Misfits, that British show with (super)anti-heroes
Last week my sister told me she had watched the first episode of some British show and that I should check it out because she was sure I would like it. My sister knows me so well. So I watched, too fast probably because now I'm done and we have to wait November for any new episodes, and I didn't find much fic about it. :( I am spoiled by SPN.
I have however, one big issue with season 2 and it's really bothering me. I don't know if anyone on my flist has watched this show but I need to put my thoughts out there anyway.
In one word (or two?), Future!Simon. Everyone about it bothers me. First, I feel like it doesn't make a lot of sense, and maybe we will have more about it because for the moment it completely confuses me. Time-travel storylines are more often than not bang-your-head-against-the-wall kind of stories, so I generally don't try to examine them too closely. But here, I'm not even sure what it was about. What was Future!Simon trying to accomplish? He says it was so Alisha and he could be together, but he was very vague about it. From the video Alisha finds on his computer, we know that the 2.06 story happened, and probably stuck because Simon wouldn't be able to remember it or have a video of it. In 2.01, Future!Simon saves Curtis from Lucy, so I guess that in his timeline maybe Curtis died that day so couldn't rewind time when they were all killed by Milk Guy. From there, we could assume that Simon went back in time to save the group from being killed. But this wasn't the motivation he stated, and if they all died that day, how could Alisha and him have been together like he said they were? And what was the purpose of the other things he did - saving Nathan from the Virtues, sending that message so the others could dig up Nathan. What happened in his timeline? Also, he says that to Alisha that he couldn't save Ollie the New Guy because someone else would die. He obviously meant Nikki, and he seems to have drawn the gang to Nikki's apartment purposefully.
Now, I have an hypothesis but I don't like it very much, and it doesn't match what the show seem to have wanted to do with Future!Simon. From where we stand, it looks like Future!Simon manipulated Alisha into loving him, and brought Curtis and Nikki together so he could have Alisha. Alisha's power has always been a problem for her, more than for any of the others (they all had issues with it, but also the powers have also been useful). She was vulnerable, touch-starved, and Future!Simon could touch her. He was also all mysteriously super-hero and told her they were going to be in love and that he had come back in time for her. How could she resist? And it was really convenient that at the same time Curtis was meeting Nikki, especially knowing that without Future!Simon they maybe would have never met (even with Curtis' vision of the future). Now, maybe this is all done on purpose. Maybe Future!Simon has really become that twisted and isn't the hero he seems to be, not something Simon should aspire to be, and it all going to be addressed. It could be really dark and interesting, I'm just not sure we're going to know more about Future!Simon, even though there are still some mysteries about him - like, how did Future!Simon come back in time? Why could he touch Alisha? Why don't we see him use his invisibility? I had a thought, that maybe Simon somehow got all the others' powers after their death (after all, we know from the last episode that power exchange is possible) - he would have Curtis' ability, Alisha's, and it would explain why he could touch her, like, their powers would cancel each other or something; and he could have Nathan's immortality and maybe be older than he seems (though we don't know for sure that Nathan can't age).
Even if Future!Simon didn't lie to Alisha about them being together, I still didn't like him. The stoic, superior super-hero like attitude annoyed me - I've read somewhere that the writer had tried to give a Superman/Clark Kent kind of split of personality, and if it's true then they succeeded, because I have never liked the Superman persona. I could see Simon becoming that way, because he was always the one who insisted they should become superheroes, and he probably knows a lot about the super-hero culture. I just don't think that it's something Simon should aspire to be, and I don't like that the show seems to tell us that this is good, that is this who Simon is meant to be. Telling Alisha they were going to fall in love, even if it's true, was still a dickish move. It put her in the situation of cheating on Curtis and lying to him, which was unfair both to Alisha and Curtis. It killed all possibility for their feelings to develop organically, and I don't think it did Alisha's character any favor, because after that it seemed that she was all about being in love with (Future)Simon. It showed another side of her, but I would have preferred to see her character developed by something else than "true love." And speaking about true love, that's another that annoys me about Simon/Alisha. It's like we were slapped in the face with how beautiful, epic their love story is, and I didn't expect that from a show like Misfits. I have talked recently with some people about why I didn't like romance stories, and it cleared out certain things for me. It's not that I'm against romance per se, it's that I don't like the way it is told in most cases. I don't like when the love story, the bond, takes a life of its own and becomes more important than the individuals who form the couple. It doesn't matter why they love each other, what they see in each other, it matters that they love each other and the characters as such take a back seat. This is what I feel happened with Simon and Alisha, though it was a little better in the last episode now that they're together both as their present selves. And I liked how Simon through the show finds somewhere he belongs, in the group with all of them, so I dislike that the idea that his future should be all about Alisha.
So, that was kind of a long rant. I still really love this show, how this anti-social delinquents end up with powers that they don't know what to do with, how they slowly start to genuinely like each other after being brought together by a shared traumatic experience. It warmed my heart to see them in the last episode being together because they wanted to and not because they had their community service to do. And how toward the end of the season they started talking about how they had killed their probation workers, even though they didn't really do anything to Sally, Simon did, but they accepted the responsibility as a group. I'm curious about what is going to happen with their powers - I'm pretty sure Alisha won't get her original power back, because why would she want to? I'm excited about what it could mean for her, because her power was really getting nowhere interesting. Same with Curtis - apparently his power is unavailable so he will have to get something else, which is good because since the beginning I didn't like how deus ex machina his power was, even if he didn't know how to control it. Simon will probably get his own power back - if he even really sold it, which I'm not sure he did and in that case I wouldn't put past him to get another power... I don't know what Nathan and Kelly would do.
It's probably a long shot but if any of you has some Misfits fic to rec, preferably gen... While I'm at it, if any of you had Firefly fic recs I would be delighted too. I watched that show recently and it was so good but short. I have tried to find fic, but once again gen fics eluded me. These two shows make me realize how much I love ensemble shows in general - SPN is an exception to that, probably because I love sibling relationships even more that I love ensemble shows. :)
I have however, one big issue with season 2 and it's really bothering me. I don't know if anyone on my flist has watched this show but I need to put my thoughts out there anyway.
In one word (or two?), Future!Simon. Everyone about it bothers me. First, I feel like it doesn't make a lot of sense, and maybe we will have more about it because for the moment it completely confuses me. Time-travel storylines are more often than not bang-your-head-against-the-wall kind of stories, so I generally don't try to examine them too closely. But here, I'm not even sure what it was about. What was Future!Simon trying to accomplish? He says it was so Alisha and he could be together, but he was very vague about it. From the video Alisha finds on his computer, we know that the 2.06 story happened, and probably stuck because Simon wouldn't be able to remember it or have a video of it. In 2.01, Future!Simon saves Curtis from Lucy, so I guess that in his timeline maybe Curtis died that day so couldn't rewind time when they were all killed by Milk Guy. From there, we could assume that Simon went back in time to save the group from being killed. But this wasn't the motivation he stated, and if they all died that day, how could Alisha and him have been together like he said they were? And what was the purpose of the other things he did - saving Nathan from the Virtues, sending that message so the others could dig up Nathan. What happened in his timeline? Also, he says that to Alisha that he couldn't save Ollie the New Guy because someone else would die. He obviously meant Nikki, and he seems to have drawn the gang to Nikki's apartment purposefully.
Now, I have an hypothesis but I don't like it very much, and it doesn't match what the show seem to have wanted to do with Future!Simon. From where we stand, it looks like Future!Simon manipulated Alisha into loving him, and brought Curtis and Nikki together so he could have Alisha. Alisha's power has always been a problem for her, more than for any of the others (they all had issues with it, but also the powers have also been useful). She was vulnerable, touch-starved, and Future!Simon could touch her. He was also all mysteriously super-hero and told her they were going to be in love and that he had come back in time for her. How could she resist? And it was really convenient that at the same time Curtis was meeting Nikki, especially knowing that without Future!Simon they maybe would have never met (even with Curtis' vision of the future). Now, maybe this is all done on purpose. Maybe Future!Simon has really become that twisted and isn't the hero he seems to be, not something Simon should aspire to be, and it all going to be addressed. It could be really dark and interesting, I'm just not sure we're going to know more about Future!Simon, even though there are still some mysteries about him - like, how did Future!Simon come back in time? Why could he touch Alisha? Why don't we see him use his invisibility? I had a thought, that maybe Simon somehow got all the others' powers after their death (after all, we know from the last episode that power exchange is possible) - he would have Curtis' ability, Alisha's, and it would explain why he could touch her, like, their powers would cancel each other or something; and he could have Nathan's immortality and maybe be older than he seems (though we don't know for sure that Nathan can't age).
Even if Future!Simon didn't lie to Alisha about them being together, I still didn't like him. The stoic, superior super-hero like attitude annoyed me - I've read somewhere that the writer had tried to give a Superman/Clark Kent kind of split of personality, and if it's true then they succeeded, because I have never liked the Superman persona. I could see Simon becoming that way, because he was always the one who insisted they should become superheroes, and he probably knows a lot about the super-hero culture. I just don't think that it's something Simon should aspire to be, and I don't like that the show seems to tell us that this is good, that is this who Simon is meant to be. Telling Alisha they were going to fall in love, even if it's true, was still a dickish move. It put her in the situation of cheating on Curtis and lying to him, which was unfair both to Alisha and Curtis. It killed all possibility for their feelings to develop organically, and I don't think it did Alisha's character any favor, because after that it seemed that she was all about being in love with (Future)Simon. It showed another side of her, but I would have preferred to see her character developed by something else than "true love." And speaking about true love, that's another that annoys me about Simon/Alisha. It's like we were slapped in the face with how beautiful, epic their love story is, and I didn't expect that from a show like Misfits. I have talked recently with some people about why I didn't like romance stories, and it cleared out certain things for me. It's not that I'm against romance per se, it's that I don't like the way it is told in most cases. I don't like when the love story, the bond, takes a life of its own and becomes more important than the individuals who form the couple. It doesn't matter why they love each other, what they see in each other, it matters that they love each other and the characters as such take a back seat. This is what I feel happened with Simon and Alisha, though it was a little better in the last episode now that they're together both as their present selves. And I liked how Simon through the show finds somewhere he belongs, in the group with all of them, so I dislike that the idea that his future should be all about Alisha.
So, that was kind of a long rant. I still really love this show, how this anti-social delinquents end up with powers that they don't know what to do with, how they slowly start to genuinely like each other after being brought together by a shared traumatic experience. It warmed my heart to see them in the last episode being together because they wanted to and not because they had their community service to do. And how toward the end of the season they started talking about how they had killed their probation workers, even though they didn't really do anything to Sally, Simon did, but they accepted the responsibility as a group. I'm curious about what is going to happen with their powers - I'm pretty sure Alisha won't get her original power back, because why would she want to? I'm excited about what it could mean for her, because her power was really getting nowhere interesting. Same with Curtis - apparently his power is unavailable so he will have to get something else, which is good because since the beginning I didn't like how deus ex machina his power was, even if he didn't know how to control it. Simon will probably get his own power back - if he even really sold it, which I'm not sure he did and in that case I wouldn't put past him to get another power... I don't know what Nathan and Kelly would do.
It's probably a long shot but if any of you has some Misfits fic to rec, preferably gen... While I'm at it, if any of you had Firefly fic recs I would be delighted too. I watched that show recently and it was so good but short. I have tried to find fic, but once again gen fics eluded me. These two shows make me realize how much I love ensemble shows in general - SPN is an exception to that, probably because I love sibling relationships even more that I love ensemble shows. :)