Better late than never, better late than in a ditch somewhere. Words to live by, kids. Now, onto our thoughts regarding part one of Skins Fire. We know Effy’s living in London with Naomi, and working as some sort of assistant at a hedge fund, from the trailers and sneak peeks. Although the trailers seemed to portray Naomi as the one holding it together we find that Naomi’s unemployed and living the life of a serial drinker and resident unambitious. This, to me, rings a little weird. I always thought Naomi was a character with a healthy drive for success in some undisclosed field. Apparently not, although she does decide she wants to go into stand up comedy. Here’s a hint, her first gig doesn’t go very well.
I would say it’s strange seeing Effy being the responsible adult, but to be honest it actually makes sense. Effy’s always been intelligent, perhaps too intelligent for her own good. In those earlier series her intelligence, and the boredom of not having that intelligence challenged, used to land her into quite a bit of trouble. However with a focus and a challenge, it would appear that Effy can keep things together fairly well. Although I don’t know how easy it is to get into the world of trading, Effy seemingly uses what she’s got (with some help/insider info) to find her way out of being an assistant and into being a successful trader.
Now, as with everything Skins, it’s only a matter of time before things come tumbling down in the most spectacular way. Especially with Effy, I don’t know it seems, as a character, Effy always winds up not being able to handle the situations she finds herself in. When she’s solving other peoples’ problems she’s fine, but eventually her world/mind/life crumbles when it seems things are going well. We would all do well to remember what Effy’s mum, Anthea, said in regards to her daughter.
“She was four years old the first time she beat me at hide and seek. Four. I was looking for her for hours. When I finally found her she just smiled. You know, that Effy smile that means ‘you don’t know me at all, you never will’.”
Things start to slightly unravel, externally, towards the end of the episode with Naomi pointing out that the investors Effy has to schmooze are gross and grabby and Effy snapping at her before shoving her and telling her to go home. The next day we’re shown Naomi going in for an MRI scan before Effy is woken up, still wearing the clothes she’d gone out with the investors in, by extremely loud music before going up to the roof to get Naomi to turn it off.
