And we're back! Skins series 2. Tonally it doesn't seem that different, though we do have a new version of the intro music (and slightly less of a "glitchy Instagram" look to said intro). We pick up about six months after the last episode ended. So what has the Skins gang been up to? Dancing and feeling guilty, mostly!
So yeah, it turns out that getting hit by a bus is no fun at all! Kudos to the Skins team for not shying away from the real-world consequences of a cartoonish injury. Tony is suffering from impaired mental and motor skills, and his friends aren't really sure how to handle him. Sid is angry at everyone who didn't visit Tony in the hospital (which is to say, everyone), but at the start of the episode seems to have lost his will to stick by Tony, too. Tony's closest ally becomes Maxxie, who drags his vegetable ass around town but is nonetheless trying to drop out of school and move to London to pursue a career as a dancer. He's thwarted in this goal by his father, who owns like 85% of the best moments in this episode ("You're going to grow up to be a builder who dances on the side!").* By the end of the episode, Tony is showing signs of cognitive improvement. But interpersonally, he is as damaged as ever.
(*For an episode that deals with such dark subject matter, this was one of
the funniest ones I've seen. Anthea Stonem approves! Plus it
seems like the weirdness that crept up on S1's final episodes is here to
stay. This episode has
multiple dance sequences, and Effy has a new habit
of seeming to address the camera (while sexually experimenting with Tony's
bathroom safety equipment, natch). It will be interesting to see how that develops.)
Elsewhere: Michelle is drinking and fucking away her pain, Anwar is in an Ali-G sort of phase, and Cassie is in Scotland, corresponding with Sid through videos and drugs. Get back here, Cassie! Chris and Jal don't have much to do in this episode--they just sort of wander around making their signature facial expressions. But whatever, I like them!
The main thing I wanted to salute in this episode is the way Maxxie, who is harassed by slack-jawed yokels several times in this episode, never cowers in the face of bullying. He stands there and smiles, secure enough in himself and his life that words really can't hurt him. It's a wonderful thing to see. God go with you, Maxxie Gayskins (OK, probably not his last name, but whatever).
2 comments:
The opening dance sequence was pretty good and there was a shitload of great music in this episode. It was nice to see Cassie seeming to be happy and doing well even if it was just a video clip.
So, Tony would have been better off getting killed. Maybe I would feel sorry for him if he wasn't such an ass in the first season.
That toilet - do you think it is for shaking the shit out of you if you can't push it out yourself? Playing bass guitar would make me have to shit.
The thing I really loved about this episode was how Maxxie responds to the closeted gay bully kissing him. You always expect them to be kinda like in Glee when Kurt is kissed by the closeted gay bully and is like, really insulted and mad and stuff....but I loved the way Maxie handled it, started out kind of insulted but then was like, what the hell, and started making out.
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