A Man. And His Blog.

I was hoping to see a somewhat intelligent teen drama on television. I got it during the first two episodes, but now I’m not so sure anymore, if I will like SKINS at the end. This episode was just a perfect example of how good this show can be, but how awkward it actually is. Sometimes I liked it, sometimes I hated it.

Cadie’s (Britne Oldford) background story is definitely interesting. But it seems ridiculous at first that she is taking drugs only to erase the pain in her life, and that she doesn’t think about anything, except downing more pills, and thinking about her probable love of the life, Stanley (Daniel Flaherty). And I can’t really buy it that she doesn’t know how to talk to people, for example to Stanley, to get to where she wants to be, or to her mother Leslie (Natalie Brown), to say her that she’s a bitch. Despite that, I found the first half of the episode extremely interesting. It was almost a character study of Cadie, with the writers trying to get behind her character, trying to tell something more interesting than ever before. And it could have worked, when there wasn’t the stupid pool party in the second half, and Cadie’s failure of understanding more about life.

First, the Cadie/Stanley coupling, without the two being an actual couple, is annoying. Stanley is in love with Michelle (Rachel Thevenard) and cums on her teddy bear, while Cadie doesn’t have the balls to tell Stanley anything, instead is about to have wild sex with her new best friend. I loved the fact that Stanley saw what was coming an interrupted them, but at the end, Stanley still ahs the hots for Michelle, doesn’t see that Cadie is interested in him, and Cadie still didn’t find her balls to open her mouth. Or the fact that she was only invited to the party for her pills.

And in the meantime, Michelle’s boy toy Tony (James Newman) has trouble with Tea (Sofia Black-D’Elia), and it is Cadie, who listens to the conversation between the two (and I ask myself why Cadie would be interested in the “secret” relationship between Tea and Tony). More didn’t the episode have to offer, when it comes to character storylines.

But what I seemed to notice it that the actors are quite good, when they have their centric episodes (I think that Britne did a good job with her character here), while the rest of the cast was rather shitty. Especially James Newman – what was he doing during the conversation with Tea? He was just standing there, probably reading his lines, and nothing else… That looked more than awkward, as if he didn’t know what to do in a scene, where he had dialog off-camera.

Awkward episode. First half really interesting, second half really confusing. Now I don’t know what to make of the series anymore… 5.5/10

A serial killer in training

A masturbator awakens

Well, I liked the first two episodes, but I didn’t like this one. Now I can understand why some (or maybe all) of the SKINS lovers are hating this show because of its shitty cast: Chris (Jesse Carere) was one of the most terrible characters I have seen in a little while. The writing went kinda haywire during the episode, because everything seemed so ridiculous, and Chris’ actor was more than miscast for his role – at least in this episode.

The first couple of minutes were still good. That he had a boner for a whole day (and an extra day it might seem) was funny at first, but when he was walking around with it at the party, even in front of Tina (seriously, I was on the lookout for the actress’ name for an hour, and didn’t find anything – no press release about the episode and cast, MTV didn’t answer me on Twitter, and the episode on MTV.com does not have credits at the end – VERY FUCKING LAME!), whom I think he’s in love with, made this whole think ridiculous and more than fake (and I thought SKINS was somewhat the most authentic teen show in television). Even more, Chris’ background story comes over as too obvious and fake as well. How am I supposed to believe that Chris saddens over the disappearance of his mother, when I haven’t seen anything of this relationship in the first two episodes? How am I supposed to believe that Chris’ father hates him so much that he doesn’t want anything to do with his son? And why is there so much hate between father and son? I could rhime myself something together, especially when it comes to Chris’ dead brother Peter, but it would have been nice, when the episode could have delivered something of an answer. After all, this episode featured Chris, but the writers went right into his character without any background information.

Some parts with Chris were alright though. I actually like the Chris/Tina coupling, despite looking fake (thanks to Tina actually being interested in Chris, which lets her look fake too), and I loved how Daisy (Camille Cresencia-Mills) bonded a friendship with Chris, though I don’t know why she would listen to his stories (maybe she has the hots for him?). In addition, the scene on the cemetery was actually the only one, where I could believe that Chris was a troubled teenager, knowing that his family situation is more than just fucked up, and hoping for a reunion with his mother, his father, and even with his dead brother, when he would be in an alternate universe. And it was the only scene, where Jesse showed some real acting class in the episode – because in the rest of the 40 minutes, he couldn’t wow me, especially when he was partying, trying to “flirt” with Tina, and especially the situation with the homeless guy in his house.

The rest of the episode was good. There is still the question, whether the writers really focus on Cadie (Britne Oldford) and Stanley (Daniel Flaherty) (seems like the only ongoing storyline in every episode of the series), but since she asked him for a date, it looks like something could happen there. But I would have wished for something more to happen i this storyline, since Tea (Sofia Black-D’Elia) was smelling something fishy about the sex stories between the two. I wonder why the writers didn’t go kick-ass in that scene, went away from the British original, and let things go messed up for a scene (with Tea telling everybody that Stanley and Cadie are just lying about their relationship).

Not that the episode was terribly bad. But Jesse’s acting couldn’t convince me, and the writing was kinda lazy. There could have been more in this episode, the writers hold everything back though. 5/10

Chris is not able to piss in the toilet

Abbud just saw tits

I don’t know if I’m surprised or not. The Parents Television Council (PTC) is hammering with every beat of their hearts on MTV and the series, and the rumors of SKINS being nothing but “kiddie porn”; including alcohol drugs and other forms of sex; The advertisers are pulling back, not wanting to associate with the series; the fans of the British original are pounding with every second of their time on the horrendous remake without stopping to see the US version as a stand-alone series; and the ratings for the second episode fell nearly half from the premiere audience. So it definitely doesn’t look good for MTV’s SKINS, and the days are numbered until the cancellation – the forced cancellation I might say. And you know what: I fucking like this show. Will I watch the original, when MTV is pussing out of the business of airing SKINS any longer? Definitely!

While Tea (Sofia Black-D’Elia) was barely present in the pilot, she is in the focus of the second episode, and I started to like her. Sure, Sofia is not really a good actress to show the emotions of her character, but this girl is still young, and especially a TV show like this could do a lot for the development of the young actors. But at least I liked her story, and the fact that she was completely in the focus of every scene, whether it was a minor one and went back to Stanley’s (Daniel Flaherty) troubles with the shady drug dealer, or a major one like her two scenes with Nana in her bedroom. And the UK fans tell that the characters of the remake are not likable? Why is Tea not likable, despite some missing character development in the script (like her feelings between guys – Tony (James Newman)- and girls – Betty [Blaine Morris])? Why is everybody still hating the remake (and don’t come with “the original is so much better)? Even though this episode wasn’t the best dramatic representation of a TV show in recent years, it was still good enough to call it the best show on MTV. Of course the best scripted show on MTV.

Tea’s stories were actually good. First her night out with Betty, which seems to end in a relationship between the two (and I was very happy to see that it was not a closeted-lesbian story, as the beginning wanted to tease), then her almost-fuck with Toby (where I ask myself why Tea even went that way – she seems to be bisexual), and on the side the writers continue with some of the plots from the premiere. And here I was lucky too, that the drug story involving Stanley seems to be over for now – and I laughed, when it was Tea’s father, who solved the problem. Sometimes it is good to have a father, who’s in the mob.

Like I said, it was just a bit awkward to see Tea with Tony. Maybe some character development was missing for me to buy her decision to have sex with Tony, despite him having a girlfriend, and her about to have a girlfriend of her own. Or maybe it would have been better to follow the character episodes from the original, since Cadie (Britne Oldford) was already developed in the pilot, and it wouldn’t have been bad to see her in the focus rather than Tea, who was missing any worthy screentime in the premiere. But at least the episode started some interesting storylines for the rest of the season, starting with the affection between Tony and Tea, and finally the relationship between Betty and Tea, which will eventually be rocked, thanks to Tony, or thanks to what is coming in future episodes.

It was a good episode. Slightly better than the pilot, slightly weaker, when it comes to work on the characters. But I wasn’t expecting for the one-character-per-episode focus to work on such a show. Now I’m developing expectations for the UK original. 7.5/10

Relationship troubles on the battlefield

At least Tea gets a happy end

Yes, of course you are reading a review of the US version of the show. And no, I won’t compare it with the UK version. Not only haven’t I watched the UK original so far, and secondly I’m not into comparing two shows, which are practically the same, especially since I’ve heard that this pilot is a one-to-one compared to the UK pilot. So why hating the show, because the US dared to remake such a good series? Why hating, because the original is still airing? Why hating, because the remake airs on MTV? Why hating at all?

I’m speaking only for me, when it comes to that, and I will probably never being friends with the PTC, who already hated the show without having seen it, but I liked the pilot. It was solid entertainment, the characters were introduced nicely, it had all the stereotypes about teenagers in today’s time, without overstepping them and letting them seem over the top, it has the usual “drinking, drugging and fucking”, without showing too much of it, and it delivered some good starting points, when it comes to storylines for the season. Or to be short: I liked the pilot, because of what it is, and not what everybody wants it to be. And when every hater of the US SKINS would have watched a bit closer (as well as all those people who think that SKINS is the next Armageddon for US television, and no, I’m not talking about YOU), they would have seen that it was actually an episode about friendship.

Not that the pilot was very great in its character introduction (half of them I still don’t know, and most of the time proper character development was missing), but the episode had a nice pace. Here we go from establishing Tony (James Newman) as the center of the band of friends, who is trying to help, connect, and keep the band together. He almost managed to let his buddy Stanley (Daniel Flaherty) lose his virginity, and he made clear that he is the guy amongst girls, that he can have every girl when he just wants them to have him (the scene in the girls-only school showed that, though that was the only overstated scene in the pilot). I wonder why he was supposed to be in the focus of the episode, when it was actually Stanley, who got most of the character developing scene – I know more about Stanley after an hour than I do about Tony. Despite it being a direct copy of the UK original, maybe the writers would have done a bit better with this episode to either retitle it to “Stanley”, or let Tony be more in the focus. But that’s not really a problem I have with the episode, it is just nitpicking.

The story itself was … well, I can’t really find a story. The episode always told me that these eight guys and girls are friends, that they go to high school, that they drink, take drugs, party hard, and have sex adventures – nothing more, maybe a bit less. Again, character scenes are missing, and not even the scene with Stanley and Cadie (Britne Oldford, yeah, without a ‘y’ in her first name) on the trampoline is helping me out (which was basically the only rememberable scene in the pilot). Besides Tony, Stanley, and Cadie a bit, no other character got enough screentime to tell me that they are worth to be friends in this world of teenage angst. I hope that the next couple of episodes will do their work, or it gets boring real soon. And I hope that the writers will find an own way real soon, or the UK original (when I’m starting to watch it) will be boring.

One thing really annoyed me though: the beeped ‘fuck’. I don’t know if the sound of my copy was fucked generally, but the beep tone was way too loud, and the producers could have easily muted those three moments of ‘fuck’, like in BREAKING BAD. They don’t need to beep, so maybe the producers will learn something from the future. Other than that: Without knowing much about the teenage life today, I found the language to be quite authentic for a basic cable show.

I don’t know the original, I didn’t jump on the haterz-train, and I basically liked the pilot. It is probably the best show ever on MTV (considering that it’s scripted), but for now SKINS isn’t worth to be talked about so much. For that, nothing happened. The episode didn’t even have one single sex scene on-screen… 7/10

Tony, the connector

Not having sex: Katie and Stanley