Some thoughts on "Skins" (Potential Spoilers)

I'd like to speak about the BBC television show "Skins" for a few minutes, if I could. I'd like to preface my comments on "Skins" by saying that I'm 2 episodes into the 4th season, so I haven't seen it all, and perhaps my feelings about the show will change when I have seen it all, but bear with me in the meantime (and I'll try to post again when I do finish this season)...

Okay... so I'm pretty sure I've spoken about the show before. I watched the first season a few summers ago, and then the second season more recently. For those of you who don't know the show, there was a (nearly) brand new cast in 3rd season, with (nearly) all of the characters from the first two seasons no longer on the show. I believe the same thing happens in 5th season, though I don't know if any characters at all stick around from 4th to 5th.

When I started watching 3rd season (very recently), I was reluctant and skeptical. I loved the first cast and didn't know how I would feel about the new cast.

2 episodes into 4th season, I might say that I like this cast even more than the first one. I could go on talking about every character and every storyline, but I'll keep it simpler than that and discuss two characters and a storyline in particular that has tugged my heartstrings very intensely.

Naomi and Emily (pictured above). Naomi Campbell (ha! but seriously...) played by Lily Loveless & Emily Fitch played by Kathryn Prescott are two high school-age girls in Bristol, England. Their sexual orientations aren't discussed at length, but my sense is that they are both lesbians, or maybe bisexual. The two have feelings for one another and the audience sees their relationship played out in a variety of ways -- sometimes on again/off again, sometimes cute and head-over-heels, sometimes dramatic... in many ways, typical of any on-screen romance, whether gay or straight.

What do I like about it?

• The make-out/sex scenes are incredibly real, and don't seem (to me) at all to be staged for a straight male's viewing. I find them moving and sexual and realistic and hot and everything in between! They aren't overdone, and appear in just the same way as all of the straight sex scenes do.
• The whole topic of a same-sex relationship isn't dealt with in the typical way. The topic is revealed, there's some conflict, but then it just fades into the show as with every storyline. It doesn't stick out like a sore thumb. It's addressed, and then it just is.
• I find the writing of this relationship to be better than any girl/girl relationship I've ever seen, including "The L Word". It puts The L Word to shame, to be frank. You could say they're not comparable because it's adolescence vs. adults, but I'd say that's a cop-out. It is just better than I've ever seen.
• It makes me feel like I'm in high school again. Not that I had the same sort of relationship as Naomi and Emily do, but the way they act, aspects of the things they go through, and just how adolescent it all is (in a good way!) reminds me of what it was like to be a gay teen, what it was like to be a teen in general, and the sort of concepts of relationships you would have... it's just... it's sooooo good.
  

Now, as I said - I don't know how this season and cast finishes, so my feelings may change, but I've never been so moved by a relationship and show like I have with this one (except maybe Six Feet Under, of course). I strongly recommend the show. You won't regret it!