Flow of Madness

Everyone I think knows that I am horribly attracted to Alex Arnold for so many reasons. Though this is not a post about fan girling about how adorable he is or how cutely awkward he is or how he makes accidental creepiness look like foreplay. No that is not what this post is about! However I did have to fit it in ; ) This post is dedicated to the acting talent of Alex Arnold. 

I think that Alex Arnold is one of the most if not the most naturally talented actors Skins has ever had. He makes Rich such a believable and relatable character. One of the best things about Alex is that even when he is not the main focus of a shot he will always be acting. He has such command over his facial expressions. That you know immediately when Rich is upset, happy, shy, sarcastic, or thinking “are you mental?” His acting is not just in the words he says but it is his whole body. From his face, posture, and everything. 

Rich in my opinion is such a wonderful character, because he is written with the perfect mixture of humor and emotion. Alex can go back and forward between the two with ease. I was thinking in regards to Episode 2 from Series 6 that if anyone else had to play that story line I do not think it would have been as beautiful. Skins does a wonderful job of picking out young talent and I think that all of them have a level of talent that is extraordinary. I just do not think that any of them have the ability to play the line between humor and raw true emotion the way that Alex does. Many people may play the drama perfectly, but the humor gets lost in the grief. Or vice versa focus on the humor that it makes the emotion feel forced. Alex seamlessly jumps between the two. In fact Alex has the ability to make you both laugh and cry at the same time. When he was riding his bike to Grace’s house I was feeling anxious due to the desperation that was dripping off Rich and at the same time I was laughing hysterically because of Alex’s physical comedy. 

Alex is also brilliant at improv. Both in Series 5 and Series 6 Alex has tripped or messed up on a shot yet still continued to act. Both times have ended up in the final episode. The first is when he is talking to Grace and he is saying that she represented everything he despised in the world. Alex got his foot caught on his chain and it pulled his pants down a bit. Kept going with the scene and pulled up his pants. That pulling up his pants is in the episode as he goes “come along then.” The second time is his fight with Alo apparently he was supposed to throw the guitar into the bushes and it fell short. So he kept acting and improvised picking up the guitar to throw it again as he left. That impresses me. Improvising is hard and the fact that he gets so in character that making mistakes like throwing the guitar the wrong direction which would send me into a fit of giggles doesn’t phase him is impressive. 

I could go on and on about the talent of Alex Arnold. The truth is I would love Rich no matter who played him, because I love Rich as a personality. Alex Arnold made me fall in love with Rich and made me so invested in his story lines. Because of the amount of truth and understanding he brings to the character. You cry when he cries, you deny when he denies, you are frustrated when he is frustrated, and at the same time he can make you laugh hysterically as well. This is why Alex Arnold is one of the greatest actors Skins has ever seen and I hope he goes on to do more things. 

On top of it he is awkward, weird, charming, hilarious, and kind. Not to mention good looking. I guess I found another space to insert that in there. Here are some lovely gifs of Awkward Alex as you contemplate how much awesome he is made of. 

**These Gifs were made by an amazing tumblr blogger, gif maker, and Awkward Alex supporter everything-skins seriously.**