After the first episode’s heavier action and theoretical stakes (what with the whole “agents of Satan” thing) this second episode kinda takes a more grounded look as it focuses more on Rudy’s character and home life, with a little bit on Abbey’s mysterious past™ and the vague introduction of a new guy with a power, and a bunch of other stuff and I guess actually they packed quite a lot in again.

So essentially the deal with this episode is that Rudy discovers his dad cheating on his mum and decides to look into it and try to fix things and is generally unprepared and inadequate at either. It’s a pretty good example of how childish and immature he is, so pairing him up with Jess works well for these segments, although it can show a bit of light on how little Jess is actually doing by herself (her desired action until guided by the plot is to go get a facial).

To a degree this is fine, since she works well as a supporting character, I just wish she had more of a chance to stand out as a character who drives and guides plot/action actively, rather than just briefly and (eventually) ineffectively as in the previous episode. Maybe I’m just forgetting stuff though, and hopefully she’ll get to carry a story in the coming episodes.

Ultimately, this episode is kind of a mirror of last season’s Three Rudy’s episode (Season 4, Episode 3) which I guess is being heavily lent on this season, with the whole “evil version” idea repeated with a separate result, in that this time nobody dies. This echo is probably more strong because of the references to Rudy having gone “mental again” and the Rudy/Jess pairing, which I think seems to be by itself the sole reason for the implied attraction by the end of the episode? I mean does nobody remember that whole Nadine thing or what? I guess they just got stuck on that third episode.

Oh, and it’s cool to see the dynamic between the two Rudy’s continue to evolve, with Rudy Two feeling more and more left out and invisible and trying to assert himself, and Rudy One expressing more doubt and sadness, which I guess is growth that can -technically- be at least partially attributed to the Nadine stuff (which if I’m remembering right kind of kick-started the whole balance between the two Rudy’s) so I am now BACK ON BOARD within the space of one paragraph with this whole thing of whatever’s going on.

And yeah, that whole subtle hinting I was doing there is because I am ONE HUNDRED PERCENT CERTAIN that Rudy Too is the invisible dude on that jumper (Rudy One was on the roof in this episode so I am JUST AS CERTAIN that’s a call-foward too) and that there will be another power swap this season, on account of how this episode introduced Sam, this whole new flying guy! And, yeah he’s not particularly graceful at it and seems to be kinda introverted and sorta-reminds me of the Season 3 comic guy, but more importantly he doesn’t have red hair like in the jumper so THERE. SO THERE. I am fully on board with the jumper and will never question it.

Oh wait and the car-stealing crime guys from Season 2 showed back up and Finn showed off a little telekinesis at them (and in this episode was -finally- kinda caught for living in the community centre) so maybe there’ll be some consequences for that (almost definitely not). The other thing that I forgot to talk about was the whole slapstick Tarantino-ish dinner scene between Rudy and his parents, that was for the most part pretty hilarious but then just -slightly- edged out too far into that kind of Vicar of Dibley Christmas-y thing (going just -slightly- too far with a joke can be kind of a problem sometimes with Misfits).

And Abbey’s mysterious past™ might include lovin’ a lady (the whole thing was pretty dreamlike and weird and mostly involved smells and it was strange?). And Tim (the videogame guy) has made an appointment to go for a drink with Rudy Two some time which will presumably pay off with meeting Rudy One and the whole thing turning out badly for everyone. Also everybody cast on the show continues to be great and put in believable performances (sorry for not saying more about probation worker Greg (Shaun Dooley) because he’s amazing but didn’t do much this episode apart from that minor scene with Finn) and I really like this show you guys, in conclusion two out of five stars.

Next up: Kind of a horror lookin’ one, with more scenes between Greg and Finn.

Oh also there’s sex and drugs and some pretty graphic violence plus bad language. And with the exception of the really bad handling of Curtis in Season 4, because who needs character development when you can just push someone so far into the sidelines you don’t know they’re there and then just kind of wallpaper over them, the cast and characters work together really well, the powers are interesting and the show looks and sounds fantastic, great art direction and soundtrack. Now it’s on Season 5 which is set to be the final season.

ANYWAY NOW I’M GOING TO SPOIL THE FIRST EP OF THE LAST SEASON & SOON THE SECOND EPISODE (NOT HERE BUT SOON)

Going into the episode I had a bunch of questions. Why are Finn and Jess on community service? What is the deal with this Abbey chick’s mysterious past? What’s Alex’s power going to be? Was Finn’s sister seriously just in that one episode and now that’s it? Is anyone going to feel bad about a friend or loved one’s death on this show apart from like one time for more than half a second?

So two of those questions were answered in this episode: Alex (Matt Stokoe)’s new power is the transplanted ability to sex other people’s powers out of them (which, have fun with your mental state, dude who originally had that power) and Rudy (Joseph Gilgun off Emmerdale)’s growth seems to have consisted of being a bit more subdued and getting a haircut and a wardrobe change which I guess is at least something.

The episode was pretty Alex/Finn-heavy with both of those dudes mostly driving the plot and Jess (Karla Crome) kind of caught in the middle, so I guess this is a continuation of that relationship dynamic because sure? Please, more love-triangles where the woman doesn’t know what she wants and is barely there. Nobody is tired of that yet.

The deal was that this scout dude’s power was that the Devil was real and inside him sorta, which was cool but it raised a bunch of questions such as what had he been doing for the past almost-year in show-time, and what was going to happen to the scout kids after he died part-way through, transferring the Devil into Finn, but don’t worry because the scouts totally disappear from the episode so you don’t need to think about them anymore.

The whole thing’s an excuse to change the dynamic and have Finn and some other characters act all evil like they did a few times in Season 4, (especially with Rudy) this time it worked a -lot- better than Season 4’s opener (due to having a better handle on the characters before playing with them) and Nathan McMullen did a really great job of portraying a dark, menacing version of Finn while still retaining the original’s personality. Natasha O’Keeffe did a great job with dark Abbey too even if she wasn’t in this one so much.

Oh wait and before I forget, another thing was a support group for people with powers and this old lady can knit the future which gives me something to talk about (it looks like Abbey can fly and that might be an invisibility dude who I’m guessing bought the power off Seth before he retired? And maybe Jess with lightning and some dude about to jump off a tower that might be Rudy?) and Tim’s back (from season 2? The videogame guy?). He’s out of prison I guess and it looks like he’ll show up quite a bit which will be nice.

The whole support group bit (apart from a fun gag that also worked as kind of a callback to the season 2 paper-aeroplane opener) mostly involved Rudy Too (Joseph Gilgun off Harry Brown), and it’s cool to see the Rudys branching out and becoming slightly more rounded people as seemed to be happening towards the end of the last series, even seemingly thinking about the future in some meaningful way.

Oh and Alex is still incredibly good looking even if he did wind up saving the day by means that will probably take a short while to process properly. Oh and there’s a tortoise now too. Anyway I’m done re-capping so feel free to leave a comment telling me if this was too long or if I missed anything or whatever! In conclusion, two out of five stars (this is a goof on star ratings).

Next up: More characters from the past to make it feel like this is a final season, and other stuff like that!