S1E4: Last night, we dove into the world of Cadie, the pill-loving, quiet, and “crazy” member of the Skins cast. She’s presented as a girl who’s lost, not really knowing what she wants in life, how she wants to act, or who she wants to be. Now I don’t want to downplay these type of problems, because they do exist in real-life, but unfortunately, despite Skins trying to present these issues to the audience in a way that makes us feel sorry for or identify with the characters, it’s getting bogged down in melodrama.
“I think I might be happy.” -Cadie
We open with Cadie talking to some type of therapist about her problems. Despite telling the woman she’s happy, it’s very clear that Cadie is not happy. In fact, the best way I’d describe Cadie is that she’s “existing.” She doesn’t really feel one way or the other about anything, despite wanting to feel a certain way; and really, who could blame her? She’s got a step-dad (I think; wasn’t that relationship confusing?) who is concerned about her, but doesn’t seem to be sensitive enough to her situation to even know that her doctor is a woman. Her mother is an aging beauty queen (who’s still quite a babe), constantly trying to push Cadie to be better but instead, she comes across as condescending. It’s a tough situation, and I think it’s a relatable situation to lots of teens out there. At the same time though, these parental figures are not only characters we’ve seen a thousand times before in television, but they have no depth. Now I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing and the show can definitely work with one-dimensional characters, but in order for it to work successfully, it needs to excel in all the other areas of storytelling — like acting, for example. Sadly, Skins’ acting is so insufferable at times (like when Cadie interacts with her father and mother), it doesn’t make up for cliche characters, and unfortunately, a situation that could be relatable to so many viewers instead comes of trite and silly.
“Do you think you could bring some of your pills?” -Stan
Since the first episode, Stan and Cadie have been pretending to date, but it’s been pretty obvious that Cadie’s been into Stan. That’s confirmed in this episode, as we see her cutting out pictures of him as she sits in her room. She gets a call from him, asking her out on a date, and really, I must say, despite me ragging on the show’s acting, Britne Oldfor plays her straight-faced Cadie very well. When Stan called to ask her out, despite the fact that he was really just looking for drugs, you could tell how much Cadie wanted someone else to need her because of Oldfor’s portrayal, even if it was just for drugs. Her face lit up dramatically and after watching nearly 10 minutes of her being sad, it was a noticeable moment for a young actress. Then that moment was gone, and the show sadly continued.
“Have you ever tried not taking the drugs?” -Doctor
So, Cadie goes to the doctor (the third doctor of this episode, by the way) and has a somewhat real conversation with him. He suggests something a little different than the rest of the influential people in Cadie’s life: don’t take the pills for a little bit, and see what happens. Initially, it’s difficult to see how Cadie reacts to this idea because she doesn’t seem to react to anything in the world, except for Stan. When she goes to the party, it becomes fairly obvious that she’s interested in not taking these pills, so, well, she doesn’t; and she’s slightly happy about it. But still, throughout this whole party, Cadie just seems so far removed from everybody else. She doesn’t really talk to anyone. She doesn’t seem to enjoy herself. She’s just, as I said earlier, existing. Instead of interacting with the world around her, she’s watching it, and, despite acting like she is enjoying life (and telling people, like Tony’s sister), ultimately, she doesn’t seem happy. I think that all comes back to the fact that she doesn’t have any clue as to what type of person she wants to be, has no support from the parental figures in her life, and is forced to talk to multiple psychiatrists a day.
“You always just lose it. And I care when you lose it.” -Stan
Then, this happened. Michelle’s step-dad, who will probably win creep of the year, hits on Cadie as she’s in the hot tub. Cadie resists, and leaves the hot tub and Mr. Creeper to think about the poor decision he made to hit on a 17-year-old. But then Cadie runs into a couple unfortunate moments: she overhears Tony pleading with Tea about their relationships, then Tony accuses Cadie of having problems, and to top it all off, Tea reveals that Stan only invited Cadie there because she has access to drugs. It’s sad, really, because Cadie can’t seem to catch a break with anything in her life, and at that moment it’s all too much for her to handle. She breaks, seeks out the step-dad, gets high, and hooks up with him. Thankfully, Stan interrupts them before things get too extreme, but Cadie, a 17-year-old, was still topless and stoned with a dude who was at least 35.
Overall, I didn’t not like this episode, but I didn’t like it either. It’s not that these situations are unrealistic because I do believe there are girls like Cadie everywhere and, yes, it’s sad, and yes, we need to do all we can to help them, but, and this probably comes off across as insensitive but I really hope that’s not the case, everything is just made such a big deal. Across the board, all of the events that happen in Skins are presented in very loud and obnoxious ways. The show doesn’t have any variety and sits on one boring tone the whole time. It shoves these dramatic story lines in our faces, practically screaming for us to feel bad and identify with the characters. It’s just trying way too goddamn hard.; and sadly because of this, any genuine empathy I might feel towards the world of Skins is lost.
