There are silly ideas, and then there are silly ideas. But Misfits is one of the silliest of them all; as a group of young offenders are exposed to a bizarre lightning storm, gifting them with a range of supernatural powers. It might sound like one of Stan Lee’s wet dreams, but against all the odds it works. Misfits is dark, violent and hilarious, and it’s one of the best teen dramas of the last decade.
One of the great joys of the programme is in drawing fantastic performances from its young cast. While the characters initially seem somewhat forced and clichéd (Kelly the chav, Simon the loner, Nathan the cocky git), Misfits spends plenty of screen time developing them and fleshing out their back stories, an impressive feat for a short series of just six episodes. Nathan particularly (played by the wonderful Robert Sheehan) becomes are extremely interesting and likeable character.
Another of the best things about Misfits is that it’s brilliantly funny. The
scripts are unusually crisp and sharp for a Channel 4 series, giving the cast
plenty of opportunity to bounce off each other with delirious black humour. It’s
exceptionally dark stuff too, with bizarre deaths and violent crimes being uncompromisingly
brought to the screen. Violence is frequent and graphic, with no episode being
quite complete without at least one inevitable killing. The show’s gritty
suburban setting combine with this violence to forge an atmosphere that
can be at times terrifying, but it rarely becomes too intense, the action being
broken up by the programme’s trademark brand of humour. For me, where Misfits really makes an improvement over similar programmes is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s got a silly storyline and it knows it, with the script regularly taking the mickey out of how ridiculous it is.
8/10
No comments:
Post a Comment