Skins: Shifting Scales

Long time no post, there Skins. It's not that I've stopped watching the show, on the contrary, I've been enthralled with the series thus far. It's just gotten tiring complaining about all the original music that's been stripped out of the show and replaced with cheap knockoff. Of course, it might just be my problem, since that's my thing, you know?

This week's "Effy" episode might just be the best and worst example of the show. It was riveting and full of all the drama that Gossip Girl and all the other teen soaps could only dream of. Tony descends even further down the likable meter, but then Josh's twisted revenge shifts the scales a bit back in his favor. He really does love Effy, and perhaps this is his turning point.

Meanwhile, once again, they've stripped every single song out from how it originally aired, and this time it's even more egregious in that there were three songs by the amazing Grizzly Bear left on the cutting room floor. Someone on their staff must have had Yellow House in heavy rotation. The otherworldly sounds of "Knife" and "On a Neck, On a Spit" worked so well with the original airing, and after hearing "Reprise" backing the scene between Sid and Cassie, you're left scratching your head with the whatever scrubs they found to paste in there.

It's not just Grizzly Bear, but also the ominous noise of Wolf Eyes' "Ancient Delay" as Tony walks through the odd rave scene trying to find Effy, M Craft's "Dragonfly" haunting the scene as Tony carries Effy to Sid's car, and the final scene of Sid acknowledging that Tony sort of 'owns him,' fittingly backed by a song about this sort of ownership, "Under Mi Sensi" by Barrington Levy. The episode still works, but it feels like a three-legged dog... he still fetches the ball, but you can't help noticing what's missing.

Playlist: Skins - Episode 2.08
1. "For Lovers" - Wolfman
2. "Keep Loving Me" - The Draytones
3. "0800 Dub" - Skream
4. "Knife" - Grizzly Bear
5. "On a Neck, On a Spit" - Grizzly Bear
6. "Tapped" - Skream
7. "Reprise" - Grizzly Bear
8. "Ancient Delay" - Wolf Eyes
9. "Dragonfly" - M. Craft
10. "Under Mi Sensi" - Barrington Levy