Day #12: Watch new Skins (Finally)

So, I finally got round to watching Skins this afternoon (yes, it is three days after Thursday but I had to wait until I could watch it with my sister. It's our thing). The big season finale. Was it a success? I am not sure.

I am totally enamoured with the latest cast, after being distinctly unimpressed with the cast of the second generation, bar a few exceptions. Franky, our hero, is the only professional actor in the main cast (Dakota Blue Richards) and she is just delightful: quirky, awkward and cool. So, like me really. Ahem. One out of three ain't bad, anyway. The rest of the cast are endearing in one way or another: Alo the farmer's son and Rich the metalhead are my favourite duo (though the music in Rich's episode was a tad too much for me: yeh, we get it, he's 'metal', does every song have to be so obnoxious?!). The styling team have really excelled themselves, the outfits this season have been really special and almost magical, especially some of Franky's boyish creations, and her hair is so cool (don't really get the boxers though). 

The problem that I have had with the last three seasons is the ultimate focus on the centric character of the episode. They are too self-contained, there is only a glimpse of the world outside that character and compared to the well-balanced first two series, it is a slight disappointment. Having said that, this series has been thoroughly enjoyable, with really nice music (they played my new loves Dog is Dead tonight) and a general aura of cool. I seem to be in the minority with this opinion, as everyone I have spoken to about this has muttered 'it's shit' - no reasons though. Funny, that.

This week's ep was the wedding, or not, as it transpired. It was a placid journey through Somerset, nice music and fairly well balanced in terms of character screen time - then again, it was an 'everyone' episode. The journey did drag slightly at times, but then Spaced's Jessica Stevenson cameo did sweeten the deal. All in all, this week's episode did not set me on fire but I feel I cannot condone this episode for being crap when the rest of the series was so good, especially Rich's and Franky's episodes. I am excited about the next series, as there are several storylines which look promising, a few loose ends to tie up and hopefully the introduction of new characters. Skins is finally back on form!