Skins: Fire, Pure, Rise

"And next weeks episode sees the end to the Skins generation".

That was what I heard when I finished episode five of Skins Season Seven, the first part to Cook's two episode story. It hit me like a ton of bricks. Because I'm the Skins generation, and I don't want it to end.

I'm sorry I haven't written any other posts this week but I kept sitting down to write this one and I couldn't. I had to think about Skins and what it meant to me, and for the life of me I couldn't put it into words.

For me, Skins was the first show I ever watched weekly, trying to find a link on youtube for the episode that hadn't been taken down because of copyright issues already. I fell in love with Sid easily and quickly, and with baited breath hoped that Tony would tell Michelle he loved her and they would stay together forever. I almost didn't think it was possible but I loved the second generation of Skins more than the first. I loved Freddie more than I could ever explain to anyone, and when he died I think I actually mourned him. Skins taught me how to love a fictional character.

I tried watching generation three but I just didn't love the characters anymore and stopped towards the end of their first season. When I heard there was to be a series seven, and that Effy, Cassie and Cook would be back, I felt so overjoyed. A proper send off for the show I had loved for four years.

I really enjoyed both Effy and Cook's storylines but Cassie's just dragged on and on. All the things I had loved about her had disappeared. I didn't know who that girl was, she felt like I was just watching someone who I'd never met before and happened to look like Cassie and have the same name. I felt absolutely no emotional attachment to her.

One thing I did love about the whole series was the times it referenced the previous seasons. I loved seeing Lily Loveless return as Naomi Campbell, and Kathryn Prescott as Emily Fitch. I loved it when Cook confessed he'd killed someone and when Cassie said she'd travelled around America with her boyfriend. But that was it. I would have liked a little more than just that. Not like it had to be every second line or anything, and I didn't mind that only Effy's had other characters in it but I was just expecting a little more than what they gave.

However overall, I think they did a great job, and I know that I feel more content now saying goodbye to Skins than I would have if they had just ended it at series six.