Misfits series 4 episode 7 review

This review contains spoilers.

After last week’s strong outing, it seems Misfits has been restored to default settings for episode seven, even if none of the elements of this episode make much sense when thrown together. There’s karaoke, there’s a weird sex scene, there’s a sequence where Rudy gets to be naked, there’s a slightly mysterious new member of the gang, and there’s a mystical pregnancy. All of these things are part of the show’s DNA, but apparently make a disappointing hour when not accompanied by a compelling story that ties them together.

We begin with Jess and Alex making a go of things despite his obvious issues, and it looks as though things just might work out for this year’s love birds. Of course, it can’t last, and so desperate is Alex to restore what’s his that he ends up going a little bit mental. Seemingly spurred on by his relationship with Jess, he finally discovers the whereabouts of the thief and goes after them with a gun. Jess finds him just in time, but it looks like getting his manhood back might have been the worst thing to happen for their relationship. Their closing love scene is a creepy show of narcissism that comes as quite a surprise.

Alex is now one of the regular misfits, so my guess is that things won’t stay this way, but his behaviour gives us a good idea of what he was like before the incident. It looks like poor Jess is in for some more heartbreak in next week’s finale, but maybe Finn will be there to pick up the pieces? Obviously meant to be the white knight who saves her in the end, I don’t actually think the two of them are a good match and wouldn’t necessarily want to see them together. Jess is a good enough character to work on her own, with or without the tedious love triangle she’s been dealing with since her introduction.

Rudy has his own lady problems, as Nadine turns up at the community centre for a visit. Meeting her at last week’s party before she mysteriously ran for the hills, this is one mystery we’ll have to wait until next week to properly solve. Its clear romance is blossoming, and I really hope the character development it’s given Rudy isn’t completely forgotten about once the storyline is over, but the course of true love never did run smooth. Nadine is a nun and, from the previews for next week, it looks as if her entire nunnery has been affected by the storm. Evil nuns! That sounds like a great episode.

We’re still not seeing the characters use their powers enough, but Finn does at least manage to spill a cup of tea this week. He does it to help new girl Abby, who it seems doesn’t have any sort of power to call her own, but who has lost her memory instead. That’s a pretty raw deal, but it might help if she at least had some sort of personality. There’s really nothing to go on, except the fact that she’s desperate for a family, and is now a fully-fledged community service worker thanks to Finn’s woolly-headed scheme to keep himself out of trouble. A sub-plot sees a teen mum’s unborn baby transferred to her, but she eventually gives it back with a promise that she’ll take care of it from now on.

Add in an impromptu karaoke number from Greg the probation worker, and it makes a depressingly throwaway episode that there really isn’t any excuse for. Though Abby has potential and I’ve grown to like Alex, Finn and Jess, the dynamic between five losers who don’t really know each other makes for a strangely disconcerting experience every week. The last episode played on this brilliantly, with new information turning each character and relationship into something deeper, but this is almost like a debut season of a new show, and there’s no room for mediocrity.

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

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