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Skins Series 7 |OT| Fire, Rise and Pure

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I don't think the episode felt much like Skins but I really enjoyed it
Seems like the show has matured with its characters

Does anyone know the name of the Ellie Goulding song(s?) used? I tried to shazam it but it came up with nothing

edit; oh its called you my everything apparently
 
It was about what I expected out of an Effy story. Mediocre. Will never understand why the writers latched on to her.
 
As usual, lovely cinematography but dumb as doornails writing. Doesn't help that Effy's character has historically worked better as a window into other characters (which is why I liked her in S2 especially) than a character unto herself.

She's just not that engaging beyond her ridiculously good looks.
 
I know I said I was going to wait until both parts aired but I read your comments and completely caved and watched the first part of Skins Fire.

I thought it was fucking awesome. From the moment the episode started with the subdued version of the Skins theme I was in love. It was good. Not amazing but good. Everything I love about Skins condensed in to one "future" Skins episode. I guess I'm just glad the show is back and has returned to form. I agree that the "twist" at the end came out of nowhere but it has left me wanting more. I can't wait to see Skins Fire Part 2.

It was beautifully shot. It had a wonderful soundtrack. It was everything I love about the show sent in to the future. I also love Effy as an actress so I deeply enjoyed seeing the "future scenes" of what happened to her. I'm really looking forward to the next installment and then of course Rise and Pure. Also the preview of Ellie Goulding's new track "You My Everything" was inspired. It helps that I'm a fan of Ellie Goulding in general (my best friend actually knows her) but it felt like the perfect track to play for those final scenes.

I've looked for "You My Everything" everywhere but it appears it was a Skins-exclusive track for now. Hopefully it surfaces sometime next week.

What did everyone (who is yet to comment) think of the episode?
 
Didn't really feel too much like Skins to me. It took me forever to figure out that the roommate was actually Naomi too. Wonder why she changed her hairstyle. Anyway, episode was ok. I've never liked Effie's character (or Cook for that matter) so I'm really just waiting for Cassie's part.
 
MikeMyers said:
I liked it, the
cancer
part felt like it was out of nowhere.
Click to expand...

Not really. We were given hints throughout the episode. We even saw her in the hospital before and after the performance. Naomi even told Effie she had to go somewhere before it cut to her in the MRI.

EDIT:
Do we know if we'll get the traditional Skins opening this time around?
 
I really liked the episode. The stories were always ridiculous but the show still was entertaining. At least in the first four seasons. I never finished season 5 and never watched anything of season 6, the characters didn't interest me at all.

Effy is ok but I'm more interested in the stories of Emily/Naomi, Cook and Cassie.

The episode was beautifully shot. I always liked that about Skins.
 
I think I share the views of a good chunk of you. Eddy looked gorgeous, but the story wasn't interesting. I only caught he last half hour, and I'm kind of glad. Unless she got naked in the first 10 minutes, I wont be catching up.

I'm only interested in Cook and whether they revisit his final moment in series 4.
 
Effy has grown up to be such a beautiful woman. Damn she is stunning in a dress. The episode was an interesting take on the mundane everyday life routine, but doesnt hold up to the antics and excitement from the first 4 seasons. I was really looking forward to Effys arch, but it looks like Cook will steal the show once again.
 
Searched for Ellie's "You My Everything" everywhere and the best I could find was a decent-quality rip from the episode of Skins Fire (complete with background noise).

Ellie did post this on her Facebook:

'You My Everything', a new track from Ellie, was featured on last night's episode of Skins. The brand new track will be available to purchase next month, watch this space for more details.
Click to expand...

So the track should hit officially next month (August). I'm betting that a stream will hit the net in a matter of weeks however. I read that the track was recorded during the recording of Ellie's last album Halcyon so it's highly probable it's a track for a repackaged re-release of that album (something Ellie did with her previous album Lights).

A marketing masterstroke to premiere the track on Skins. It created a lot of buzz around the track that she wouldn't have received had she just uploaded the track somewhere.

I wonder what other awesome music we'll be getting in future episodes?
 
i really loved the track in the episode (never heard of ellie goulding before). wish she'd put the full version out after the episode
 
Empty said:
i really loved the track in the episode (never heard of ellie goulding before). wish she'd put the full version out after the episode
Click to expand...

Same here. Loved the track and would have loved to have heard the full version right after watching the episode. If you're new to Ellie Goulding may I suggest This Love (Will Be Your Downfall) from her album Lights and My Blood from her album Halcyon.

Both her albums are on Spotify if you want to check her out. She has a wonderful angelic voice with some great production behind her tracks. I'm excited to see what exactly You My Everything is going to be part of (standalone single, album re-release or even her third album).

As soon as I find a legit stream of You My Everything I'll post it here in this thread.
 
Skins Fire seems to be getting good reviews. The Telegraph gave the episode four stars:

Skins Fire, E4, Review
Adrian Michaels reviews Effy's story, the first episode in the final series of E4's Skins.

Over six series, E4’s teen drama Skins has made a name for itself as the place to go if you want to see the nation’s youth represented in all their self-obsessed, sex-crazed, drug-bingeing glory. But the show couldn’t have enjoyed such long-term success if it didn’t have believable characters, and for its final series it revisits three of them, now all grown up, in their own two-part stories.

In last night’s opener, we followed the fortunes of suggestive waif Effy (Kaya Scodelario), the teen femme fatale who attempted suicide back in series four. She’s now working for a hedge fund in the City. Outside she is icy unflappability and mean put-downs. Inside she is frustrated and ambitious. From her lowly berth she is witness to all the wrangling and willy-waving of the sorts of traders we first watched in Wall Street in 1987. They don’t seem to have moved on one bit. Here is the bed-hopping, powerful Jake, here are the fat wisecracking traders missing only those Eighties braces, and the clients in casinos with their hands working their way around Effy’s backless dress.

Effy had the look in terms of smoulder, wardrobe and hairstyle – so much so that she was a carbon copy of one of her bosses, the Queen Bitch Victoria who couldn’t be bothered to remember the name of underlings. She was played by Lara Pulver, an actress who showed in Spooks and Sherlock that she is capable of far more depth than her part demanded here. Later, with Victoria on the way out and Effy on the way up, the seamlessly interchangeable pair simply swapped seniority, dialogue and the keys to Jake’s trousers. It was confusing if you had nipped out for a cuppa.

The fact that all the plot progression was extremely predictable, and that only the characters of Effy and her flatmate Naomi (Lily Loveless) were more than, er, skin-deep, would surely have sunk most drama. But happily it did not. Skins was a triumph of slick over substance. The floors echoed pleasingly to the sound of expensive footwear; the characters were deservedly pasty and horrible.

The story, such as it was, fairly ripped along. We were drawn in from the first scene and even touched by Dom (Craig Roberts), the baby research analyst with such a crush on Effy that he passed on inside information. He is almost certain to get a nasty comeuppance in episode two as a result of his Effatuation. As all adolescent boys find out early and never learn: playing with ice can be as dangerous as playing with fire.
Click to expand...

Source

Digital Spy also gave the episode four stars (and wrote a better review IMO):

'Skins Fire' episode one review: Effy returns in final series

There's been talk of how this final run of Skins is a more "mature" and "adult" take on the E4 drama that blew teenagers' minds when it first launched over six years ago. Skins Fire - the first of three 2-parters catching up with old favourites from the show's run - certainly sees the trademark wild parties and debauchery at a minimum, embracing a new, darker tone.

There's a disconnect here in both style and story. With only the subtlest nods to past events, Fire runs the risk of alienating old-school Skins fans, but anyone willing to take this first hour on its own merits will find much to enjoy. Our first comeback queen is Kaya Scodelario's Effy Stonem, who's come a long way since we first met her as the mute schoolgirl living in her brother's shadow. In 2013, Effy's hit the big city - though her duties at a high-stakes London firm are limited to fetching coffees and delivering print-outs.

Unable to completely resist her wild side, Effy's taste for danger finds a new outlet as she dives head-first into a world of cut-throat business and financial fraud. This is a quieter, more thoughtful, more deliberately-paced beast than the frenetic, crazy Skins of old, where an eye-popping incident was always around the corner. Gone is the hyperactive theme tune and title sequence - with a drastically different feel and revamped look, the only thing really linking Skins Fire to the show as we knew it is the characters, who may have grown and changed but remain instantly recognisable as their old selves.

In a reversal of fortunes, Effy - the ultimate party girl - has an office job, while the pragmatic Naomi (Lily Loveless) is finding it harder to adjust to adult life, lacking any real drive and still whiling away her days with booze, spliffs and late-night parties, until she lands on an unorthodox new career choice. Appearing in every scene, Kaya Scodelario carries the entire show on her shoulders with a magnetic performance - you even buy into her character's somewhat unlikely overnight transformation into finance guru.

Fellow Skins veteran Loveless gets less to do than her co-star - at least until the final act - but there's early hints of relationship trouble, with Kathryn Prescott's Emily now living in New York, and a shock final twist that implies she'll play a larger role in part two. Regarding said plot shocker, at this early stage, I'm unconvinced how wise a decision it was to give Naomi a fatal illness. Like Freddie's gruesome bludgeoning in Skins series four, it just feels like a step too far into the shadows, and having originally given 'Naomily' fans the happy ending they yearned for, why now threaten to snatch it away from them so cruelly?

Putting that lingering issue aside, a few words of appreciation for the strong roster of guest stars who support our leads: Lara Pulver brings an icy glamour to the supporting role of scheming Victoria, who's intimidated by the younger Effy - the striking physical similarity between Pulver and Scodelario drawing clear parallels between the two. Kayvan Novak also reels in his Facejacker gurning for a nicely underplayed performance as womanising Jake, while as Dominic - an awkward office drone with a crush on Effy - Craig Roberts reels out his patented 'endearing oddball' shtick to great effect.

Skins Fire may not feel much like the Skins we knew, but Jess Brittain's script, with its winning combination of relationship drama and cutting humour, remains a compelling piece of drama in its own right. Let's just hope that next week's Fire burns bright, rather than wallowing in darkness.
Click to expand...

Source

And good ratings:

Skins return pulls in nearly 800,000
The return of Skins on E4 on Monday kicked off with the first of a two-part story about Effy.

When Skins began on E4 in 2007, one critic wrote: "They are as irritating as real teenagers, I'll give them that." Six years later, the teen drama returned for its swansong run with 783,000 viewers. The first of a two-part story about Effy, it had a 4.4% share of the audience, between 10pm and 11pm on Monday.

It was up 20% on E4's slot average over the last three months, but little over half the 1.4 million who tuned into that opening episode on 25 January 2007. "Worth watching for the Space Invaders generation as well as the MySpacers," said another critic back then. What's MySpace?
Click to expand...

Source

So not even close to the ratings high of the first series but still an extremely strong opening; particularly for a series that has run-on for such a long time.

Good news all around. Really looking forward to Skins Fire Part 2 (and even more excited for Rise and Pure).
 
tumblr_mpafnb7WrP1r07qdko2_250.gif


unf.
 
Guys, that was so fucking bad. They took the whole Boiler Room thing way too fucking far and the only skins-like moment was the roomates relationship, which was just barely there. What the fuck, man.

Hopefully Cook isn't working in IT or some shit.
 
Filthy Slug said:
Guys, that was so fucking bad. They took the whole Boiler Room thing way too fucking far and the only skins-like moment was the roomates relationship, which was just barely there. What the fuck, man.

Hopefully Cook isn't working in IT or some shit.
Click to expand...

i think he's a drug dealer lol
 
Filthy Slug said:
Guys, that was so fucking bad. They took the whole Boiler Room thing way too fucking far and the only skins-like moment was the roomates relationship, which was just barely there. What the fuck, man.

Hopefully Cook isn't working in IT or some shit.
Click to expand...

Okay that made me laugh. Out loud. He's not going to be working in IT dude. We find out what happened after his confrontation with
Freddie's killer
so Skins Rise is automatically going to be a must-watch just for that. Also his episode preview sounds positively awesome so it's likely Cook may have the most exciting episode. Cassie's looks like a return to the "artful" Skins more than anything going by her promo.

It's a shame you weren't loving Skins Fire but I'm glad you're at least giving the other episodes a shot. I don't know. I really enjoyed what I saw. I just loved the ambient and atmospheric soundtrack that even made scenes of Effy just walking quite emotional and powerful. I agree that the story was kind of not really there but the signature Skins moments were. My advice? Keep watching. Cook's episode might be more your thing. Sounds like he has the coolest two-parter out of them all.

Plus Cassie is lovely so Skins Pure is going to be good just for her.
 
The cinematography and musicality was on point as usual... sure the plot isn't much to shake a stick at but series 5-6 took any expectations of that out of my head as it is. I liked the episode overall.
 
I'm finishing rewatching series 6 tomorrow and I just want to say something that I dream to see in series 7.

Cook is running to escape a shitty situation and he comes face to face with Luke, Cook says "Who the fuck are you?", Luke does one of his shitty smile, Cook blows Luke's brain out and Cook starts to run again...
 
Is this show finally ending? Maybe they can stop plastering this all over Channel 4.

I'm with Stewart Lee on Skins:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWcpkNbIJZg

Exploitive and cynical, unbelievable (even if it advertises itself as gritty and realistic) take on modern teenagers. My Mad Fat Diary is more relevant on teenage issues like obesity and mental issues, even though that's a period piece. Some Girls is a funny and more believable take on teenage girls.

I liked the first two seasons but that was mostly because of the nice cinematography and soundtrack. It just got more misanthropic as it went on with no real point, going into full blown melodrama by the later seasons.
 
SomethingInTheSea said:
Good episode, even better a new Ellie Goulding song at the end!
Click to expand...
Matt_ said:
Does anyone know the name of the Ellie Goulding song(s?) used? I tried to shazam it but it came up with nothing

edit; oh its called you my everything apparently
Click to expand...
ThreeSixty said:
Also the preview of Ellie Goulding's new track "You My Everything" was inspired. It helps that I'm a fan of Ellie Goulding in general (my best friend actually knows her) but it felt like the perfect track to play for those final scenes.

I've looked for "You My Everything" everywhere but it appears it was a Skins-exclusive track for now. Hopefully it surfaces sometime next week.
Click to expand...
ThreeSixty said:
Searched for Ellie's "You My Everything" everywhere and the best I could find was a decent-quality rip from the episode of Skins Fire (complete with background noise).

Ellie did post this on her Facebook:



So the track should hit officially next month (August). I'm betting that a stream will hit the net in a matter of weeks however. I read that the track was recorded during the recording of Ellie's last album Halcyon so it's highly probable it's a track for a repackaged re-release of that album (something Ellie did with her previous album Lights).

A marketing masterstroke to premiere the track on Skins. It created a lot of buzz around the track that she wouldn't have received had she just uploaded the track somewhere.

I wonder what other awesome music we'll be getting in future episodes?
Click to expand...
Empty said:
i really loved the track in the episode (never heard of ellie goulding before). wish she'd put the full version out after the episode
Click to expand...
ThreeSixty said:
Same here. Loved the track and would have loved to have heard the full version right after watching the episode. If you're new to Ellie Goulding may I suggest This Love (Will Be Your Downfall) from her album Lights and My Blood from her album Halcyon.

Both her albums are on Spotify if you want to check her out. She has a wonderful angelic voice with some great production behind her tracks. I'm excited to see what exactly You My Everything is going to be part of (standalone single, album re-release or even her third album).

As soon as I find a legit stream of You My Everything I'll post it here in this thread.
Click to expand...
Ellie Goulding - You, My Everything (Skins Fire)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5947LjTyW1A
 
Goddammit, there's no way to get this legally in the US. I don't know why don't they throw these episodes up on Amazon Instant or iTunes.

Edit: never mind. It is up on iTunes. Thank God.
 
Episode was alright. The
cancer
thing was pretty random but i'm glad they got it out of the way early so none of the other stories can play that card.

I also noticed Naomi kind of looks like katy perry.
 
When did Emily get back?
 
If they hurt cassie I will be most upset
 
Naomi's eyes were absolutely stunning when she was on the roof
 
that was okay. very beautifully put together as last week. i liked the banking stuff, i thought they did a good job on delivering on the stakes set up in the first half and the story was very satisfying. the cancer stuff wasn't as over the top bad as it could have been, but still felt a bit pointless and a waste. i liked the idea of examining people pulling in different directions and leaving their old friends behind, but using cancer was just so manipulative.

overall i thought the whole tv movie was pretty good. hope they can keep it up with the next two.
 
Jeels said:
Can people who didn't watch Skins still enjoy/understand this?
Click to expand...

i mean the part where emily/naomi are making fun of effy in front of whatever the guy's name is tonight would make absolutely no sense to you if you never saw series 4 :\
 
Um, wow. I can't really think of enough superlatives to describe this episode.

For one thing, yes, the cancer thing. That's just Skins, I've accepted it. But within the confines of that pretty exploitative twist, Naomi's story as a foil to Effy's was just absolutely masterful. 95% of that comes down to the fantastic acting this episode. That was some incredible acting by all involved, really.

Second, Effy herself. This was the first episode where she really became a character for me, and it's a shame that it's the last time we'll see her. The way she created a cocoon from everything and everyone around her, and then just breaking down at the end, surrendering that tough exterior and just taking stock of the shitty situation she's found herself in. Such growth.

The FSA investigation, etc. etc. was pretty predicable, but again, the acting completely transcended the barrage of cliches. Dom especially was so believable, though I'm curious where he stands now professionally. Such a lovable sap.

My biggest complaint with Skins was never that it's not realistic, because it never tried to be. My beef with later seasons was that it created this world, this set of "rules" per se but never failed to totally break every single one of them due to shitty writing that didn't know its left from its right. But "Fire" created its little universe (in the usual artificial Skins-esque fashion), but stuck to what it set out to do and maintained the same artistic integrity (which Series 4/6 lacked entirely) that made the first three series so undeniably magical.

I'll have to rewatch before I make any definitive judgments, but as of now, I feel comfortable calling "Fire" a remarkable piece of television. From the cinematography, the acting, the FUCKING SOUND DESIGN, and (I can now proudly say) the writing, it was truly a special moment in Skins history.

Now bring me the main dish, Cassie.

tumblr_mpbvy0rHjR1qf2rs4o1_r1_500.gif


Upward and onward.
 
I'm kinda surprised no one liked season 6, I found that to be my favorite season I think. But I liked Fire, classic Skins plot but not sure how to feel about the ending.
 
jwk94 said:
Man, so it's safe to assume that Naomi dies and Effy is in jail now?
Click to expand...
Can't really see it going any other way. Effy's in jail, Naomi's dead, and Emily's probably going to be an emotional wreck for a long time.

Kind of a punch to the gut after the relatively upbeat S4 ending with the whole gang in Freddie's shed
lol.gif
 
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