Simon’s going to die. We’ve seen it, and unless rocket-scientist Kelly (current owner of TV’s best catchphrase) can knock together something like Doctor Who‘s Tesselecta, it’s a tamper-proof temporal event. Trapped in the mother of all causal loops, Simon is calmly facing his SuperHoodie destiny, but it’s a road paved with oddballs. Oddballs like Peter.

After being saved by Simon (Iwan Rheon) and then discovering his identity, Peter becomes the kind of ‘fan’ that makes you want to invest in a sturdy lock and a baseball bat. He’s the typical outcast loner that TV always teaches us to be wary of, and an aggravatingly one-dimensional character (sadly once again a TV show tars and feathers comic book fans with the ‘weirdo’ brush), but his power to control people and reality by drawing it in comic book form is a genuinely entertaining concept.

His pencilling puppetry may be the most meta ability someone in a show about super-heroes can have. Real life has become his comic book plot, and it results in some fantastic visual moments, including the very cleverly shot fight-scene that’s dynamic without actually featuring much in the way of movement. It’s a moment of pure graphic novel action that Misfits rarely indulges in and it’s great to see. It’s a shame we won’t get to see more of the ‘comics control’, or that it’s a power one of the gang can’t have, such are the weighty possibilities that could be explored with it.

In fact there’s a notable focus on action and powers in this episode, with both Alisha and Kelly getting to use their abilities for something useful, Simon getting to parkour about and engage in a couple of bouts of council estate fisticuffs, and Rudy’s emotional mitosis, which isn’t of any use but provides us with one of the finest of Misfits comedic scenes.

In between the super-prowess the dialogue is as sharp as ever and the quotability factor rises considerably, especially when Rudy’s in the room.

Peter’s dialogue is a little too on the nose at times – “I’ve always been obsessed with superheroes!” – but it’s forgiven by some particularly strong writing in other places, notably Kelly and Seth’s awkward flirting. It’s playful but with just enough bite to stop it from becoming cutesy, and Lauren Socha really sells it. It comes across as a real relationship in its infancy, even though there’s the inescapable feeling that it’s going to end badly.

But ending badly is not a criticism that can be levelled at this episode. The revelation that Simon’s rescue of Alisha and ‘killing’ of Pete was all drawn by Pete doesn’t come as much of surprise, but it does leave you wondering if Simon’s only facing his destiny because it’s been drawn, or if he’s deliberately breaking his promise to Alisha. It feels like the former, but whichever it is, Simon’s future looks (excuse the pun) decidedly sketchy.

Aired at 10pm on Sunday 13th November 2011 on E4.

> Buy the Series 1-2 boxset on Amazon.

> Order the Series 3 DVD on Amazon.

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