found a way to understand the time you're burning

[hardparade]

Why does Skins do this to me? It's pretty much always good, often great, and then every now and then an episode comes along that just makes me feel like I'm on a rollercoaster and the whole thing is sort of terrifying and amazing and horrible and wonderful, and at the end I just feel like a wreck. This episode reminded me a lot of Effy's episode last season, 'cause that was definitely one that made me feel that way.

I can't believe I'm having these feelings about Freddie's episode. I even felt for him tonight, I really did. And wasn't as sickened by him and Effy as I expected, mostly because she wasn't happy I suppose.


My head is kind of a mess so I don't even know what to say, I just felt like I had to update and ramble nonsensically. I really, really love crazy!Effy. My heart just ached for her all episode through. She's just...agh. One of my favourite characters in anything ever and I forgive the writers for any OOC-ness that has occurred recently. I think.

I really didn't expect that wrist-cutting scene, though I'm not sure why. But God, there were so many of her scenes that I loved and I'm not even quite sure of the reasons. I loved her making the crazy wall-collages. And I loved her when she was panicking. When she was hiding under the bed and telling Freddie to get rid of everybody, and when she wanted Cook to go away, and when she was panicking at the carnival. I feel like this Effy links back to gen-1 Effy. It's the breakdown of everything she was pretending to be, the way she acted like she didn't care about anything or anyone, but it wasn't the real her. Like Tony said in S2, "You don't fool me, Effy Stonem."

And it just seems so logical for it to freak her out, suddenly caring about things. I'm still questioning why it's Freddie she cares about, that's the one thing that doesn't seem to match up to me, but I can fill in blanks with my Tony/Effy shipping and that makes it all okay. Although I really do hate that there was absolutely nothing about Tony. IT WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN THAT HARD TO SLIP IN A BRIEF MENTION, WRITERS.

I loved that bit where Freddie was going between Effy and Cook, trying to look after them both. I felt like his stress was so real, and I mean...god, the situation would've been hard enough for anyone, but with the background about his Mum...the episode honestly developed him better as a character for me and I feel bad that my Freddie tag is what it is, because it doesn't match with this episode, haha. I also liked the brief bits of interaction with Karen! Still totally shipping them. "I want to cut your fucking hair!!" lololol.

On a more serious note, that scene with Freddie and Cook at the end TORE OUT MY HEART, good god. I can't even. The way Cook just grabbed him and Freddie tried to fight him off almost out of habit, and the clutching and sobbing and Cook's face in Freddie's hair. ♥_♥ I don't even know, every now and then there's a scene like that and I'm just left in awe of how amazing this show can be.

Ooh, also, the music!! One thing I LOVED about Effy's episode last season was how good the music was, and how perfectly it fit with the scenes. Like, I usually think the music is good, but sometimes it's not even about whether I like the song or whatever, it's just how it fits the scene. And this episode definitely had that. The whole atmosphere of it. I kept catching bits of lyrics that seemed to fit, too.

I'm sure I have like a million other things I could say about this episode but it's getting towards 2am and I'm sleeeeepy and they really wouldn't make any sense. ;_;

Comments

[letmypidgeonsgo.livejournal.com]

Someone said one of her collage photos was of Tony, but I have to rewatch to check.

As someone who's been in cosmetology school, I adored Karen here, b/c that's *so* a real thing! After using mannequins for forever you just desperately want to practice on a real person (not to mention he needed a haircut LOL)!

I SO WANTED ANOTHER COOK/FREDDIE KISS AT THE END!! Gah! *is shameless*

ILU so much right now cos your opinions of this one are exactly the same as mine :D

[likecharity.livejournal.com]

It was! I got really excited but it was just pictures of Tony, her Mum, and her Dad, all attached to Freddie's picture with lines. Still, at least that's SOMETHING. I just thought it was crazy there wasn't any mention of him.

Lol, aww! Poor Karen.

ME TOO. It actually seemed like it was going to happen, I think I was like, holding my breath. But all the hugging and clutching was good enough, I suppose.

Yay! :D I'm so glad, I feel like my opinions on episodes hardly ever match anyone else's.

I feel like a traitor, but...

[lularose.livejournal.com]

Some of my Ceffy love has been moved over to Freffy.

Re: I feel like a traitor, but...

[likecharity.livejournal.com]

:O

Lol, that didn't happen to me, but I definitely feel like I understand the pairing more after that episode, so I don't blame you. Not too much, anyway. ;)

Re: I feel like a traitor, but...

[likecharity.livejournal.com]

:O

Lol, that didn't happen with me, but I definitely understand the pairing more than I did before, so I don't blame you. Not too much, anyway. ;)

Re: I feel like a traitor, but...

[lularose.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's a better way to phrase it, I'm still a ceffy whore, but I finally understand Freffy as a whole. Freddie got a lot of my respect after his ep.

[xthe-ingenue.livejournal.com]

the fact that there was not even a MENTION of tony was the worst thing about this episode, IMO. it's probably one of the most unrealistic things skins could ever do, in terms of characters, to not even have anthea like... calling him in the background or something.

freffy is bad enough. i can't ever forgive them for not even talking about tony when effy just tried to kill herself.

[likecharity.livejournal.com]

I know. >:( It's so weird, too, because I remember reading a spoiler AGES ago that said something like, Effy's relationship with Tony would be mentioned. So maybe it'll happen later? I don't know. They definitely could have had Anthea on the phone with him in the background. Sigh.

[xthe-ingenue.livejournal.com]

yeah, i read that too. maybe her creepy doctor is going to ask her about him.

[(Anonymous)]

"I'm still questioning why it's Freddie she cares about, that's the one thing that doesn't seem to match up to me"

hm, id think it makes some sense... freddie had a mother who suffered from a mental illness that resembles effys pretty much. so somehow she might have sensed something that was something only to be sensed and not seen (by us, the watchers) or others, you know?
anyhow, thats just what popped up in my mind when we learned about freddies mother. plus, effy seems to be struggling with the side of her that cares so much it hurts and the side that tries desperately to hide exactly that. freddie, on the other hand, is in some sort of similar situation seeing as 1) his mother killed herself and 2) he wants to be a 'normal' carefree person.

"IT WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN THAT HARD TO SLIP IN A BRIEF MENTION, WRITERS"

well, at least there was a photo of him on Eff's collage. so, that's something!

:)

i do enjoy your ep. comments!

[likecharity.livejournal.com]

I guess that works, yeah. I think the fact that Freddie's mother was mentally ill and killed herself has done SO MUCH for his character, somehow. Like, it's just one detail, but it's changed the way I look at him. And at his connection to Effy. I kind of like the idea of Effy sensing something in him that she connected to, as well.

Yeah, I guess it's something!

:)

[breathe-me27.livejournal.com]

OMG this episode BROKE ME. OH FREDDIE.

I have to admit that there is a small, petty part of me that is really enjoying seeing all these people who have spent the last year being so horrible about Freddie's character, calling him boring/self-centered/whiny/stupid/a waste of space, FINALLY understand him better and admit that they were wrong and that they feel really guilty about all of the things they said about him.
Being a psychology student, I've been trying to explain Freddie's actions and behaviour to people since his episode in season 3, (after watching that episode, our entire class guessed that his mum had a mental illness and probably killed herself. It's nice to be proven right, lol), and I'm thrilled that people finally understand his character more!

The last scene was AMAZING OMG. I bawled like a baby, I really did. My Cook/Freddie ship is alive and well!

[likecharity.livejournal.com]

Haha, I definitely feel like I understand him more now. It's interesting that you figured him out so early. I feel kind of bad that I assumed it was lazy writing and that they hadn't developed his character enough, because the Skins writers NEVER DO THAT. Even characters that start out seeming awful (Cook, Katie) you end up liking to some extent.

I still don't properly LIKE him, and there are some things about his character that I don't think can be excused by this extra detail (how judgemental he seemed to be of Effy last season), but yeah, I totally understand him more and I'm glad.

[laultimahora32.livejournal.com]

I saw this post and just HAD to reply. All the opinions I've heard about this episode have been "oh, it was boring" and all that, so I just... guh. This episode broke my heart, it was so amazing.

I know what you mean about Tony (I'm pretty much a closet extreme Tony/Effy shipper). A mention at least would have been realistic. I mean, them two were so damn close. I liked that the photo was there though, better than nothing <3

I wasn't expecting the wrist cutting scene either, because I didn't think that Skins would actually go that far, I know they've shown a lot of stuff, but this... I thought it would be too sensitive, but it worked. You're right, it really is linking back to s1. Did they ever actually explain why Effy didn't speak back then? I've always kind of suspected that something might be wrong (especially with her unseen with the candles and whispering, which I loved, but it was disturbing). It really was the moment to do this story if there ever was one, like Effy said to Freddie, "You made me weak". Which also explained why Effy has been so OOC lately.

I've never been a Freddie fan. I groaned when I saw this was his episode. But... god. This episode changed my opinion of him. He makes so much sense now. I don't 'love' him, but he tried so fucking hard here. Throughout the ep, I was thinking, "that boy needs a goddamn hug" and alas, Cook gave him one. Of course <3 Those two are so adorable.

Seriously, this episode astounded me. Skins is so amazing. This kind of story is so hard to do well, and this is one of the best I've seen it, it was so delicate. The entire atmosphere of the episode was fragile. A lot of people are saying it would have been better if it was built up to, but I don't agree. I kind of loved it, because that is how it seems to some people, sudden, when really it's been there all along. Realistic. Since Freddie seems to be the only one she's close to at the moment (apart from Tony, but the writers don't seem to want to include him *grumble*), it wouldn't have appeared in the other episodes from other characters POV, so really it was perfect as it was.

I have so much love for this episode and for Skins right now <3

[likecharity.livejournal.com]

I can't understand why anyone would find it boring!! It was amazing.

I know right! I'm holding out hope for next week--it's Effy's episode so I feel like there'll be a lot of follow-up from the suicide attempt and they'll have even more reason to mention him. And if they don't, I'm gonna be so pissed off, lol.

Yeah! And even though there was so much build-up to it, I definitely wasn't expecting it somehow. It was very well done. I'm not sure if they did explain why Effy didn't speak, actually. It's my personal canon that she stopped speaking when Tony started going out with Michelle, because she was so heartbroken. Lol. I've been meaning to rewatch the first two seasons lately.

Exactly!! I felt sorry for him, and I never had before. I'd always just been so totally bored by him.

I agree about it being better because it seemed quite sudden, too. And I don't think it was THAT out of the blue, I mean, Effy's been pretty crazy this whole time.