Skins – Season 2

Archived review – note that these were my initial impressions, and I've since grown more fond of this season after rewatching it. Time, and mood, can do that to you!

Series 2 of the (very) British teen drama still had some excellent moments and kept the tone that makes it so different from any other show, but all in all I felt this series to be a little bit lacklustre compared to the first. The plot didn't seem to move as quickly, perhaps as a result of trying to deal from the fallout of Tony's accident and Cassie's departure. It's great to have a good ensemble for a show such as this but, despite my usually liking the different-episode-different-character format, it meant that there was a major problem with issuing screentime; Cassie doesn't get more than a scene until the fifth episode and Maxxie basically disappears after the second one. Still, there's a lot to praise the show for. The first death of a recurring character in episode 3 was done extremely well, and Jal and Chris' rapidly growing relationship was a nice antidote to the frankly rather dull woe-is-me duo of Tony and Michelle. And, after the confusion of the penultimate episode (just watch it and try to make sense of the symbolism, I bet you can't, maybe that's the point), the finale was a return to form with a hilarious car chase scene reminiscent of the show's early humour and provided a fitting sendoff for all of the characters. Although I'll miss many of them, I think it's definitely for the best that the show starts over with a fresh cast as, and Lost has proved this, a character-based show can get stale quickly without injecting new blood every now and then (besides which, they killed off the best one anyway!). For now, I'm still watching...