SKINS CANADA: series 1, episode 1
See what I did there. It's because it's true.
Now, it's gonna take a few weeks to get back in the swing of this. I'm not going to take the X-Factor judges out for a walk yet. I'll save that for when I have stronger opinions, and more time. (Time management is killing me a bit right now, tbh.) We're gonna do this the old fashioned way.
I think I'll start this off with a few overall things I feel I need to address.
1. Don't get on my tits about this. Do not call me a "hater". FFS, I'll backhand you harder than US Michelle ever could. There is a distinct difference between critiquing and criticising something, and hating on it. For me, the latter is based purely on ill/misinformed, knee-jerk kind of reactions to things you've not bothered to understand, and have not even attempted to look at positively. It may be a surprise to many, but someone can say, "I didn't like it" and, OMG, NOT be hating. There are these things called opinions, and everyone has them. If they've taken the time to give something a chance, and then it turns out that even despite that, they still didn't like it, that's not "hating".
All the fans that are humping MTV!Skins legs these days need to chill as much as the haters, cos they're just acting like haters of a different kind themselves, imo. Except instead of hating on a TV show, they're hating on other people. Remember way back when 99% of fandom was shitting on this remake and you all started going "OMG! It's just an opinion! Respect our opinions!!!" Guess what? You have to do the same now. There will be people who didn't see it like you did. There will be people who disagree. There will be people who say things you don't like to hear about your precious show. Respect THEIR opinions the same way you went around telling everyone else to do with yours when they were in the minority. And, you know what, I too was one of these fans who pleaded with people to just relax, stop hating and not tell others off for simply having a different opinion.
And, yeah, I still stand by that. I don't mind reading criticisms of the show. I don't mind people not liking it. Shit happens. I especially don't have a problem when people have actual, you know, REASONS for not liking it. IMO, this is not "hating". This is criticism.
Sure, there are still haters out there that will just spout shit out their asses/mouths for the sake of it, or cos they're legit stupid, or cos they're lazy, or any host of reasons people choose to hate. But not everyone with a negative opinion is a hater.
Just had to get that off my chest.
2. I understand this was a pilot. I understand that by and large pilots are generally pretty bad. (Though I don't really understand why...) I have very, very rarely thoroughly enjoyed a pilot of any dramatic TV show. I could prolly count them on one hand. (Grey's, Shameless, The OC, This is Wonderland.... Hmmm... The X-Files? Doesn't matter anyway.) Also, I did not like the UK pilot much either. I never considered the first 3 episodes of S1 to be very strong tbh. It takes a while for a show to hit its stride. I get all that, and what you will see here DOES take all this into consideration. Despite my #1 in this list, this will not be a giant ball of negativity post. Not at all. I rate it a solid C, it wasn't terrible, it wasn't excellent. And I'm merely going to outline WHY I feel this way. There is room for improvement and I'm hopeful that we'll see it.
3. Hmm. I swear I had a 3rd thing. But I don't remember now.
OH WAIT. I will say, on initial viewing I got tipsy, as per the drinking game of "Watch Jersey Shore and drink everytime you see an advert or pop-up for Skins then drink everytime something happens on Skins that is the same as the UK version." It was a good night and made the episode VERY enjoyable. It's the sober rewatch I'll be basing this on tho.
ON WITH THE SHOW!!!
I'm not going to go scene by scene at this time. I just don't have time. I've got class soon and maybe that's a blessing cos I'm forced to be brief. So: the GOOD, the BAD, the WEIRD, and the INTERESTING.
Let's start with the GOOD THINGS. The PROS if you will.
1. TORONTO. Of course I liked this. This obviously Canadian programme, lol. I'm lame like that. I love recognising locations.
2. Eura. She's a hot mess, and apparently the only smart kid in the whole group cos she, like, wears a coat in winter time. It's impossible to judge her much considering she didn't speak.
3. THE MUSIC. I was a little doubtful about it cos, well, I hate Sleigh Bells and Skins seems rather obsessed with them. And let's not talk about how horrible FXFeldman's Jonsi review was (and what lack of musical understanding that portrayed). I didn't think that would bode well for what we would hear. I've found his tumblr blogs about music hit or miss. However... Animal Collective? excellent choice. And from then on, ALL the music choices were pretty spot on. A nice mix, tho imo, it sounded a little fanmix-ish. If that's even a thing. There were some stand out tracks, and the presence of Segal was just brilliant. And the Jokers track/scene was TIGHT (but then again i'm a sucker for electro bangers, so major bias lol). I would go so far as to give the music alone an A-. Not an A or A+, but very good regardless. I was impressed, and let's hope they keep it up. My only issue is that it's a little try hard. While the songs are good, you don't need to be SUCH indie snots and purposely choose obscure shit no one has heard of for EVERY track. A lot of those were unfamiliar to even me, and I feel like I'm moderately well-versed. I can't imagine the general target audience knows ANY of it tho (except AC). I feel like UK!Skins did an excellent job of balancing rare and obscure music with slightly more accessible tracks.
4. Speaking of music, Tony's singing goes into the GOOD category, believe it or not. I thought that whole scene was HILARIOUS. I have a feeling tho it wasn't meant to be quite as amusing as I found it. Literally, during my drunk viewing, I was laughing so hard I cried. No word of a lie. I still giggle when it happens. Don't ask me why. It is just beyond entertaining to me.
5. The drug dealer. FINALLY a dealer on Skins that actually LOOKS like one. And acts like one. I thought the Mad Twatter was one of the STUPIDEST characters/plots ever in Skins and I'm SO glad they ditched him for this guy. This one is BELIEVABLE imo. He's exactly the kind of creep I could find to sell me crack at the Coffee Time near my house. (Just as a note: Don't ask me where this drug-packed Coffee Time is. Truth is, there was a bust and now they don't do business there. The smack-dealing hooker has also left the area.) And also note I said "could" not "would". I don't buy crack. I'm just given it for free, lol. But I digress, this dude was creepy and realistic imo. Except for the fact he works out of an Oakville suburb. Meh.
6. Michelle being taller than Tony most of the time. I like it. Shut up. It's cute.
7. Tony's spider duvet. I see a lot of shit talk about how it's not as cool. It IS cool, losers. You just don't understand spider symbolism. It's more meta, imo than UK!Tony. I posted at least 3 times now educating people about the spider. Let's just say spiders: -weaver of fate, creator, trickster. If you don't know how Tony is any of those things, well. I dunno. I'm not going to explain it right now.
8. Michelle's wardrobe. I like how she's a classier Effy S3. SERIOUSLY. See what she wore to that party (hoodie aside)? In this vein, Rachel Thevenard's face was very pleasing to me. She's jail bait tho and it was completely unfair to show us that feeling herself up bit lol. It just makes me feel pervy and dirty. I suppose tho, that's kind of the point. But this is a whole other issue I'll get to in the INTERESTING section of my rant.
9. Cadie. Everything about Cadie. Britne is not only one of the more talented of the cast (I may go so far as to say she IS the best actor out of the lot), but she's beautiful and the character of Cadie is perfect. Okay, maybe not PERFECT. But she's very, very good. She is everything I liked about Cassie, and everything I hated about Cassie isn't there! She's dark and hilarious and ... UGH. I can't even explain it properly. Britne's delivery of Cadie's lines, just YES. her expressions YES. It's lost that breathy Cassieness, and replaced it with this sort of... I don't even know. I wouldn't say menace, but it's a coldness and like, actual flair. She's fucking brilliant. Two moments that stand out in this regard are after the SUV goes into the water and when she pops up behind Stanley outside the party with just that "Hi." BRILLIANT. I find her character so full of potential.
10. So let's talk acting for a moment: Best actors imo. Britne, Daniel and Camille. Most every line was delivered well with enough range of tone and facial emotiveness. I thought Camille pulled off a good Daisy/Jal. (I was surprised they had her going to the party). I think Dan was good the majority of the time and seemed to play off Britne better than the weaker actors (but that's how it goes, right?).
11. "TOO URBAN, TOO URBAN!" Nuff said.
12. Daisy and Tea being HBICs during the fight/party. Michelle was pretty decent too. Her scream at Tony while flipping the chick over the sofa was ace.
13. Michelle yanking on Cadie's hair. OMG LOL.
THE BAD.
1. *sigh* The acting of everyone else. I get it, they're newbies. They're not going to be spectacular. But there was a serious lack of charisma, imo. I think it's possible to be a mediocre actor and still have charisma tho. I felt like the dialogue didn't help matters (I mean, what fucking teenagers were THEY consulting with that speak like that?). I feel like the weakest actors were Rachel, Sofia and Ron. AND THE ADULTS. tbh, the terrible acting from the adults overshadowed weak acting by the young ones. God it was atrocious. And they have NO excuse being adults, and assuming this isn't their first gig ever. The adults were horrible over-acting, and the kids weren't acting enough. It was almost, no it WAS cringe-worthy at times. I feel like they're trying too hard to be something they're not. It's so disingenuous. And as a result of not either being comfortable or invested, they come off flat and uninspired.
But, I'm allowing leeway for the kids here cos I'm sure they'll improve. That's the silver lining. They need to stop trying to force it. I found Rachel's take on Michelle... *sigh* You all know Michelle is my fav so she's obvs going to be held to a higher/different standard than the rest of the cast but I felt Rachel wasn't really sure what to do with the role. She goes for it, I'll give her that, but never quite pulls off the "fiery" aspect of Michelle that I thought they were trying to keep (I understand this is US Michelle not UK, but the general characters are supposed to be vaguely similar). She really reminded me more of Marissa Cooper, in some way. She had this obvious vulnerability and sweetness that I don't think came across so blatantly in UK!Michelle, but I think that façade that UK!Michelle had overtop of what I would argue is equal vulnerability and sweetness is what made her a character with depth, and made her really interesting to me. I feel like new Michelle is more superficial in that way. Like we're being given this soft side right off the bat for some reason. (Okay, IKIK, a lot of people hated UK!Michelle cos she was a "bitch" -- which she wasn't, btw and I guess they didn't want to fall into that trap again. But really, I don't really dig these sort of gentle, fragile girls. But I have more to say about the character of Michelle in the INTERESTING section. This is supposed to be about the acting). I think it's just that she needs more OOMPF. She's very soft-spoken, but I have seen her pull out the big guns (like at the end of her character trailer) so she CAN do it; it's just a matter of how long we have to wait for it to come out on-screen. She's beautiful, and she has a lot of great facial expressions. It's just she needs to match up her dialogue delivery with that. I'm sure she will. In fact, I know she will. Positive thinking! And I'm sure Sofia improves too, based even on what we've seen.
This is what gives me hope. Rachel played this scene WELL. She exchanged UK!Michelle's flippant, confident incredulity for reluctance, suspicion and bemused disbelief. If that distinction makes sense. It was subtle yet effective. If she plays Michelle like this, I don't really see a need to soften the character to make her "more likable" cos this kind of execution would portray the character well... just imo. SO, i think that proves that Rachel's got IT, that spark, the fire necessary for Michelle, but just has to work on not softening/deadening the delivery of her (sometimes terrible) dialogue.
Just omg. I didn't much care for Angie, but Tina is going to drive me up the fucking wall. She's an "adult". She SHOULD be a better actor. There's no excuse. Fuck, they could have hired me (I can pull off "adult") and I could have done it. Ok, maybe not, cos crying on camera is not my thang. (Not like certain British redheads...)
I found both James and Jesse tolerable. I don't think they were GREAT, but I don't think they were awful either. I thought James really sold it a few times, keeping in mind he's not supposed to be UK!Tony. And honestly, I find James so much more attractive than Nick. NGL.
2. Cultural translation issues.
a) Who the fuck has mailboxes in the downtown core?
b) Things I've never heard ever: "spliffed up", "skins" or "reckon". Maybe I'm too old, but we say things like "baked", "high", "fucked", "faded", "blazed", "papers", "wraps", and "think".
c) No one here listens to drum and bass. Sorry. That's like saying we're going to listen to garage or funky-house. These things are such niches over here. The general populace doesn't listen to 'em. Especially not young rich kids. Trust me. They listen to the shittiest tunes ever, and it always boggles my mind when they tell me they like something decent. (Also, there was no DnB at that party. The Segal track was the KIND of music I'd expect to hear. However, if it's not on MTV or something, a lot my friends wouldn't know it). Tabitha's little invitation to Tony was bunk.
d) Why aren't they wearing jackets? It's winter. While it seemed like UK Skins only took place in the summer/fall (cos that's when it's filmed), here in North America, when it's snowing, you generally wear a coat. The only time I don't is when I'm really really smashed and don't feel like I need it.
e) A lot of the slang tbh. The sexual euphemisms were both hilarious and terrible. I can't decide which. I did enjoy "So clitoral". I may just adopt that. This whole "golly gee" and "doo doo" thing they had going on was really weird. And bad.
f) The dancing. I was actually at house party last weekend and music was blasting and no one was dancing except me (yelling for more Ke$ha!!!) and some Mexicans, and I had a convo with them about how they hate that no one dances at house parties in Canada/US. They didn't understand it. I mean dancing does happen, but it's never like that. I never understood that about TV teens. (In this sense, I feel like the reverse trailer was far more accurate in a portrayal of a house party here).
3. The flow. It felt choppy. Maybe cos they cut out bits and put in different ones. I'm not sure. Something was just off about that. This isn't to say I didn't enjoy the original scenes -- thinking primarily of the chris/tea/daisy/abbud ones, but it was a little off-balance I thought.
So, see? Only 3 bad, and 13 good. There are things that bothered me overall about the ~tone and ~feel of the show itself, but they're hard to put into words at the moment. When I feel more focused, I may attempt it. Oh wait, I have another banal complaint.
4. The extras looked 50-years-old. I'm sorry. I get that you need a certain number of ACTRA extras and these "professional background performers" are older but for fucks sake, do they HAVE to look 30? just give me a call, i'll do it for free and i don't look like a 30 year old. so bonus.
5. The titles suck. I like the visuals, yes. I loathe the song. By which I mean, I don't mind the song by itself. I hate it as a theme. Seeing it along with the visuals did not improve my opinion. On that note, everytime I hear it, I feel like saying "STARSCREEEAAAMMMM!" just to remind myself how awesome it could have been. Fuck this Lina Magic shit.
6. MTV bleeping shit. It's too bad someone didn't rip the TMN version instead. Apparently it's uncensored so our downloads wouldn't have the bleeps.
THE WEIRD:
1. I think one of the chicks in the party scene was a friend of my sister's in high-school. But I can't really ask her "Hey is that your weird-looking friend from school?"
2. Referring to the name of the show. As I said earlier, no one I've ever met that isn't influenced by British TV refer to rollies as skins. Usually it's Zigs, papers, wraps. But none of those would make a good TV show name. I think however, they should have just left it with papers instead. Let kids think what they want about the meaning of the name of the programme, you know?
3. The locations. I know I said I liked them, but I also find them weird. And I feel sorry for the cast that had to go into that disgusting lake Ontario water. You see in the background of that scene? THAT IS A NATURAL GAS PLANT. And right near it is an abandoned coal/natural gas plant. (and by plant i mean it generates electricity from those things, not makes them.) also nearby? the waste water treatment plant. All in all, those kids are swimming in a CESSPOOL. ugh. tho, it's prolly just as bad as Bristol Harbour... I also like the rich kid house that looked like Casa Loma. i assume it's some Bridal Path/Post Rd/Oakville deal. Looked like Casa Loma to me tho lol.
4. OMG that convo Tony had with her on the phone. MAGIC RABBIT. I think it's just a LITTLE weird that 16 year olds are using vibrators, mutually. Isn't it? I guess Michelle can't claim Tony never made her cum this time around... altho I suppose it's not ~really him. Thought it was funny if a little weird. I love James in that scene.
5. I didn't feel like Stanley was all that interested in losing his viginity. He just never seemed to be excited about it, not like Sid was at any rate. He's just kind of a cool guy... A little weird for me. Don't mind it, it's different and I like different.
THE INTERESTING:
1. Michelle. Of course I'm never going to stop talking about her. I felt she was interesting because of the change in direction/change of portrayal of her. I feel like other reviewers have it totally wrong when they say she's the least changed character from the UK version. I found her really different.
I found her sad.
It made me sad for her. After she tosses her hoodie to Stan and starts that jail bait sexy tit-touching dance, I didn't feel like she was ANYTHING like UK michelle. It was sad to watch. Like kind of desperate? Something UK Michelle never was imo, at least not on the surface. UK!Michelle had a lot more outward confidence (even if she's completely insecure on the inside). Like this Michelle was just SO objectified it hurts. (Ironically I feel like fandom itself has done this to Michelle/Rachel. In fact, I feel like Skins itself does that to Rachel. Does her bra need to be showing ALL the time for people to like her? Makes me sad also cos I feel like she's much more than just tits and a pretty face. She's a sweetheart). Anyway, back to Michelle... This whole ... GUH. It hurts my heart. (Not in a OMG I HATE IT kinda of way. Just in an empathetic way.)
I get it Michelle's ~sexy. But sometimes I feel like Skins is pushing her more like they're her pimp than anything else. I think there's a difference between that and just flaunting what someone has. Maybe I'm just being sensitive cos of my hurty heart but this IN YOUR FACE SEX APPEAL thing is just not for me. Michelle's inherently gorgeous, she doesn't need to be used like a sex toy. That's all I'm saying. I understand that's part of the whole dynamic with Tony, and it's pretty much the basis of the character herself, but she feels to me like a sad soul too. Her and Cadie both. Like she has no self-perceived worth beyond being sexy, which is BANG ON to UK!Michelle, but I never really felt the same kind of hopelessness with UK!Michelle. I think hopelessness isn't the right word but I'm rushing here. UK Michelle kind of just oozed sex appeal without trying too hard, imo. (The character herself was different but just the way her energy came across on-screen i'm talking about here.) Rachel's sad eyes when she's doing her walk/dancing for Tony... *sigh* I just want to hug her... and hook her up with someone else. Not Tea. Not Tony. Not Stan. I dunno even what I'm saying lol. I'm getting all muddled up with my logic and ~feelings... I have such a gooey soft spot for Michelle in all her incarnations.
It's both compelling and sad, and I think I'm going to like Michelle, regardless of how different/similar she is to April Pearson's Michelle.... as long as Skins itself tones down on the pimp-daddy overtones and just lets Rachel's beauty come out a little more naturally.
I want to say more on this but I really gotta cut it short.
OVERALL::::
It was entertaining. Was it excellently crafted television? No. Was it the worst thing ever seen? NO. It was entertaining. I enjoyed watching it. It was decent. Was it as good as Skins UK? It was no worse than the UK pilot, imo. It just had different strengths and different weaknesses. Not bad, just different. (Altho I will say I feel the acting in the UK one overall was quite a bit better, and that's not just a "looking thru rose-coloured glasses into the sentimental past" kinda thing.) Not hating, just stating.
Am I head over heels in love with it? No. I'm just going with it. I know it'll get better, so I think it has potential to be really good. But, you know what? Even if that doesn't happen it'll still be fun times. And really, Skins is just good entertainment, right? If it's entertaining then it's done its job.
Still got my happy-hat on. :)
Now, it's gonna take a few weeks to get back in the swing of this. I'm not going to take the X-Factor judges out for a walk yet. I'll save that for when I have stronger opinions, and more time. (Time management is killing me a bit right now, tbh.) We're gonna do this the old fashioned way.
I think I'll start this off with a few overall things I feel I need to address.
1. Don't get on my tits about this. Do not call me a "hater". FFS, I'll backhand you harder than US Michelle ever could. There is a distinct difference between critiquing and criticising something, and hating on it. For me, the latter is based purely on ill/misinformed, knee-jerk kind of reactions to things you've not bothered to understand, and have not even attempted to look at positively. It may be a surprise to many, but someone can say, "I didn't like it" and, OMG, NOT be hating. There are these things called opinions, and everyone has them. If they've taken the time to give something a chance, and then it turns out that even despite that, they still didn't like it, that's not "hating".
All the fans that are humping MTV!Skins legs these days need to chill as much as the haters, cos they're just acting like haters of a different kind themselves, imo. Except instead of hating on a TV show, they're hating on other people. Remember way back when 99% of fandom was shitting on this remake and you all started going "OMG! It's just an opinion! Respect our opinions!!!" Guess what? You have to do the same now. There will be people who didn't see it like you did. There will be people who disagree. There will be people who say things you don't like to hear about your precious show. Respect THEIR opinions the same way you went around telling everyone else to do with yours when they were in the minority. And, you know what, I too was one of these fans who pleaded with people to just relax, stop hating and not tell others off for simply having a different opinion.
And, yeah, I still stand by that. I don't mind reading criticisms of the show. I don't mind people not liking it. Shit happens. I especially don't have a problem when people have actual, you know, REASONS for not liking it. IMO, this is not "hating". This is criticism.
Sure, there are still haters out there that will just spout shit out their asses/mouths for the sake of it, or cos they're legit stupid, or cos they're lazy, or any host of reasons people choose to hate. But not everyone with a negative opinion is a hater.
Just had to get that off my chest.
2. I understand this was a pilot. I understand that by and large pilots are generally pretty bad. (Though I don't really understand why...) I have very, very rarely thoroughly enjoyed a pilot of any dramatic TV show. I could prolly count them on one hand. (Grey's, Shameless, The OC, This is Wonderland.... Hmmm... The X-Files? Doesn't matter anyway.) Also, I did not like the UK pilot much either. I never considered the first 3 episodes of S1 to be very strong tbh. It takes a while for a show to hit its stride. I get all that, and what you will see here DOES take all this into consideration. Despite my #1 in this list, this will not be a giant ball of negativity post. Not at all. I rate it a solid C, it wasn't terrible, it wasn't excellent. And I'm merely going to outline WHY I feel this way. There is room for improvement and I'm hopeful that we'll see it.
3. Hmm. I swear I had a 3rd thing. But I don't remember now.
OH WAIT. I will say, on initial viewing I got tipsy, as per the drinking game of "Watch Jersey Shore and drink everytime you see an advert or pop-up for Skins then drink everytime something happens on Skins that is the same as the UK version." It was a good night and made the episode VERY enjoyable. It's the sober rewatch I'll be basing this on tho.
ON WITH THE SHOW!!!
I'm not going to go scene by scene at this time. I just don't have time. I've got class soon and maybe that's a blessing cos I'm forced to be brief. So: the GOOD, the BAD, the WEIRD, and the INTERESTING.
Let's start with the GOOD THINGS. The PROS if you will.
1. TORONTO. Of course I liked this. This obviously Canadian programme, lol. I'm lame like that. I love recognising locations.
2. Eura. She's a hot mess, and apparently the only smart kid in the whole group cos she, like, wears a coat in winter time. It's impossible to judge her much considering she didn't speak.
3. THE MUSIC. I was a little doubtful about it cos, well, I hate Sleigh Bells and Skins seems rather obsessed with them. And let's not talk about how horrible FXFeldman's Jonsi review was (and what lack of musical understanding that portrayed). I didn't think that would bode well for what we would hear. I've found his tumblr blogs about music hit or miss. However... Animal Collective? excellent choice. And from then on, ALL the music choices were pretty spot on. A nice mix, tho imo, it sounded a little fanmix-ish. If that's even a thing. There were some stand out tracks, and the presence of Segal was just brilliant. And the Jokers track/scene was TIGHT (but then again i'm a sucker for electro bangers, so major bias lol). I would go so far as to give the music alone an A-. Not an A or A+, but very good regardless. I was impressed, and let's hope they keep it up. My only issue is that it's a little try hard. While the songs are good, you don't need to be SUCH indie snots and purposely choose obscure shit no one has heard of for EVERY track. A lot of those were unfamiliar to even me, and I feel like I'm moderately well-versed. I can't imagine the general target audience knows ANY of it tho (except AC). I feel like UK!Skins did an excellent job of balancing rare and obscure music with slightly more accessible tracks.
4. Speaking of music, Tony's singing goes into the GOOD category, believe it or not. I thought that whole scene was HILARIOUS. I have a feeling tho it wasn't meant to be quite as amusing as I found it. Literally, during my drunk viewing, I was laughing so hard I cried. No word of a lie. I still giggle when it happens. Don't ask me why. It is just beyond entertaining to me.
5. The drug dealer. FINALLY a dealer on Skins that actually LOOKS like one. And acts like one. I thought the Mad Twatter was one of the STUPIDEST characters/plots ever in Skins and I'm SO glad they ditched him for this guy. This one is BELIEVABLE imo. He's exactly the kind of creep I could find to sell me crack at the Coffee Time near my house. (Just as a note: Don't ask me where this drug-packed Coffee Time is. Truth is, there was a bust and now they don't do business there. The smack-dealing hooker has also left the area.) And also note I said "could" not "would". I don't buy crack. I'm just given it for free, lol. But I digress, this dude was creepy and realistic imo. Except for the fact he works out of an Oakville suburb. Meh.
6. Michelle being taller than Tony most of the time. I like it. Shut up. It's cute.
7. Tony's spider duvet. I see a lot of shit talk about how it's not as cool. It IS cool, losers. You just don't understand spider symbolism. It's more meta, imo than UK!Tony. I posted at least 3 times now educating people about the spider. Let's just say spiders: -weaver of fate, creator, trickster. If you don't know how Tony is any of those things, well. I dunno. I'm not going to explain it right now.
8. Michelle's wardrobe. I like how she's a classier Effy S3. SERIOUSLY. See what she wore to that party (hoodie aside)? In this vein, Rachel Thevenard's face was very pleasing to me. She's jail bait tho and it was completely unfair to show us that feeling herself up bit lol. It just makes me feel pervy and dirty. I suppose tho, that's kind of the point. But this is a whole other issue I'll get to in the INTERESTING section of my rant.
9. Cadie. Everything about Cadie. Britne is not only one of the more talented of the cast (I may go so far as to say she IS the best actor out of the lot), but she's beautiful and the character of Cadie is perfect. Okay, maybe not PERFECT. But she's very, very good. She is everything I liked about Cassie, and everything I hated about Cassie isn't there! She's dark and hilarious and ... UGH. I can't even explain it properly. Britne's delivery of Cadie's lines, just YES. her expressions YES. It's lost that breathy Cassieness, and replaced it with this sort of... I don't even know. I wouldn't say menace, but it's a coldness and like, actual flair. She's fucking brilliant. Two moments that stand out in this regard are after the SUV goes into the water and when she pops up behind Stanley outside the party with just that "Hi." BRILLIANT. I find her character so full of potential.
10. So let's talk acting for a moment: Best actors imo. Britne, Daniel and Camille. Most every line was delivered well with enough range of tone and facial emotiveness. I thought Camille pulled off a good Daisy/Jal. (I was surprised they had her going to the party). I think Dan was good the majority of the time and seemed to play off Britne better than the weaker actors (but that's how it goes, right?).
11. "TOO URBAN, TOO URBAN!" Nuff said.
12. Daisy and Tea being HBICs during the fight/party. Michelle was pretty decent too. Her scream at Tony while flipping the chick over the sofa was ace.
13. Michelle yanking on Cadie's hair. OMG LOL.
THE BAD.
1. *sigh* The acting of everyone else. I get it, they're newbies. They're not going to be spectacular. But there was a serious lack of charisma, imo. I think it's possible to be a mediocre actor and still have charisma tho. I felt like the dialogue didn't help matters (I mean, what fucking teenagers were THEY consulting with that speak like that?). I feel like the weakest actors were Rachel, Sofia and Ron. AND THE ADULTS. tbh, the terrible acting from the adults overshadowed weak acting by the young ones. God it was atrocious. And they have NO excuse being adults, and assuming this isn't their first gig ever. The adults were horrible over-acting, and the kids weren't acting enough. It was almost, no it WAS cringe-worthy at times. I feel like they're trying too hard to be something they're not. It's so disingenuous. And as a result of not either being comfortable or invested, they come off flat and uninspired.
But, I'm allowing leeway for the kids here cos I'm sure they'll improve. That's the silver lining. They need to stop trying to force it. I found Rachel's take on Michelle... *sigh* You all know Michelle is my fav so she's obvs going to be held to a higher/different standard than the rest of the cast but I felt Rachel wasn't really sure what to do with the role. She goes for it, I'll give her that, but never quite pulls off the "fiery" aspect of Michelle that I thought they were trying to keep (I understand this is US Michelle not UK, but the general characters are supposed to be vaguely similar). She really reminded me more of Marissa Cooper, in some way. She had this obvious vulnerability and sweetness that I don't think came across so blatantly in UK!Michelle, but I think that façade that UK!Michelle had overtop of what I would argue is equal vulnerability and sweetness is what made her a character with depth, and made her really interesting to me. I feel like new Michelle is more superficial in that way. Like we're being given this soft side right off the bat for some reason. (Okay, IKIK, a lot of people hated UK!Michelle cos she was a "bitch" -- which she wasn't, btw and I guess they didn't want to fall into that trap again. But really, I don't really dig these sort of gentle, fragile girls. But I have more to say about the character of Michelle in the INTERESTING section. This is supposed to be about the acting). I think it's just that she needs more OOMPF. She's very soft-spoken, but I have seen her pull out the big guns (like at the end of her character trailer) so she CAN do it; it's just a matter of how long we have to wait for it to come out on-screen. She's beautiful, and she has a lot of great facial expressions. It's just she needs to match up her dialogue delivery with that. I'm sure she will. In fact, I know she will. Positive thinking! And I'm sure Sofia improves too, based even on what we've seen.
This is what gives me hope. Rachel played this scene WELL. She exchanged UK!Michelle's flippant, confident incredulity for reluctance, suspicion and bemused disbelief. If that distinction makes sense. It was subtle yet effective. If she plays Michelle like this, I don't really see a need to soften the character to make her "more likable" cos this kind of execution would portray the character well... just imo. SO, i think that proves that Rachel's got IT, that spark, the fire necessary for Michelle, but just has to work on not softening/deadening the delivery of her (sometimes terrible) dialogue.
Just omg. I didn't much care for Angie, but Tina is going to drive me up the fucking wall. She's an "adult". She SHOULD be a better actor. There's no excuse. Fuck, they could have hired me (I can pull off "adult") and I could have done it. Ok, maybe not, cos crying on camera is not my thang. (Not like certain British redheads...)
I found both James and Jesse tolerable. I don't think they were GREAT, but I don't think they were awful either. I thought James really sold it a few times, keeping in mind he's not supposed to be UK!Tony. And honestly, I find James so much more attractive than Nick. NGL.
2. Cultural translation issues.
a) Who the fuck has mailboxes in the downtown core?
b) Things I've never heard ever: "spliffed up", "skins" or "reckon". Maybe I'm too old, but we say things like "baked", "high", "fucked", "faded", "blazed", "papers", "wraps", and "think".
c) No one here listens to drum and bass. Sorry. That's like saying we're going to listen to garage or funky-house. These things are such niches over here. The general populace doesn't listen to 'em. Especially not young rich kids. Trust me. They listen to the shittiest tunes ever, and it always boggles my mind when they tell me they like something decent. (Also, there was no DnB at that party. The Segal track was the KIND of music I'd expect to hear. However, if it's not on MTV or something, a lot my friends wouldn't know it). Tabitha's little invitation to Tony was bunk.
d) Why aren't they wearing jackets? It's winter. While it seemed like UK Skins only took place in the summer/fall (cos that's when it's filmed), here in North America, when it's snowing, you generally wear a coat. The only time I don't is when I'm really really smashed and don't feel like I need it.
e) A lot of the slang tbh. The sexual euphemisms were both hilarious and terrible. I can't decide which. I did enjoy "So clitoral". I may just adopt that. This whole "golly gee" and "doo doo" thing they had going on was really weird. And bad.
f) The dancing. I was actually at house party last weekend and music was blasting and no one was dancing except me (yelling for more Ke$ha!!!) and some Mexicans, and I had a convo with them about how they hate that no one dances at house parties in Canada/US. They didn't understand it. I mean dancing does happen, but it's never like that. I never understood that about TV teens. (In this sense, I feel like the reverse trailer was far more accurate in a portrayal of a house party here).
3. The flow. It felt choppy. Maybe cos they cut out bits and put in different ones. I'm not sure. Something was just off about that. This isn't to say I didn't enjoy the original scenes -- thinking primarily of the chris/tea/daisy/abbud ones, but it was a little off-balance I thought.
So, see? Only 3 bad, and 13 good. There are things that bothered me overall about the ~tone and ~feel of the show itself, but they're hard to put into words at the moment. When I feel more focused, I may attempt it. Oh wait, I have another banal complaint.
4. The extras looked 50-years-old. I'm sorry. I get that you need a certain number of ACTRA extras and these "professional background performers" are older but for fucks sake, do they HAVE to look 30? just give me a call, i'll do it for free and i don't look like a 30 year old. so bonus.
5. The titles suck. I like the visuals, yes. I loathe the song. By which I mean, I don't mind the song by itself. I hate it as a theme. Seeing it along with the visuals did not improve my opinion. On that note, everytime I hear it, I feel like saying "STARSCREEEAAAMMMM!" just to remind myself how awesome it could have been. Fuck this Lina Magic shit.
6. MTV bleeping shit. It's too bad someone didn't rip the TMN version instead. Apparently it's uncensored so our downloads wouldn't have the bleeps.
THE WEIRD:
1. I think one of the chicks in the party scene was a friend of my sister's in high-school. But I can't really ask her "Hey is that your weird-looking friend from school?"
2. Referring to the name of the show. As I said earlier, no one I've ever met that isn't influenced by British TV refer to rollies as skins. Usually it's Zigs, papers, wraps. But none of those would make a good TV show name. I think however, they should have just left it with papers instead. Let kids think what they want about the meaning of the name of the programme, you know?
3. The locations. I know I said I liked them, but I also find them weird. And I feel sorry for the cast that had to go into that disgusting lake Ontario water. You see in the background of that scene? THAT IS A NATURAL GAS PLANT. And right near it is an abandoned coal/natural gas plant. (and by plant i mean it generates electricity from those things, not makes them.) also nearby? the waste water treatment plant. All in all, those kids are swimming in a CESSPOOL. ugh. tho, it's prolly just as bad as Bristol Harbour... I also like the rich kid house that looked like Casa Loma. i assume it's some Bridal Path/Post Rd/Oakville deal. Looked like Casa Loma to me tho lol.
4. OMG that convo Tony had with her on the phone. MAGIC RABBIT. I think it's just a LITTLE weird that 16 year olds are using vibrators, mutually. Isn't it? I guess Michelle can't claim Tony never made her cum this time around... altho I suppose it's not ~really him. Thought it was funny if a little weird. I love James in that scene.
5. I didn't feel like Stanley was all that interested in losing his viginity. He just never seemed to be excited about it, not like Sid was at any rate. He's just kind of a cool guy... A little weird for me. Don't mind it, it's different and I like different.
THE INTERESTING:
1. Michelle. Of course I'm never going to stop talking about her. I felt she was interesting because of the change in direction/change of portrayal of her. I feel like other reviewers have it totally wrong when they say she's the least changed character from the UK version. I found her really different.
I found her sad.
It made me sad for her. After she tosses her hoodie to Stan and starts that jail bait sexy tit-touching dance, I didn't feel like she was ANYTHING like UK michelle. It was sad to watch. Like kind of desperate? Something UK Michelle never was imo, at least not on the surface. UK!Michelle had a lot more outward confidence (even if she's completely insecure on the inside). Like this Michelle was just SO objectified it hurts. (Ironically I feel like fandom itself has done this to Michelle/Rachel. In fact, I feel like Skins itself does that to Rachel. Does her bra need to be showing ALL the time for people to like her? Makes me sad also cos I feel like she's much more than just tits and a pretty face. She's a sweetheart). Anyway, back to Michelle... This whole ... GUH. It hurts my heart. (Not in a OMG I HATE IT kinda of way. Just in an empathetic way.)
I get it Michelle's ~sexy. But sometimes I feel like Skins is pushing her more like they're her pimp than anything else. I think there's a difference between that and just flaunting what someone has. Maybe I'm just being sensitive cos of my hurty heart but this IN YOUR FACE SEX APPEAL thing is just not for me. Michelle's inherently gorgeous, she doesn't need to be used like a sex toy. That's all I'm saying. I understand that's part of the whole dynamic with Tony, and it's pretty much the basis of the character herself, but she feels to me like a sad soul too. Her and Cadie both. Like she has no self-perceived worth beyond being sexy, which is BANG ON to UK!Michelle, but I never really felt the same kind of hopelessness with UK!Michelle. I think hopelessness isn't the right word but I'm rushing here. UK Michelle kind of just oozed sex appeal without trying too hard, imo. (The character herself was different but just the way her energy came across on-screen i'm talking about here.) Rachel's sad eyes when she's doing her walk/dancing for Tony... *sigh* I just want to hug her... and hook her up with someone else. Not Tea. Not Tony. Not Stan. I dunno even what I'm saying lol. I'm getting all muddled up with my logic and ~feelings... I have such a gooey soft spot for Michelle in all her incarnations.
It's both compelling and sad, and I think I'm going to like Michelle, regardless of how different/similar she is to April Pearson's Michelle.... as long as Skins itself tones down on the pimp-daddy overtones and just lets Rachel's beauty come out a little more naturally.
I want to say more on this but I really gotta cut it short.
OVERALL::::
It was entertaining. Was it excellently crafted television? No. Was it the worst thing ever seen? NO. It was entertaining. I enjoyed watching it. It was decent. Was it as good as Skins UK? It was no worse than the UK pilot, imo. It just had different strengths and different weaknesses. Not bad, just different. (Altho I will say I feel the acting in the UK one overall was quite a bit better, and that's not just a "looking thru rose-coloured glasses into the sentimental past" kinda thing.) Not hating, just stating.
Am I head over heels in love with it? No. I'm just going with it. I know it'll get better, so I think it has potential to be really good. But, you know what? Even if that doesn't happen it'll still be fun times. And really, Skins is just good entertainment, right? If it's entertaining then it's done its job.
Still got my happy-hat on. :)