My love for this show grew exponentially last night after watching Freddie’s episode. Many people had mixed feelings about the episode, but I personally loved it. I think people who had a hard time accepting it or liking it are those who have never dealt firsthand with mental illness, and therefore are unable to relate to Effy and her actions.

Skins is an English show that revolves around the lives of teenagers living Bristol who are attending the fictional sixth form college Roundview College. The series recycles its cast every two seasons, since at the end of two years the characters have (for the most part) moved on and gone to university. Every episode also centers on one character in particular (sort of like LOST, but with no flashbacks), although each episode usually tries to include everyone in some way, even if we just see a couple of glimpses of them.

Even though I watch shows like Gossip Girl, that depict a rather glamorous and unattainable form of teenage life, I much prefer Skins because of its blatant realism. Teenagers are shown for what they are: most of us are messed up and confused about who we are and who we want to be. We fall in love several times a week, and we try to make sense of our overwhelming hormones and emotions. We are overwhelmed with the responsibilities that we are starting to face, but resentful of the fact that the world still treats us like children. We dream big, but we’re conflicted about whether or not we should live for the now and risk messing up our lives later on, or give up having fun in the present in order to concentrate for a better tomorrow. Being a teenager is not fun, which is exactly what this show is all about.

One way in which Skins differs from other shows that revolve around teenagers is that the actors are actually teenagers themselves. It’s hard to watch a show like Gossip Girl or The O.C. where the actors are all 25+ and still relate in some way. The creators of the show actually had a limit on the ages of the actors who could audition for the roles, which I believe was either 17 or 18. Joe Dempsie, who played Chris in the First Generation, actually lied about his age to get the role, because he was 19 at the time he auditioned.

Although I believe that it exaggerates teenage behavior (I don’t know anyone who spends that much time drinking, smoking, and having sex), I think this show has definitely nailed the emotional aspect of being a teenager. I think everyone who watches this show can relate to at least one character, especially characters like Emily, Effy, Sid, Cassie, Chris and JJ. Although all the characters are messed up in their own way, they all still have redeeming qualities that make us love them and cheer them on every week. Personally, I relate to both Effy and Jal, even though they are both entirely different characters.

My favorite characters in the show are Tony, Effy (the whole Stonem family is interesting), Chris, Sid, JJ and Emily. I honestly love all the characters on the show, but I would have to say that those six are the ones that I look forward to seeing the most. Especially after last night’s episode, I would have to say that Effy is ultimately my favorite character of the whole series. She is also the only character who has appeared in all four seasons – it’s going to be sad when she leaves with the whole second generation.

Skins is currently in the middle of its fourth season and plays every Thursday night. The episode that aired last night focused on Freddie, while the next two episodes will focus on JJ and Effy. The last episode is not centered on anyone in particular and is called “Everyone”.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 26th, 2010 at 11:07 PM and is filed under Spotlight On. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.