Misfits has started a new season and in order not to miss talking about what is going on in season four, every Wednesday we will have a discussion of the current episode and every Monday we will continue to run the catch ups of previous seasons.
I am going to say upfront that I have my doubts about this show carrying on. At the end of last season, Alisha was killed and Simon went back in time to make her fall in love with him. Kelly, who was not written out of the episode at the time, will not be appearing in season four, due to legal difficulties. This means that we are left with Curtis, Seth and Rudy. They have added two new Misfits: Jess and Finn. It's going to take awhile to get to know them and care about their characters. With so many characters missing all at once, it's almost like having a whole new show, though the concept is the same.
This episode opens with Finn running across the roof being chased by the Misfits. They all threaten him with various weapons but Finn holds out a box cutter and threatens them right back. then across the screen flashes the words, "5 hours and 41 minutes earlier..."
Finn and Jess are sitting on a bench chatting. They are dressed in the familiar orange jumpsuits. In an office, Rudy is jerking off watching porn when Finn and Jess enter. Rudy asks them who they are and Finn says that they are there for their community service. Rudy quickly turns off the computer and says that he is their probation worker and blames the porn on a spam email. Of course, Rudy pretends to be disgusted by the porn and says that it's somebody's daughter.
Seth has Michael tied to a chair and points out that he has already lost a hand. Seth tells Michael that there are only so many limbs that a man can loose. Seth wants Michael to hand over the briefcase and give him the combination. Michael simply says, "fuck you." Seth gets a call from Rudy to say that they have a problem, as Jess and Finn walk out of the office.
Jess and Finn are cleaning up garbage outside and Seth finds it suspicious that they have shown up a day after they get the briefcase. Rudy tells him not to worry because Jess and Finn are under the impression that he is their probation worker and he is impressed that he is quite the actor. Seth leaves to try to get more information and Rudy tells Seth to let him know if he needs him to squeeze out more information.
Jess goes inside the community center to get drink when she hears a loud bang. She goes into the room with the lockers and watches as Rudy uses a fire extinguisher to open all of the lockers. Jess asks him what he is doing and Rudy says that he is looking for a sandwich to put in one the lockers for safe keeping. He says that he bloody hates it when he loses a sandwich. Jess says that a mouse may have eaten it because it's a cheese sandwich. Rudy says that she will have to excuse him because he has important probation worker business to attend to.
Jess follows Rudy and he goes inside a room. With her x-ray vision, she watches as Ruddy yells into a freezer telling whoever is in there to shut up. Jess then goes to Finn to tell him that the probation worker has someone locked in a freezer. Finn wants to know why anyone would hold someone captive in a freezer and says that there must be a perfectly reasonable explanation for this. Jess tells him to give her a perfectly reasonable explanation and Finn asks, "do we need to get involved? How about we pretend you didn't see it? That feels good to me." Rudy appears in the hallway and Finn is shocked to see him. When Rudy walks away, Jess says again that they need to get the guy out of the freezer.
Rudy cuts a chainsaw out of a box but he cannot start it up. As he starts to read the directions, the fire alarm goes off and Jess and Finn see the chainsaw on the desk. Rudy walks into the room where Seth is torturing Michael. Seth asks Rudy what is going on and Rudy replies, "either there is a fire or someone is attempting to fuck with us." Rudy closes the door and Seth goes back to his torture. Jess and Finn break into the room with the freezer and it's Curtis lying inside. Curtis is not moving and Finn suggests leaving him there. When Jess touches Curtis, he jumps out grabs her, asks her who she is and where the briefcase is. Jess fights back and says that she doesn't know anything about any case. Curtis goes rushing out and Rudy appears in the doorway and says that they shouldn't have let Curtis out because he is a "giant shit."
Rudy hands Jess and Finn two glasses of orange juice and says that he is going to level with them. Rudy admits that he is not the probation work and Jess sarcastically replies, "really, no shit. You should think about becoming an actor." Rudy admits that he is also on community service and says that it all started yesterday and they were all gathered around the vending machine.
We get a flashback to Seth, who says that he and Kelly were in Uganda and some kid stepped on a landmine. If the kid had moved, he would have been dead and so Kelly marched over and diffused the mine. Curtis is impressed and Seth says that the villagers love her out there and that he has returned to get her stuff because Kelly is leaving community service to stay in Africa to diffuse land mines. This has got to be the weakest excuse for the elimination of a character that I have ever seen. It's not helped by the fact that they have set Kelly up to play White savior to the poor Africans. Really Misfits? Michael walks in carrying a briefcase and says that it's his money. When Seth, Rudy and Curtis touch him, they seem to become infected, because some sort of green mist travels up their arms. Rudy, Curtis and Seth immediately start talking about the money and how to get into the briefcase. Curtis says that if they open the briefcase without the combination that a dye pack will explode and ruin the money. They all pounce on Michael looking for a key for the handcuffs but cannot find one. Rudy suggests that Curtis and Seth go home and that he will stay there and take care of their injured friend. Curtis says that they are going to stay and give him a hand and Seth says that he was trained by St. John's ambulance. They drag Michael into the office and lock him in there. They lie down to get some sleep and of course Rudy is jerking off. He says, "it's just a quick cheeky one to get some sleep. I have to feed the monster." He continues to jerk off.
We are brought back to the present and Jess tells Rudy that he is going to go blind and then suggests just get back to to telling the story. Seth, Curtis and Rudy are in a room with Michael on the floor and Michael is missing his hand. They are arguing about the case and no one is concerned that Michael could be bleeding out. Curtis says, "I know what I did and didn't do and I know that I didn't take the case." Curtis grabs Rudy and asks him where the case is. Rudy says, "if I took the case, why am I still here?" Curtis tells him that he is still there because he needs the combination to the case and Michael is the only one who has it. Seth says that whoever did take the case is probably close by waiting for Michael to regain consciousness. Curtis suggests that they search the community center and they go room to room but don't find anything. Talking to Rudy, Curtis says that he thinks it's Seth because he is sneaky and underhanded. Curtis says that Seth makes cruel jokes about Rudy behind his back. "His cock's like a little fucking slug"? Rudy asks if Seth has seen his cock. Curtis suggests drugging Seth's drink and locking him in a freezer.
In the present, Finn says, "you were going to drug this guy Seth, but it was Curtis in the freezer." Jess points out that Rudy seems just as obsessed with the briefcase as the others. Rudy admits that he has been busted and that Curtis was right, he did sneak out in the middle of the night and cut off Michael's hand.
We get a flash back to Rudy sawing off Micheal's hand, as Michael screams in pain. Even with the gag on, how did Curtis and Seth not hear this? Rudy sneaks out of the room without the briefcase but stops when he hears a sound. When Rudy returns to the room, he finds that the case has disappeared. He tells Finn and Jess that he went back to sleep and then acted all innocent. Rudy then admits that it wasn't him and Curtis who had the chat by the vending machine but him and Seth.
Rudy told Seth that Curtis is the one who took the briefcase. He told Seth that Curtis is sneaky and underhanded and made cruel jokes about his girlfriend behind his back. Seth is not impressed and calls Curtis a two faced bastard. Rudy then walks up to Curtis and hands him a drink.
Rudy tells Finn and Jess that he thinks that Curtis was in cahoots with two people who just so happened to conveniently turn up at the community center. Both Finn and Jess' glasses are empty at this point. Finn says that he is lost and Jess says that their drinks were spiked. Rudy admits that he has been spinning them a yarn, waiting for the drugs to kick in, as both Finn and Jess fall to the ground.
When Jess and Finn wake up, they are locked in the freezer together. Finn finds his cell phone but there is no signal. Finn says that Rudy is just messing with them and that this is probably a part of some elaborate initiation ritual. Jess calls Finn naive, "you're a pedophiles wet dream. Hey little boy do you want to come with me to the bushes and suck on my cock shaped lollipop." Finn goes silent and says that it wasn't in the bushes and that it was in his "uncle's big ole' house in the country." He says that he can still feel his uncle on top of him, with the smell of whiskey and cigarettes on his breath. He goes through this big explanation and then says that he was joking and trying to lighten the mood and now suddenly things don't seem quite so bad. What the flying fuck was that? You don't take a story of abuse and use it this way. This entire scene would have been triggering to a survivor but then, Misfits has never cared about the way their storyline could be damaging. Thankfully, Jess called him out on what he did but I don't believe that this undoes the damage.
Seth and Rudy discuss what to do with Michael, now that they have cut off more of his body parts and he still won't talk. Rudy suggests putting Michael in the freezer for now. In the freezer, Finn asks Jess if she is being reminded of the end of Titanic. Jess says that she is going to die in the freezer on her first day of community service and that she thought she would grow old and ugly and die with her family around her. Of course Finn's fantasy is dying after being sucked off by Angelina Jolie. Suddenly, Finn is worried about his dog Jody. Jess says that she needs to go the bathroom and Finn suggests that they pee in front of each other. They turn on their sides and pee and Finn says, "I really hope you don't need a shit."
Suddenly, the freezer opens and Rudy and Seth toss Michael in. Seth asks, "what if they're just two innocent people showing up to do their community service?" Rudy replies, "I believe you'll find that there's no such thing as an innocent young offender is there." Seth says, "fuck it," and he and Rudy leave.
In the freezer, Jess realises that the guy who has been tossed in with them is the guy with the case. Michael asks who they are and where the case is. Jess says that they don't know anything about the case and how Rudy told them a crazy story, drugged them and tossed them in a freezer." Michael says that before that all of this started, he and his buddies stole a case from a diamond dealer and he realised that he didn't want to share it, so he stabbed his buddies to death and ran. When he went outside he was struck by lightening in the infamous storm and that every since then, people have been trying to take the money off of him. Michael says that he lost everyone he ever cared about. Finn asks about the case and Jess asks if he is infected.
In the office, Rudy hands Seth a drink and says that he has established that Curtis must have the case. Instead of drinking, Seth powers the liquid on the ground and suggests that the two of them team up and split the cash. Seth tells Rudy that Curtis is a dick and that he has always admired and respected him. Rudy laughs and asks if his cock looks like a little slug, to which Seth replies, "I think you have a beautiful penis." Seth suggests that they be best mates and Rudy says that they should hug it out. Rudy says, "it is a bit awkward because you said something complimentary about my penis. You should probably know that I've spiked your drink." Seth admits that he didn't drink it and then turns around punches Rudy. While Rudy is unconscious, his other half sneaks out from under the table and asks, "what in the name of Jesus have you done this time, to be knocked unconscious with a punch." He then takes the keys.
Inside the freezer, Jess and Finn plan to kill everyone and take the case. The other half of Rudy opens the freezer and says that he was not the guy who locked them in the freezer and that it was the other him. He explains that the other him is like his twin and that it was the storm. Jess asks him to prove he is not the guy who locked them in the freezer. We get another flashback of Rudy sawing off Micheal's arm but this time his twin watching. Micheal hides the briefcase and this time the twin digs it out from where he hid it. Finn and Jess say that the guy in freezer infected everyone and twin Rudy realises that they were in the freezer with Michael. Finn and Jess both grabs weapons and Finn says, "you think you're the only one with a power around here." Above Jess' head, a potted plant starts to shake and when Finn tries to force it at Jess, it falls on the ground. So, Finn grabs the case and the misfits start chasing him. He runs onto the roof and he is at the very edge. Michael appears and grabs the case from Finn but falls to the ground and cracks his head open on the cement. He crawls to the case, opens it up and the money gets carried away with the breeze. He dies with a handful of money. Suddenly, the infection goes away and they blame it all on the storm.
The misfits bury Michael - a scene that we have become used to on this show. When they return to the community center, they find a new probation worker waiting for them. Of course, we all know that this man is a dead man walking. Jess asks how they know he is not impersonating a probation worker, and the man asks why someone would impersonate a probation worker. The community worker then threatens then in the guise of a joke. Clearly this man is creepy and going to be trouble for the Misfits.
Finn returns home and calls out for Sady. It turns out that Sady is not his dog but a girl he has gagged and tied to his bed.
I don't know about you, but as far as season premiers go, I found this to be convoluted. There was a lot of back and forth and the story just seemed to go nowhere fast. We learned a little bit about the new characters and already I don't like Finn. I really despise the way that Kelly was written out of the show and thought that they could have come up with something better than they did. This episode did not excite me in the least.
