Finally we have got to know our third generation of f**ked-up anti-heroes and it’s actually been a fairly fascinating journey. Two of them got engaged at 17, one of them had drunken sex with a mother of two, one of them threw up on her boyfriend’s naked torso, one of them downed a whole bottle of vodka (twice), one went deaf (albeit for about 10 minutes) and one waved a gun in the face of a ‘glorious f**king headf**k thing’. Oh, one of them accidentally blew up a cow.
So, after eight weeks, it all comes down to this: the Series 5 finale. Skins‘ finale episodes are typically preposterous; dramatic yet strangely poignant, even beautiful. So does the fifth series finale live up to its predecessors’ high standards?
The episode opens to the optimistic sound of Noah & The Whale’s ‘Waiting For A Chance To Come’, which couldn’t be more fitting as excitement buzzes amongst the group, waking up on the day of Grace and Rich’s shot-in-the-dark wedding. However, each character wakes up with a different problem on their mind – it’s clear this is going to be far from a walk in the park for Grace and Rich.
In fact, it ends up being a walk in the forest, the field, the middle of the road and various tiny villages, as Alo gets the team lost and the gang are forced to travel through the countryside to reach the church on time. Now, when you’ve got a bunch of hedonistic, confused, alcoholic, manic-depressive teenagers alone in a wood armed with nothing but plenty of alcohol and a never-ending supply of drugs (one day we’ll learn how the hell they afford this), any issues between them that are bubbling beneath the service are more than likely to boil over.
And boil over they indeed do. In typical Skins finale style, we see old feuds closed, new ones opened, some questions answered, some frustratingly unresolved, and – perhaps most interestingly – new bonds formed that one did most certainly not see coming. The Matty/Liv/Frankie love triangle reaches a literal cliffhanger climax, and yet so much is still unsaid. Meanwhile, Grace and Rich question the loyalty of their friends to them, Alo and Nick become the most unexpectedly funny double act, and the once aloof and bitchy Mini perhaps begins to realise things about herself that she could never have predicted.
In short, the initially underwhelming group of characters have really proven themselves, thanks to the increasingly-blossoming talent of the young cast, in particular Dakota Blue Richards (Frankie) and Freya Mavor (Mini). Where will Series 6 take these ‘glorious f**king headf**k things’ next?
Airs at 10pm on Thursday 17th March 2011 on E4.