REVIEW: 'Skins: Pure Parts 1 + 2', Grown-up Cassie has a stalker

**WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD**

Well, Cassie always gets herself in the strangest predicaments, doesn't she?

Sorry about being extremely late on these reviews, I kind of lost some interest after Effy's heartbreaking episodes.

In Skins: Pure Part 1, Cassie Ainsworth (Hannah Murray) is back in London after her stint in America had run out and is floating adrift in the city. Then, she starts noticing that someone is following her and taking pictures of her. She meets a man named Yaniv (Daniel Ben Zenou), who shows interest in her.

(c/o Digital Spy)

This strange person taking pictures of her is later revealed as her coworker Jakob (Olly Alexander), a look-alike to former character JJ, who admires her in a beyond-creepy manor. Though Cassie's initial reaction to punch him in the face seemed to be the best fitting, she grows to admire him taking pictures of her and they form an odd relationship.

He was stalking her. How is that admirable? Get it together, Cass. But I can see where she's coming from (more on that later).

These episodes had a more Skins vibe, unlike Skins: Fire. For the most part, I feel like Cassie in Pure lacks the spark we're used to seeing from her first appearance in Season 1. She's not the same girl we once knew: less whimsical, no "wow"s to be found, and with a different set of problems due to her no longer being mentally ill.

(c/o Whataculture)

Then, in Part 2, she and Jakob decide to confront her troubled father and sweet little brother who's suffering from their father's need for help. At this point, Jakob was growing on me. Especially because he tried to help Cassie by talking to her father. My opinion of him greatly diminished again when he clearly sold/had his pictures used at a club that Cassie happened to be at. Yet Cassie calls him up and tells him she loves him.

Jakob's character is really up and down, and comes from an interesting angle. He doesn't take pictures of Cassie for sexual gratification, but from a point of "purity." In his mind, Cassie is the embodiment of purity and it is his duty to photograph and share that. In this way he reminds me of literary character Jay Gatsby from The Great Gatsby. When Cassie is discovered by a modeling agency and is asked to do a photo shoot, she is completely dolled up and photographed, and paid handsomely for it. Once Jakob finds out about this, he is bitter and extremely angry.

(c/o Den of Geek)

The natural, free, yet creepy, photos Jakob took of Cassie were "pure", while the paid photo shoot pictures were clearly unnatural and "impure". The parallel between these two ideas is what caught my attention the most. Though she first wanted to be in with the "beautiful people" in the beginning, Cassie realizes that the model life, the one she longed for when we first met her, is superficial and not for her. This is probably why she's attracted to Jakob in the first place: he's able to capture her pure soul and natural beauty in a way she might not have realized was there.

Cassie, who is a messed-up individual, evident from her past and present, is considered pure and impure at the same time. But in the end, she's just a girl. No longer cute and quirky and mentally ill; but grown up, quieter, but still scarred.

Another factor is that she chose Jakob over Yaniv, her other coworker who clearly cared about her. She gravitated towards the creepy, slightly mental idolizer and steered away from the caring man who was trying to look out for her, in the end. He said that he "didn't want to make her do anything she didn't want to do," which is clearly the opposite of Jakob's stalker pictures, which she claimed she would not have consented to if he had asked. Too bad, Yaniv really grew on me.

As the episode progresses after the fight scene between Yaniv and Jakob, suddenly everyone drops out of Cassie's life at once. Yaniv, Jakob, even her sort-of friend Maddie up and leave without a moment's notice.

The ending was especially appropriate for the episode title: Cassie's sweet little brother goes to live with her while their father (Neil Morrisey) goes on a trip to get himself back together. Her brother, Rueben, represented the true innocence and purity. Cassie deciding to nurture and care for him for awhile could be taken symbolically of taking on true purity and to change her life for the better.

Another overall arching theme was not to wait for things to happen to you, and rather take the leap and go for it, whatever "it" is.

Her episodes were depressing, yes, but there was a slightly nicer ending than Effy's. The new Skins episodes have been much darker, but had a classic Skins scenario (unlike Effy's episodes). Despite this, it was still artistically and artfully executed with the only damper being the different direction.

As always, feel free to leave your comments about the episodes below.

Check out my review for Skins: Fire Part 2 here.

Till next time xx,

Sierra

REVIEW: 'Skins: Fire' Concludes, Makes all Fans Extremely SAD

**WARNING: POTENTIAL SPOILERS** 

(don't say I didn't warn you)

Well, there you have it. Former-party girl turned inside-trader Effy Stonem's story is done. And I'm extremely sad about, and slightly disappointed in it.

our mysterious heroine, Effy Stonem (source)

In part two of "Skins Fire," Effy continues her affair with her boss and Naomi's cancer gets worse. Lovable Emily Fitch (Kathryn Prescott) comes to visit her friend and girlfriend from New York, however, Naomi still insists on keeping her illness a secret from her. In the meantime, Effy's illegal schemes are found out and she's investigated by the FSA for her illicit activities. Uh-oh. Soon Effy's plan falls apart around her  and her boss/lover lets her take the fall for the crime, even though he encouraged her to do it the second time. 

What really bothered me about the ending of Effy's story is the lack of closure. I assume the writers were trying to create a whole new setting for our beloved characters and show their growth and struggles in the adult world. But it really only did that. It would have been nice to have connections from Effy's old life rather and just focusing on Naomi and Emily's past (Emily was literally the only connection to the past). It could be symbolic of Effy moving on with her life while Naomi is constantly tied to the past (her cancer probably caused by all her cigarettes, I wouldn't doubt). And there was no mention of old beau Freddy (Luke Pasqualiano), which was quite disappointing.

The writers did stick with continuity when it came to characterization, thank God. Effy attempts to put on a brave face, but in always in search of assurance, primarily from the men in her life. First Tony, her older brother, and now Jake, her smooth but slippery boss with whom she gets involved. Even when hopelessly-infatuated Dom turns against her, she throws herself at him to win him back. 

Effy became more likable now that she's grown up, in my opinion, while poor Naomi was simply a heartache. I was really cheering for Naomi and Emily since the beginning, too.

It also was rather a grim ending. I thought the series finale with Freddy's murder and Effy's hospitalization was bad. Making Naomi's cancer terminal and sentencing Effy to jail is rather cruel as well. At least show Naomi dying or Effy being put on trial! We need some sort of closure, you guys. Something. Anything. Not what you gave us.

a gaunt Naomi in the hospital, suffering. (source)

Of course, they all did a stellar job acting-wise. Kaya and Lily really, really killed it. But I definitely preferred the first part of Skins Fire to the second.

And in all honesty, I've generally had more interest in Effy Stonem's character than Cassie Ainsworth's (Hannah Murray), who is our star in the next two-part series "Skins Pure."Unless the dude stalking her is Sid, I'll be kind of bummed.

After this episode, I'm not sure how much I'll enjoy Cassie's episodes. Maybe they'll deliver, or at least Cook's episodes might do some justice, and there's a (slim) possibility of introducing Effy or some of other other characters back with him.

Or it'll be filled with more gloom and tragedy! I wouldn't put it past them either way. Maybe I'll re-watch the original Skins to ease the pain.

All we want is some connection back to the past, is that too much to ask for?

Till next time xx,

Sierra

REVIEW: 'Skins' is Back One More Time

Cue overwhelming excitement.

Kaya Scodelario as a now grown-up Effy (source)

British television show Skins premiered the first episode in it's final season (*sobs*) in a three-part series. Effy's story is titled Skins Fire. And our favorite characters definitely aren't children anymore.

The first episode stars the infamous Effy Stonem (Kaya Scodelario) at a dead-end job at a London hedge fund company and living in the big city with her flatmate Naomi (Lily Loveless). She notices a flaw in the latest business plan, and her stuck-up boss takes the credit for it. She takes revenge by learning all she can from an analyst who's head over heels for her and begins an affair with her handsome boss. Meanwhile, Naomi is having a hard time dealing with adult life, lack of motivation, and her long distance relationship with her girlfriend Emily (Kathryn Prescott), and soon finds out some horrible news (I won't spoil it for you). A move that's a bit faster-paced than in previous seasons, usually the tragedy strikes near the end. What's the motive behind that, anyway?

One thing I'm happy about in this new series is that they brought back characters from the first and second generations. Don't get me wrong, I had my favorites in the third generation, but they didn't hold a candle to the dynamics and overall likability of the first and second gen's characters. 

The timeline makes sense, since they're no longer in high school and moving into the big, bad world that they've already gotten a taste of in previous episodes. Not so much partying and shenanigans as before. They've matured (especially Effy), but are still intrinsically themselves. Effy's wild side still shines through her cooler exterior. It's refreshing and a fantastic step for character development without losing their appeal.

Also, the soundtrack to the episodes was, as always, amazing. Ellie Goulding premiered her new track on the episode, You, My Everything. The airy-voiced Brit brings a cool, modern vibe to match the longing tone of the episode. I definitely dig it. It will be released officially and available to purchase next month!

And here's the clip from Skins featuring the song below! [POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT]

Though it's not the Skins most of us are used to, the new direction works well for the series and its characters. It's almost as if the characters are maturing with their target audience. Not an original move, but excellently executed nonetheless (thank you Jess Brittain for the fantastic script).

I look forward to the rest of this season oh so very much.

How you do think this final series of Skins will go? What do you think of Ellie's new song? Leave a comment below telling us what you think!

Till next time xx,

Sierra