Review: Misfits (TV show)

Well, this is new territory for me, reviewing TV shows! I'm going to give it a go anyway, but if anybody has any suggestions please pass them along :)

The premise of Misfits sounds at best, absurd and at worst, boring. Five teenagers (really, young adults) doing community service find themselves suddenly super-powered as the result of a freak storm. The show itself has been described as a cross between Skins and Heroes. I've not watched Skins and gave up on Heroes after a season and a half so that description wasn't exactly helpful to me. I don't even remember what made me pick up season 1, but I'm glad I did.

Borrowed from www.bolumrehberi.com

Firstly, the powers that they develop are an almost-perfect extension of their personalities. I think it's really cleverly done. They don't go running off to start fighting - or committing - crimes either; they're really just trying to make sense of their current circumstances and deal with the various obstacles thrown their way. The action takes place in a fairly grimy, small English down and this is reflected in the sets, costumes and even the lighting. It is quite consistently dark, dim and washed-out, not a lot of bright colours around. I've heard the show described as "gritty" and I think that's a perfect descriptor.

The acting is incredible - the way the characters react to each other and their crazy circumstances is wonderful. They all have such distinct and different personalities, the ways in which they clash is so great to watch, especially Simon and Nathan, played by Iwan Rheon and Robert Sheehan respectively. If I had to pick my favourite character, it's a definite tie between these two.

Found on tumblr, can't remember where, sorry!

To me, the most enjoyable part of the show is the way that they weave humour through the dark, mysterious morally questionable/questioning narrative of the show. It's not all in dialogue, a lot of it is down to pacing, and body language and facial expressions. And they're such real moments, I often found myself laughing out loud with sheer delight and wanting to applaud. There are a lot of instances of crude humour, and some very graphic scenes that would have bothered me a few years ago, so I'd label Misfits as being aimed at an adult/young adult demographic. Not too mature though, because the characters certainly aren't, in the most delightful way. Not that they stay stagnant at all, from season 1 to season 3 there is definite character development. They grow and respond to the dilemmas they find themselves in, which is really great to watch.

*MINOR SPOILER - also, if you've seen the show, please NO spoilers in the comments!*

Misfits has been renewed for a 4th season, but I won't be watching it. Season 3 saw a new character, Rudy, come in to fill the gap left by Robert Sheehan's character Nathan. Now, the group dynamics changed, but the way that the other characters had grown made it work and it was still all the right levels of weird/moving/funny. But the 4th season is going on without two more characters and I just don't feel interested in watching any more. I am really surprised at the decision to radically change such a young, successful show. I wish them the best but I can't see myself watching with only 2/5 of the original cast there. What can I say, I'm a traditionalist!

/END SPOILER

I rate Misfits four out of five orange jumpsuits and recommend that you definitely watch the first three episodes of season 1 before you make your decision about the show. I ended up buying season 2 as soon as I'd finished 1, and season 3 as soon as I'd finished 2, which tells you a lot about the show and possibly too much about my life. *cough*

Webcomic review: Cealdian

I was actually checking one of my favourite bi-weekly webcomics for an update, when another reader linked this in the comics, citing it as "An amazing webcomic with not nearly enough readers". So naturally, I clicked.

Be warned, Cealdian only updates once a week fortnight while, but there is a good reason for this: the art is AH-MAY-ZING.

Seriously, it's so intricate, detailed, and beautifully coloured.... but it's annoying because the storyline is so intruiging and you really want to know what's in store but you gotta wait!

It's set in a medieval sort of era, and the costumes and locations are really thoroughly researched and constructed. "Cealdian is based a lot on epic poems like that of Beowulf, the Song of Roland, etc. There's also a lot of Tolkien in there", as its creator says. Already the plot reveals some layers and the characters have quite distinct personalities. I think it's definitely worth the wait to see where artist/writer Anne Szabla is going with this series. 

I could spend a few more paragraphs gushing over this comic, but I won't. Go check it out, you'll see what I mean.

Lost Genuis

Among my collection of CDs (some are pretty old, like late '90s old [Gwen Stefani, anyone?] and some more recent, like The Editors) site something a little different. The cover is black, and features an older man next to a piano. The man's name is Victor Borge, and he was one of the greatest musical comedians of the Western world.

Born in 1909 and emigrated to the U.S of A at age 31, Victor was to be one of the enormous and unforgettable talents of the '50s. The CD that I have is a recording of one of his performances, which I never tire of listening to, though I can recite many of the jokes. Not content to be 'just' a musician, or 'just' a comedian, Borge combined the two and charmed audiences throughout America. His own unique brand of stand-up (and sit-down) was a rich mixture of skilled piano playing, witticisms and familial anecdotes. Borge performed with many other stars, including Dean Martin, Ed Sullivan and renowned Opera singer Marilyn Mulvey.

Borge was an absolute master of music and language – even though English was not his native tongue. He used both in his performance escapades, once using an entire orchestra for a sketch! One of his more famous 'inventions' was called Phonetic Punctuation, in which he assigned punctuation marks noises, so that we could use them in speech to 'understand each other better'! He read a short chapter from a storybook to demonstrate his idea. My CD – a recording of his 1953 performance in Boston has long been my only record of this wonderful man's existence. He died in 2000, so I was unable to see him perform. On a whim, I put his name into a YouTube search. Lo and behold! Seems I'm not the only person with internet access who appreciates Borge's seemingly neglected genius. While I haven't been able to find the clip that corresponds to the performance I have on CD, these are all exceptionally brilliant and funny excerpts.

Watch and enjoy.