Contrary to what some say, "Skins" IS realistic in some ways: the characters are believable and even some of the more outlandish events in the series are unsettlingly authentic, such as most of the partying shown. "Skins" does take dramatic liberty with a lot of things, though, and the reason it remains essential, excellent drama as opposed to cheap nonsense like most teen dramas is its sense of humor, audacity, relative originality, and tendency to take risks.
"Effy", episode 8 from the first series of "Skins", features what is by far one of the most outrageous and over-the-top story lines on "Skins", following up on Tony sending the pictures of Abigail through Josh's phone to Michelle and a bunch of other people. Josh's idea of revenge is sick, twisted, and dark like nothing else in the series up to this point, and is handled excellently by the writers, who succeed in making it feel dark and actually sort of spooky and disturbing. There's some hilarious sections in this episode, but as a whole it's as dark as "Skins" gets in series one (series two would feature several more episodes where things got really dark and miserable).
Hats off to director Adam Smith who builds a spooky and foreboding atmosphere without which this episode might have fallen flat on its face, and kudos to Kaya Scodelario, the youngest of the frequently seen Skins actors, but also perhaps the most talented and promising. She perfectly embodies the mysterious, intriguing, and dangerously sexual Effy.
This is terrific drama.
10/10
