SKINS 6x02 - Sid 2.0. Oh, wait, Rich, I guess
Why do I do this to myself? I'm the first person to say to everyone else: "If you don't like it, stop fuckin watching then! Whatever you do, just stop fucking whining about it." See, my issue is more... like... I have done that multiple times. Just given up on shows I've had it with (Without A Trace, Grey's, The OC, House, Shameless, pretty much everything on American TV except American Dad lol, to name a few.) It's not like I can't. But for some reason, I won't when it comes to Skins. I think partly cos I've invested so much energy into it already. It seems silly not to persevere just a bit longer.
Even when I don't think I've thoroughly enjoyed a series since S3. (I did quite like S5; in fact, I thought it was brilliant -- just not quite as emotionally captivating for whatever reason. I didn't go rabid over the characters like I had done for the first 2 gens. Which is odd considering that I believe it may be the most cohesive, real and well-written series Skins has ever done. Aside from S2, obvs.)
I think partly it's due to the fact I keep hoping beyond sense that Skins will bounce back to its former glory. But now, Skins should be known as "Skins". Like, and everyone needs to do those air quotes when talking about it. Cos it's just absolute parp. (S Club 7 shout out, huzzah!!) So, thus, all you lucky folk, get to hear my bitter ranting about the whole thing cos I still am refusing to accept this pile of shit is Skins proper, and that "Skins" is the way of the future.
HIYA FREDDIE'S DISAPPROVING HEADSHAKE. Let's make babies.
First off, a disclaimer: It seems that there's an erroneous idea floating around that people who didn't like this episode are saying so cos they're angry that Grace dies.
Oh, spoiler alert in case you live under a rock and have never heard of tumblr before.
Whilst I'm sure there are loads (actually I KNOW there are loads) of people who are flipping out and calling it "the worst episode ever!!!" and "omg i hate skins!!!" and " stupid episode!!" cos, in fact, they love Grace/Hardlet and are gutted Skins had the audacity to copy from itself, not once, but TWICE with this whole death thing... that's not my issue.
Grace was never my favourite character. In fact, she was my least favourite character at the end of last series. (Tho S6 she was not). So really, I couldn't care less if she dies or not. I'm not emotionally distraught over that. I'm not crying into my beer. I'm not threatening to kill myself. (Seriously, the idiocy of tumblr Skins fans never ceases). And in fact, I had no strong attachment to Rich/Grace either. They just did nothing for me.
Which is perhaps what allowed me to watch this episode with such an unemotional eye. (Or, as Jess Sula so kindly put it, I'm apparently "soulless". Cos I didn't cry and thought this episode was stupid... Yeah.) When you're not invested emotionally in the characters, you don't get sucked into the obvious ploys to tug on those heartstrings. I'm immune to their pathetic manipulation of these useless things humans call "feelings". Haha.
Also, I just kinda wanted the whole fucking thing to be over like last Wednesday. There are only so many adverts I can see for this episode before I get fucking sick of the whole thing.
So unlike the folks that other people are claiming are "confused" about the distinction between not liking an episode on its technical merits and not liking what happened in it, well, I say to you lot, "Fuck off. I disliked BOTH those things." But perhaps even moreso, the actual craft of the episode. As I said previously, I was pretty indifferent to Grace dying or Hardlet or anything that actually happened plotwise.
This is not a very humourous review. Mostly cos I am not feeling like making sarcastic, bitchy jabs at things. I just... want to calmly pick up all TVs/computers everywhere, and toss them out all the windows in the world so we never have to see this again. Or just pick up E4 and toss it out to space. Good riddance to bad rubbish. Who let this happen?
Where do I start?
This episode picks up where 6x01 left off with Rich being a new character on The Fades and sensing Grace's doom in the previous episode. It's blossomed into a brand new power! He sees dead people. And hears them. And has whole conversations with them on the phone. And has sex with them. Ooh! A twist! How postively sinful! Until the end, when there's a big reveal that reveals nothing anyone didn't already know! SO EXCITING!
Okay, sadly accurate jokes aside, I know what I need to ask. How was anyone surprised by the end? I just don't get it. Normally, I'll be honest, I get quite wrapped up in things and don't tend to see most stuff as predictable. I'm usually not accessing that part of my critical reasoning processes whilst watching TV. But this was just like... ANVIL. ANVIL. ANVIL. Also, things were just nonsensical when I wasn't being bludgeoned with them.
Just a flip back to last episode, something I wanted to mention but couldn't fit in cos of LJ's word-limit (lol, yes I reached it last time around)... Blood is so inconsistently written. There is NO way in hell he would have let Grace run off to Morocco in the first place. None. And by this episode, it's clear that Blood still hates Rich and all Grace's friends. (unlike others in fandom, I was not under the impression that in 4x08 Blood was "accepting" of Grace's life. To me, it seemed more like he was chucking her out -- which obvs didn't happen but eh.) But then I suppose I need not complain about inconsistency in writing cos, lol, we all saw last week's episode.
Let's not go there again.
Now the massive problem I had with 6x02 was that it was painfully derivative. As in, I'VE SEEN THIS ALL BEFORE SOMEWHERE. (And I'm not just talking the end.) That somewhere was in Skins.
In series 1.
And his name was Sid Jenkins.
I can't quite be sure if was just Alex Arnold's inflection and way of mumbling his whiny-ass dialogue, the hair-do, or in fact, his entire personality. Rich, as a character, ... yeah. No. I'd be sad if I was a Rich fan cos they turned him into Sid 2.0 imo. All he did the entire episode was run around moping, throwing tantrums, whining about his life and how everything is affecting HIM and demanding other people do shit for him. Even the bro-hug with Alo was a pathetic recreation of the fantastic Alice Practice Tony/Sid scene in 2x03. He was an irritating runt. Just like Sid. I honestly can't even watch clips from this episode (or anything past it cos all I see is SID. It's not really all that shocking if you know that Sid was based on Jamie's experience, as was Rich. (Tho I felt you could see different sides to him. Rich S5 and Sid were not the same character at all.) Then BE swoops in, undoes that difference and makes Rich into a replica of Sid (with some Freddie thrown in for good measure.))
And shockingly, I agreed with his mum. It is JUST young love. Teenagers are dumb. Rich is no exception. And yeah, I remember being that age too and it seemed SO TRUE AND REAL AND OMG... but then you grow up and realise, lol, nope. It wasn't... cos you find the real thing.
But let's talk about this tacked on family scene that served no purpose than to paint another adult female as a complete idiot. They're either overwrought and emotional, making them incompetent parents/women -- or overbearing bitchmonsters from Hell. Classy as always, Skins. And of course, the fathers are sympathetic, loving folk who just don't have the balls to stand up to their terrifying wives.
Anyone else seeing this trend? Young girls are just meant to get naked and love cock, older women are just incompetent/flighty emotional wrecks (often ruining/neglecting their marriages/families on the search for more cock) or borderline emotional abusers. Just me? Okay then... I'll leave the misogyny aside for now. The more I pay attention to the subversive things hiding in Skins, the more I grow upset.
But let's just say I'm reading too much into that, and move on to the outrageous conversation. OKAY. WHEN IS THIS SUPPOSED TO BE TAKING PLACE? Are they even in college any longer? Cos, um end of last week, they were. Now suddenly Rich's mum wants to drag him away for a holiday. Doesn't he have school?
Wait a minute, don't ANY of these losers go to school? Cos there was no school here. "Oh, eskimo jo, it was the weekend!" Yeah, whatever. I'd be more inclined to believe that if we ever actually see them in classes. Ever. Like I've been saying, it's S4 -- The Redux.
Except I think actually even S4 were in college more in the first 2 episodes than these morons have been. No wonder they're all so dumb.
So now that the obligatory parental scene is out of the way, we can ignore for the rest of the episode that Rich has any parents at all. It is especially important considering the fact Rich has concerned parents, but we must ignore that cos otherwise this story doesn't make sense. We're just supposed to accept that his mum randomly goes away in a taxi for no reason, crying and waving like she's being dragged away in the back of a paddywagon, and his dumb ole dad the sweetheart just... doesn't care that his kid who he was previously so concerned about is nowhere to be seen for days on end. Seems legit.
That's a sarcastic slow clap, jsyk.
It's like they put in the parent scene just so they can say, "Hey, it's not like S4 cos look they have parents!" Yeah, so? The Fitches were around too. They're like Blood -- he's a parent too. To me tho, this scene was just superfluous. Yeah, we get it. They don't want their son to continue to be such a belligerent, ASBO creeper and stalk his comatose girlfriend and break into hospitals. Seems like a normal thing for parents to want to prevent their kids from doing, tbh. Oh but wait! Where have I heard this before?!
OH THAT'S RIGHT. Shakespeare did something similar... wait, what was it? I swear there haven't already been enough heavy-handed hints... OH. LOL. ROMEO & JULIET. The star-crossed lovers that their families didn't want together. Ahhh, get it? Oh, Skins, you so clever ripping off Shakespeare like fucking always. Except it's getting less and less subtle.
All this deja vu shouldn't be surprising tho. We've got to keep in mind the showrunner this series is the same man who claimed MTV!Skins was ~original. Yeeeahhhh... That guy. He must totally understand originality. Oh wait, anything that goes wrong, he blames on "young people" on his writing team. Damn those youths!!! How dare they undermine your obvious magnificent creative credibility, BE!
But back to the episode and not BE's failings as a showrunner (or more aptly, his prowess as a Skins-ruiner).
So, I've said what I thought of Rich. He was a twatty little douche. The only time I felt he was justified was when he found Alo and Mini so lovingly fucking like the OTP they are. (Does disgustingly rich and disdainful sarcasm come off in this medium?) Cos I would have vommed all over their faces, so I admire his self-restraint in that situation. A tantrum really was the mature choice. Wah wah wah, my girlfriend is broken! wah wah wah, Alo go get her! wah wah wah it's all about me me MEEEE! fuck her friends and my best friend and everyone else! i just want my stuff back when i say so!!! adults are mean!!! wah wah wah i know best cos i'm her BOYFRIEND!! wah wah wah.
How terrifying typical of a teenage boy tho.
That one's legit.
Except for the fact it makes me hate Rich. Cos I hated Sid the first time we went through this. I hated Freddie even more the second time we went thru this, and so I hate Rich too. Douchetardy little ignorant shits. Also, I agree, Rich, the absolute best way to convince your girlfriend's father that you're a good boyfriend is to break into his house and smash it to bits. Really clever plan. Cos then if the father agrees, he'll come back and have so much fun spending millions of hours renovating when he has a deathly ill daughter to take care of! But it takes his mind of it, yeah? Bet it works all the time.
(LC is all my feelings to the whole episode, tbh.)
So, I'm not even going to say anymore about that whole ~thing about the squatting and the dumbass free party and the shitatacular ~band. (Again, what was the fucking point?). I'm also going to say one thing about Rich watching the videos --- now was that supposed to be a callback to him watching Grace doing ballet the first time and tearing up, or was that just another lazy copy of something someone else more talented than you wrote? I'm not clear. Cos whilst I can see it being heralded as some kind of mirror of that 5x02 scene, to me it just felt like, deja vu. Again. And not in a "oh wow, what a neat parallel" sort of thing. More like, "Oh, they couldn't think of anything else and this was brilliant the first time so let's do it again." sort of thing.
This all makes me terribly sad cos Rich was one of my fav characters and he's just been reduced to some Sid/Freddie combo. It's incredibly boring, imo.
And Liv... Now one of the few highlights of the episode. In fact, I liked the dialogue. I liked the purpose of it, and I liked its intention. However, unlike everyone else ever, I didn't love Laya's delivery. I thought it was surprising lacklustre considering Laya's just about the only one left in this cast who has a shot at being decent and keeping her character from a torturous reconstruction. There was just something off in the diner. It literally made me cringe, which is awful cos Laya is my fav out of the whole cast and Liv is my fav character by a long shot. Yet.... yeah. I don't know what happened there. By the time they made it outside, it was improving but I was really saddened by the indoor scene, just cos in essence, I thought it was one of the best exchanges of the episode. In theory, it works. In reality, it just fell flat. But, as a friend said, no one can be on 100% of the time and I'm sure it was glitch for Laya.
Tho this whole episode must have been another glitch for both Freya and DBR. Is Freya purposely acting terribly for some reason? Or is it just Mini's postively atrocious dialogue/storyline? She was almost wooden and completely flavourless here. And DBR... don't even get me started. I never considered her the strongest actor out of the whole bunch, but she... no.
(If you can't tell, I'm reusing gifs both cos I'm lazy and they're appropriate enough.)
Also, THIS GROUP OF KIDS ARE THE WORST FUCKING FRIENDS EVER. I am sorry, they are complete shit. YOUR FRIEND (in some cases BEST friend) is DYING IN A COMA/BEING WHISKED AWAY FOREVER and the only person who seems to legit care is her boyfriend -- and Liv once she finally found out. Could Mini be any more unlikable? I don't think it's possible. Seriously. Her only thought is COCK. Not BEST FRIEND DYING. BEST FRIEND MOVING TO OTHER COUNTRY. Just Alo and his monster dick and magical sex powers. WAY TO GO. They started with Mini being quite nasty but layered, to a vulnerable, likeable girl to COMPLETELY DESTESTABLE. And Franky, don't even get me started there. She seemed entirely nonplussed about the whole thing. Bitch, you better check yourself. At least Alo and Nick had a reason not to care quite so much. It's not like they were supposedly best friends with Grace (you'd still think they'd care just a LITTLE bit tho). I dunno... Grace has the worst "friends" ever.
Oh and poor Alo... Imagine! Someone is using you for sex but you have all these warm fuzzy ~feelings for her. Funny that. Now you know what it's like to be treated like a purely sexual object with no humaness. You know, like those heaps of women you objectified on a normal basis and all those women (like Mini and her mother and Liv) that you show absolutely no respect to when it comes to your boner/sex. I'm crying for him, I really am.
Or not. You reap what you sow. You should know that, farmboy. First lesson of agriculture there.
Just shut the fuck up. This whole Malo thing makes my stomach turn it's so terribly done. I hope he takes her to the farm and then a cow blows them both up. Sweet revenge. It's my dream.
And who is Mini? It's two episodes in and I still don't understand Mini's magical cock-lust (other than she's a fantasy of male writers). I'm losing faith that next episode will do anything more than just put more dicks in her without explaining this change in behaviour whatsoever. Who is Franky for that matter? Oh wait, I don't care. Honestly, if she disappeared I wouldn't even notice. I wish she had gone off with Party Monster.
Now let me clarify. I do not specifically have a problem with a girl enjoying sex. That's never been my issue with Mini S6. My issues is that past series, she was clearly uncomfortable with herself and had a series of unpleasant first sexual experiences (which is the norm actually). My issue with Mini as it stands right now is WHY she's suddenly completely cured of her issues from the past series -- not specifically about the sex, but more about her BODY. My other major problem is the fact that Mini's whole character is SOLELY revolving around getting off with Alo. Like, honestly, that's about the extent of her development this series. She doesn't care about her friends, she doesn't care about her.. anything, except her hungry and aching vagina and/or mouth. Now she's getting off with randos all over the place to get her fill. Okay, the first time you start to have enjoyable sex, you're like a fucking rabbit. I get this. My problem remains that a)it's with Alo who is clearly just a Mary Sue of what BE wished he could have been (his sudden change from disrespectful chronic masturbator to KING OF SEX just makes me cringe all over), and b) WHY. What happened to Mini over the 2 months we didn't see her that made her literally JUMP Alo for no reason whatsoever? And now, apparently A TEENAGE BOY can't satisfy her enough. Yes, a teenage boy who can get a erection like every 15 minutes. Cos they can.
So really, it boils down to the idea that Mini's only purpose these days is to ride Alo. That does not sit well with me. She was a layered, interesting character and now she's reverted to nothing more than a glorified tube sock. THAT'S my problem. Everything about her has disappeared and been replaced with a Mini who doesn't give a shit about her friends and just wants penis and to satisfy boys. (Going down on Alo for no reason, then Rider's comment -- which granted you can choose to take at face value as something he legit expects cos that's how MIni rolls now, or just as him shooting off his mouth. IMO, both are equally plausible.)
Speaking of disappearing, Nick? Anyone see Nick? Oh, yeah, he didn't get a single line. He just got to be in that dancing scene with Franky's vagina pressing against his neck. Makes sense considering how loaded things were left with him last week. Yeah, just ignore it... come back to it in like 4 episodes, no big. RIDER had more lines than Nick. And hahahah, oh Rider. This shtick is grating now. (And Rider being Mini's ride? What? When? Who? Why? How? Riiiight, Mini loves sucking dick now so she'll gobble anyone) Rider is officially no longer amusing. He is literally a one-trick pony and that trick is being irritating. There's no point in asking where Matty is. Who cares. I think I did for like 2 minutes. I'm bored now.
NOW
THE BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT IN THE WHOLE EPISODE:
YOU KNOW WHEN MINI WAS COMPLETELY OUT OF IT AND PRETENDING TO PLAY DJ AND THEN SMUSHING FACE WITH THAT RANDO AND THEN ALO GETS ALL MOPEY AND THE LIV IS LIKE "FUCK YOU ALL" AND GOES TO PULL MINI FROM THAT DUDE...
I fully expected Mini to whirl around and lay one on Liv.
Too much to ask, I suppose. That would have made the episode, lol. I actually can't believe it DIDN'T happen cos it seemed like the logical thing to happen.
WHY DIDN'T THAT HAPPEN?!!?!?!
Fuck Minky, fuck Malo, it's... MIV....BITCHES.
Anyway... the elephant in the room: Grace.
Now here's something I'm not even clear about. Was I watching The Ghost Whisperer or House? Ghost!Grace or Hallucinatory!Grace? Answers! Give me them! (Both those programmes I referenced are terrible so it's not a compliment. Okay, House used to be awesome... once upon a time. Sounds familiar.) This episode was just so poorly done that I can't decide.
Either way, it's stupid. Cos this wasn't even mindfucky shit like 2x06 where the entire thing was an unconscious thing... allegory. metaphor. Not going into that here. This wasn't even interestingly handled like Cassie in 1x02 and 1x09 -- and her imaginary friends and texts. This was literally some weird demon!Grace dropping anvils like massive shits. I honestly cannot understand how you can watch the episode and not go, "Wow, something's really off," the moment Grace & Rich connect. Grace was so OOC the entire time there's no way that she was real.
But then again, perhaps last week's episode was an elaborate set-up! They totally warped all the characters into unrecognisable dickwads so that we woudln't be sure if this week Grace is just a victim of similarly inconsistent and sloppy writing. Oh, wow. But fuck you. Cos that's obvs not the case. I'm fairly certain, they wanted us to be aware that something was off about Grace from the get go.
But if you're like me, you had an issue trying to decide whether it is just crappy writing... Until the evidence just started completely piling up. That was NOT Grace speaking. How could that fool anyone? Ghost!Grace is a turd. (Yeah, yeah, I get the deeper "come get me" purpose. Dont' care.)
My issue however, and correct me if I'm wrong cos I only watched this once, after Rich has no signal on his phone -- Alo does mysteriously. Huh? Why? Nvm. I don't care. Doesn't matter.
So we have Rich breaking into her hospital room (which let's not even talk about how ridiculous this is again), then trying to fuck her comatose body.
Really.
Seriously.
That's what Skins is now?
I'm sorry. Did no one else think the things Grace was saying were absolutely fucking weird? Who wakes up from a coma and is presumably terribly injured, and says "I'm horny!"? Yes. Teen boys horny fantasies, that's who. That was just so absoultely ridiculous that I knew right there that this wasn't real. The phone convos confirmed it. And then the party scene totally solidfied it. Cos 2 days ago, Grace was covered in bruises lying in a hospital bed... then she shows up, at a party, looking the picture of good health and all she wants to do is have sex.
Oh yeah. Seems totally real.
I was wavering between it just being terrible characterisation and her being make-believe up to that point. But then when Rich found "her" in the bedroom complete with sexy romantic candles everywhere, I knew it was in his head. Cos get it, "NOTHING WORKS WITHOUT HER!" Including his brain.
FFS. At least with Effy we didn't see her hallucinations. (Cassie and Tony we did, but those were handled differently.)
Congrats with fucking Grace's sheets, Rich. You and Alo should join forces to spunk all over everything in Bristol. Just stay away from me. Now, tbh, I'm hoping it's hallucinations and not a ghost. Both are terrible, but ghost is worse imo. Mostly cos ghosts are rubbish, but at least visions and delusions are documented states of perception. Not that Rich suffering severe psychosis cos he misses his girlfriend is much better than ghosts tho... I give up.
Okay, so even if you got past the weird ass romantic sex scene that was totally unnecessarily long, the next day -- seriously, I need to know did ANYONE in this fandom actually believe he was receiving a call from Grace? Like, his mobile was in PIECES. and lying on a bouquet of white roses. (i think their were roses. i can't really remember but white meaning: innocence, silence, heavenly).
immediately i was like, "LOL!!! that's it!" if the intense focus of the camera on this mysterious foreboding bouquet and the insane call through a completely destroyed phone wasn't enough, you deserve to be gobsmacked by the end reveal.
I will say, Chris Addison finally brought it at the end. I've hated him the entire time (just cos I thought it was such an overdone caricature) and just Addison's mannerisms bother me. He was the only saving grace. I mean Alex did all right. It wasn't his acting I have issue with. It was the stupid dialogue. Especially this exchange:
Rich: I just spoke to her. I speak to her all the time.
Blood: Me too. What else is there to do?
NO RICH. YOU'RE NOT TELLING THE WHOLE TRUTH. Speaking to a dead loved one is one thing. I think most people have done this. Cook did it in 4x08. It was fine. I think Karen did too. But having them SPEAK BACK -- and then HAVING SEX WITH THEM --- is a whole notha level of batshit cray cray. It totally ruined what could have been an incredibly poignant moment. Because I do believe Blood meant it in the normal way of grieving a loved one. But Rich and Skins with their fucking moronic style of over-dramatising everything ever nastified it for me. I think Rich and Blood are on two totally different pages. But even so, I think this scene, removed from the episode as a whole, would be incredibly powerful and moving. But for me, the entire lead up to it was just so bloody obvious that I just couldn't get into it. I'm like, yawn. I know where this is going cos I've seen it a billion times before.
Now onto the speculation. What has Skins been whacking us over the head with? Shakespeare, and more specifically? Romeo and Juliet.
I honestly don't care how it goes cos I don't see how any possible direction is good. But I wouldn't put it past them that Blood is just an incredible actor and fooled Rich in order to stop him from going near his daughter and the whole thing is an elaborate hoax.
Like, you know, Romeo and Juliet. We all know how it goes right? Star-crossed lovers, kept apart by their families, Juliet fakes her death, Romeo thinks it's real, he kills himself, then she's not dead! Surprise! so then she sees he was a dumbass so she kills herself. And voila, that's how S6 ends. Suicides are so romantic and edgy! Glorify ALL the mental illness! Glorify ALL the things ever! Oh and also, everyone else dies too. Like in Shakespeare. That's a change from normal 2nd-half Skins gens. Normally just one person dies -- how about EVERYONE DIES THIS TIME?!
The glee I have at the prospect is overwhelming.
Then they can have a special post-Skins Unseen where they're all angels and it's totally "realistic" and an "honest reflection of real teenagers" (in heaven) and it'll be so "edgy" and full of "youthful hedonism" and "the most original thing on TV"!!
And then there's demon spawn all over. And lots of young girls being naked and loving cock in their asses. Oh and crazy mothers and loving fathers. And drugs everywhere for everyone all the time with no consequences (they're already dead anyway). And everything that has every been in any American teen soap since 1996. Cos seriously, that's where I feel "Skins" is going now.
Totally realistic. The fact Jess Sula is in coming episodes does not bode well for either Rich's sanity or the claim that Skins isn't completely shite and turning into like, Supernatural or something. So it's either, Ghost!Grace, Hallucination!Grace, or NotDead!Grace. All of those options are fucking stupid. Way to go, "Skins".
(It's sarcastic again.)
ETA: Oh, according to some dude who is a Skins PTB, Skins doesn't do hallucinations or fantasy sequences.
HAVE YOU WATCHED GEN1 SKINS, ASSHOLE?
I am sorry. It was made INCREDIBLY clear that in 1x02 Cassie imagined those texts. Sid CLEARLY goes through her phone and tells her to her face that what she saw did not exist. Okay, so maybe it wasn't a ~proper hallucination as in a psychotic break, more of an overactive imagination, but SHE WAS SEEING SHIT THAT DID NOT EXIST. (And arguably the taxi driver and her "friend" could be debated on their actual existence as presented. But that's something else. Much more along the lines of 2x06 which again WAS NOT REAL. At least not in a completely tangible sense. Shit happened but that episode is... yeah. It's an entirely different creature and narrative mode, than any other episode. So I agree that it wasn't a "hallucination" or "fantasy" or "dream sequence" but it wasn't real either. BE said once that Skins will never do "dream episodes" or "flashbacks". Now, we're supposed to believe that Rich's episode was not a dream, fantasy, hallucination, flashback, or anything else. It was real. Except it OBVIOUSLY wasn't. Sometimes I just want to hear these idiots define what it is they're talking about. Cos really, I suspect they think they're being oh so clever with this "tee hee! it wasn't a fantasy/dream/vision/etc!" and getting us to be like "OMG WHAT WAS IT THEN?!" When really, it totally was, just they don't define it as such. (Also, when Effy's having her breakdown in the park -- i've seen it argued that we DO see the monsters coming over the hill, and then Freddie scares them off. But tbh, if I was out for a stroll in the park on a lovely afternoon and some scrubby gross teenage boy came running and screaming at me, I might turn around and go the other way too.) OH. And um. Half of the Unseens ARE dreams/nightmares. And even titled as such. So fuck you, Skins PTB. You do so do dreams and hallucinations. Just fuck right off with your weird-ass definitions and attempt to be edgy, clever, unique and surreal and accept that you're just like every other show.
Simply, there's no excuse then for Rich to be seeing/hearing Grace when she's dead, unless she's not dead (In which case, Daddy Blood needs an Oscar cos that was incredibly convincing lying). Which then makes the episode actually make even LESS sense and become even more fucking stupid and cliche than it already was. Cos actually if she's alive and all that shit was happening, it is just completely --- outrageous really and makes no sense. And not in a cool surrealist, David Lynch-ish 'wtf?!' kind of way. Just in a 'this was just terrible writing' kind of way.
Episode gets a D-. I really want to say F. Fuck it, I'm done being nice. F it is. FAIL.
Even when I don't think I've thoroughly enjoyed a series since S3. (I did quite like S5; in fact, I thought it was brilliant -- just not quite as emotionally captivating for whatever reason. I didn't go rabid over the characters like I had done for the first 2 gens. Which is odd considering that I believe it may be the most cohesive, real and well-written series Skins has ever done. Aside from S2, obvs.)
I think partly it's due to the fact I keep hoping beyond sense that Skins will bounce back to its former glory. But now, Skins should be known as "Skins". Like, and everyone needs to do those air quotes when talking about it. Cos it's just absolute parp. (S Club 7 shout out, huzzah!!) So, thus, all you lucky folk, get to hear my bitter ranting about the whole thing cos I still am refusing to accept this pile of shit is Skins proper, and that "Skins" is the way of the future.
HIYA FREDDIE'S DISAPPROVING HEADSHAKE. Let's make babies.
First off, a disclaimer: It seems that there's an erroneous idea floating around that people who didn't like this episode are saying so cos they're angry that Grace dies.
Oh, spoiler alert in case you live under a rock and have never heard of tumblr before.
Whilst I'm sure there are loads (actually I KNOW there are loads) of people who are flipping out and calling it "the worst episode ever!!!" and "omg i hate skins!!!" and " stupid episode!!" cos, in fact, they love Grace/Hardlet and are gutted Skins had the audacity to copy from itself, not once, but TWICE with this whole death thing... that's not my issue.
Grace was never my favourite character. In fact, she was my least favourite character at the end of last series. (Tho S6 she was not). So really, I couldn't care less if she dies or not. I'm not emotionally distraught over that. I'm not crying into my beer. I'm not threatening to kill myself. (Seriously, the idiocy of tumblr Skins fans never ceases). And in fact, I had no strong attachment to Rich/Grace either. They just did nothing for me.
Which is perhaps what allowed me to watch this episode with such an unemotional eye. (Or, as Jess Sula so kindly put it, I'm apparently "soulless". Cos I didn't cry and thought this episode was stupid... Yeah.) When you're not invested emotionally in the characters, you don't get sucked into the obvious ploys to tug on those heartstrings. I'm immune to their pathetic manipulation of these useless things humans call "feelings". Haha.
Also, I just kinda wanted the whole fucking thing to be over like last Wednesday. There are only so many adverts I can see for this episode before I get fucking sick of the whole thing.
So unlike the folks that other people are claiming are "confused" about the distinction between not liking an episode on its technical merits and not liking what happened in it, well, I say to you lot, "Fuck off. I disliked BOTH those things." But perhaps even moreso, the actual craft of the episode. As I said previously, I was pretty indifferent to Grace dying or Hardlet or anything that actually happened plotwise.
This is not a very humourous review. Mostly cos I am not feeling like making sarcastic, bitchy jabs at things. I just... want to calmly pick up all TVs/computers everywhere, and toss them out all the windows in the world so we never have to see this again. Or just pick up E4 and toss it out to space. Good riddance to bad rubbish. Who let this happen?
Where do I start?
This episode picks up where 6x01 left off with Rich being a new character on The Fades and sensing Grace's doom in the previous episode. It's blossomed into a brand new power! He sees dead people. And hears them. And has whole conversations with them on the phone. And has sex with them. Ooh! A twist! How postively sinful! Until the end, when there's a big reveal that reveals nothing anyone didn't already know! SO EXCITING!
Okay, sadly accurate jokes aside, I know what I need to ask. How was anyone surprised by the end? I just don't get it. Normally, I'll be honest, I get quite wrapped up in things and don't tend to see most stuff as predictable. I'm usually not accessing that part of my critical reasoning processes whilst watching TV. But this was just like... ANVIL. ANVIL. ANVIL. Also, things were just nonsensical when I wasn't being bludgeoned with them.
Just a flip back to last episode, something I wanted to mention but couldn't fit in cos of LJ's word-limit (lol, yes I reached it last time around)... Blood is so inconsistently written. There is NO way in hell he would have let Grace run off to Morocco in the first place. None. And by this episode, it's clear that Blood still hates Rich and all Grace's friends. (unlike others in fandom, I was not under the impression that in 4x08 Blood was "accepting" of Grace's life. To me, it seemed more like he was chucking her out -- which obvs didn't happen but eh.) But then I suppose I need not complain about inconsistency in writing cos, lol, we all saw last week's episode.
Let's not go there again.
Now the massive problem I had with 6x02 was that it was painfully derivative. As in, I'VE SEEN THIS ALL BEFORE SOMEWHERE. (And I'm not just talking the end.) That somewhere was in Skins.
In series 1.
And his name was Sid Jenkins.
I can't quite be sure if was just Alex Arnold's inflection and way of mumbling his whiny-ass dialogue, the hair-do, or in fact, his entire personality. Rich, as a character, ... yeah. No. I'd be sad if I was a Rich fan cos they turned him into Sid 2.0 imo. All he did the entire episode was run around moping, throwing tantrums, whining about his life and how everything is affecting HIM and demanding other people do shit for him. Even the bro-hug with Alo was a pathetic recreation of the fantastic Alice Practice Tony/Sid scene in 2x03. He was an irritating runt. Just like Sid. I honestly can't even watch clips from this episode (or anything past it cos all I see is SID. It's not really all that shocking if you know that Sid was based on Jamie's experience, as was Rich. (Tho I felt you could see different sides to him. Rich S5 and Sid were not the same character at all.) Then BE swoops in, undoes that difference and makes Rich into a replica of Sid (with some Freddie thrown in for good measure.))
And shockingly, I agreed with his mum. It is JUST young love. Teenagers are dumb. Rich is no exception. And yeah, I remember being that age too and it seemed SO TRUE AND REAL AND OMG... but then you grow up and realise, lol, nope. It wasn't... cos you find the real thing.
But let's talk about this tacked on family scene that served no purpose than to paint another adult female as a complete idiot. They're either overwrought and emotional, making them incompetent parents/women -- or overbearing bitchmonsters from Hell. Classy as always, Skins. And of course, the fathers are sympathetic, loving folk who just don't have the balls to stand up to their terrifying wives.
Anyone else seeing this trend? Young girls are just meant to get naked and love cock, older women are just incompetent/flighty emotional wrecks (often ruining/neglecting their marriages/families on the search for more cock) or borderline emotional abusers. Just me? Okay then... I'll leave the misogyny aside for now. The more I pay attention to the subversive things hiding in Skins, the more I grow upset.
But let's just say I'm reading too much into that, and move on to the outrageous conversation. OKAY. WHEN IS THIS SUPPOSED TO BE TAKING PLACE? Are they even in college any longer? Cos, um end of last week, they were. Now suddenly Rich's mum wants to drag him away for a holiday. Doesn't he have school?
Wait a minute, don't ANY of these losers go to school? Cos there was no school here. "Oh, eskimo jo, it was the weekend!" Yeah, whatever. I'd be more inclined to believe that if we ever actually see them in classes. Ever. Like I've been saying, it's S4 -- The Redux.
Except I think actually even S4 were in college more in the first 2 episodes than these morons have been. No wonder they're all so dumb.
So now that the obligatory parental scene is out of the way, we can ignore for the rest of the episode that Rich has any parents at all. It is especially important considering the fact Rich has concerned parents, but we must ignore that cos otherwise this story doesn't make sense. We're just supposed to accept that his mum randomly goes away in a taxi for no reason, crying and waving like she's being dragged away in the back of a paddywagon, and his dumb ole dad the sweetheart just... doesn't care that his kid who he was previously so concerned about is nowhere to be seen for days on end. Seems legit.
That's a sarcastic slow clap, jsyk.
It's like they put in the parent scene just so they can say, "Hey, it's not like S4 cos look they have parents!" Yeah, so? The Fitches were around too. They're like Blood -- he's a parent too. To me tho, this scene was just superfluous. Yeah, we get it. They don't want their son to continue to be such a belligerent, ASBO creeper and stalk his comatose girlfriend and break into hospitals. Seems like a normal thing for parents to want to prevent their kids from doing, tbh. Oh but wait! Where have I heard this before?!
OH THAT'S RIGHT. Shakespeare did something similar... wait, what was it? I swear there haven't already been enough heavy-handed hints... OH. LOL. ROMEO & JULIET. The star-crossed lovers that their families didn't want together. Ahhh, get it? Oh, Skins, you so clever ripping off Shakespeare like fucking always. Except it's getting less and less subtle.
All this deja vu shouldn't be surprising tho. We've got to keep in mind the showrunner this series is the same man who claimed MTV!Skins was ~original. Yeeeahhhh... That guy. He must totally understand originality. Oh wait, anything that goes wrong, he blames on "young people" on his writing team. Damn those youths!!! How dare they undermine your obvious magnificent creative credibility, BE!
But back to the episode and not BE's failings as a showrunner (or more aptly, his prowess as a Skins-ruiner).
So, I've said what I thought of Rich. He was a twatty little douche. The only time I felt he was justified was when he found Alo and Mini so lovingly fucking like the OTP they are. (Does disgustingly rich and disdainful sarcasm come off in this medium?) Cos I would have vommed all over their faces, so I admire his self-restraint in that situation. A tantrum really was the mature choice. Wah wah wah, my girlfriend is broken! wah wah wah, Alo go get her! wah wah wah it's all about me me MEEEE! fuck her friends and my best friend and everyone else! i just want my stuff back when i say so!!! adults are mean!!! wah wah wah i know best cos i'm her BOYFRIEND!! wah wah wah.
How terrifying typical of a teenage boy tho.
That one's legit.
Except for the fact it makes me hate Rich. Cos I hated Sid the first time we went through this. I hated Freddie even more the second time we went thru this, and so I hate Rich too. Douchetardy little ignorant shits. Also, I agree, Rich, the absolute best way to convince your girlfriend's father that you're a good boyfriend is to break into his house and smash it to bits. Really clever plan. Cos then if the father agrees, he'll come back and have so much fun spending millions of hours renovating when he has a deathly ill daughter to take care of! But it takes his mind of it, yeah? Bet it works all the time.
(LC is all my feelings to the whole episode, tbh.)
So, I'm not even going to say anymore about that whole ~thing about the squatting and the dumbass free party and the shitatacular ~band. (Again, what was the fucking point?). I'm also going to say one thing about Rich watching the videos --- now was that supposed to be a callback to him watching Grace doing ballet the first time and tearing up, or was that just another lazy copy of something someone else more talented than you wrote? I'm not clear. Cos whilst I can see it being heralded as some kind of mirror of that 5x02 scene, to me it just felt like, deja vu. Again. And not in a "oh wow, what a neat parallel" sort of thing. More like, "Oh, they couldn't think of anything else and this was brilliant the first time so let's do it again." sort of thing.
This all makes me terribly sad cos Rich was one of my fav characters and he's just been reduced to some Sid/Freddie combo. It's incredibly boring, imo.
And Liv... Now one of the few highlights of the episode. In fact, I liked the dialogue. I liked the purpose of it, and I liked its intention. However, unlike everyone else ever, I didn't love Laya's delivery. I thought it was surprising lacklustre considering Laya's just about the only one left in this cast who has a shot at being decent and keeping her character from a torturous reconstruction. There was just something off in the diner. It literally made me cringe, which is awful cos Laya is my fav out of the whole cast and Liv is my fav character by a long shot. Yet.... yeah. I don't know what happened there. By the time they made it outside, it was improving but I was really saddened by the indoor scene, just cos in essence, I thought it was one of the best exchanges of the episode. In theory, it works. In reality, it just fell flat. But, as a friend said, no one can be on 100% of the time and I'm sure it was glitch for Laya.
Tho this whole episode must have been another glitch for both Freya and DBR. Is Freya purposely acting terribly for some reason? Or is it just Mini's postively atrocious dialogue/storyline? She was almost wooden and completely flavourless here. And DBR... don't even get me started. I never considered her the strongest actor out of the whole bunch, but she... no.
(If you can't tell, I'm reusing gifs both cos I'm lazy and they're appropriate enough.)
Also, THIS GROUP OF KIDS ARE THE WORST FUCKING FRIENDS EVER. I am sorry, they are complete shit. YOUR FRIEND (in some cases BEST friend) is DYING IN A COMA/BEING WHISKED AWAY FOREVER and the only person who seems to legit care is her boyfriend -- and Liv once she finally found out. Could Mini be any more unlikable? I don't think it's possible. Seriously. Her only thought is COCK. Not BEST FRIEND DYING. BEST FRIEND MOVING TO OTHER COUNTRY. Just Alo and his monster dick and magical sex powers. WAY TO GO. They started with Mini being quite nasty but layered, to a vulnerable, likeable girl to COMPLETELY DESTESTABLE. And Franky, don't even get me started there. She seemed entirely nonplussed about the whole thing. Bitch, you better check yourself. At least Alo and Nick had a reason not to care quite so much. It's not like they were supposedly best friends with Grace (you'd still think they'd care just a LITTLE bit tho). I dunno... Grace has the worst "friends" ever.
Oh and poor Alo... Imagine! Someone is using you for sex but you have all these warm fuzzy ~feelings for her. Funny that. Now you know what it's like to be treated like a purely sexual object with no humaness. You know, like those heaps of women you objectified on a normal basis and all those women (like Mini and her mother and Liv) that you show absolutely no respect to when it comes to your boner/sex. I'm crying for him, I really am.
Or not. You reap what you sow. You should know that, farmboy. First lesson of agriculture there.
Just shut the fuck up. This whole Malo thing makes my stomach turn it's so terribly done. I hope he takes her to the farm and then a cow blows them both up. Sweet revenge. It's my dream.
And who is Mini? It's two episodes in and I still don't understand Mini's magical cock-lust (other than she's a fantasy of male writers). I'm losing faith that next episode will do anything more than just put more dicks in her without explaining this change in behaviour whatsoever. Who is Franky for that matter? Oh wait, I don't care. Honestly, if she disappeared I wouldn't even notice. I wish she had gone off with Party Monster.
Now let me clarify. I do not specifically have a problem with a girl enjoying sex. That's never been my issue with Mini S6. My issues is that past series, she was clearly uncomfortable with herself and had a series of unpleasant first sexual experiences (which is the norm actually). My issue with Mini as it stands right now is WHY she's suddenly completely cured of her issues from the past series -- not specifically about the sex, but more about her BODY. My other major problem is the fact that Mini's whole character is SOLELY revolving around getting off with Alo. Like, honestly, that's about the extent of her development this series. She doesn't care about her friends, she doesn't care about her.. anything, except her hungry and aching vagina and/or mouth. Now she's getting off with randos all over the place to get her fill. Okay, the first time you start to have enjoyable sex, you're like a fucking rabbit. I get this. My problem remains that a)it's with Alo who is clearly just a Mary Sue of what BE wished he could have been (his sudden change from disrespectful chronic masturbator to KING OF SEX just makes me cringe all over), and b) WHY. What happened to Mini over the 2 months we didn't see her that made her literally JUMP Alo for no reason whatsoever? And now, apparently A TEENAGE BOY can't satisfy her enough. Yes, a teenage boy who can get a erection like every 15 minutes. Cos they can.
So really, it boils down to the idea that Mini's only purpose these days is to ride Alo. That does not sit well with me. She was a layered, interesting character and now she's reverted to nothing more than a glorified tube sock. THAT'S my problem. Everything about her has disappeared and been replaced with a Mini who doesn't give a shit about her friends and just wants penis and to satisfy boys. (Going down on Alo for no reason, then Rider's comment -- which granted you can choose to take at face value as something he legit expects cos that's how MIni rolls now, or just as him shooting off his mouth. IMO, both are equally plausible.)
Speaking of disappearing, Nick? Anyone see Nick? Oh, yeah, he didn't get a single line. He just got to be in that dancing scene with Franky's vagina pressing against his neck. Makes sense considering how loaded things were left with him last week. Yeah, just ignore it... come back to it in like 4 episodes, no big. RIDER had more lines than Nick. And hahahah, oh Rider. This shtick is grating now. (And Rider being Mini's ride? What? When? Who? Why? How? Riiiight, Mini loves sucking dick now so she'll gobble anyone) Rider is officially no longer amusing. He is literally a one-trick pony and that trick is being irritating. There's no point in asking where Matty is. Who cares. I think I did for like 2 minutes. I'm bored now.
NOW
THE BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT IN THE WHOLE EPISODE:
YOU KNOW WHEN MINI WAS COMPLETELY OUT OF IT AND PRETENDING TO PLAY DJ AND THEN SMUSHING FACE WITH THAT RANDO AND THEN ALO GETS ALL MOPEY AND THE LIV IS LIKE "FUCK YOU ALL" AND GOES TO PULL MINI FROM THAT DUDE...
I fully expected Mini to whirl around and lay one on Liv.
Too much to ask, I suppose. That would have made the episode, lol. I actually can't believe it DIDN'T happen cos it seemed like the logical thing to happen.
WHY DIDN'T THAT HAPPEN?!!?!?!
Fuck Minky, fuck Malo, it's... MIV....BITCHES.
Anyway... the elephant in the room: Grace.
Now here's something I'm not even clear about. Was I watching The Ghost Whisperer or House? Ghost!Grace or Hallucinatory!Grace? Answers! Give me them! (Both those programmes I referenced are terrible so it's not a compliment. Okay, House used to be awesome... once upon a time. Sounds familiar.) This episode was just so poorly done that I can't decide.
Either way, it's stupid. Cos this wasn't even mindfucky shit like 2x06 where the entire thing was an unconscious thing... allegory. metaphor. Not going into that here. This wasn't even interestingly handled like Cassie in 1x02 and 1x09 -- and her imaginary friends and texts. This was literally some weird demon!Grace dropping anvils like massive shits. I honestly cannot understand how you can watch the episode and not go, "Wow, something's really off," the moment Grace & Rich connect. Grace was so OOC the entire time there's no way that she was real.
But then again, perhaps last week's episode was an elaborate set-up! They totally warped all the characters into unrecognisable dickwads so that we woudln't be sure if this week Grace is just a victim of similarly inconsistent and sloppy writing. Oh, wow. But fuck you. Cos that's obvs not the case. I'm fairly certain, they wanted us to be aware that something was off about Grace from the get go.
But if you're like me, you had an issue trying to decide whether it is just crappy writing... Until the evidence just started completely piling up. That was NOT Grace speaking. How could that fool anyone? Ghost!Grace is a turd. (Yeah, yeah, I get the deeper "come get me" purpose. Dont' care.)
My issue however, and correct me if I'm wrong cos I only watched this once, after Rich has no signal on his phone -- Alo does mysteriously. Huh? Why? Nvm. I don't care. Doesn't matter.
So we have Rich breaking into her hospital room (which let's not even talk about how ridiculous this is again), then trying to fuck her comatose body.
Really.
Seriously.
That's what Skins is now?
I'm sorry. Did no one else think the things Grace was saying were absolutely fucking weird? Who wakes up from a coma and is presumably terribly injured, and says "I'm horny!"? Yes. Teen boys horny fantasies, that's who. That was just so absoultely ridiculous that I knew right there that this wasn't real. The phone convos confirmed it. And then the party scene totally solidfied it. Cos 2 days ago, Grace was covered in bruises lying in a hospital bed... then she shows up, at a party, looking the picture of good health and all she wants to do is have sex.
Oh yeah. Seems totally real.
I was wavering between it just being terrible characterisation and her being make-believe up to that point. But then when Rich found "her" in the bedroom complete with sexy romantic candles everywhere, I knew it was in his head. Cos get it, "NOTHING WORKS WITHOUT HER!" Including his brain.
FFS. At least with Effy we didn't see her hallucinations. (Cassie and Tony we did, but those were handled differently.)
Congrats with fucking Grace's sheets, Rich. You and Alo should join forces to spunk all over everything in Bristol. Just stay away from me. Now, tbh, I'm hoping it's hallucinations and not a ghost. Both are terrible, but ghost is worse imo. Mostly cos ghosts are rubbish, but at least visions and delusions are documented states of perception. Not that Rich suffering severe psychosis cos he misses his girlfriend is much better than ghosts tho... I give up.
Okay, so even if you got past the weird ass romantic sex scene that was totally unnecessarily long, the next day -- seriously, I need to know did ANYONE in this fandom actually believe he was receiving a call from Grace? Like, his mobile was in PIECES. and lying on a bouquet of white roses. (i think their were roses. i can't really remember but white meaning: innocence, silence, heavenly).
immediately i was like, "LOL!!! that's it!" if the intense focus of the camera on this mysterious foreboding bouquet and the insane call through a completely destroyed phone wasn't enough, you deserve to be gobsmacked by the end reveal.
I will say, Chris Addison finally brought it at the end. I've hated him the entire time (just cos I thought it was such an overdone caricature) and just Addison's mannerisms bother me. He was the only saving grace. I mean Alex did all right. It wasn't his acting I have issue with. It was the stupid dialogue. Especially this exchange:
Rich: I just spoke to her. I speak to her all the time.
Blood: Me too. What else is there to do?
NO RICH. YOU'RE NOT TELLING THE WHOLE TRUTH. Speaking to a dead loved one is one thing. I think most people have done this. Cook did it in 4x08. It was fine. I think Karen did too. But having them SPEAK BACK -- and then HAVING SEX WITH THEM --- is a whole notha level of batshit cray cray. It totally ruined what could have been an incredibly poignant moment. Because I do believe Blood meant it in the normal way of grieving a loved one. But Rich and Skins with their fucking moronic style of over-dramatising everything ever nastified it for me. I think Rich and Blood are on two totally different pages. But even so, I think this scene, removed from the episode as a whole, would be incredibly powerful and moving. But for me, the entire lead up to it was just so bloody obvious that I just couldn't get into it. I'm like, yawn. I know where this is going cos I've seen it a billion times before.
Now onto the speculation. What has Skins been whacking us over the head with? Shakespeare, and more specifically? Romeo and Juliet.
I honestly don't care how it goes cos I don't see how any possible direction is good. But I wouldn't put it past them that Blood is just an incredible actor and fooled Rich in order to stop him from going near his daughter and the whole thing is an elaborate hoax.
Like, you know, Romeo and Juliet. We all know how it goes right? Star-crossed lovers, kept apart by their families, Juliet fakes her death, Romeo thinks it's real, he kills himself, then she's not dead! Surprise! so then she sees he was a dumbass so she kills herself. And voila, that's how S6 ends. Suicides are so romantic and edgy! Glorify ALL the mental illness! Glorify ALL the things ever! Oh and also, everyone else dies too. Like in Shakespeare. That's a change from normal 2nd-half Skins gens. Normally just one person dies -- how about EVERYONE DIES THIS TIME?!
The glee I have at the prospect is overwhelming.
Then they can have a special post-Skins Unseen where they're all angels and it's totally "realistic" and an "honest reflection of real teenagers" (in heaven) and it'll be so "edgy" and full of "youthful hedonism" and "the most original thing on TV"!!
And then there's demon spawn all over. And lots of young girls being naked and loving cock in their asses. Oh and crazy mothers and loving fathers. And drugs everywhere for everyone all the time with no consequences (they're already dead anyway). And everything that has every been in any American teen soap since 1996. Cos seriously, that's where I feel "Skins" is going now.
Totally realistic. The fact Jess Sula is in coming episodes does not bode well for either Rich's sanity or the claim that Skins isn't completely shite and turning into like, Supernatural or something. So it's either, Ghost!Grace, Hallucination!Grace, or NotDead!Grace. All of those options are fucking stupid. Way to go, "Skins".
(It's sarcastic again.)
ETA: Oh, according to some dude who is a Skins PTB, Skins doesn't do hallucinations or fantasy sequences.
HAVE YOU WATCHED GEN1 SKINS, ASSHOLE?
I am sorry. It was made INCREDIBLY clear that in 1x02 Cassie imagined those texts. Sid CLEARLY goes through her phone and tells her to her face that what she saw did not exist. Okay, so maybe it wasn't a ~proper hallucination as in a psychotic break, more of an overactive imagination, but SHE WAS SEEING SHIT THAT DID NOT EXIST. (And arguably the taxi driver and her "friend" could be debated on their actual existence as presented. But that's something else. Much more along the lines of 2x06 which again WAS NOT REAL. At least not in a completely tangible sense. Shit happened but that episode is... yeah. It's an entirely different creature and narrative mode, than any other episode. So I agree that it wasn't a "hallucination" or "fantasy" or "dream sequence" but it wasn't real either. BE said once that Skins will never do "dream episodes" or "flashbacks". Now, we're supposed to believe that Rich's episode was not a dream, fantasy, hallucination, flashback, or anything else. It was real. Except it OBVIOUSLY wasn't. Sometimes I just want to hear these idiots define what it is they're talking about. Cos really, I suspect they think they're being oh so clever with this "tee hee! it wasn't a fantasy/dream/vision/etc!" and getting us to be like "OMG WHAT WAS IT THEN?!" When really, it totally was, just they don't define it as such. (Also, when Effy's having her breakdown in the park -- i've seen it argued that we DO see the monsters coming over the hill, and then Freddie scares them off. But tbh, if I was out for a stroll in the park on a lovely afternoon and some scrubby gross teenage boy came running and screaming at me, I might turn around and go the other way too.) OH. And um. Half of the Unseens ARE dreams/nightmares. And even titled as such. So fuck you, Skins PTB. You do so do dreams and hallucinations. Just fuck right off with your weird-ass definitions and attempt to be edgy, clever, unique and surreal and accept that you're just like every other show.
Simply, there's no excuse then for Rich to be seeing/hearing Grace when she's dead, unless she's not dead (In which case, Daddy Blood needs an Oscar cos that was incredibly convincing lying). Which then makes the episode actually make even LESS sense and become even more fucking stupid and cliche than it already was. Cos actually if she's alive and all that shit was happening, it is just completely --- outrageous really and makes no sense. And not in a cool surrealist, David Lynch-ish 'wtf?!' kind of way. Just in a 'this was just terrible writing' kind of way.
Episode gets a D-. I really want to say F. Fuck it, I'm done being nice. F it is. FAIL.