Ensofter Overrated and overhyped

2hotFeature one of my absolute favorites!

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Ewan Suttie The 1st generation of Skins (Season 1/2) is an immensely gripping British Drama, with great acting, story lines, and lovable characters. It's funny, emotional, weird, and deciphers the lives of British teenager years fantastically well, and in such a way that it's impossible to not like any of the characters. No other television show has made me laugh, cry and feel for the characters like this before. After the departure of the characters we've come to know and love, a new, less likable bunch arrive. I'm not sure if these where the writers intentions, but season 3 - 7 fail to grab the essence of the original two season's. The acting isn't even comparable to the 1st generation, the humor level is dumbed down to fart jokes and penis jokes, which is something the 1st never did, or if so, did in a way that didn't make it seem forced or even remotely like cheap writing. There are a few good moments and a few characters that made me laugh a couple of times, but these are the characters that are just copies of the old ones, and these same characters seem as if they are trying to balance the weight of the entire show on their shoulders. It's just not the same, and because you get so emotionally attached to the first generation's excellently written characters, narratives and style, it's hard to fall in love again. Season one and two - 9/10Season 3-7 - 6.5.

alex239-545-53158 Despite some scathing criticism and a reductionist advert campaign that focused disproportionately on the rebellious, edgy elements of the show, Skins produced some remarkable television. The first generation especially were moving, funny, intriguing personalities and the writing was superb. Season 1, structured mainly around the bored, semi-sociopathic narcissism of Tony and the nihilistic emotional turmoil of Cassie had heart, humour and amazing chemistry between all the leads. You cared about every character, episodes were structured fantastically and work as individual pieces as well as fitting the whole. Despite the much derided parting and drug taking, the season actually felt extremely realistic in everything from the dialogue to the wardrobe to the moral ambiguity to the parents, who are probably the most well drawn adult characters in the entire history of teen television. They are three dimensional and interesting, not merely stereotypes. Their comedy is natural and unforced. The pilot is as good an example of a lead television episode as you will find, perfectly introducing the cast, maintaining forward motion and a satisfying ending.Season 2 is almost as good, darker and pervaded with melancholy as the cast start to grow up and lose their dreams. Hannah Murray and Joe Dempsey put in career defining performances, full of pathos and humanity. Criticisms? The Sketch storyline divided viewers, being well executed but badly conceived, and the NYC storyline was preemptive of future seasons in its lack of believability although was beautifully shot with the usual superb photography that underpinned this show. The final episode is very poignant.Season 3 drops off a little but still surpassed expectations after the cast completely. The characters are still well drawn and memorable, the acting is solid, the music and cinematography continue to excel, the writing still concise and focused. The excellent Naomi/Emily plot got a huge online following. Jack O'Connell is sensational as Cook, a role that could slip easily into embarrassing parody but is instead absolutely riveting. The biggest drawback is the complete lack of chemistry between Freddie & Effy, undermining the love triangle storyline that the season fixates on - they are portrayed as deeply in love despite never having a meaningful exchange. Their scenes together are awkward and unnatural. The adult characters also become two dimensional, depicted as being out of touch and mainly used for badly written attempts at comedy.Season 4 sees a massive drop off in quality and is almost uniformly awful in terms of storyline and writing. The enhanced focus on Thomas is a negative - by far the most ridiculous character ever drawn on the show. The immigrant from a tiny, impoverished village in Congo who speaks perfect, eloquent English, portrayed as a perfect character without flaws. He nurses his little brother, fights off a local gangster with his wit and charm, forgives his girlfriend for cheating, makes a stand against underage drinking, gives girls his coat and shoes in freezing cold weather, is devoted to his family, reacting with serenity when goaded, and absurdly gets an instant athletic scholarship to Harvard despite having never ran before. His plot lines have no life because he doesn't ring true, even if the efforts to counter negative stereotypes of immigrants were noble if a little patronizing.This is unfortunately symptomatic of a season that completely sheds any semblance of believability. Edgy shots of drug abuse are inserted for shock value, with one character taking ecstasy, cocaine and cannabis in one sitting before cycling to college, with no explanation as to how he would pay for them, or why he would mix such different drugs other than that they needed a 'cool' looking montage of him snorting powder to show how deep, sad and lost he was. Lazy. The adult characters deteriorate further, becoming caricatures with the usual stock stereotypes of buffoonish headmasters and smug evil teachers expelling pupils, and an obsessive, murdering psychotherapist who is meant to make the show seem dark and haunting but succeeds in making it a ludicrous laughing stock. The JJ episode is the only saving grace, sweet and warm and cutting out the story arcs of the season to work as a lovely standalone piece.In Seasons 5 and 6 the writers vowed to 'bring back the lighter side' of the show. In practice this meant ripping off Mean Girls and especially The Inbetweeners, a show that had rocketed in popularity and prompted a backlash against Skins which was held to be an unrealistic portrayal of teen life next to the embarrassment and social awkwardness of The Inbetweeners. The cast were solid but unremarkable, and not helped by being given hipster makeovers making the show even less relateable to your normal teenager. The dialogue and clothes and plots were not a felt false; the collapse of ratings came as no surprise. More deaths were inserted for no other reason than easy drama and cheap tragedy to give the characters a reason to be angsty and enjoy those lonely, brooding close ups of them that had descended into self parody.Season 7 just served to tarnish memories. The lack of creativity in the writing is seen by more pointless, unrealistic deaths and dreadful dialogue ("Fetch me a towel, jewboy" a Muslim chef says to his Jewish assistant...). Shabby, poorly thought out plot lines include a girl going from admin assistant to top trader at a London stockbroker in a couple of weeks. Visually the show continued to excel but the episodes were incredibly disappointing.For all that, the first two series captured lighting in a bottle with a truly special cast coming together to create memorable, groundbreaking television that maintains a huge cult following still on Tumblr. It is no surprise that so many of the actors have become huge worldwide names. The writing, photography and characterization were all stunning and Season 1 especially is an inch perfect time capsule for being seventeen and at college in the UK in 2006/2007. Stick to the early stuff.

emmagardner14 I started watching this about a month ago and it has left me completely hooked! I am up to the beginning of series 6.As soon as new characters are introduced in the new generation you learn to love everyone of them for different reasons, and you feel like you can connect with them in some way, share their laughter and their pain.the end of series two left me in tears, not only was I not expecting it but i was sad the series was over. I think the situations are mostly realistic, but sometimes they are a bit over-the top.I think it is very well acted and the guest actors are brilliant, like Harry Enfield and others. However, i found that the characters in the first two series were more mature, whereas when you get on to series 3 and 4, then series 5 and 6, the characters become quite immature and i found that it is hard to take seriously at some points. But most of the time it is brilliant, and you can't stop watching it! I think some scenes are unnecessary,but you will have to watch to find out whether you agree or not.

jamieleepugh Skins is a love/hate show, you either steer clear of it or you watch it and get hooked. After watching series 1&2, you fall in love with most aspects of it, and some of the characters, too. The main storyline in S2:E1 is Maxxie's dream to go off to London and dance, but so many set-backs hold him back, the main thing, Tony who was hit by a bus and brain-damaged.Maxxie is an amazing character portrayed by a wonderful actor (Mitch Hewer) and his story of his homosexuality runs right up to his last episode where he finally moves to London with his boyfriend and best friend, Anwar. However when the last episode of series 2 ends, you feel lost and getting to S3:E1, it is a huge disappointment. You can't get into it for some reason. It's also poorly written and portrayed by great actors, but terrible characters.Skins is a fantastic show but the first generation of people is far, far better.