Skins: Season Two, Episode Ten, "Final Goodbyes"

Series Two, Episode Ten, “Final Goodbyes”

Skins is bad at finales. Don’t get me wrong: It’s not spectacularly bad at them, but it definitely struggles with them.

Why is this?

Well, Skins struggles with its big picture narratives. Its deep-dive stories are its bread-and-butter, and having to tell the stories of all its characters at once slightly forces its hand. 

I should probably backpedal here a little bit. This isn’t a terrible episode, even by Skins’ standards. It’s solid and mostly dependable, but it feels unsure of itself and it dawdles on subplots of little value (See that story of Tony and Sid stealing Chris’s casket) 

There’s a steady, powerful through-line provided by Chris’s death and his impending funeral. There’s even a good conflict created by Chris’s father shutting out the characters from the funeral. It’s just that that conflict feels unnecessary and the drama it stirs up fails to focus on the crucial emotional element here. 

See Skins is telling a story about the loss of innocence. Cassie witnessed Chris’s death not just because of her questionable emotional state, but because Skins has always seen her as an innocent (It’s not a coincidence that her season seven reunion episode is called “Pure”). And Chris was the closest the show had to a wounded heart, which only served to make his death all the more tragic. 

This might seem slightly strange for a group of sexed-up, drug-addled scalawags. But it should be clear by now that the partying-lifestyle is a bunch of bluster for a group of scared, confused teens who have no idea what they’re doing.

Most of the sendoffs here are ellipses, not periods. Maxxie and Anwar go off to London and have no clue what the future holds. Tony and Michelle are uncertain of where their relationship, and their future in general, stands. Sid may or may not find Cassie. It’s the bitter uncertainty of adulthood that they’ve begun to taste. 

That’s all great thematically, but it plays less well in the actual telling. There are terrific moments here: Jal’s speech at the funeral is powerful stuff. Tony saying goodbye to Sid is the most human that character has ever seemed. Michelle and Jal’s conversation at the aquarium is beautiful and moving, while losing none of the show’s off-kilter sense of humor. Even Anwar gets a nice little story arc about him failing his exams and having no clue what to do with his future (It’s the most substantial story Anwar has had in ages).

There’s also less terrific stuff. I could have done without the Sketch scenes. Chris’s dad’s scenes are also far more extensive than they ought to be considering this is the finale. The car chase is ridiculous. And because Cassie is in New York, we don’t get nearly enough time with that character. 

Skins biggest problem is not its goofy antics or its unnecessary flights of fancy, but its inability to earn a lot of its dramatic moments (This is, for instance, why Jal’s episodes have failed to land). I like what’s going on with Anwar but have been given no reason to care because we’ve spent so little time focusing on Anwar. This similarly makes it hard to get invested in Maxxie’s big trip to London. By contrast, we’ve spent a lot of time dealing with Tony and Michelle and I feel nothing for their ambiguous future. Their story just was not interesting enough this season, and the writers didn’t quite seem to pick up on that. 

This was an uneven season. There were some standout moments but the show lacked the vivacity of its first season. Skins’ second seasons have the quality of “our heart just wasn’t in it” to them. The show is good at beginnings and ungainly at endings. Its ability to reboot is a blessing. I’m not sure I could have dealt with another season of the stories of this set of characters. 

Grade: B