Are you in need of a series to binge watch? Maybe this one will be something for you. While it’s not new within the TV show landscape, but people are still talking about the British science fiction comedy-drama show, Misfits. The show premiered in November 2009 and ended in December 2013 on the British network E4 and depending where you live, the series is available on Netflix and on DVD.
Alisha (Antonia Thomas), Simon (Iwan Rheon), Nathan (Robert Sheehan), Kelly (Lauren Socha), and Curtis (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) are five young offenders who start to serve their community service, when on their first day, a thunder storm interrupts them. After being struck by lightning, they discover supernatural abilities. After Season 2, Sheehan left the show and was replaced by Joseph Gilgun who played Rudy. For Season 4, the rest of the cast were replaced before the show ended with Season 5. Be warned that this show could trigger abuse and assault and there is no filter when it comes to language. You could make a game out of how often swear words are used.
To be honest, if you watch too many episodes at once, it could mess up with your head. The story of the first two seasons happens within a couple of weeks. Misfits picks up important topics while also being mostly ridiculous and it does give you the feeling that the characters do not know what they are actually doing.
Plus you can see some actors before they came more well-known such as Iwan Rheon before he starred in Game of Thrones and Robert Sheehan prior to starring in Umbrella Academy.
British Humour
It is known that the British people have a specific kind of humour, one that is a dark dry kind of humour. That being said, it is a great type of humour, right? This show will definitely show you a more carefree kind. The language as mentioned before is an intense and important part to their humour. All of the main cast fight their own personal battles and they are not interested in showing their vulnerable sides to one another for a long time and this is why how they express themselves with more so with their language. The best example of this is Nathan who plays a constant jokester, who seems to care for no one and nothing as himself. Nothing can beat him down, but he only hides his true self behind all of his jokes and silly behaviour.
Anti-Heroes
You live however many years as an average human being and all of a sudden you happen to have incredible powers as telepathy or turning invisible. Your life has changed immensely so what would you do? You could use your powers for a good cause and help people. You could pull pranks, or you could influence another person somehow. The possibilities are endless.
What this gang does at first is less than nothing. They take a long time to figure out that they changed and even after discovering it, they basically don’t really do anything with these powers. It feels like the characters are stuck until the real action starts in Season 2 when the story gets more mysterious and that there is an actual possible villain to fight against.
In ever-growing superhero madness and genre in which we live in, it is interesting to see exactly the opposite and what it means to not want to do anything at all with their gifts.
Weirdness With No Boundaries
Who doesn’t like a bit of weirdness in their TV show? A solid portion of sarcasm can spice up an episode and it makes everything more fun. This show exudes weirdness and sarcasm as there’s no filter at all, which is the secret behind the massive success of this show. No one takes one another seriously and they are all bonkers.
A Dash of The Real World
Misfits and important topics of our day to day lives sound weird to be in the same sentence, so let me explain. When ever someone touches Alisha, they adore her and want to be with her. In one episode, she becomes very close to being raped. For Alisha, her powers are a curse and nothing she can really use or has the knowledge of how to. Through Alisha we get to see not only the bad side of having an mysterious ability, but also how it can have a negative effect on you. Not to give too much away, but Alisha shows how strong of a woman you have be to cope alone with the fact to leave the house every morning and in a twisted way her character is the most reliable.
Or you can just watch Misfits because of Nathan, because he definitely is reason enough to watch the show.
