An elderly Jew uses Curtis’s old power to rewind time and try to kill Hitler – but his failure means that the Nazis win the war…

Okay, it’s an old chestnut, and it’s been revisited in recent times with Doctor Who‘s mid-season opener, Let’s Kill Hitler, as well as Stephen King’s riff on the same idea, 11.22.63 – but the idea of going back in time to kill someone evil or prevent the assassination of a good man can be a great springboard for a drama. And in this case, it leads to the single best episode of Misfits in the show’s run.

The cast all rise to the challenge of creating similar but different characters – Simon, the unwilling conscript who is forced into murder; Alisha, who finds an inner core; Kelly, who won’t countenance the murder of an innocent man; Curtis the resistance leader. Oh, and Rudi – who tries to divert the attention of the Nazi version of the probation worker by pretending he’s Curtis’s gay lover, in a world where homosexuality is outlawed!

This is more like the Inglorious Basterds version of the Nazis than the Indiana Jones/Doctor Who inoffensive incarnation. Bullets hurt and kill. Heads explode when a bullet impacts with them (there’s a great shot from within the community centre when two guards are taken out – all we see is the blood splatter hitting the outside of the glass accompanied by the sound effects).

It’s almost a shame that time is reset in the final few minutes: this could easily have formed the basis of a two-parter.

Verdict: Unpredictable in its developments – if not its end result – this is the best ensemble playing from the current cast. More like this please.  9/10

Paul Simpson

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