Skins 1x09- One of the Worst Episodes of Televsion

It is a fair to say that I will pretty much watch any TV show. I will give any show a chance and let it ride for a little bit until it gets on its steady tracks. There are some shows that I decide are decent but are not my cup of tea so I stop watching and others I keep on the backburner for when I am bored. I literally watched an episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County THREE TIMES in a row because I couldn't find my channel changer and I didn't want to get up from my bed. Last nights episode of Skins US was physically painful for me to sit through. Yes Skins is known for being over the top, crazy and things sometimes seem implausable, but in the end their is truth to the characters. Not only is their truth and honesty to the emotions that Skins usually creates but more importantly the storylines are entertaining.



Now let us begin talking about this weeks episode of Skins "Tina." It was atrocious to put it kindly. I feel like this was one of the worst storylines to translate to the US version, and I cannot even FATHOM why they made an episode dedicated to Tina. First of all, as a viewer, why do I care about Tina. I know nothing about her and the only character she interacted with before this was Chris. Okay so she is having an affair with the completely and utterly immature Chris. Lets just say I accept that fact. Why would she be having sex with him before school in Abbud's Treehouse? Why is she having sex with him a tree house? How did she not realize Abbud would discover their secret while having sex in Abbud's Treehouse? Okay so now we have the first two minutes of the episode covered.

On to the next point of order. The character of Tina is horrible. She is annoying, immature and I am not sure how she ever got offered a position as a teacher when I am struggling to get an interview for ANY job I apply to. She can't act and I do not care about any of her emotions or struggles. After she voices her utter confusion of the recent increased frequency of fire drills , her "fellow" students explain to her that "Um totally it was like Stanley with his big fat hairy balls. That was totally a false alarm because he didn't study.' Tina was all like "Jeepers, I would never do something like that, I only sleep with my students." Anyway the whole Skins clique gawks at Chris and Tina talking and are all like "they are totally getting it on." The rest of the episode Tina acts like the kid trying to hang out with in crowd at school, only she is their teacher and the "in crowd" is six years younger than she. Her conversation with Daisy about places to have sex in school was horrible. I was so uncomfortable I actually turned the volume off so I did not have to experience it.

I try really hard not to compare this version of Skins to its obviously superior sister series across the pond, but it is really hard. First off, British Chris was alot better of an actor and, in my opinion, one of the most beloved Skins characters ever. Second of all, UK Chris seemed to really care about Angie. He loved her, he cared about her and wanted to make her happy, not just screw her. He would never have submitted a paper called "How I'm Going to Bone You Tonight" in fear that Angie might get in trouble. I also do not believe he would have kept making jokes about his sex life with Angie in front of other characters after Angie was obviously uncomfortable with what he was saying.

Out of all the stories they brought over to the US, this is one I wish they didn't. Students sleeping with their teachers has been done before here. Students sleeping with their teachers has been done alot better over here. Right now we have Pretty Little Liars (even though the creators say Fitz and Aria aren't having sex) and we had the epic Pacey storyline in Dawson's Creek. Those were both controversial, but they worked because there was emotion and a connection between the two people. That is what allowed us as viewers to believe this might happen. I do not know a lot about the British school system, but I can say almost for certain that a teacher would not be able to behave the way Tina does in school, at any public school I know of.

There were only two glimmers of light in this episode, and each were about a minute a piece  (so basically 1/25 of this episode did not suck). The first was when David is trying to get a date with Tina. As annoying as David is, I thought his plan to find out where Tina lived was creepy yet ingenious. I laughed SO HARD as he was showing her all of the pictures of houses listed with"Tina Nolan" in the area to see if she had a facial reaction. A-MA-ZING!

The second gem of the episode was Michelle. Michelle tells a Fruit-by-the-Foot guzzling Tina that she should get friends her own age. Then in class she gets the entire class to shut the fuck up so Tina can try to get some respect from her students, which she doesn't deserve.

So you may be asking yourself will I watch the last episode of Skins. The answer is, yes I will. I am only watching it to see how it ends though. I may need a bottle of wine to stomach it.

What are your thoughts? Let me know!

APB