Review of Skins 5x07: "Grace"
- Yep, so Blood is Grace's dad. Nobody guessed that! LOL. Her parents are kind of creepily adorable and I love Mrs. Blood's prissy clothes, haha. Seeing Grace in her home now makes the whole fairy tale princess-and-a-commoner dynamic of her and Rich five times more real.
- So far Jessica Sula has been one of the weaker actors in this cast, but in some ways that actually kind of works for the character, especially in this episode because of the themes of performance and being fake. By going a little overboard with the sophisticated Hepburn-inspired act, she just comes across that much more like somebody sort of out of touch with and avoiding reality. (Who knows, maybe it's all intentional.)
This aspect of her is kind of ironic because she's the character who seems to so easily see past these things in other people and may be sheltered but is not a shallow person. She's very non-judgmental and open to different experiences and doesn't limit herself to some specifically defined external identity and idea of what she's supposed to be. But apparently that's only when she's with her friends, and this is where she and Rich have officially been developed as total opposites in such a great way. I mean, what does Grace do for her parents all the time but compromise? Haha. She doesn't even realize how non-genuine she has to be with them until Rich sees her at home and says "This isn't you." She's the one who showed him that being true to what you are doesn't have to mean being totally alienated in your own little niche and accepting everyone else with their differences doesn't mean changing to impress them, but now that her parents won't accept anything different but what they expect her to be it's time for her to learn from him a little, actually figure out who she is, and commit to that.
- How much does it totally show Rich loves her, though, that even as he's getting so frustrated with her over this he completely resists telling her that her father actually wants her to fail and tried to bribe him like that behind her back?
- Welll that Mini/Franky kiss was a bit steamy. (Alo's face in that moment was hilarious!) I was pretty indifferent before but I think I'd prefer this ship to happen than Franky/Matty. In this episode the love triangle between them and Liv has gotten really awkward to watch and I think it should have stayed more subtle, and it doesn't help that Franky just isn't that interesting to me and this conflict is just about all that's being done with her. They had a pretty good start with her character in the first episode, but since then her role has pretty much just been to mysteriously appear and say something helpful to any character who's gone off on their own in a state of frustration, and also exchange silent meaningful looks with Matty. She's weird and different in a way that's almost more over-the-top than very relatable. There really needs to be a stronger relationship between her and one of her friends, for one thing, because so far she's just kind of there with everyone equally and I think that's not helping how watered-down and vague a character she is compared to the rest of the group.
- LOL RICH'S DRUNK-SINGING. Wow, Rich, I'm amazed you even know the words to any 60s soul songs.
- Laya was really good performing the Shakespeare stuff. She has a nice deep voice for that kind of thing. And well, Freya was good at acting like she can't act for shit, hahaha.
- And this final scene, AAAAAH! IS THIS REAL LIFE? THE PROPOSAL. RICH CRYING. SOMEONE HOLD ME.
Yeah I suspect they won't actually go through with this wedding business and I really hope it's not a disaster. In a cute way it kind of makes sense as part of the fairy-tale parallels of their relationship, which will probably have both good and bad sides to it. I guess committing to each other like this in such a completely romantic, not reasonable, show of optimism is really appealing to Grace right now because she's making her own happy ending against all odds, and that's at least more feasible than hoping things will work out if she just plays the part she needs to for someone else. She says earlier about the play that she knows it's going to go well because everyone is so much like the character they're playing, and in the end they don't perform well by putting all their problems behind them and pretending everything's fine, but by actually letting it show in their performances. And by the end of the episode what Grace is doing is still sort of trying to live a fantasy, because she is a person who's made of stories and is optimistic that way and that's okay, but finally playing the part that's right for her now.
Still, being in love doesn't just solve everything and complete you, and I imagine this is how they might run into problems and have to face reality eventually. I just hope if they do have problems it'll be about learning there are no simple happy endings and relationships can be hard, especially with a couple like them who wouldn't seem right for each other on paper and are bound to clash over things. Skins likes going the bittersweetly realistic route with showing that even strong relationships don't always last, but it would be just as realistic to show that in the long term they can just take a lot of work to maintain. It would be fitting for Grace to have to learn that that's what it really takes to earn happiness. The saying that "opposites attract" usually doesn't apply to reality like it does to fictional romances, and the idea that someone like Grace and someone like Rich could fall in love is in itself ridiculously romantic and so much of its appeal is how unlikely it should be. Grace may have to learn to be more practical in her expectations about their relationship, but not so practical that she ever looks at their differences and is willing to just give up and say "We're obviously just not meant to be" when it gets hard.
I can't believe Series 5 is going to be over after one more episode! T.T I hope there's more Nick in the last episode than we've been seeing of him lately. It's crazy how much I love him now compared to early in the season.