Misfits S01E03

Kelly confronts Jodi about her hair.  Of course the Kelly-version of confrontation involves lying in wait until Jodi comes around the corner, then grabbing her in a headlock.  In the process, Kelly knocks a wig off of Jodi, revealing another hairless head.

They sit beside the riverside, Jodi telling Kelly that the stress of her father walking out on them caused her to develop alopecia.  They both pull the itchy wigs off their heads and share a smoke.  Jodi says that Darren, the ex-boyfriend, broke up with her when her hair started falling out.  She just wants people to know sometimes what it’s like to feel awful about yourself.  Since the storm, when she feels like that, people go bald, but it only lasts a day or two.

Jodi and Kelly apologize to each other over their initial fight, the one that landed Kelly in community service.  Jodi mentions that whenever she sees Darren he goes bald, because she can’t help how she feels around him.  She says she tries to stay away from him but Kelly disagrees: “No way!  Bald him up!”  I concur.

In the community center Cute Charity Worker tries to talk to Curtis about Alisha, but Curtis warns him off.  Then Curtis goes to find Alisha in the locker room.  He tells her she’s a mess (great lead-in to asking a girl out, dude), and she agrees.  He says he wants to be with her, and Alisha says she wants to be with him.  Curtis tells her that if they’re going to be together it’s got to be exclusive, no one else.  Alisha moves to hug Curtis, but has to pull back: “I don’t know how to do this.  You can’t touch me.”  Yeah, it sucks.  You two aren’t as cute as Chuck and Ned (Pushing Daisies, he brought her back to life with his touch, but another one will make her permanently dead again), but the dilemma’s similar.

They agree that they need to work something out, and hey, you guys should go to Pushing Daisies for inspiration.  Plastic wrap seemed to work pretty well, just be careful to keep your noses free if using it around your faces.  Alisha proposes phone sex, minus the phone.  You know, staring at each other and wanking themselves off.  Curtis says that works for him.  These kids: no imagination.  I mean that’ll work, but I doubt they’ll get much mileage out of it.  As long as they’re both consenting I don’t see why they can’t have actual intercourse once in a while; it sucks that Curtis won’t be able to remember it, but maybe he’d be O.K. with it on rare occasions.  They should just go through a rotation with their various options.  And I’m thinking way too much about this, aren’t I?

The misfits gather on the roof, congratulating themselves on a job well done.  It doesn’t matter who suspects them now, they’ll never find the bodies.  Simon tells them about the flight he booked with Tony’s credit card; now the authorities will think he’s still alive.  Everyone compliments Simon on his smarts; even Nathan throws out a “Nice one, weird kid.”

Flush with victory, Simon says they should go out for drinks to celebrate, to thumb their nose at the probation worker buried under the cement as they’re still alive.  Um, now you are being weird and intense, Simon.  It’s not Tony’s fault he went after you; if you want to hang out with your friends, just ask.  Everyone leaves, though Kelly at least apologizes, saying she’s not going out until her hair grows back.  I’d feel bad about everyone rejecting you and walking away, Simon, but you were being kind of creepy just there so I don’t, really.  As the episode ends Simon convulses, falls to the ground, and turns invisible.

As to the developments with Alisha: I admit that it’s refreshing to see role reversal in sexual violence, or at least a relief that we didn’t have to see too much against her.  It’s not that I approve at all of what Alisha did, but like I said earlier, I’m just so sick of violence against women in the media, even if it is portrayed in a condemning way.  Alisha may have had a few near misses, but when it came to assault she did much more of it than had it done to her.

I do wonder if I’d be as forgiving if Alisha were a boy, if I’d keep on calling her skeezy, like I call Simon creeper, and expect her to redeem herself as strongly.  So much of her behavior this episode was classically that of a person who feels entitled to sex and to take it where he/she can find it, regardless of the other’s feelings.  It’s not like women forcing sex from men happens nearly as much as the reverse, thus it doesn’t deserve the same level of attention.  Yet, I should be equally horrified when it comes to individual incidents.

Alisha raped at least four or five people in this episode: Curtis, Cute Charity Worker, and the few random guys we saw in the opening montage.  I should be way more upset about that than I am, and it bothers me that I’m not.  I don’t know: maybe I’ll have to stop calling Simon “Creeper,” if I’m not going to go around calling Alisha “Skeezeball.”

Obviously it’s more complicated than that: Alisha’s used to people judging her just on her looks, and her power has amplified that in a way that forces her to deal with it much more than she would have previously.  She’s damaged, and not just from what happened to her in the storm.  Given how by-the-slimeball-book many of her words were, I wouldn’t be surprised if she was just echoing some things she’s heard directed at her.  That makes her actions more understandable than they would be from someone who just took what they thought was owed to them, but it doesn’t really make them any more excusable.

In order to enjoy this show it’s necessary to be able to like and root for these characters despite their criminal inclinations.  That still doesn’t change the fact that my reaction to what Alisha did might be less severe than it would have been if she were a man.  But I don’t think that’s the primary reason: I think the key is actually that Alisha showed remorse at the end of the episode.  If she were a man but the episode was otherwise the same, I’d be on the road to forgiving male!Alisha as well, even if it’d be a slower road just given our cultural conditions.  That’s the difference between Simon and her: as far as I can tell, he doesn’t think it’s wrong, or at least doesn’t feel bad about, lurking invisibly around people in vulnerable moments.

Nathan quote of the week: This is the winner for two reasons: one, it happened right when I was about to give Nathan crap for lagging behind the others in quipping, and two, because it’s my husband’s other favorite quote.  In fact, he usually gets it messed up with the anus one and runs around quoting a strange version of the two.  On to the quote: “I’ve got a power, I know it.  I can feel it in my balls.”