How does Simon remember his destiny?

Question

I have just finished Season 2 of Misfits and there is one story aspect I don't quite understand.

In Episode 2x06, where they all become famous as the ASBO Five, Simon follows Alisha to the hidden flat of future Simon (aka "the guy in the mask"). She then tells him that he actually will become that mysterious figure that jumps around and saves them all.

Later in that episode the milk guy kills most of the characters which leads Curtis to rewind time several weeks back where they presumably kill the milk guy before he becomes famous in the first place.

Alisha never told Curtis (or any of the others) about the flat or the true identity of the mask guy, so Curtis would not remember after rewinding time. Simon loses all knowledge that he gathered in those rewinded weeks, so he should not be aware of his destiny either.

However, in the next episode (titled 'Christmas special') we see Simon jumping around on rooftops, trying to learn Parkour and being in the flat with Alisha where they are obviously a couple now.

In this timeline however Alisha would not have had any reason to break her promise and tell Simon the truth, because this time he did not confront her.

First I thought it might be a plot hole, but I doubt they would mess up something this obvious and essential to the story line. So what am I missing?

How did Simon learn about his future after Curtis turned back time?

Answer 1

Whenever any TV Series/Movie employs time travel there tends to be some major gaps.

Unless I'm missing something there are several in Misfits throughout the first three series, mainly the latter two - and yes, I think they must just be plot holes - I'll give another example or two.

A major one is Superhoodie's actions in general - if he came back to save Alisha, why does he need to act upon so many different things? Saving Nathan, Curtis etc. It suggests that there have been many versions of time in which Superhoodie has slowly improved the timeline with each attempt, but it makes absolutely no sense.

DO NO READ ON IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THE THIRD SERIES YET!

It turns out the time arc is complete when Simon heads back into the past at the end of the third series. His only reason for going back is to see Alisha - not save her - or he'd simply stop her throat being slit and find a different way of stopping her being shot by the gamer bloke.

Let's rewind a bit. If he went back solely for Alisha, what's with the other actions? For example, he saved Nathan from the Virgin group at the end of series one - but why is that necessary?

None of series two or three would even have happened if Nathan had been converted by the group, so surely the original timeline would have been all but Simon being converted and a totally different world and story being created. I'm rambling but you get the idea.

A simpler example is the Nazi episode. A whole different reality is created. In that world, Kelly would have grown up in a totally different way, under Nazi control etc.. she would not have lived the same life. So how is it that when she travels back in time at the end of the episode and stops it all from happening - she is able to go back to the normal reality and speak to the rest of the gang as though she never left? It makes no sense whatsoever - the non-Nazi world should be totally alien to her.

Probably a more elaborate answer than you were hoping for and one that probably raises more questions than it answers. Sorry!

Answer 2

I'll throw this out there. The inconsistancies always bothered me also. But I'm rewatching the series now, and in season 2 episode 7,at the very beginning, it says "3 months later" before the episode starts. It seems plausible that Alisha and Simon could have had that same conversation again sometime during those three months. And so far as Superhoodie always being in the right place at the right time, Simon was there almost every time Superhoodie was in the show. The times he wasn't, the people who saw him, like Nathan on the BMX bike, told Simon about it. To be in the right place at the right time Simon just had to remember when those things happened. Maybe he kept a diary. Superhoodie also saved Alicia a few times, but I think he might have just been stalking her because he didn't have anything better to do. Or she could have told him about all of those times after they were together. The only thing that really bothers me is the fact that he had news video from them becoming famous, which was obviously in a reality that disappeared.

Answer 3

This is more in relation to the end of season 3 so don't read if haven't watched it yet.

I know some of these answers are quite old, but I just finished season 3 and was really sad and pissed with the ending so I came searching the internet for answers. I have also picked up on all these plot holes whilst watching the series and they really irritated me, but that's besides the point.

Simon was obviously quite upset after Alecia's death. His destiny as superhoodie didn't prepare him for this, however since he was so in love with Alecia, he knew that he had to go back in time and save her from dying. Once Seth presented him with the opportunity of time travel, he knew this would be how he would save her, however he didn't expect it to be one way only. Now I'm guessing that Simon didn't straight away think that with the time travel, he would have had to go back to the incident where he saves Alecia's life from the psycho gamer dude. He probably thought of the outcomes of going back to that scenario, or going back to where the Virtue leader slits Alecia's throat and saving her. However if he did go back to where Alecia dies, there would then be two Simons and no one would save Alecia from the gamer dude, possibly causing something to happen to her because she ends up dying in the past. This is why Simon probably chooses to go back further into the past and save the gang from the dangers they face.

Also on another note, if Simon hadn't travelled back to prevent Alecia from dying early on, they would have most likely never gotten together.

In the end though I don't see any real reason of doing this besides Simon getting to spend time with Alecia again before his death.

Answer 4

MORE IN RELATION TO SERIES 3 SO SPOILERS

I think, in short he went back to that moment in time because he went back to that moment in time.

What i mean is, Simon is a very logical person who gets the sci-fi aspect of time travel - like in doctor who, if you see something happening, or you KNOW it happens then you go back in time it will ALWAYS happen. He went back to that moment and set everything up cos in the flat he has he's labeled it with all the photos and timings etc.

Now the really confusing thing is the bootstrap paradox that takes place: simon saw all the photos from the flat - he probably took them back with him cos it'd be difficult to get that many photos so close up to the others in the past - so then he pins them up on the wall for past simon to eventually see and then take back with him, here comes the paradox...who took those photos?