Monday, December 17, 2012

Misfits Season Three, Episode Four

We are still behind on the older season and that is why season three is appearing today.  As usual, an up to date post on season four will appear on Wednesday.

This episode begins with an introduction to Friedrich Hirsch, a man who was born in Berlin in 1935.  He managed to escape the holocaust by being adopted by a German family, when his parents were sent to a labour camp.  Hirsch never saw his family again. Hirsch survived by doing nothing, as everyone he knew was murdered and now he feels compelled to travel through time and kill Adolf Hitler.  Hirsch writes a letter detailing all of this and then uses Curtis' old power to travel through time. Hirsch's attept to stab Hitler to death fails and is instead stabbed. Unfortunately, Hirsch drops his cellphone and Hitler picks it up.  This forces Hirsch back to the present, where he discovers that the allies lost the war and England is now a Nazi state.

Kelly is in the community center and she is wearing her jump suit and it has a big swastika on the back.  Alisha is working in the office for Shaun, who is now a Nazi officer, who has no problem sexually harassing her. Simon comes to the door and salutes and lets Shaun know that the prisoner has arrived, along with Hirsch and his letter.

Seth is in a cell and Shaun is interrogating him.  Shaun wants him to test people to see if they have powers, then remove said powers and give them to the people of Shaun's choosing.  The first man Shaun checks has no powers, but when he moves onto a woman, she has a power.  Shaun is forced to take it from her. As she is being escorted out of the room, she begs to be released but is shot for her trouble. Kelly who is standing outside of the cell, witnesses the whole incident through a window.

Kelly goes to see Curtis at a bar and he escorts her upstairs. Kelly tells Curtis about Seth and how he is being used to take people's powers. Hirsch is in a jail cell and Simon goes to check on him.  Seth asks if he can take Hirsch to the hospital but Simon says that the Nazis aren't big on compassion.  When Seth points out that Simon is also a Nazi, Simon says that he was conscripted and promises to do what he can for Hirsch before walking away.

That night, the two Rudy's are hiding and arguing about what to do. What they don't realise is that Nazis are in the hallway preparing to break into the apartment.  Rudy opens the door before the battering ram can be used and promptly closes the door and sneaks out the window.

At the bar, Curtis asks Kelly if she is still delivering food to the cells and then instructs her to poison Seth's food.  Kelly says that she is not willing to kill Seth because he is a prisoner like the rest but Curtis adds that it's not personal.  Curtis reminds Kelly that the powers Seth gives to the Nazis will be used against them.

Simon is back at the community center and he takes Shaun's keys to get his hands on antibiotics for Hirsch.  Alisha walks into the room catching Simon in the act.  Simon tells Alisha that there is an old man in the cells who has an infected wound. Alisha closes the door and asks Simon if he knows what they will do if they find him here.  They see Shaun and so they pretend that Simon was helping Alisha with the computer.  Alisha tells Shaun that she missed him and kisses him to distract him from Simon and Simon leaves the room.

Back at the bar, Curtis pours a drink for Rudy who asks, "what about them Nazis."  Rudy looks around the room and asks Curtis if he is part of the resistance.  Curtis takes Rudy upstairs and then puts a gun to his head.  Rudy says that he has a power and the Nazis are after him. Curtis demands that Rudy show him his power.


At the community center, Captain Smith walks into Shaun's office and Shaun immediately jumps to his feet and salutes. Clearly, this is a man who Shaun is afraid of.  Shaun takes Captain Smith to Seth's cells and Smith asks how the transfer works. When Seth does not react, Smith threatens to make life unpleasant for him and holds out his hand. Shaun then takes Smith's hand and transfers the power.  Smith calls a worker in to clean Seth's cell and when the man turns his back, Smith uses his new power to freeze him to death. 

Kelly goes to the locker area and picks up the vial of poison.  Simon is outside having a smoke and Alisha approaches and asks for one.  When she starts to cough, Simon points out that she doesn't smoke.  Simon admits he doesn't smoke either but does this to get a break.  He then thanks Alisha for covering for him and asks why she is with Shaun.  Alisha admits that she got caught drunk driving and that they were going to send her to prison until Shaun got them to drop the charges.  When Alisha asks if Simon thinks she's a slut, he replies, "we're all doing what we need to do to survive."

Kelly pours the poison into the food and then takes the cart to the prisoners but when she notices that Seth is attempting to commit suicide, Kelly yells for help. Simon enters the cell and cuts Seth down before he can kill himself. Later at the bar, Curtis is shocked that Kelly intervened when Seth was trying to kill himself. Kelly believes that Seth is on their side.  Rudy interrupts with a bit stupidity and Curtis tells him to stop stealing alcohol and then instructs Kelly to go back to the community center and call him if anything happens.

Captain Smith tells Shaun that it was a mistake to treat Seth like a prisoner. Smith believes that Seth needs to see the benefits of working for them.  Shaun says that he can get him a prostitute and Smith points out that it might take more than that.

Shaun is back in his cell and when Kelly appears, he tells her that he is not hungry. Kelly sits down next to him and offers him ice cream, saying that it will be easier to swallow.  Kelly picks up the spoon and starts to feed him and Seth says that he should probably get used to this because they are moving him to a more luxurious prison.

During the prisoner transfer, the convoy is forced to stop when they find a baby carriage and a person lying in the road.  It's a set up and it turns out that it's Kelly and she starts shooting. When she is joined by three other people, Shaun decides it's not worth it, hops out of the car and leaves Seth behind.  When Kelly takes off her mask, Seth is shocked to see her.

Back at the community center, Smith is livid and wants to know exactly how it is that Shaun managed to escape. Shaun replies, "I'm very agile, like a cat."  Smith walks over to Alisha and says, "maybe you're not as stupid as you look," thus implying that Alisha is responsible for the convoy being compromised. Shaun tells Smith that Alisha is as stupid as she looks and so Smith demands that Shaun tear up the estate until he finds Seth. At the bar, Curtis promises Seth that they will look into moving him into a safe house tomorrow. 

Hirsch becomes conscious and asks where he is.  Simon tells him that he is in prison.  Hirsch is agitated and says that this is all wrong and none of this should have happened. Simon tells him to get some sleep.  Back at the bar, Seth tells Kelly how he gained his power and the fact that he wanted to be the ultimate dealer - a wish which was granted by the storm.  Seth then thanks her for saving his life, but Kelly tells him that she had planned to kill him and put poison in his food.  Seth asks why she saved him and she answers, "when I saw you hanging there, I just couldn't do it. Sorry I tried to kill you."

The next morning, Curtis bursts into the room and tells Kelly and Seth that the Nazis are here.  Shaun approaches Curtis and Rudy and says that this is a raid and asks who they are.  Curtis says that he works there and Rudy claims to be Curtis' gay lover. "I'm the giver, he's the taker. I'm the butch he's the bitch; like the sausage needs the muffin."  When Shaun points out that homosexuality is illegal, Rudy says that he was joking and that Curtis is his cousin. Shaun orders the men to search the upstairs.

When they arrive upstairs, Shaun sees the booze bottles all over the table.  Kelly and Seth are hiding and so Shaun tells them that they have three seconds before he empties his gun into the floor.  Seth lifts the hatch and crawls out of the hiding space followed by Kelly. Seth attacks Shaun long enough for Kelly to get away and then she watches as Seth, Curtis and Rudy get led out in handcuffs.

Back at the prison, now that Hirsh is awake, he is surprised to Seth. Hirsch tells Seth that he wanted to change history and that Seth gave him the power. In his office, Shaun reads Hirsh's letter. Hirsh tells Seth about the phone and how the Nazis used the technology in the phone to change the course of history.  When Smith enters the room, Shaun gives him Hirsch's letter.  Hirsch puts his hand through the bars and tells Seth to take the power because he is to weak to do anything with it.  Seth manages to take the power just before Smith arrives. Smith instructs Seth to put the power back into the old man because they cannot afford to let anyone have this power.  When Seth refuses, Smith orders Simon to shoot Hirsch.  Simon simply stands there though he is told repeatedly. When Simon finally pulls out his gun, his hands are shaking and so Smith and Shaun kill Hirsch. Smith then moves onto Curtis and demands that Seth put the power into him. When Seth at first refuses, Smith says that he will kill every person until he complies.  Seth apologises to Curtis and transfers a power into him, seconds later Smith executes Curtis.

On the roof, Alisha approaches Simon to ask if he is okay.  Simon is upset because he did nothing as they shot Hirsch and Curtis right in front of him.  Alisha tells him that there was nothing he could have done. Simon and Alisha share a kiss.

Kill arrives at the community center and starts shooting. She takes Shaun captive and when they run into Alisha and Simon, they offer to help.  This shocks Shaun because he thought Alisha liked him but she says all he did was use her.  When they get to the cells, Seth tells Kelly that Curtis is dead.  As they are making their escape, Seth tells Kelly about Hirsch. They don't manages to get far before they are surrounded.  Kelly rolls a pop can on the ground and the Nazis run thinking that it is a grenade. This opens up an opportunity for the misfits to escape, but the Germans quickly regroup. The misfits exchange fire with the Nazis and Seth is shot. The Nazis fire tear gas as Kelly begs Seth to stay with her.  He tells Kelly that he still has the power and faked the transfer with Curtis and then kisses her before he dies, thus transferring the power.  Kelly travels back in time to Nazi Germany and finds herself in Hitlers office.  She attacks Hitler and takes the phone away before traveling back to the present. 

Hirsch is laying flowers at the WWII memorial and he walks away as Kelly watches. Kelly then tells Seth about what happened.  Seth asks if  they had sex in the alternative version of history and Kelly tells him that they didn't and that Seth kissed her when he transferred the power. Kelly says that she wants the power out of her and demands that he never give it to anyone else.  Seth says that he doesn't want to die and will put it away for safe keeping.  Kelly tells Seth that he is not the person he pretends to be and then says that she would like to be a rocket scientist. 

When Kelly arrives back at the community center, the misfits ask her where she has been and she replies, "I've just been fighting the Nazis and kicking the shit out of Hitler."

I really hate when television shows use something like the holocaust as a jumping point.  What happened was horrific enough and we don't need a fantastical take on it.  It was ridiculous to have both Alisha and Curtis in this episode.  There is absolutely no way that under a Nazi regime that they would be alive, let alone run all over the place freely. 

Once again we had yet another homophobic scene.  Having Rudy announce that he was Curtis' gay lover to avoid detection turns being gay into a joke.  You cannot appropriate peoples lives for shits and giggles.  Also the idea that someone is pitcher and someone is the catcher is a ridiculous binary that our heterosexist society continues to perpetuate because they cannot understand a relationship which does not comply with gender norms. 

It was good to see Simon's response to Alisha questioning whether or not he thought that she was a slut.  I am also pleased that Alisha was empowered enough in the end to stand up to Shaun and point out that what he was doing to her was absolutely abusive.  It was nice to see Alisha's character be active rather than relying on her good looks.