SKINS S1E5: White People Problems

Ugh, Sid. There was a time when I felt some measure of sympathy for this kid, but those days are over. Throughout this episode, we see how simple it would be for him to fix his problems—and plenty of people observe as much to Sid himself. But he doesn't fucking care. Taking a single step in ANY of the right directions available to him would do a world of good. But he always either fails to act or takes the easy, wrong way out.

His teachers pull strings for him, try to keep him from flunking out, but he blows them off. Cassie’s advances become so obvious that Sid’s indifference to her becomes malicious. Even his crush on Michelle feels self-indulgent; it’s a trap he has fallen into so many times before that you’d think he’d have learned to avoid it by now. Fool me once, etc. 

Even Sid’s parents seem like decent people—his clashes with them are nowhere near as righteous as the run-ins we have seen with Chris and Jal. Their parents were clearly not doing them any favors. They survived despite them. Sid’s parents just want him to do his fucking homework.

Which is why Sid’s rage at this father, which explodes toward the end of this episode, is so empty and hypocritical: Sid’s father is Sid, a few years from now. He didn’t act to save his marriage, just like Sid fails to act and will continue to fail to act. No wonder the guy is so mad at his son! History is repeating!

Anyway, to summarize more fully: Tony invites Sid and Michelle to his choir concert. Chris comes too, because he’s awesome. 

Tony kisses the posh blond bitch in front of everyone because, he later claims, he’s deliberately trying to piss Michelle off so Sid can have a chance with her. When Sid points out how insane that is, Tony articulates a philosophy of life that is 2 parts Carl Sagan, 1 part The Joker, and 1 part Ron Jeremy. 

Tony is certainly cruel, but his motives are much more complex. Even when he pulls the rug out from under Sid a few days later, moving in to take Michelle back right as Sid makes a little progress, he doesn't seem to be doing it just to be mean. He's operating on some other psycho-sexual-cosmic plain. And if that wasn't clear enough there's a shot of him reading Nietzsche!

Meanwhile, Cassie manages to get stood up by Sid twice—simultaneously!—and thus finally snaps. She tells him to wake up and make a choice, but he only does the second thing—reaching out to Michelle instead of her. So Cassie takes a lot of pills and Tony shows up for the aforementioned second half of his sick magic trick. Once Michelle is out of reach again, Sid finally decides to give Cassie the time of day. WHOOPS:

Cassie is going to be okay though, don't worry! And it's enough of a wake up call for Sid that he at least finally writes his fucking essay. That's what it takes, apparently! What kind of a body count would Sid need to get an A?