who, as already mentioned, is the fifth regular to leave the show in as many episodes. After using his resurrection power, he ends up infected himself, and there are a lot of small animals in the wrong place at the wrong time. I suppose it’s something that we don’t see Curtis kill anyone during the episode, but that’s not much when he’s given so little fanfare. Wouldn’t it have been nicer to resurrect his dreams of becoming an athlete one last time? Or at least mention some of the departed characters he spent so much time with?

Simon and Alisha’s last episode was epic, tragic and beautifully romantic, seemingly in the making for two whole series. Kelly and Seth’s exits may have gotten many fans’ back up out of abruptness, but were made necessary by outside forces beyond the writers’ control. Curtis’ departure, however, was one that we can assume the show had time to prepare for, and seems both strangely placed in episode four, and a long time coming when the character failed for so long to get a decent storyline. It was made even worse for me when I realised that none of the existing characters care for him the way fans do.

It may indeed have been the right time to make a fresh start with all new characters, but it’s still sad to see Curtis go when we’re not fully transitioned into the new era. We won’t see what the dynamic really looks like until next week, so I’ll reserve judgement until then. 

Read Caroline’s review of the previous episode, here.

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