Monday, September 3, 2012

Misfits Season One, Episode Two


Nathan continues to be obsessed with what his super powers are.   The crew are picking up garbage outside, when they find a naked man lying on the ground, and when he rolls over, Simon recognizes him as Jeremy, his mother's boyfriend. Alisha speculates that he is cruising for rough trade and Curtis thankfully calls out her homophobia.  Simon suggests that he is a werewolf, but Nathan responds saying, "this guy is such a pussy, he needs my mom to open jars for him." Okay, so here we have some lovely sexism, to go along with the homophobia that Alisha just engaged in.

The crew is taken to a senior center to interact with the residents there.  Sally suggests that Alisha dance with someone, but when Harry touches her, he begins talking about all of the things that he wants to do to her.  Nathan meets a young woman named Ruth, who is volunteering and starts spinning a yarn about old people in the hopes of piquing an interest in him.

At the end of the day, Curtis finds a note inside his locker saying, "I know what you did." Kelly accuses Nathan, who says that he would have found something far more original to say. Nathan suggests that the person does not know anything, otherwise they would have gone to the police and the team would be getting gang raped in the showers already.  Nathan leaves and Kelly advises that they all act normal.

Nathan goes to see his mother to tell her that he saw Jeremy this morning.  The only evidence he has is that he knows that Jeremy has a huge penis, but she suggests that he was peeking at him in the shower.  Nathan asserts that Jeremy is  a gay rough trade man, but his mother does not want to hear it and responds that every time she is involved with man he tries to ruin it.  How in the world does the fact that Jeremy runs around naked connect with what his sexuality is? Is Nathan unaware that straight people have sex in public all of the time?  It seems to me that Nathan is using homosexuality as a way to attack Jeremy's character and I personally find it homophobic as hell. 

At his home, Simon is messaged by someone called shygirl. Inside the community center, Nathan runs into the young woman from the center.  He says that he is there volunteering. The two break into the kitchen and start drinking the booze out of the center.  The two start to kiss and then Ruth notices Jeremy run by naked.  Nathan takes her phone and chases after Jeremy to get a picture of him. When he does find Jeremy, clearly the man thinks he is a dog and so he jumps on Nathan and starts licking him.

The next morning, Alisha and Curtis are flirting.  Inside the center, Nathan is showing Kelly the picture he took of Jeremy and asks her for a gun.  Kelly says no and Simon says he can get one off the internet. When Nathan asks for help talking to his mother about Jeremy, Simon is the only one who agrees to go, but Nathan he says that he is not feeling the two of them buddying up and kicking ass. To Nathan, Simon is just the weird kid. 

In the change room, Simon has another fit and goes invisible.  When Alisha and Kelly enter he does nothing to let them know that he is there and he watches them change. He gets close enough to Alisha to actually sniff her.  This man is all kinds of skeevy and creepy.


Nathan breaks into his mother's house and Jeremy finds him on the kitchen floor.  Nathan shows him the picture he took last night and suggests that he should take his crappy shit and go. Jeremy tells him to go and that his mother does not want him there.  Nathan punches Jeremy and his mother enters and admits that Jeremy already told her what is going on.  Jeremy admits that sometimes it's like he is a dog and goes on to say that when he was a kid he had a Jack Russel.  His mother says that she is okay with this and she accepts him for who he is, and points out that some men dress up in women's clothing.  Really? Now they're comparing cross dressing to turning into a dog and licking people.

Nathan goes to see Ruth and says that he is there to return her phone.  Nathan starts talking about how his mother smacked him and she says that the only reason he doesn't want his mother to have anyone in her life, is so that she can focus on him.  "The only thing worse than being lonely, is other people knowing you're lonely," she says.  When Nathan looks around, he notices that everything seems to belong to someone so much older and Ruth says that she living with her grandmother.

The two begin to have sex but Nathan quickly has an orgasm.   He makes the most ridiculous face when he comes and so she laughs and they agree to do it again.  This time, Ruth is on top of him and she begins to shift back and forth between old and young, at the moment of orgasm, causing Nathan to run into the bathroom and hide.  Ruth admits that she is only young because of the storm.  When he finally comes out of the bathroom, Ruth admits that she is 82. Nathan grabs his clothes to leave and she tells him that she is scared and believes that she is growing old again.

Alisha is at the station talking to a cop about breaking her curfew.  The moment he grabs her, he becomes sexually aroused and tosses Alisha on a desk.  Sally walks in and breaks it up and offers to help Alisha press charges.  The next day at the community center, the crew is dancing and Nathan is sitting by himself when a senior woman walks in pushing a walker and heads straight for him.  Clearly, this is Ruth and so Nathan runs out of the room completely disgusted.

Outside, the rest of the crew find Nathan and Kelly tells him that some old woman was looking for him.  Kelly over hears him thinking about the fact that they had sex.  They begin to tease him about it, and he says that the storm made Ruth young again.   Nathan walks away in disgust and tells Kelly to stay out of his thoughts.  Both this scene and the scene in which Nathan and Ruth were having sex was absolutely played for laughs.  I think it can only be funny if you ignore the issue of consent.  I understand wanting Ruth to be young again, but by not telling Nathan who she was to begin with, he did not have the ability to issue an informed consent and anytime this happens, it's rape. 

Nathan is talking once again to shygirl but when he asks her for a photo, she tells him to use his imagination. The next morning, Nathan goes to see Ruth and when he finds the door ajar, he enters because no on answered his knock.  He finds Ruth dead in a chair holding her photo album. The album is filled of pictures of a much younger Ruth and in many of them, she's with different men.  After looking through the album, Nathan puts it back on her lap, says that he is sorry and then pats her head much like he would a dog.  I suppose this is meant to be touching or add a hint of redemption to this whole storyline but  simply found it disconcerting.

Ruth's death inspires Nathan to go and see his mother to ask if she loves Jeremy. She admits that she does but says that it won't change how she feels about him.   Nathan says that he's got a flat with some friends and she suggests that if he tries to get along with Jeremy he can move back in.  Nathan says that he is fine and that she needs to hold onto her man while she's young because he cannot provide everything for her as she ages.  Clearly, the loneliness, as well as death of Ruth has opened his eyes to his mothers needs.

At the community center,  Kelly says that she knew that it was more than the crew who have been affected by the storm.  Simon suggests that they need to be ready for when people come after them.  When Nathan opens his locker, there's a note with Tony's picture and the words, "I know".  Sally is watching them from just outside the room. Clearly, she suspects them of murdering him and plans on applying pressure until they crack.