Slightly incoherent thoughts on Misfits
Soooooo, Misfits is hilarious and addictive. It's not a perfect show. It is full of imperfect people-- people you'd probably hate in real life but who are at least not intentionally cruel, so you can excuse their flaws because they're entertaining beyond belief. It's also not without its issues (Alisha's power is WHAT NOW?) but I like that the writers often take the time to satirize or subvert once they've let the audience stew in ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME land for an episode or two.
I was not prepared for some of the legit feels it has brought, but ya know what else I was definitely not prepared for? The sex scene in 2x03.
This one? When that happened?
BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE.
That was easily one of the sexiest sex scenes I have ever seen. OMFG.
And Simon! Who knew, man? WHO KNEW?
But I do have one question about timey-wimeyness. I often have issues with time travel logic. From Terminator to "Mythago Wood" to Back To The Future there's always that chicken-or-egg, original motivation plot hole that never quite seems to make sense.
Anywho, I have not seen the last 3 episodes yet, but given what I know so far... (was spoiled on Alisha's death).
So, if Simon & Alisha are not yet a couple when the gang is all strung up on meathooks, what grand passion spurs him to become the time-traveling, vengeance-y, Kyle-Reese-y, Superhoodie? It's shown very clearly that Video Game Guy's bullet would have killed her had Superhoodie not taken it for her, so CLEARLY this is not the first iteration of the time loop. In the original chronological timeline, she had to have died right there in the meat packing plant, because Superhoodie cannot yet exist to save her. Simon has not created him yet.
Anyway, why does Simon, who at that point has no emotional connection to Alisha, become so bent on becoming Superhoodie to prevent her death? The emotional logic of the arc says that Future!Simon/Superhoodie was trying to prevent her death at the hands of Virtue Chick, of course, which is what I think the show was trying to portray. But chronological logic doesn't hold that up-- that would have to mean that Superhoodie had already developed, then gone back and saved her from Video Game Guy. That in turn proves that we are on at least the second iteration of the time loop, because Alisha is alive in order to develop the relationship we see in season 3, and to die later in the timeline at the hands of Virtue Chick instead of earlier at the hands of Video Game Guy. It therefore stands to reason that if changes can be made to the time in the loop, then in the next iteration, a change could be made so that Virtue Chick doesn't take out Alisha. Original Recipe Simon dates Alisha and develops into a different version of Superhoodie, but does not need to become the time-traveling vengeance-y, Kyle-Reese-y, Superhoodie... so the time loop never occurs again and the chronology proceeds straight from that point forward. (Orrrrrr, since Simon now knows how Superhoodie died in the meat packing plant, he could both save her AND avoid that death altogether... and Alisha could be with the time-traveling Superhoodie, who would then still exist in the timeline. Possibilities!)
SO HAH. They are not stuck in an endless Star-Crossed Lovers Loop where nothing ever changes. Instead, they have endless futures togethers with an infinite, fractally-spiraling number of possible outcomes. That's... well, mildly consoling.
(But it still doesn't explain my original question about what spurred Simon to become Superhoodie and prevent Alisha's death in the first place, though. Why so pointedly go back in time to save someone who died before your ~epic love story~ could begin? How would you even know you would be in love at all if one of you died before you felt it? Was the love story an accident that occurred in one of the fractal futures when something in iteration 3867b got nudged slightly to the right? MY BRAIN, IT THIRSTS TO KNOW.)
TL;DR THE MORE I THINK ABOUT IT, THE LESS SENSE IT MAKES. IT'S A PARADOX. IT'S LIKE THE GRANDFATHER PARADOX, BUT IN REVERSE. I HOPE THEY ADDRESS IT SOMEHOW, OR AT LEAST GIVE ME MORE PIECES OF THE PUZZLE. I NEED TO GO TO BED.
If a magical acid rain cloud bestowed me a superpower somehow related to my personality or abilities, I think I'd be able to mentally link to Wikipedia so I would actually BECOME Encyclopedia Christanica (as J is fond of calling me. I recall random information extremely well).
Either that or I would morph into a giant angry green fact-spewing monster. As the Facebook meme says-- The Credible Hulk.
Or maybe I'd be able to telepathically heat and bend metal... or I'd magically manifest gemstones. Or be able to change hair color at will!
So many possibilities. In my wine-and-Nutella state, I'm sure I'll be up at least a few more hours thinking of them.
What would your Misfits power be?
I was not prepared for some of the legit feels it has brought, but ya know what else I was definitely not prepared for? The sex scene in 2x03.
This one? When that happened?
BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE.
That was easily one of the sexiest sex scenes I have ever seen. OMFG.
And Simon! Who knew, man? WHO KNEW?
But I do have one question about timey-wimeyness. I often have issues with time travel logic. From Terminator to "Mythago Wood" to Back To The Future there's always that chicken-or-egg, original motivation plot hole that never quite seems to make sense.
Anywho, I have not seen the last 3 episodes yet, but given what I know so far... (was spoiled on Alisha's death).
So, if Simon & Alisha are not yet a couple when the gang is all strung up on meathooks, what grand passion spurs him to become the time-traveling, vengeance-y, Kyle-Reese-y, Superhoodie? It's shown very clearly that Video Game Guy's bullet would have killed her had Superhoodie not taken it for her, so CLEARLY this is not the first iteration of the time loop. In the original chronological timeline, she had to have died right there in the meat packing plant, because Superhoodie cannot yet exist to save her. Simon has not created him yet.
Anyway, why does Simon, who at that point has no emotional connection to Alisha, become so bent on becoming Superhoodie to prevent her death? The emotional logic of the arc says that Future!Simon/Superhoodie was trying to prevent her death at the hands of Virtue Chick, of course, which is what I think the show was trying to portray. But chronological logic doesn't hold that up-- that would have to mean that Superhoodie had already developed, then gone back and saved her from Video Game Guy. That in turn proves that we are on at least the second iteration of the time loop, because Alisha is alive in order to develop the relationship we see in season 3, and to die later in the timeline at the hands of Virtue Chick instead of earlier at the hands of Video Game Guy. It therefore stands to reason that if changes can be made to the time in the loop, then in the next iteration, a change could be made so that Virtue Chick doesn't take out Alisha. Original Recipe Simon dates Alisha and develops into a different version of Superhoodie, but does not need to become the time-traveling vengeance-y, Kyle-Reese-y, Superhoodie... so the time loop never occurs again and the chronology proceeds straight from that point forward. (Orrrrrr, since Simon now knows how Superhoodie died in the meat packing plant, he could both save her AND avoid that death altogether... and Alisha could be with the time-traveling Superhoodie, who would then still exist in the timeline. Possibilities!)
SO HAH. They are not stuck in an endless Star-Crossed Lovers Loop where nothing ever changes. Instead, they have endless futures togethers with an infinite, fractally-spiraling number of possible outcomes. That's... well, mildly consoling.
(But it still doesn't explain my original question about what spurred Simon to become Superhoodie and prevent Alisha's death in the first place, though. Why so pointedly go back in time to save someone who died before your ~epic love story~ could begin? How would you even know you would be in love at all if one of you died before you felt it? Was the love story an accident that occurred in one of the fractal futures when something in iteration 3867b got nudged slightly to the right? MY BRAIN, IT THIRSTS TO KNOW.)
TL;DR THE MORE I THINK ABOUT IT, THE LESS SENSE IT MAKES. IT'S A PARADOX. IT'S LIKE THE GRANDFATHER PARADOX, BUT IN REVERSE. I HOPE THEY ADDRESS IT SOMEHOW, OR AT LEAST GIVE ME MORE PIECES OF THE PUZZLE. I NEED TO GO TO BED.
If a magical acid rain cloud bestowed me a superpower somehow related to my personality or abilities, I think I'd be able to mentally link to Wikipedia so I would actually BECOME Encyclopedia Christanica (as J is fond of calling me. I recall random information extremely well).
Either that or I would morph into a giant angry green fact-spewing monster. As the Facebook meme says-- The Credible Hulk.
Or maybe I'd be able to telepathically heat and bend metal... or I'd magically manifest gemstones. Or be able to change hair color at will!
So many possibilities. In my wine-and-Nutella state, I'm sure I'll be up at least a few more hours thinking of them.
What would your Misfits power be?