Love him or loathe him (and we love him), Rudy is without a doubt the character that Misfits’ writers have the best grasp of, which is why Joe Gilgun consistently and brilliantly steals focus in an episode that’s meant to explore newcomer Finn (Nathan McMullen).

As suspected, there’s a lot more to jittery monkey Finn keeping his girlfriend Sadie bound and gagged than meets the eye. She has the power to turn him into a better boyfriend, which raises all sorts of questions of free will and devotion that Misfits boils down into a simple – perhaps too simple – question: ‘How much are you willing to change to be with someone?’

And perhaps it’s because Sadie’s power is so subtle, or that we’ve only known Finn for one episode, but her boyfriend puppeteering doesn’t feel all that threatening. The change it elicits in him behaviourally is just a little too subtle. Finn released from the control of his girlfriend doesn’t feel that different from Finn under her control, and as a result the sacrifice he makes in returning to Stacey doesn’t feel as dramatic as it should. Likewise the break-up, a final get out of jail free card by Seth before he slinks off in low key fashion.

For a new character, Jess (Karla Crome) has frightfully little to do, other than make a bad flirty joke at beer-serving beefcake bartender and future storyline Alex. That she’s the one who pulls the trigger on Finn’s relationship is obviously meant to show that she’s as sensible as she is deadpan, but it just seems cold-hearted. We hope that Carla Krome gets some chance to do something other than react to other people’s dramas and that Jess’s character is going to be explored more soon, or she’s going to have all the impact of a cardboard frown.

In a far more interesting and ludicrous sub-plot, one which lifts the episode from a mediocrity that we don’t expect of Misfits, Rudy romances a blind racist girl after she rebuffs Curtis. The reason the blind girl knows he’s black? She’s in telepathic communication with her guide dog. A telepathic racist guide dog. Fantastic. The reveal of it is, as with anything involving Rudy, biblically wrong, mouth-puckeringly disgusting, and completely hilarious throughout.

But giving Rudy such great material only highlights the lack of it for Curtis, who has been under-served for a long long time now and needs something useful to do in the future other than be the straight-man to other people’s shenanigans. Perhaps that’s going to happen very soon, judging by his sexually tense encounter with trainee probation worker Lola (Lucy Gaskell), who looks like she’s going to be nothing but trouble. More trouble than the brilliant Shaun Dooley, with his voice like a rusty iron fist being rammed down a throat.

But we like trouble. Trouble makes for good episodes of Misfits, and there’ll be plenty next week, as the writers play to their strengths and focus firmly on Rudy. And Rudy. And Rudy…

Aired at 10pm on Sunday 4 November 2012 on E4.

> Buy the complete Series 1-3 boxset on Amazon.

> Order Series 4 on DVD on Amazon.

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