First of all, I decided to blog this time in English only because I want to share my love for Skins with the whole world if possible, and also say why I think is without any doubt, the best fucking TV program of our time.
The first time I watched Skins was around 1 year ago. I knew about the show because MTV began airing it. I won’t lie, I hated it the first time I watched it, I hated Tony, I though Sid was a joke and Cassie was stupid. Man! How wrong I was!
I decided to keep watching the next episodes because TV right now sucks and because MTV Latin America airs the same episode ten times in the same week, so, there was no much of a choice; and after episode 2 I decided I was a fan of the program, mainly because of Cassie and Sid, two of the main characters.
I have to admit that I feel like I am a strange combination between Cassie, Sid and Tony, but I also love the other characters, and the thing that makes this show and its characters so lovable is that everyone has its own history and is presented in a very particular way. Almost all characters have their own episode, which allow the audience to understand their needs, feelings, thoughts, actions, reasons, its past and its future, without judgment and a lot of eloquence.
It would be for me impossible to talk about each character and its story in this post, only because it would be irrelevant and I will feel that there is something missing, every character is full of its own life and is full of the life of the other characters.
It would be easy to start saying that they are a gang of friends: Tony (Nicholas Hoult), Michelle (April Pearson), Sid (Mike Bailey), Maxxie (Mitch Hewer), Anwar (Dev Patel), Chris (Joe Dempsie), Cassie (Hannah Murray), Effy (Kaya Scodelario) and Jal (Larissa Wilson), played by amazing young actors. Nicholas Hoult, who played Tony, probably is the most familiar face since he was the little boy in the movie “About a boy”, and definitely who has become a really familiar face is Dev Patel, who played Jamal Malik in “Slum Dog Millionaire”, despite the fact that his character wasn’t that huge in the program and in fact, did not have an episode named after his character like the other members of the cast in season 2.
All this young actors, combined with excellent music and amazing and truthful stories are part of the first generation of Skins. We can see sex, drug abuse, eating disorders and raves without any teaching lesson, because this program is not trying to tell us what is good or bad, it only tells the story of 8 teenagers in Bristol, plus Effy, who became one of the main characters in generation 2, without remorse, only because life is that way, you live, you die, you fuck off life and sometimes it gives you another chance, but that is life, is true, is interesting, is full of color, is full of dark, but at the end, Skins remind us that when you are young you can be hitten by a bus and rise through the shadows again (Generation 1 fans, you know what I mean).
After two seasons the cast is changed, and that is because the creators of this master piece, Brian Elsley and Jamie Brittain, want to keep it real until the end, since college in UK takes 2 years, they decided to change the cast because the program is dealing with the life of teenagers that are in college and they didn’t want to waste all the stories in the universe in only 8 characters, that would be unrealistic as the fact that a lot of teenage dramas are played by actors of 20 or 30 years old, which is an extra point for Elsely and Brittain. I didn’t understand it at the beginning, I felt portrayed, but when I felt in love with the new characters I forgave the dynamic duo.
The second generation is composed by: Effy (Kaya Scodelario), who is Tony’s little sister, Cook (Jack O’Conell), Thomas (Merv Lukeba), Pandora (Lisa Backwell), who is introduced in season 2 – episode “Effy” as Effy’s new friend, Freddie (Luke Pasqualino), JJ (Ollie Barbieri), Katie (Meg Prescott), Emily (Kathryn Prescott), this last two twin sisters in real life and in the series, and Naomi (Lilly Loveless).
How wrong I was when I thought there couldn’t be anything better than generation 1, well, there was generation 2 waiting to be discovered, with stronger and fresher troubles, solutions, parties, sex and drugs, with new characters that don´t resemble to the other characters in G1, but at the end have the essence of Skins, the essence of life, it doesn’t matter if you live in Japan, Argentina, Brazil, the US, China, UK, Spain, France or like me, in Mexico, at the end everybody hurts, everybody smiles, we all have all kind of troubles inside our family, inside our group or friends and most importantly, we don’t have a battle, but a war inside ourselves, and is really beautiful to see the wars of others, it doesn’t matter if it is fictional, we can relate with their feelings, their struggle, their losses and their wins, we can relate to those human beings because they act like human beings, not like humans with a plastic life in a bubble word.
I have to admit that from all of the characters, from all of seasons, in fact, from all of the series, I felt in love with Emily Fitch and Naomi Campbell, first of all, because I relate to their fears, to their needs and to their internal battles, but also, because Kat Prescott and Lily Loveless embraced their characters and gave them their bodies and souls, and when I say gave them, I mean , gave them, every gesture, every emotion, every tear, every smile, every kiss felt real, because they made it real.
Another character I definitely loved was JJ, because I think we all have a little bit of JJ inside ourselves, with his insecurities and his fears, we all, at least at once, have felt like the outcast, the weirdo, the one that nobody wants, but at the end, we all have a rainbow waiting for us, we only have to find it and start asking for things. Naomi, JJ and Emily taught me that we have to be brave, or life is only going to pass us by.
Finally, I have to say, in fact, I must say, that the most important thing because I love Skins is because it has changed my life. I was so afraid of life, of pain, of joy, I decide to play it safe, but I wasn’t getting anything, I was getting anywhere, I wasn’t getting anyone. I have discovered so much about myself, I decided that to give the key of my life to someone else is worth it, that you can love the people around you with the fear of being hurt and be happy, because love is falling, is like let in someone into your house, not only to the living – room, but also to the bedroom, the garden, the bathroom, you let them see your leaks and cracks, and also the things you hide in your drawers (the dark and colorful ones), and finally let them jump in your sofas, break some windows, snap some doors, and also let them fix your leaks and cracks sometimes. That’s what I learnt from Skins, and definitely that kind of things change lives, and I’m pretty sure that not only my life, but so many lives around the world.
Well, I’ve written a lot, but still, I feel like I am missing so many things about Skins, because Skins is a lot of things, so there is nothing better for me to say that: PLEASE! WATCH SKINS, G1, G2 and coming soon G3. This show is worth it, a little piece of its greatness is in these videos:
Also you can visit: http://www.e4.com/skins/
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