Skins - "Cadie" Review

“You can’t keep doing just whatever you want you know. Things can’t always work out for you.” -Cadie

I need to preface this review by stating that I will be making no more comparison’s to the British version of Skins. It’s unfair to both shows.

That being said, there’s not much to discuss about this episode of Skins. We learn that Cadie is clinically depressed and obsessive compulsive. She craves happiness so she looks for it in companionship, but her companions just seem to want her for the free drugs she can score. I was beginning to wonder if Cadie could pick up on social cues or if she was just playing dumb to Stanley when he asked for the drugs. Cadie’s home life appears to be adding to her stress and anxiety. She has beautiful mom who wants nothing more than for Cadie to just be pretty. She tells her that emotions aren’t real and feelings are batty. Her dad, a taxidermist, is a bit cooky too. I don’t like that the home life is a partial cause. Seems like it would be more interesting if she had a supportive home life and she was still this way. The current situation seems to allow Cadie an excuse and let the readers think she can be cured.

The other thing happening in this episode is that the status quo is being upset. After Tony’s hot encounter with Tea, he is beginning to obsess over her. He goes so far as to confront her and tell her of his feelings. Tea turns him down, but it didn’t appear to be cut and try as she admitted that she felt something too. Cadie sees Stan with Michelle and decides to try and sleep with Michelle’s mom’s boyfriend. Stan sees that and scolds Cadie saying that she always flips out. The interesting part is that he says he cares when she does it. It was a nice moment after he said he cared when he realized after saying it, that he actually does care.

The big issue is that I don’t feel connected to any of the characters or any of their relationships, so I don’t feel any empathy toward their plights. I’m almost rooting for the upheaval, which sounds devilish, but I think something needs to get shaken up or else the show will stagnate.

Skins - "Chris" Review

“Do you want to know about the best day of my life?” - Chris

When discussing MTV’s remake of Skins it’s very difficult to not compare it to the British version. MTV makes it even harder when they do a shot for shot, beat for beat, line for line remake of the same episode. I really liked the “Tea” episode last week where they had to branch out and make some new story lines up. However, episodes like tonight just remind me of how inferior the cast of the American Skins is. Chris is my favorite character from the BBC version, so it’s especially tough to watch one of the finest pieces of acting from the previous show fall short in this version.

I applaud MTV for casting no name actors in all the roles, and Jesse Carere puts up a noble effort in this episode. Here we learn about why Chris is the way he is. His older brother, Peter, who was the father’s favorite, passed away and we learn that the father still resents Chris. Chris sought refuge in his father’s house after his mother left him. Chris delivers a great monologue in front of Peter’s grave to Daisy* in which he describes the best day of his life, which, of course, was about his older brother sticking up for him. But ultimately, I never felt complete compassion for Chris in the episode. He seemed more just like a screw up that takes Viagra and parties too hard. We need to see something redeeming in all of these characters or else the show falls flat.

*The relationship between Daisy and Chris seemed forced. They had barely interacted yet she was the one to go with Chris to his dad’s house. Curious.

I started to like Stanley more in this episode. We saw that he had a bit of a mind of his own tonight when he talked about investing his birthday money. That’s a departure from the BBC where the character did not have much smarts. I still think they’re trying hard to make Cadie seem crazy. You show crazy by how others react, not how you act. A bit lazy on the writers part.

My thoughts on Skins remains the same since the first episode. If the show is going to be successful, it needs to start finding a new life of its own, sooner rather than later.

Other thoughts:

• Stanley needs to get his hair out of his eyes
• Why could they only find one brown and one black shoe for Chris?
• Pretty sure Chris’s pee was two different colors.
• The homeless hipster sleeping in Chris’s tub is a great small role.
• We’ve missed the scene from the original where all the students walk in on the teacher naked. It really helped fuel Chris’s lust for what he can’t have.
• This was the episode that had people saying child pornography laws could be broken. Chris walks naked down the street and we see his backside exposed. It’s a non issue.

Goodbye Old Friend

461 months.

That’s how old I was when I finally outgrew MTV. Or maybe I should say that’s how old I was when then last show I watched on MTV reached a level of suckness I could no longer tolerate.

Yes, I’m old enough to remember when MTV still played videos. In fact, I can remember when 120 minutes was essential viewing because there wasn’t a radio station here in Houston that played good music out of the mainstream. What? Oh well, I guess some things haven’t changed.

Anyway, for the past decade my last bastion of MTV refuge has been The Real World/Road Rules Challenges. Let’s be clear, I love this show. Especially in the beginning when it was people close to my own age and not what you’d call world-class athletes competing in crazy events to earn money. The show also benefited from the fact that the contestants were all former cast members of the RW or RR. I was in the prime target demographic when RW premiered in 1992. Twenty years old and addicted to television.

In my opinion the challenges had more than a couple legs up on similar shows like Survivor and Big Brother. The winners actually had to compete to win. Where as it seems like at least half the time Survivor is won by the person that pisses the fewest people off because they didn’t actually do anything. The challenges were made up of a whole cast of young attractive individuals that didn’t whither away from a lack of food. The challenges also could boast some of the best train wrecks on television. Tanya Cooley anyone? Lastly, it was pretty obvious all the guys were on steroids and you know what? No one cared, it only made the competition and train wrecks better. There’s a lesson there MLB and NFL.

At some point in the past decade, the people in charge of casting for RW decided they were only going to draw from the cesspool of douche bags and douche hags. Ultimately, this has killed the challenges for me. The endless parade of the most reprehensible individuals you can imagine and a black hole of contestants worth rooting for has finally taken its toll. Someone should point out to the casting directors that there’s a reason car wrecks are much more exciting at a NASCAR event than they are at a destruction derby.

So, I’ve lost a good friend this year and it won’t be easy to replace them. Hey maybe the Astros will get on a hot strea….ahh there I go talking about train wrecks again.

On a related note, I also gave up on the last VH1 show I watch, Celebrity Fit Club. I like watching celebrities struggle and I’m fat so I really like fat celebs. However, the producers seem unaware that the show doesn’t work if a) the contestants aren't celebrities or b) they’re not fat. I’m almost certain that Bobby Brown was actually cast to be on Celebrity Rehab but somehow wandered onto the wrong set.

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Coming up next time, a review of this past season of TV.