Post by panda on Feb 20, 2010 23:04:08 GMT -5
Well...I said I'd start a topic about this show, and here it is! I won't give away any major series spoilers in case anyone's planning on watching it. I'll just explain a few things that happen in the first episode and some of the general themes to give you an idea of what it's like. So, Misfits is basically a sci-fi drama that focuses on a group of five young adults with superpowers. I've heard it described a lot as a British version of Heroes (I haven't seen Heroes so I can't comment!) or a seriously dark sci-fi version of the Breakfast Club (
) only the main characters are all young offenders doing community service. So essentially these five quite dysfunctional characters get caught in a freak electrical storm and start experiencing some very weird and traumatic things that force them together as a group. The storm turns their probation officer into a psychotic murderer and they're forced to kill him in self-defence - and then they have to hide the body, knowing that no one will believe them if they tell the truth. Much of the series focuses on them dealing with this situation, as well as trying to get on with their day-to-day lives after they've been lumbered with some quite troublesome superpowers. Their "abilities" all relate somehow to their personalities - the shy boy who's been bullied and alienated all his life gets the power to turn invisible, the insecure girl gets to read people's minds, the guy who regrets things from his past gets the power of time manipulation etc.
Robert plays the character of Nathan - a highly self-destructive, arrogant young man with a terrible attitude. He's extremely clever and funny but uses his wit to upset people and annoy the hell out of them most of the time. As the series progresses he develops a lot as a character, though, and you start to see how vulnerable and insecure he is. In the first episode we see his mum kicking him out of the house so she can focus on her new relationship, so Nathan's basically homeless for most of the series (he breaks into the local community centre and sleeps on the floor!). He's the only member of the group who doesn't initially develop a superpower, much to his dismay, and he spends a lot of time trying to figure out what his power could be - we don't find out the truth of the situation until the final episode in the first season (it's only six episodes long unfortunately...British brevity and all) and, well, it's a bit of a shock.
So...this show has been pretty popular here in the UK, and it's been commissioned for a second season. Hopefully, like other similar shows it will be taken up by BBC Worldwide and will get a chance to air in other countries as well soon.
You can watch it online (legally) here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMABaMyZOrc although I'm not sure which countries it's available in, sorry.
If it's been blocked in your country, here's a few links to clips and trailers on youtube which you should hopefully be able to watch (supplied by the channel that runs the show, so again, you're not breaking any rules):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=12cRmvvuPjk
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOCZl2ENf-w&feature=channel
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl1lzmf5DFs&feature=related
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODl-kAhVsXY&feature=related
Oh, and please bear in mind that the show contains some very adult themes. There's a lot of very bad language, and frequent sex/drugs/violence references, some of which are pretty strong. It's not family entertainment!
And finally here's some pictures from the series (mainly of Robbie):
Phew...long post! Sorry about that!
