Skins UK series 5 episode 1

I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about this series. I'm not a big fan of change and am a little put off by how they change casts every two years. For generation 2, it was easier to accept because of the link between them (Effy). Other than being in the same place, this generation seems to have no connection to the other two and, because of that, I felt no real desire to watch them. The initial pictures and promos were not that appealing. It wasn't until a few weeks ago, that more previews started being shown and it began to look interesting.

*Spoiler*

The first episode followed Franky, the new girl in town. After a particularly bad bullying experience, presumably because of the way she dresses and acts, her family moves to Bristol. On her first day, she has a run-in with the queen bee, Mini. Mini pretends to be her friend and ultimately embarrasses her in the most cliche, teen girl movie sort of way- by posting embarrassing pictures of her all over school. But Franky does make some real friends in Grace, Alo and Rich.


*End Spoiler*


It actually doesn't seem like there was much plot, but I guess none of the episodes have ever seemed like much when it's written out. It was actually much better than I expected, though a little slow in the middle.

Unfortunately, this episode didn't do as good a job as the other two generations in introducing all the characters in the first episode. I think everyone was there, but I honestly couldn't tell if Matty was in there at all (maybe he was the one that talked to Franky when she was upset, but no name was given) and they only briefly showed Nick. While Alo and Rich were in it a lot, I don't recall if their names were said or not. This might be because, at least in the first episode, it seemed like they were trying to make everything a little more subtle. It really had a different feel than the first episodes of the other two generations. It was far more dramatic and less fun.


I think the cast is pretty good overall. Liv and Grace seem the weakest of the bunch that I was able to see. Of course, Matty and Nick were pretty much nonexistent in this episode so it still remains to be seen how good they are. I actually liked Alo and Rich the best, which surprised me because I didn't like them much in the promos. This cast is much better than the US cast in terms of acting ability.


They also had some good music on the episode. I particularly liked New Song by Howard Jones and was pleasantly surprised to hear such a good 80s song.


Overall, I like this series so far. It's a much better choice than the US Skins. Hopefully it stays good. I'd really hate for it to turn out like series 4.