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| Left -awesome. Right -strange guy trying to tear his shirt off. |
Reasons why the first season of "Skins" (UK) is Awesome
1) Tony Stonem - Each episode of "Skins" acts as an insight into a character while furthering the (sometimes iffy) plot of the series in general. The episode is named after them, the music (which is an incredibly vital part of the series) is selected to suit that character, the intro for the show is customized to highlight them, etc. The first episode of the series is "Tony," and it leaves a confusing, sort of off-setting, impression. Because Tony is smart. He's attractive. He's talented. He has his shit together, everyone wants to be him, and (worst of all) he knows it. He uses his draw and appeal to make people adore him, and then he manipulates the shit out of them to keep his life interesting. And Tony is very easily bored.
This scheming, despicable, charismatic character is our first lens through which we see "Skins", because he is, I now realize, the total embodiment of the show. While this is really interesting in retrospect, it doesn't make for a very user-friendly first episode. The only reason - aside from morbid curiosity - I kept watching after seeing it was because Nicholas Hoult made me believe in such an unbelievable character. He was charming. He was mean. He was aloof and brilliant and he could get away with anything. Tony was an asshole, but while watching I was totally fascinated by him. How far would he go? Would he reach a point where he would have to stop?
I had to watch more.
And so I did. And I'm happy to say that Tony's journey throughout the first two seasons of "Skins" continued to be, despite everything else happening in the show - and there was a damn lot going on - some of the most exciting mind-fuckery I have had the pleasure of viewing. And it was all because Hoult could make the character compelling without shying away from his darkness. Think of an adolescent Don Draper with an adolescent Jon Hamm to do the role justice. Plus more drugs and singing. (Just as much booze and sex though.)
(Versus a card-board muscle boy who is about as interesting to watch as a shrubbery is to trim.)
2) 'Youths' - The show is based around a group of a kids in sixth form. (In the UK, sixth form is what some students enroll in from the ages of 16 to 18 to study for A-Levels. And A-Levels are like the SATs on crack. We have no equivalent. Not doing well on A-Levels is like death. Hence, why kids spend two years studying for them.)
The oldest cast member of the first generation was 21 years-old when filming began (Chris, for those of you who are interested, and which makes a lot of sense to those of us who have seen the first season). Everyone else was 19, 18, or 17, and with the exception of Hoult (who was the kid in "About a Boy") were virtual unknowns. Every two years, a new cast is selected to reflect the proper age of students who would attend sixth form and relative newbie status. Hence, the generations.
The average age of the writing staff on "Skins" is 21, and teenage 'consultants' are brought in frequently. While everything is looked over and edited by the creator/head writer, Bryan Elsley (age 50), the inception point for most of the episodes are the younger writers. After all, the show was a co-creation between he and his son, Jamie Brittain, who was born in 1985.
And this, I think, is what truly makes the show brilliant. Yes, we can all look back and write about what it was like to be 16, but it's not the same as living through 16. The experience is rawer when it's fresh, and no grand flights of fancy or emotion seems unreasonable, because none of it is. The problem is, when I say that I sound insulting. Because I'm 23, seven years past that age (holy crap - how did that happen?), and totally unqualified to know what 'kids these days' are up to. Even though I'm just squeaking through as a twenty-something, I'm still not a teenager anymore.
Point - "Skins" is a reflection of young British (well, Bristol-ian) people. It is written and acted by young British people for young British people. No one is writing down to 'youths'. No one is demeaning their experiences or trying to capture a generation from the outside looking in. "Skins" is an exclusive club, and if you're not young, British, and a bit of a fuck-up, you're not going to get it. It wasn't made for you. Deal with it.
(Versus using the same script - even the same direction techniques - as the original, meaning the show has next to nothing to do with young American kids in a Baltimore High School. At least the actors are still young. It's just a shame that they (with an exception or two) can't act...)
3) The Risk Factor - "Skins" is about sex, drugs, and rock n' roll. It's also about teenagers. There's swearing, drinking, drug use, intercourse everywhere, and melodramatic insanity that is only possible when you've got people fearless enough to 'go there,' consequences be dammed. Which is great. But doing this while working with minors is incredibly controversial. Sure, the gang in "Gossip Girl" may drink cocktails like nobody's business, but the actors are old enough so that it isn't really an issue. But, again, "Skins" isn't going to write down to anybody, or back down from the delightfully manic, so that means we have the pleasure of experiencing the dark underbelly of a lot of things that people just don't want to think their kids are doing.
Kids are queer! Kids are having sex! Kids are getting sick, being stupid, experiencing loss and love with the same amount (if not more) passion than everyone else, and they're doing it when they're much too young!
Luckily, "Skins" didn't air on the BBC, but on E4, one of the non-government run channels in the UK. Sort of like a hybrid of Showtime and MTV, E4 doesn't need to worry about censoring any more than is legal and all in good common decency. Which meant no full-frontal nudity for the youngins, but everything else was fair game. And frankly, that made a lot of people uncomfortable. Which, I think, is just what makes a show like "Skins" important.
(Versus having to censor virtually everything for the benefit of being on a 'hip' network, including all swearing, most blatant references to sex, and most alcohol. Weed seems to be okay, though. So that's nice, I guess. All of this is fine, of course, if detrimental to the show as a whole. The truly upsetting things are a) the abandonment of an anorexia story line and b) taking the one gay character of the first generation and switching the gender from male to female. For point a, I'd just like to point out that pretending it doesn't exist doesn't make it stop being an issue for young girls (And old girls. And men. Etc.). For point b, normally, I wouldn't mind, but I suspect it has a lot to do with the fact that MTV isn't prepared to handle two young men making out on-screen. Or even (as I suspect) two gay kids of any gender being intimate. Which is disappointing as crap, really.)
So that is, in short, why the cracktastic show of "Skins" is riot. If you've no patience for the 'unrealistic,' skip it, but if you want to watch an interesting and successful television experiment that is mostly crazy, give it a shot. The first two seasons are a blast.
(Unlike the first episode of the US version. Which is not. Despite the fact that Bryan Elsley is still in charge. Shame on you, sir.)
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