Skins

Leave a comment Posted on by Mata Skins, TV Reviews, TV Talk

Skins Rise - Part 2 Review

Well this is late, extremely late, and I do apologise. However rather than waste time on my shortcomings let’s just discuss the finale to not only a series but to a show that’s taken a little piece of ourselves. Skins Rise is perhaps the best damn way to end the entire series and I’m sticking to it. These final six episodes had thrown the fandom into a bit of a tizzy, hadn’t it? In retrospect I suppose it makes sense that it ripped the fandom into two camps, those who could easily have done without the final series and those who were grateful for it. I, for one, am glad for it. It didn’t claim to offer closure, it granted us access into the lives of three main characters from the first two generations and allowed us to see how they’d gotten on since we last saw them. That was it, no more no less. What we learnt was that time changes people, a concept we’ll all be familiar with, or at least one we’ll all come to face. People change and life goes on is the message. However let’s get into this episode, shall we?

The way part one ended had us intrigued, no doubt, and part two picked up right back where we’d left off. Cook, Emma and Charlie on the run from Charlie’s mental drug dealer boyfriend, Cook’s boss, and they wind up at Emma’s parents’ country house. We find out that Emma’s parents are actually there and that she’d been estranged from them for a while. In Skins no one’s life is perfect, something we learn very early on and the Redux series has reinforced. And before now there has always been a splash of humour that used to soften the blow for the audience against moments of complete anguish on the show, that distinct brand of humour only Skins could produce. The awkwardness between Emma and her parents, coupled with Cook and Charlie’s presence granted us a bit of that old Skins humour, the awkward scene in the pub before they got kicked out was a highlight. However eventually Louie, and the severity of the situation, catches up to them. The grisly events that follow are both reminiscent of the end of series four and intentionally parallels it. Once again Cook finds himself in a situation where he’s to make a reactionary decision and where it would lead to could take him back or propel him forward.

When Cook sees Emma hanging from the tree there’s an obvious resignation in the way he walks towards Louie, this was the moment we’d been waiting for. Her death sparked within him that primal rage he’d managed to contain since we’d last seen him in series four. In that moment, once Cook’s rage took over and he kicked the living daylights out of him, Cook could have killed Louie. Cook could very well have reverted right back to his old self. However ‘Time Changes Everyone’ and of all the Redux characters, for me, Cook had changed the most. Nothing signified this more than when he spared Louie’s life, choosing instead to tie him up. On top of this, rather than run away with Charlie, Cook opted to stay behind and wait for the police to, presumably, turn himself in. There’s an obvious Effy-like quality to Charlie, as Emma points out when she urges him to fight for her- to fight for something. Charlie represents a piece of Cook’s old life, the one where he took what he wanted no matter the consequences- Charlie herself states that she screws everyone, and you remember how Cook took Effy despite knowing that Freddie was in love with her, or sleeping with Pandora despite Pandora being Effy’s best friend.

It was an interesting parallel, having Cook yell out his signature line, and I suppose it was cathartic. In that moment he’d reclaimed himself, both in terms of confronting his past and making it right in this moment. He’s risen above it, he’s no longer that angry kid and he’s no longer that man struggling to live with the mistakes he made as that angry kid. And it seems he was ready to face the consequences of his earlier actions. We won’t know what happens next but that’s okay. You move on and live your own life, perhaps you’ll think back on it- maybe you’ll see something that reminds you of it. However in the end your life continues along and there’s nothing more to be done about the way this series ended. And you know what? It’s a good thing. It’s a good thing. And that’s all I’ve got to say about it. See what I did there? But in all seriousness, Skins was good while it lasted- careening onto our screens in 2007 with all the boldness of a self-possessed teenager, making us love a cast before shiving them for a new generation after their second series. It was a show that punched you in the feels and made you laugh about it, a show that reveled in its own brand of simple-but-complicated storylines and a show that that finally, in 2013 and after six years, we say goodbye to.

You think you know death, but you don’t know it until you’ve seen it. It gets under your skin and lives inside you. You also think you know life. you stand on the edge of things and watch it go but you’re not living it. Not really. You’re just a tourist, a ghost. Then you see it. Really see it. It gets under your skin and lives inside you, no escape. There is nothing to be done. And you know what? It’s good. It’s a good thing. And that’s all I’ve got to say about it.

Special Mentions:

- Was Emma’s death really necessary? I suppose it provided the catalyst for the change in Cook’s handling of the situation. He no longer wanted to run and instead faced Louie head on and beat the living crap out of him. Emma had practically begged him to fight for her and you get the sense that in the end he did- even if it was a tad too late.

- Because she was snarky and I loved it.

- I was shipping Emma and Cook so much, it’s just so sad how it ended for her. Tragedy. People are angry that Charlie got to live while Emma died, but I don’t think she would have been right following the death of her parents. Assuming Louie had them killed, which was very likely. Also, like I mentioned above, Emma’s death propelled Cook into action. Pulled him from the in-between he’d been living in since running away after killing John Foster. It just sucked that her death had to be the catalyst for his final movement into action.

- Uh, where was Louie’s right hand man?
Leave a comment Posted on by Mata Skins, TV Talk

Skins Rise - Part 1 Review

One thing I’ve learned is that you should never look back, the past is dead and buried. You get nothing from living there. It’s all about today. But I’ve been having these dreams. In them nothing’s real, nothing’s solid everything’s fantasy- fucked, an illusion. In these dreams I’m a life that’s already gone by. Today means nothing. Today is just a ghost that’s haunting me. I’m at the end of the world on the edge of things, and I think about letting go. I think about falling. My name is James Cook.

Well then, what do we have to say about the Cookie monster’s return? It was a sombre episode, littered with elements of series three/four with none of the humour, ultimately leading to a dark first part- not unlike Fire and Pure. Cook, having obviously survived the final encounter with John Foster at the end of series four, is now a footman for a Manchester drug dealer. Only, gone is the boisterous Jack-the-Lad Cook we’d all come to know and love (to hate, mostly) and in his place is the shadow of a man who’s on the run from his past. It’s refreshing, actually. One of the stronger actors from the second generation Jack O’Connell, for me, was at his best during scenes of quiet revelation for Cook. Jamie Brittain did well with Cook’s development as a person, although we have minor flashes of Cook beating someone in the beginning of the episode we find that he’s definitely matured if seemingly emotionally stunted and guarded.

From the very beginning, with the novel use of voice over narration by Cook, something Skins has never attempted, (Effy getting into Sid’s head and simulating a voice over that one time in series two doesn’t count) we know that Skins Rise will prove to be a very different tone to Fire and Pure. And so far, so good.

Cook, as you can imagine is the same yet not. While he may be pedaling drugs for someone it appears he’s toned down the substance abuse himself. He appears to have discovered restraint, evident in the way he refuses Louie’ (Boyle) girlfriend Charlie’s (Britland) advances and the way he doesn’t appear to take what he sells. When Louie offers him a line of coke he declines it and also cautions Emma (Smith) his sort of friend-with-benefits to ‘go easy on that shit’ when she’s snorting coke. Her response, ‘if you do enough [everything] stops’ seems kind of like a throwback to Cook’s past. The guy who wanted to do everything, who lived for it all. As Naomi pointed out to him. ‘Life. You just live a bit harder then everybody else does. You splash about, you wallow in it, like you can’t lose a moment.’ Cook’s not that person anymore, that person now haunts him. And it’s interesting that Emma is the one who suggests to him that they should just take off and they would have if Charlie didn’t call him. Her shouting that she doesn’t even know who he is as the camera focuses in on Cook’s expression tells us that he doesn’t know himself.

Charlie’s been screwing Louie’ other lackey, Jason (Laviscount), and Cook happens across them. It’s after this that he gives in when she comes onto him again. Louie calls them to the house he’s recently purchased for Charlie, with an indoor pool where Charlie had tried to seduce Cook earlier and failed. It seems Louie had known about Jason and Charlie and he proceeds to have Jason drowned in the pool before Cook and Charlie’s very eyes.

Cook rushes to Emma’s place afterwards and convinces her to leave with him. They’re almost home free when Charlie calls crying and he’s sucked back into her orbit, he veers off the course without an explanation to Emma, supposedly to pick up Charlie. The implications of all three of them in one car together should prove an interesting dynamic.

Special Mentions:

- If Cook hadn’t killed Foster, he would have been killed himself- I have no doubt about that. I don’t know if Cook is running and is afraid because of the cops or because he’s running from his own psychological trauma of facing down the murderer of his best friend and killing him.

- If Charlie knew Louie was cheating on her why not just leave him? Easier said than done I suppose. I feel bad for Emma, she just happened to be with Cook when this all goes down.

- Next week we shall see if Cook continues to practice restraint, I hope he doesn’t get killed. Trailer HERE. The last ever episode of Skins, ever.

Leave a comment Posted on by Mata Skins, TV Reviews, TV Talk

Skins Pure – Part 2 Review

Everything is good, everything matters.

I’ve had a few days to mull over Part Two of Skins Pure and mulled over it I have. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is about the episode that I liked. Was it the fact that Skins Pure ended on a much more uplifting tone than Skins Fire? Or was it the fact that Cassie, a character fraught with so many self-destructive traits, was finding her way in a world that she had tried to leave as a teenager? When the episode begins we’re with Cassie and Jacob in Wales, visiting Cassie’s dad (Neil Morrissey) and her little brother Reuben. What we discern during this visit is that Cassie’s father has not coped very well after the death of Cassie’s mother and it’s bled into his parenting of Reuben.

Obviously Cassie’s father doesn’t mean to let his grief get in the way of his parenting, however it does. It isn’t unlike the way in which Cassie had largely been ignored by her parents when her mother was alive in series one. Pure offered veteran fans of the series a few references to the past while not alienating any newcomers stumbling across the show with no previous knowledge of it. For instance when she mentions to Jacob that when her mother was alive they communicated through messages, namely one summer when she almost starved herself to death. I’m not sure how much her messages worked with her parents, they were rather wrapped up in themselves to take notice of her beyond having her put into a mental institution. However this time it isn’t bliss that blinds Cassie’s father but grief.
It seems that Cassie has always been waiting for her life to begin, or running from the ‘slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.’ When she begins to cry while Maddie says they’re all just waiting for their lives to begin you get the sense that it’s just hitting Cassie how unsure she is about where she stands in life. She’s no longer that damaged teenager harming herself in an attempt to feel powerful and in charge of her life, however she is working at a diner, the same thing she’d been doing at the end of series two. And so in Skins Pure when Cassie takes it upon herself to allow Jacob to keep photographing her and posting it online, we’re watching Cassie begin to reclaim her sense of agency. The girl who first brings the website with Cassie’s photographs on it to Cassie’s attention convinces Cassie to do a photo shoot with her and we finally get the sense that this is something Cassie was meant to do. Granted it seems a bit triggering for someone who’s suffered through an eating disorder and confidence issues to be thrown into the world of modelling, however since the beginning of Skins Pure it’s obvious that Cassie isn’t the same girl she was in series two.
Whether or not this leads to more modeling work in her life is irrelevant, what matters is the happiness it appears to bring her. However despite it there’s still something missing, Cassie isolates herself to talk to Reuben on the phone and that’s what you realise it missing, companionship. You think she has found companionship in Jacob, who’s even confronted Cassie’s dad about having messed Cassie up somehow. However, evident in his dissent into possessive crazy guy, she does not find long term companionship in Jacob. He goes back into stalker mode and follows her around until- When Yaniv sees the message he beats the crap out of Jacob. Cassie stops it, telling Jacob not to spoil it, citing the need to remember something good. It harks back not only to her past but to her past relationships, with her mother, Sid, her friends. Remembering something good can keep you sane when it seems like everything’s gone to shit. Although I do reckon it should used in moderation, Cassie’s father is an example of allowing his memories of something good to interfere with his present responsibilities as a parent.
This, among other reasons, is why Sid doesn’t show up. As the audience we have to remember something good, Sid makes it to America and the show suggests they find each other and this is confirmed in part one of Skins Pure. We have to remember something good.

But that’s what it comes down to, again, is Cassie’s loneliness. She isolates herself often but, as Yaniv points out, it’s okay to get lonely. There’s this part of Cassie, however, that needs human connection. She’s starved of it, even in a room full of people there’s always been this disconnect between Cassie and everyone around her. When her father turns up on her doorstep with Reuben to tell her that he and Reuben would be going to Italy for a while Cassie takes it upon herself to keep Reuben with her and let her father leave to find himself. It’s funny that Cassie takes Reuben for a haircut from her co-worker, at the diner where they work no less.

It is with this mundane moment between Cassie and her brother, as well as her co-worker cutting Reuben’s hair, we’re told that ‘everything is good’ and for once I would like to believe that it will be.

Special Mentions:

- Maddie was nice. I liked her and it was sad that she was having such a hard time of ‘making it’ and here Cassie was just getting modeling jobs because a co-worker got to stalking her and posting his ‘artsy’ photos of her online.

- I love that Cassie’s boss at the diner has Reuben cover his ears before swearing at his employees.

- When Cassie asks Maddie whether one can be friends with a guy without sleeping with them and Maddie responds in the affirmative only after having slept with them you’re skeptical. However it’s Yaniv that proves that it’s possible.

- Even a small moment of taking action in her life, like taking the creepy dude’s coke and dumping it over the side of the building, is triumphant as she smiles to herself while it scatters away in the wind.

- We have Skins Rise, COOOOOOOOOOK! Go relive that epic final scene of series 4. Because in a few days we see the return of the Cookie monster and it looks like, as with Fire and Pure, Rise isn’t going to be what you’re expecting.

- Forgive any typos, it’s 4am in the morning here. I’m surprised I can even string together a few words

Leave a comment Posted on by Mata Skins, TV Talk

Skins Pure - Part 1 Review

‘Because if it didn’t end, it was forever.’

Ethereal, that’s the word that comes to mind when I think of Cassie. Not just in terms of her physical appearance, but her entire mannerism. There’s always been something other-worldly about Cassie that one either loved, or got annoyed by. Mostly loved. Now, Skins Pure part one, from the trailers looked a lot more sinister than what it turned out to be. It wouldn’t be too farfetched for Skins to have gone either way, really. Having already covered a psychotic therapist and even an actual crazy stalker type main character in series four and two, respectively, it’s safe to say that Skins could very well have chosen to go dark with Pure. However I’m glad it didn’t, we’ve seen Cassie go from airy-fairy to dark and scary before and this new Cassie was a breath of fresh air.

With Cassie’s episodes and storylines in the past we’ve always had a touch of the surreal, for instance text messages from no one telling her to eat, usually attributed to her fragile state of mind. It seems that time has changed Cassie in ways that can only be understood by remembering the character she was before now. If we have a look at the focus of Skins Fire we should note that where Effy had control over her own agency, even when she started to go mad in earlier series, Cassie always seemed to me to be someone who was influenced so much by those around her. So much so that the only time she felt powerful was when she harmed herself in the form of anorexia.

I stopped eating, and then everyone had to do what I said. That was powerful. I think it was the happiest time of my life. But I had to stop before I died, because… otherwise it wasn’t fun.

Cassie now is a stark contrast to the Cassie of series one and two, I’ve seen a few ‘where’s Cassie’s iconic ‘oh WOW’ and ‘lovely’? Makes me wonder what exactly about ‘Time Changes Everything‘ they don’t understand. Cassie’s grown since those years when she always seemed ready to either run or harm herself at the first sign of trouble. Don’t get me wrong, there are still traces of that old Cassie present, she will always be slightly unearthly, and a bit disconnected with the goings on around her, however she’s not one to run anymore.
She’s been back in London for about two months, working as a waitress at a diner and we find out that since the last time we’ve seen Cassie her mother’s passed away and it’s sent her dad into his own funk, judging by the telephone conversations she has with him. She goes about her life quietly and calmly, not knowing that she is being photographed by someone and the photos being uploaded anonymously for the world to see. Although the photographs are rather beautiful, the idea of not knowing that someone’s taking photos of you, without your knowledge let alone your consent is a little disconcerting. It’s brought to her attention by a random customer of the diner who seems to be in love with the pictures, promising to keep Cassie’s ‘secret’ before stating she wished she looked like Cassie and leaving Cassie to her thoughts once more.
Cassie’s reaction is to seek the stalker out, she discovers that it’s Jakob (Olly Alexander) from the diner where she works, a weedy almost pathetic fella. When she beats the crap out of him and shouts ‘Don’t speak to me! What do you do, do you want!?’ It’s a throwback to earlier heavy use of slapstick humour in the show. After Cassie takes his very expensive camera and leaves, thinking it over a bit she meets him again at the end of the episode. Jakob pleads with her, saying he ‘just takes pictures’ and that it’s the only thing he can do before telling her that all it is is pure. You wind up believing him and so does Cassie. Part one ends with Cassie agreeing to let Jakob photograph her, because it’s him, her and a camera and the audience sees what they want them to see.
Special Mentions:
- Yes I, too, believe that the boy she mentions traveling with before she left was Sid. It was the writers’ way of saying ‘yes she found him’ and ‘they were together for a bit’ but this is Skins and together forever just isn’t done.
- Yaniv (Daniel Ben Zenou) seems like the kind of dude that doesn’t mess around when it comes to something or someone that he wants or likes. So Cassie screwing him and then saying she just didn’t want to be alone and subsequently ignoring him, doesn’t sit well with Yaniv at all. Especially when Cassie can’t explain what it is that she’s ‘waiting for’.
- That girl with the room near Cassie, she gives some interesting life advice. I like that she’s upfront with how it is she earns a living what with being an actress. It’s nice of her to listen to Cassie’s problems, even if she cuts it short because she’s about to have sexy-time with men.
- Something’s coming. Magic. Cassie did say she was waiting.
2 Comments Posted on by JawkwardLOL Skins, TV Talk

Skins Fire - Part 2 Review

You don’t know me at all, and you never will.
Before we begin the breakdown let’s get this out of the way, it’s not a series of Skins unless a favourite character is involved in a life threatening situation/dies. It’s definitely not Skins unless you’re left with the feeling that nothing is resolved. The writers of Skins have never given you that conventional ‘happily ever after’ you crave so much, so why on earth would you think they’d give you one now? Skins has always been about moments. Whether it was living in the moment, realising a moment’s gone or waiting for a moment to pass. Every episode of each series captured certain moments of a character’s life, and I suppose this, the end of Effy and Naomi’s stories, was comprised of their final moments. If you can call it that, with Skins there’s no such thing as ending, well outside of death, sometimes not even then. Even if things are resolved for the odd character, that moment of resolution is still, in the end, a moment in their life from which they then move on. On to another moment, on to something else that we won’t ever know about. However I’ve gotten ahead of myself, I’ll stop and back it up now. Let’s unpack part two of Skins Fire- not completely, because that would take all night, but we’ll scratch the surface a bit and touch upon why a lot of the fans are crying.
Naomi has cancer and it’s killing her. At the start of the episode we find that Naomi’s doing relatively well in the comedy world, we begin the episode at another gig where people are actually laughing at her jokes. It seems the only person not having fun is Effy who leaves during Naomi’s stand up to go see Jake, her boss. (Who, everyone agrees, looks like Freddie. But that’s something we’re not going to talk about.) What cuts everyone up about Naomi’s terminal illness is the fact that it will kill perhaps one of the most popular ships Skins has ever produced, the force known as Naomily.
This relationship hasn’t been an easy one to follow, what with Naomi’s initial reservations and betrayal, and considering Skins track record with ruining/killing one half of fan favourite ships, see Chris and Jal, Effy and Freddie, Grace and Rich. However, considering Naomi and Emily were still together years later in Skins Fire, it seemed things might end well for these two. However Naomi keeps the truth from about her illness and the fact that her health is continually declining as she isn’t responding to treatment from Emily because Emily matters more to Naomi than the truth. Through it all Lily Loveless’ performance goes from strength to strength, from annoying layabout flatmate to dying woman who refuses to let her illness get in the way of the woman she loves’ internship, there is something extraordinary about the ‘feels’ produced by Naomi stating she’s ‘going to die’ to Effy after confronting her about the shitty friend she’d been over the past few months.
Effy Stonem, mysterious, complex and sometimes rather egocentric, Effy. As predicted, Effy’s career as a trader and her relationship with her boss seems to soar for a while until the inevitable moment when it begins to crumble. Spurred on by Jake, Effy seeks out Dom’s help to illegally obtain information to create trading profits and enjoys what appears to be a few months of hedonism both in her career and in her relationship with Jake. The problem is people, namely a colleague and subsequently the FSA, catch on and rather than have her back Jake throws Effy under the bus. Up until that point Effy thought her relationship with Jake was real, as Naomi pointed out she’d been living in a fantasy for the past few months and a shitty one at that. The fact that in the end Effy chooses to eventually name Jake and go to jail if it meant Dom wouldn’t be implicated showed a sense of growth in character for her. Although it came after a digression in behaviour, in which she reverted to her old method of manipulation after Dom’s, rather justified, outburst about how she made him pathetic.

This moment, I reckon was just Effy’s reflex reaction to situations outside of her control, she tries to rein it back in to something she can manage. Only something goes wrong and in that fevered moment Dom runs off. Any theories?

However in the end Effy’s chooses to implicate Jake and take the time in jail pleading for Dom not to be involved as he was not at fault. The episode leaves us in a lurch, Naomi and Emily reunited but for how long before Naomi dies? And Effy off to jail for an indeterminate amount of time. And yet, in that final moment, when Effy’s sitting in the back of the police car/taxi and she smiles I suppose we know that she’ll be okay. If there’s one thing we know about Effy Stonem is that she rises from the ashes after burning up and allowing her fire to consume herself and those around her.

Special Mentions:

- Emily’s reaction, when Effy finally took it upon herself to call her, was heartbreaking. You can understand the anger, the fact that Effy’s had this time with Naomi. This moment when you think, Effy’s just called Emily now against her wishes, surely she should have had the foresight a while ago to call Emily against Naomi’s wishes earlier?

- “What the fuck is wrong with you? She’s alone in there, I don’t wanna- you know what? Fuck it, fuck this.” Dom’s anger at Effy bringing that shit up whilst her friend was lying in the hospital room was completely justified. C’mon Effy!

- Next week it’s onto Skins Pure we go! Cassie’s episode and it’s not set in New York as I originally thought! Have you seen the trailer? People already saying they think Sid is Cassie’s stalker will be disappointed to find they have a glimpse of her stalker in the trailer and he, unfortunately, is not Sid.

Convos with Friends, well just Freya, again!

Freya: It is perfect. Exactly what it should be… However the part with Dom reigning control in that particular scene, I have no idea what to make of it. Truly. Your notion of ‘theories?’, I’m asking the same damn thing. Anyone got any ideas?
Mata: Hmmm I don’t know aye, like maybe he realises that she’s not really doing it because she loves him like he wants her to and that it’s sort of like a ‘just trying to get you to do what I want and am not enjoying it’ type situation and he feels guilty about it, apologises and runs away? I don’t know, that scene threw me off a bit because I really like Dom’s character even though some of the fandom say he’s not worth caring about. Haha it might just be because I heart the actor lol.
Freya: I heart his character in skins. It’s the contemporary version of unrequited love I think. He finally sees the trees through the forest and consequently decides it’s eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth so to speak. Screws her over (literally) just like she did him. as eff peels her layers off, you see the real dom for what he really is. Hiding behind this nice guy facade. It’s bitter sweet when eff resorts to sexual play. It’s comforting but saddening to see she hasn’t quite grown. She’s hidden under this pseudo-profession. Texting via phone sucks. Too many theories, not enough fingers… Aaaah wish you were here!
Mata : I don’t know about him having a nice guy facade, I think Dom was genuinely a nice person. However I do believe that in that moment he might have allowed himself to believe that she wanted him despite knowing that she’d only really started talking to him for information to get ahead. Effy may have developed feelings for him but not of a romantic nature and he realised that during that scene. I don’t know haha, I’m just trying to understand it. Someone quoted my review in a forum and said I either disregarded generation one’s resolutions or just forgot, I sort of forgot lol but mainly because even though there were some resolutions not everything was tied up in a pretty knot. And Skins Fire was just following Skins protocol heh. I wish I was there too! =[
Leave a comment Posted on by Mata Skins, TV Reviews, TV Talk

Skins Fire - Part 1 Review

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.

Boom. Naomic bomb.
Effy, perhaps needing more of an escape than a late night trip to a club alone, winds up at her bosses’ place for bow chika wow- Wow I’m sorry for that.
Special Mentions:
- How did I not realise in the trailers that Dom was Adam (Craig Roberts) our whiny 40ish year old teenaged vampire from Being Human/Becoming Human? Honestly, he was my favourite.
- I’m sure there are a few of you out there who will think that Effy’s boss looks a little like Freddie. Coincidence or intentional slap in the face to Freddie fans? (Also, cancelled Sirens feels.)
- Emily’s in New York! Exciting! There may be some major conflict regarding Naomi’s illness. I’m thinking Naomi keeps it from Emily until the last minute, or tries to break up with her for a ridiculous reason in some misguided martyr’d attempt to save Emily from seeing her disintegrate. I’m just glad that Naomi and Emily are still together, if living apart at the moment. But surprise, surprise there will be no happy ending, potentially. (Also, Emily slapping Effy in that preview, what what?)
- I love that Effy still has the ability to reduce another character to nothing with just a few cutting words.
More thoughts? How about Convos with Friends!
Freya: I agree. I can’t help but feel like Eff still had it relatively easy in terms of her obstacles. The ever-so-helpful Dom came at an uncanny time and it all seemed superficial how she understood Trading 101 so easily, albeit with chalk and concrete. Maybe she had a super good sensei, yes? She’s a super genius? I don’t know, but overall it was Skins. Didn’t feel like it ever fell away too far from the Skin’s tree, so I’m happy about that.
Mata, err Me, guys: Yeah I always saw Effy as somewhat of an overly-intelligent figure in the series, like Tony but much more sophisticated in her manipulation of people. And she’s always been calculating, I just figured this was a more practical use/manifestation of that traits- along with her other skills. However it was always her emotions that seemed to stump her, overwhelm and eventually lead to her downfall, from which she then starts to rebuild again. Some people (read as tumblrers) have theorised that maybe Effy was abused as a child or something. Although it always harks back to the first words she uttered on the show, that maybe she was born backwards. Idk, I’m just glad Skins is back haha.
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‘Skins Fire’ Trailer Breakdown

What do we remember about Effy Stonem? She was the ever mysterious, silent, little sister of Tony who became a chip off the old block before going nutso. The deterioration of her mental state was something that had been hinted at from the very beginning, after all her first words on the show were ‘Sometimes I think I was born backwards.’ However “Skins Fire” follows Effy, now 21, working a dead-end job in the city where she apparently starts an affair with her boss. She’s flatting with Naomi, which is interesting and also means we get to see Emily, YAY!

Speaking of Naomi and Emily, how about that hug? The trailer shows a conversation between the two where Naomi is talking to Emily about Effy, however where does this hug occur? When Emily arrives to see her, or when she’s leaving? What does it meeeeean?

Yet in the end the episodes themselves are centered around Effy’s descent into lord knows what. I’m ready to see things go up in flames. And I also foresee Effy, rising from the ashes. If anyone’s a phoenix, it’s Elizabeth, Effy, Stonem.

The series’ tagline, ‘time changes everyone,’ isn’t something new. Everyone knows that time makes strangers of us all and for the returning Skins alum change is something we both dread and look forward to. We’ve had our gripes with each change of the series, shux remember when we found out that the first generation cast weren’t going to be returning save for Effy? This is the final series and I suppose the biggest change will be the fact that after this series, there won’t be another.