Customer Reviews

Skins, Vol. 2

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Well, you all know how things left off at the end of the last series. Tony got hit by a bus, Sid and Cassie met at a bench, Maxxie and Anwar made up and everyone had a nice little singing number (?!).

Now we pick up some months later with a whole series of interesting story lines! We follow Tony on his slow road to recovery (apparently getting slammed into by a bus is not something one gets over right away). We see him and Maxxie getting closer even as Sid and Michelle turn slowly away from Tony. We also get to see Maxxie pick up a stalker, which is all sorts of fun.

Moving on, we have a lovely love triangle developing between Sid, Michelle and Tony (who I've always thought really wanted to have a three-way relationship with Sid and Michelle), Jal and Chris start hooking up (I still think she could do better), Cassie disolves and becomes even more mad than before, and Anwar, well... Anwar starts thinking with the wrong part of his body and does wrong by Maxxie. Even Effie starts to get more attention, which makes sense given her expanded role in series three. All of this builds to an astonishing and rather tear-jerking climax that one doesn't soon forget.

As in the first series, the writting in the second is sharp and intelligent. The actors are all in top form, particularly Nicholas Hoult, who has a real challenge playing a damaged version of Tony (well, more damaged than usual). There's also some incredibly funny dialogue and some great scenes.

I really enjoyed one scene with Maxxie's father and the father of a bully/gay basher, talking with each other. These are men who look like your basic longshoremen, yet neither has a problem with Maxxie being gay. Heck, the father of the bully even says the boy has baked a "remorse cake" and offers Maxxie the cake which says, "Sory" on it. I just about fell out of my chair laughing at that scene, but in addition to comedy one must note the positive message it gives gay youth.

Really, I can't think of any real flaws the show has, aside from the fact that none of the cast save Effie will be returning for series three. I do rather hope there's a few more extras on these DVD's as opposed to those from series one, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Anyhow, if you liked series one, buy this! If you haven't seen series one, go buy that and THEN buy this! If you have seen series one, but didn't like it, then... er... why are you even looking at this page? ;) To the rest of you, enjoy!

This show is absolutely amazing with well written character development, each character has there thing that makes them tick. For Tony, being a bit of a prick, Anwar, chasing girls, Chris, drugs of course, Jal, her impending future. Everything about this show is great to the soundtrack, the humor, to the drama. I don't think I've seen better acting from US actors as I've seen with the cast of "Skins". Both seasons one and two are uncannily great, with the first season the kids living to get away, to the second, graduating college and wondering "What will I do?".

Trust me this series is particularly something special to me. If you like a mixture of great drama, comedy, and wanting to live your youth again, watch this show.

I watched the first season on Netflix and bought the second season.

It's funny, irreverent and sexy as only British TV can do.

Skins Series 2 picks up from a cliffhanger that reached almost "Dallas" heights of drama in the first series. That cliffhanger - Tony being hit by a bus - is resolved in these episodes but the resolution is not solved after only one episode. Instead, we follow the consequences of that incident through the course of the next ten episodes.

Did we think everything was going to be happy for Sid and Cassie after the first series finale? Guess again. Sid makes some surprising choices and Cassie finds herself going down an even darker path than before when she wasn't eating. (Yes, it is possible.)

Other characters face new dilemmas and not all of them end up happily for all involved but that's the beauty of "Skins." We find that we end up caring enough about these characters to be deeply affected by whatever befalls them. And some serious stuff goes down in series 2.

My only real complaint was the "Tony" episode when he explores a potential university. I feel that it's the weakest episode of either season 1 or 2 but other than that, this is a stellar season. It's too bad that the cast was replaced for Season Three but now we get a whole new crop of kids to meet.

I am very satisfied with this product. I got it at a great price. Where I live I couldn't find this dvd for any price even close to what I paid for this. Thank you!

If you have seen Season 1 (I hope you have!) you know what to expect from the show. We see more character stories, and are engaged to more social issues. The first and second seasons have the same characters, and the in the third season the characters change. I think everyone with a respectable TV on DVD collection should have both Seasons 1 & 2 of this show!

Even more compelling than Vol 1. Very easy to be spellbound by the characters becoming more real than life. The humour is absurd yet priceless.

Impressive british teen drama which seems to be be ahead of it's league.

Great tv show for young adults, plus great storylines!

This show is spectacular, highly recommended. The dvds are great because they show all the stuff that cant be shown on American TV. Not a lot of bonus features, but the outtakes and deleted scenes are worth it!

At the end of series one we have the core crew pretty much all having major cataclysms in their life. Whether it's the concept of facing life alone, descending into a drug induced stupor or being hit by a bus, really only Maxie and Anwar have any stability or happiness going on. As I noted in my review of series one, it was the collective strength of the group that kept them all together - in as much as they were. And at the centre of the group, the axle around which many of the interpersonal relationships revolved, was Tony. Charming and caclulating in equal measure he provided a lot of the glue that kept the group together.

Well in series two of this British series concentrating on the lives of teenagers from the city of Bristol Tony is out of action. Who would of thought that being hit by a bus at the end of series one would of been a problem? With Tony out of sorts and unable to manipulate the group, which at least gave them direction, the different personalities are left to stumble along on their own as they face a growing pile of consequences from their teenage indiscretions. But being Skins they don't actually move to fix anything, rather they seem to drive headlong into more flippantly self destructive modes of operation. The madcap adventures played out here are aided by the tight writing and they way that the show does not treat the concerns of these teenagers with a knowing wink, the show portrays them in all their idiocy without making excuses but it also never stoops to being condescending towards young people and that is one of the reasons why the gritty aspects are able to co-exist with the outrageous segments.

This second instalment of Skins is probably less satisfying. This was a brave move by the writers as making their characters more likeable in order to make some serious bank must of been tempting. But no, Cassie becomes even more mentally ill and nasty. Sid bumbles to the point where you want to punch him and is actively annoying (and one of the reasons why this series isn't five stars - sorry, but nobody is that moronic). Tony learns a lot and not all the lessons are much fun for him. And one of the major characters doesn't make it to the end alive in one of the most gut wrenching scenes of either series thus far.

The kids are alright? Not this lot, very damaged people and yes it's true that such a broken crew wouldn't coalesce like this in real life and yes, the plot lines are ridiculously far fetched, but much of this is compelling viewing if you have the stomach for the material. For example, I told think Ned Flanders would approve.