Skins - Series 6 [DVD]

This has to be my favourite series yet. It's heartbreaking yet heartwarming.
The finale left me speechless. I'll miss this generation more than any of the others, they were perfect. :')
Skins isn't just a tv show, it's art. <3

I never really understood everyones problem with series 5 of Skins, it was much more down to earth and believable than the other series. Granted it wasn't as good, but it will still the best thing on television at the time. Anyway, I can reassure fans questioning the quality of skins because of the last series that this series of skins is without a doubt (in my opinion) the most exciting, gripping and powerful series to date. Granted the series hasn't yet finished, this review is based on what has happened so far, and will be updated once the series has concluded with what will clearly be a massive finale.

Episode One: Everyone - 10/10
Easily one of the best opening episodes to a series of skins. The gang are on holiday (something skins has never done before) during their summer break. What starts off as a laugh at a crappy resort quickly turns into a nightmare for each one of the characters, As Franky ditches Matty for mysterious Luke, Mini decides to embark on a secret relationship with Alo, all leading to a violent car chase and crash, resulting in tragedy and the injury of Grace. The issues presented in this episode are the catalyze for the majority of the characters storylines for series 6 (this being Mini, Alo, Rich, Franky, People could argue Liv, but I'd disagree.)
The rest of the episodes are extremely hard to describe without giving away major spoilers, so I will simply give them a rating and explain why :)

Episode 2: Rich - 8.5/10:
A very emotional episode where we see a different side to 'heavy metal boy' Rich. Fantastic acting and story development leading to a shocking, surprising and sad ending

Episode 3: Alex - 9/10:
Defiantly one of the funner episodes in the series (despite the sad denouement.) Alex is easily one of the best things to happen to series 6, and proves his importance to a member of the gangs life in episode 8...

Episode 4: Franky - 10/10:
Despite my dislike for Franky's new personality, this is a shocking, brutal and extremely powerful episode. This defiantly shows skins darker side, something absent in the previous series.

Episode 5: Mini - 10/10:
Another brilliant episode. The actress who plays Mini does a fantastic job, the episode is hooking, and really develops the series.

Episode 6: Nick - 8/10:
Although Nick is one of my Favorite characters, i believe it involved Franky far to much (much like Freddy's episode in series 4, which was literally about Effy.) Despite that, its still a very good episode that develops events nicely and feels a lot more like older skins.

Episode 7: Alo - 6/10:
The episode is Hilarius at times and is very well written, but it is actually completely pointless. The main storyline for this episode has nothing to do with anything that occurs before or after this episode, and it doesn't develop the plot at all. It's a shame really because after what has occurred with Alo and Mini this could have been a very promising episode.

Episode 8: Liv - 11/10:
Without a doubt my favorite Episode of Skins since series 3. Liv is easily my favorite character of this generation, and in this episode the actress who plays her is incredible. Dark, and unsettling, but fun and enjoyable, perfect scriptwriting for the Skins team, and a perfect little speech from Doug. Anyone who dislikes this episode needs to watch it again, its fantastic!

Episode 9: Mini and Franky - 7/10
I was seriously disappointed that Mini and Franky received 2 episodes this season and Matty didn't get one, because i thought if Matty got an episode the plot could really develop and we could learn about happened when he disappeared. Although the episode is entertaining, Frank's character has grown annoying, to the extent I seriously dislike her. She went from a shy, happy, heroine, to an annoying, degrading, user, and she ruins part of the episode for me. I did like Mini's storyline though, and despite my dislike for Franky, the actresses are top of their game. The episode is slow, and provides little development other than the discovery of Mini's pregnancy and the sad twist at the end. Still though, good quality drama.

*Before Finale
The finale premiers tonight, and looking at the trailer it seems to be about Franky (surprise) On the whole this has been a fantastic series, despite the fact they have fixated way to much one character. I'm looking forward to the finale, which is rare because apart from series 1 and 2 they've disappointed me.

Episode 10: Everyone (Finale) - 8/10
So another series of Skins comes to a close, but is it given a good send off? In many ways yes, in a few ways not so much. Despite being rather random i really enjoyed Franky's storyline in this episode, although it contributed practically nothing but the beginning of Nick and Matty's friendship. Anyway, it was fun, new and interesting. Franky, Nick and Matty's storyline is resolved (which I'm so glad about because Skins often just forgets or leaves us wondering) and although it isn't as satisfying as one may hope, i was disappointed she left both of them, it was still good to see the plot which grew rather annoying be resolved. We then move on to Mini and Alo, whose storyline is the best in the episode, for once we have a happy ending! - Really fun to watch, they make a surprisingly good couple. Moving onto Liv, who wasnt involved in this episode nearly as much as she should have been, she took a back seat here, but her scenes with Alex were brilliant, i really wish they had done more with Liv this series. Rich also had little involvement, but the scenes he were in were either heartfelt or really funny. Gracey is also involved, which i really liked. On a whole the episode was very impressive, the reason I've knocked it down is because throughout the episode it felt more like a Franky and Mini episode again, rather than an everyone. Still though, definitely the best Finale since series 2.

Overall:
Skins series 6 has been nothing short of brilliant. It has a stronger first half than second, but then again so does the majority of Skins (with the exception of series 3.) There are hard hitting, fantastic story lines which keep you hooked. The only improvements i could really offer is that the story could have been developed better, or another one involving the gang could have arised rather than random fillers in some of the episodes, and that some characters should have had more involvement (It kinda felt like series 1 were Maxxie didn't have enough involvement, or in series 4 where Panda didn't get an episode) It's definitely in my top 3 skins series, and i look forward to the casts episode next year.
Total score: 86.5/100 - 4.5 out 5

Having been a skins fan since series one, I was expecting Series 5 to be pretty good and it failed to impress, it was shockingly poor and not like any of the others, especially 1&2 which are my favourites. I thought I'd give series 6 a go and I am so glad I did. It is probably the best series they've made so far and is truly amazing. If you stopped watching after Series 5 - buy this - you wont regret it.