Skins

Posted on: 16 March 2010

This week is the final episode of the forth series of Skins and I wanted to pay a small tribute to it. I find something very refreshing about Skins that keeps me coming back for more. Yes, it's depressing. But it's raw and unique at the same time. It's not afraid to be controversial or shocking and it's not afraid to stand up and be different. The ending of the penultimate episode with Freddy (I won't spoil it if you haven't seen it) came out of nowhere and really showed the strength of Skins and what it has become. The last episode on Thursday is sure to be a corker. Yes, that's right. I said corker.

Don't get me wrong, Skins is ridiculously over-the-top, not to mention unrealistic and sometimes just downright silly. But this is not a bad thing. If there's one thing on television that I will not touch it's reality TV. Reality is boring. We don't watch television for realism. Same reason we don't watch films and read books for realism. We want to escape. And getting lost in the teenage world of Skins for an hour a week offers just that.

I don't like Naomi and I'm not a big fan of Effy. Well, it's the actresses I don't like. Neither of them are particularly believable. It's like they're just trying a little too hard. Cooke is an amazing character. He commits to his role 100% and you really believe it. You (and the rest of society) hate him, and that's the character he plays.

Add to this a beautifully fitting soundtrack each week, that subtly adds to the grit and angst of each unique episode and you're onto a winner. Skins lacks that warm satisfying lighthearted feeling that I usually crave from a TV show. But what it lacks in this it makes up for in imagination, originality and an abundance of testosterone.

Watch this weeks finale, I guarantee you won't be bored.