Jesus, Santa and the alien baby WARNING: CONTAINS DETAILED SPOILERS
Writer: Howard Overman
Director: Tom Harper
THE ONE WHERE A pissed-off priest buys himself some superpowers off a dodgy dealer and passes himself off as Jesus, while Nathan finds his perfect woman, who gives birth to an alien baby. Sort of.
VERDICT Santa shagging a pregnant woman, a gun-toting Jesus and a Fisherman’s Friends-aided orgasms – what show could this be other than Misfits ?
It’s odd to think that this was promoted as an “extra” Christmas episode, when it feels so much more like a season finale than the “real” season finale. Admittedly, that’s mainly because of the sly cliffhanger that leaves you screaming, “Noooooo! I can’t wait ten months to find out what powers they’ve got!” You can bet the internet will be rife with speculation in the meantime – we’re happy to start (see below). What a brilliant game changer; this show’s motto is fast becoming “expect the unexpected”.
But the episode’s also just so much damned fun. After a brilliant little montage showing the Misfits’ lives three months on from community service, it’s into an episode that cheekily manages to refer to Jesus shagging, killing and thieving… but not really . Blasphemous? Nah? It’s all a lark, innit? Nathan gets to meet a female version of himself and the sparks fly, there’s dodgy dealer who peddles in super powers, a Superman II- style lesson on morality and lots of blood. Most bizarre of all though – and oddly touching in its utter incongruity – is the group sing-along of “Little Donkey.”
There are signs of creakiness, though: the strange way Simon suddenly seems to know about Future Simon (see below); the fact that Nikki’s death lacks any real emotional clout; the way the Misfits seem to get away with murdering Jesus in front of witness, then just wander off to visit the dodgy dealer as if nothing’s happened. It would be shame if the show’s once canny plotting gave way to an “it’s just a fantasy, so anything goes” mentality.
There’s also the slight nagging feeling that Nathan's not quite as funny when he’s happily in lurve…
CONTINUITY GLITCH? When Curtis hit the reset button at the end of the previous episode he took everyone back to a point before Simon discovered the truth about his future self, yet here Simon knows all about his transformation into Super-hoodie. Odd that, because Curtis was never a witness to Simon’s discovery, so how did Simon get to learn who he was destined to be? That brief glimpse Curtis had of Simon in a hoodie? That’s one hell of a leap of logic. Even if that is the case, it would have been nice to have a scene with Curtis saying to Simon, “Now hang on! Just before I turned back time I saw you…”
SPECULATION So, who’ll get what super powers? Presumably Simon gets time travel (which means he may be able to save Nikki for Curtis), but other than that it’s anybody’s guess. Curtis wants Nikki back so you’d presume he’d want his old powers, but if Simon can time travel, maybe Curtis could get him to save Nikki instead and choose a different power. None of this explains why Future Simon could touch Alisha before she lost her powers, though.
NATHAN’S GROSSGASMS Well, his grossest moment has be his bloody murder of the alien baby (one the most memorable scenes on TV all year, surely?), but there’s another classic when he’s shagging the pregnant Marnie: “I don’t want to poke the baby in the eye.” Oh, and anybody going to experiment with Fisherman’s Friends?
BEST LINE
Nathan: “What’s all this?”
Woman in crowd: “Our Lord Jesus Christ has risen again.”
Nathan: “Good for him.”
Marnie: “At least he’s come back in time for Christmas.”
Check out our exclusive video interview with the stars of Misfits here .
