Flow of Madness

I loved all the comments/responses to my last post. I wanted to take a moment to share them and comment back. Because they were awesome. I hope they keep coming! 

innermonsters answered your question: Skins Discussion Question: Favorite Actors of Generation 1

I fully agree with you. All of them are just fantastic. And another great actress is Hannah Murray. Love your posts btw.

I really appreciate that. You made my day. I love talking about this stuff and I really love hearing other people’s thoughts as well. This is why Tumblr is awesome. 

mellifluousandsublime answered your question: Skins Discussion Question: Favorite Actors of Generation 1

Also, Nick Hoult’s tallness definitely matched Tony’s personality. US Skin’s Tony was too short.

This is very true. And countless other reasons for why why USA Tony just didn’t represent what Tony was. Nick’s looks in general is perfect for Tony. Mysteriously good looking. Tallness. Intense eyes. Then the way Nick played it was just absolutely fantastic. No other actor can capture that. 

future-mrshoult answered your question: Skins Discussion Question: Favorite Actors of Generation 1

I agree with all of these. I love them all, Tony as my all time favourite then Chris coming in close.

Right on! 

tueschanceuxtuesmignon answered your question: Skins Discussion Question: Favorite Actors of Generation 1

To add to those three, I would say Hannah Murray, and Mitch Hewer, but I agree 100

abcdefghijklesley answered your question: Skins Discussion Question: Favorite Actors of Generation 1

Mitch Hewer *-*

I was thinking about adding both Hannah Murray and Mitch Hewer. I am really glad you brought them up! Mitch is fantastic as Maxxie. I wish they wrote a little bit more of Maxxie in Series 1 and 2. One of my few complaints. Hannah Murray plays Cassie perfectly deranged yet endearing as well. Amazing performances. 

I am going to get back to favorite scenes of specific episodes and move towards my Skins Philosophy work soon. I am going to work on Thursday evenings on that sort of thing. I have figured out!

But till then I am going to talk about the different actors in each Generation. If I don’t mention Kaya in this post its cause I view her as a Gen 1 side character and Gen 2 main character. Many people argue against this, but the for the sake of clarity I think its fair to put her with the second generation. 

Generation 1 Acting 

What strikes me is that Generation 1 I feel is dominated by great male acting. I am not saying the female actresses of Generation 1 suck, but the male actors of this generation steal the scenes. 

My favorite actors of Gen 1 are definitely….

Joe Dempsie (Chris) 

I picked him because I think he plays Chris with such a subtle sweetness to him. Chris is the type of character if played by the wrong actor could be seen as annoying or at times ridiculous. But Chris is just so nuanced with him. He really made Chris one of the most lovable characters to ever be written in the Skins world. His scene with Jal under the Duvet broke my heart and same with the scene at his brother’s grave. But he can also make you laugh like no other. He is definitely one of the top notch actors of Generation 1. 

Mike Bailey (Sid) 

I have a friend that says “Mike Bailey is great at playing Sid, because he is Sid. Outside of that he has no talent.” I haven’t seen him in other roles, so I can’t say if that is true or not. The only thing that I do know is that Mike Bailey played Sid so well I fell head over heels in love with Sid. And for that I think he is one of the strongest actors of the Generation. Not only for how he played Sid’s light moments or typical Sid moments, but also his heartbreaking moments. He was fantastic. 

Nicholas Hoult (Tony) 

Tony is such a hard character to play. So you know someone has to be extremely talented to pull that character off and he does! He is Tony. One of the major issues with the American Skins version is that I could not picture anyone else but Nicholas Hoult as Tony. That is a mark of a great actor. 

Those are my pics for best actors of Generation 1. What do you think? Who are your favorite actors of the first generation?

This is one of my favorite episodes of Series 2. But it is also the most heartbreaking. There a few scenes that really resonated with me in this one. 

1) Sid plays with his evil cousins.

I just love this scene in general. He has two younger cousins who want to play football (Soccer). He gets the ball and they start beating on him. Then in the kitchen he is told to apologize to them. It was just so Sid. 

2) Sid and his Dad have a chat. 

 

I love this scene because it made me tear up when I first watched it. Mark in Series 1 did verbally accost Sid. But this Series Mark has calmed down and he is seeing Sid and treating him as more of an equal. I absolutely adore Mark. And this scene just shows how close Sid and his Dad have grown the past year. 

Sid: Is that how you see me?
Mark: Never.
Sid: Is that how you see me? 
Mark: You hear me, Sid, never. 

3)Sid finally breaks down over his Dad’s death

Sid and I have very similar experiences with grief. Both of us after getting or discovering we have lost someone we loved. Became withdrawn and lost. Went to school not saying a word. And took quite a bit of time to finally break down about it. There is never a right way to grieve. I mean how can there be? But I remembered thinking something is wrong with me. I lost my Grandmother and here I am at school and I haven’t cried. What is wrong with me? So when I saw this episode and I saw how Sid handled it…it made me feel better…because it was shock. Plain and simple. I also loved that Tony and Sid after things being awkward and strange between them…finally get their friendship back on track (despite future road blocks). It is a heartbreaking and raw scene that is worthy of praise. 

It would definitely be Episode 5 “Sid” 

I just thought this episode really laid out the framework to the finale really. This is where we start to see how out of control Tony is becoming. How Sid is beginning to realize Tony is crossing the line and he is beginning to fight back a bit. Though not enough. This is where Sid begins to realize through bad and good signs that he needs to make choices and he needs to get himself together. These signs include Cassie’s suicide attempt and his Dad Mark (who I love) being such a cunt to him. I think all around it was just a great episode that balanced humor with drama. I loved Chris at the performance hitting on girls and making fun of the performances. You cannot ask for more, really, from this episode. 

My favorite scene of this episode would definitely be the adventure Anwar and Sid go on to save the Russian girl. 

These scenes are just absolutely hilarious. From conception of the idea and that Anwar’s mom packed him a ladder for emergencies. To sneaking into the house. To the whole climbing out the window bit. To Anwar losing his virginity and leaving Sid by himself to deal with an angry Russian man. It was all just really funny. It was some nice light stuff in between some of the more dark story lines. 

And with that I leave you with one of the greatest quotes from Sid during these scenes. 

“Every time. Every fucking time. ‘Buy two ounces of weed, Sidney.’ ‘Oh, yes, Sir!’ ‘Shove a bag of pills up your arse, Sidney.’ ‘Oh, right away!’ ‘Come help me save some random bint.’ ‘Oh, could I?’ What have we learned, Sidney? Your friends are shit heads.” 

Now, these four characters I have talked about quite a bit. In fact if anyone has followed my blog for some time you will probably know exactly who my favorite characters are. I am going to try my best to say some NEW things about these characters. But before I introduce them I want to write a trend I am seeing with my favorite characters.

I have picked four characters as my favorites. Two characters from generation 1 and two characters from generation 3. Each pair of characters there is a character with a more energectic/optimistic outlook on life and the other one has a more cynical outlook on life. Which I find really cool. Total accidental awesomeness. So with that…here are my all time Skins favorite characters. I am waiting for the gasps.

Cynical Side/Dark Side:

Sid Jenkins

Okay something new about Sid that I have not said before. Sid is a great character, because he is so much better than he thinks. And most of the time even when he is really mucking things up for himself you are still sitting on your couch rooting for him to figure it out. He is the most skilled person at self sabotage. He is lazy and a really nice guy, but sometimes that allowed him to get abused especially by stronger personalities (Ex: most of his friends). However, he has quite a bit of heart to him. Great character.

Rich Hardbeck 

Something new about Rich. He comes across as a very arrogant, narcisst, stubborn, and difficult person. But underneath he is actually a shy, sweet, and solid person. He has grown quite a bit in Series 5, but I imagine he will always be a cynical, sarcastic, and moody guy. I mean this is Rich. I also think that he is really intelligent. Which is something I don’t think I have explored much in the blogosphere. Rich is a very intelligent guy. He is really realistic, can foresee consequences, extensive vocabulary, and is just an all around smart guy. He also has the best sarcastic remarks and insults. I have to say I have fallen madly in love with salty Rich Hardbeck.

Optimistic/Energetic Side

Chris Miles

Chris is the type of character that just has a zest for life. He did things that were fun and never let the bad stuff in. Which is both good and bad. But out of all the traits that Chris has whether you love him because he was carefee, knew how to party, or his humor—the one that is least talked about and the most love for me is his heart. He really cared about his friends. His friendship with Cassie really showed this. So does his connection with his brother. He beyond everything else…was a really good friend and a good hearted person. Very well intentioned.

Alo Creevey

Alo by definition is the state of nature of humankind. Untouched by malice, deciet, or responsibility. He does what he wants only worries about fun. His impulsive and tactless (at times) behavior though 100 percent well intentioned may get him in tons of trouble, but you can’t stay too mad at him for long due to the fact he is extremely adorable. I’m trying to think of an aspect of Alo’s personality that does not get discussed. He is not as dumb as he seems. Many times Alo actually has a really good grasp on life and has imparted wisdom without trying to Rich, Nick, and Mini. He also has a fantastic sense of non-fashion and has a fruit fetish. Cannot go wrong with that. He is what we wall wish we could be sometimes… one hundred percent enthused, believing that anything can happen, and having fun while we stumble our way through.

Let me know if I did good with this whole new material thing.

Here is my favorite scene from 1x3 “Jal”

Sid and Jal going shopping together. I thought this scene was really cute and I have to say Jal/Sid have a sweet little friendship. I love how bossy she was and I love how awkward he was the entire time. 

Then of course there was this line by Sid….

“Well, ok, right, we’re out, yeah, and she is drunk, you know, totally mentalled and mistakes me for Tony in the dark, and her hands are everywhere. Everywhere—all over my body and she goes crazy when she realizes my tongue is double jointed. But by then its too late and we go at it like animals until…”

Which made me laugh hysterically. Great scene. Cute friendship.  

My favorite scene of this entire episode would have to be the scene when Cassie and Sid are talking in the cafeteria.

One of the reasons I really love this scene is that we kind of get a glimpse into Cassie. As well as being a sweet, insecure, and whimsical girl she is also a saavy, manipulative, and sometimes even cruel. Everyone has this inside of them. It is the duality of life really. But you see this here with her telling Sid how she lies about eating food. Then Sid says something that is so true “But aren’t you kind of, you know, lying to everyone.”

You also got to see Cassie defend Sid to Tony. Whens she knocked over the drink onto Tony’s lap when he was being a giant tool to Sid.

I just think that this scene holds a lot of importance for the character Cassie and the relationship between Sid/Cassie.

Good scene!

(In alphabetical order) 

1. Cassie Ainsworth

2. Alo Creevey

3. Rich Hardbeck

4. Sid Jenkins

“Stop trying to console me! I’m inconsolable, okay?” 

Sid was the first character of Skins that I fell head over heels for. He is the original one that just tugged at the heart strings. Mainly because I felt for him in many ways. I think we were going through similar stuff at the time. The first Series was him dealing with being a pushover and someone who could not stick up for himself. Definitely related there. The second series was him dealing with grief (related to that as well). I love Sid, because he is funny without even trying to be. He is just someone who is absolutely clueless that you laugh at him more than with him. People say him and Alo are similar…but I think Sid lacks confidence, feels like a loser, and is very self-sabotaging. Where Alo is very naive and still has this since of life and optimism about him even if you can argue it is misplaced. Sid never had that confidence. Which is why he followed Tony around and found himself getting beat up everywhere he turned. He is a great character in that he is a nice guy who makes you laugh…and just can’t seem to get himself together.