Skins US Episode 102 Recap: Tea is a Lesbian Who Likes To Kiss Girls

This week we watched an entire thirteen minutes and forty-seven seconds of Skins before turning to drugs, which means everything the Parents Television Council was worried about is true.

aboutskins.tumblr.com

Without a doubt, however, the most unrealistic aspect of this week’s episode is that on a random weeknight, there just-so-happens to be a hoppin’ lesbian club night that lets in 16-year olds within walking/bussing distance of Tea’s house. I mean they take ten busses and a hydroplane to get to school and it’s only a hop/skip/jump to pussy palace?
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We open in Lesbian Cruising Spot #1 — NOT THE PLANET THE PLANET ISN’T REAL — History class! Is this what happens in high school these days, children? Is it?

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Tea invites Betty to join her at Lesbian Club Night in Fantasyland via mysterious table-dropped note which reads “Northern Soul.”

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Tea roars sexily through her busybusy life, surrounded by noise and chaos, eventually escaping into the dear refuge of her bedroom where we can watch her undress and check out her literary tattoo:

via fyeahteamarvelli.tumblr.com

Tea’s got her lesbo-jeans, lesbo-shoes and GLITTER SHIRT on, as well as a giant coat that is not fucking around. IT’S TIME TO MEET THE LADIES

But This ID Says “Maxxie Oliver”?

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No lesbian bar would ever be named Northern Soul, it would be named “Lick” or something. Which is the name of an actual lesbian bar in Vancouver. This is how we prevent anyone wandering into Meow Mix looking for Monday Night Football or e-harmony speed-dating.

Tea’s confident and demurely plucky, like a girl with a lot going on in her head and no suitable receptacle for her feelings. Thus she saunters confidently towards the Lordess of the Dance.

Someone Get That Girl a Blog

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Also? Tea’s got this little dance she does that makes you want to cuddlefuck the hell out of her glittershirt and Chucks.

Betty, dressed like her namesake from the Archie comic books, arrives, as promised…

I See What You’re Doing With That Bra and That Tank Top And I Like It

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Before long, Tea and Betty begin Lesbian Kissing each other in a way that suggests they will soon be Lesbian Vadgeblasting. Get your gas mask on, the apocalypse is nigh.

Betty, just like Showtime, has NO LIMITS and before long she’s back at Tea’s casa, clam-diving in what could not possibly be A DARKER ROOM UNSUITABLE FOR SCREENSHOTS.

According to our chart…

Yes. They had sex.

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This was not Palex sex…


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…or Spashley sex…

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…or Emya sex…

I mean, people definitely went down on each other. Just saying.

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Already sleeping naked together, at such a young age.


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The next morning Betty puts that godawful dress back on and trods downstairs into the madhouse that is Tea’s family, which is when we meet NANA THE SURPRISE STAR OF THE SHOW:


As Betty’s being awkwardly introduced and spoken to by everyone in the room because Tea’s Dad knows her boyfriend or something, suddenly, Tea’s brother calls out LOOK IT’S THE LESBIAN…

…and Mom says we can’t use that word here you know how Grandma hates it and the Dad says what word and Mom says “The L Word” and who can’t relate to that, right? I mean, who killed Jenny = so dumb.

The one in leather or the one in plaid, you decide

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But they’re talking about Daisy, who’s not a lesbian. She doesn’t even have a personality yet, let alone a sexuality. Duh.

Dad jokes that Tea is very “open-minded” and Daisy wonders out loud if Tea will ever tell her family that Daisy isn’t the fingerblaster here. Then Betty has her requisite morning-after freakout —

Betty: “So look, I don’t want — you better not tell anyone about — just — DON’T.”
Daisy: “Uh, you might wanna work out an explanation for those hickeys, though.”
Betty: “Shit, Bobby’s gonna — SHIT. I’ll see you.”
Tea: “Sure.”
[Tea leans in to kiss her]
Betty: “DON’T. For Chrissakes.”
Tea: “Scaredy cat.”

Tea describes her night of passion to Daisy as ‘alright’ with ‘a lot of licking.’ How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop/Tea’s heart? Time will tell!

Oh but first it’s time for our morning commute!

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It’s another leisurely morning in RandomeasterncitymaybeBaltimore, where the children appreciate the morning light, have 2-3 feelings, ride the bus, get some bacon & eggs, and then wander into school just in time for lunch.

Hey Did You Get That at Kohl’s Back to School Sale? I Love Pencils!

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Abbud needs to stop it with this OMG SEX thing. It worked when Dev Patel did it, because that dude is a good actor and I believe his lines were slightly better, but this guy is just irritating. Nice hoodie, though.

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Ah, lunch. Such a pivotal time in the life of a young person. Lunch brings out the child in all of us, apparently, the child who can’t eat a chocolate bar without smearing it all over his face…

… the child who is so fascinated by FRENCH KISSES WITH TONGUE that when Michelle & Tony play a bit of tonsil hockey, the world must cease as the children stare on in wonderment, offering a verbal play-by-play…

… the child who is so nervous to use the word “sex” that he says “making monkey” instead …

… the child who is so titillated by saying the word “breasts” that it must be repeated, multiple times, slightly different but no less exciting every time, just like the idea of the cheerleader showing everyone her boobs at halftime, which I think counts as child pornography.

But back in grown-up land, SOMEBODY HAS FEELINGS and is sharing those feelings with Tea via eye contact.

I’m putting my money on “credits Tea with her lesbian awakening, falls in love with her”

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I Know This Mini-Bar

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Tea chases lunch with a mini-bottle of vodka but luckily evades an open container law as she lives in no-mans land. I mean that could totally just be a mini-bottle of clear Tabasco sauce or some kind of lesbian witch potion. OH LOOK WHO IT IS —

Look Me in the Eyes And Tell Me You Didn’t Find My Little Debbie Dress Attractive

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Betty: “Hey–”
Tea: “Oh–”
Betty: “I was thinking–”
Tea: “Betty. We had sex. But I’m not really looking for anything else.”
Betty: “Why not?”
Tea: “Somebody mentioned a boyfriend? What’s that for, show?”
Betty: “I have to have a boyfriend.”

Liquid Courage In Action

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Tea: “Sounds like pretending to me, and that’s bad stuff I have to avoid. And I don’t want a relationship.”
Betty: “Why’s that?”
Tea: “Because nobody matches up to me.”
Betty: “You’re just an arrogant bitch really, aren’t you?”
Tea: “Sorry, scaredy cat.”

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Tea’s family is playing “who can talk the loudest” and at first we think Tea’s going to come out while everyone talks, like when Bette told Jodi that she slept with Tina (or something like that, I can’t remember) and Jodi couldn’t hear her which was like, really mean but also weird, but no instead Tea yells for everyone to be quiet and everyone is for about a minute and then chaos re-erupts.

Nana notes, “What’s the difference in Arkansas, it’s a skill! Mazel Tov!” Word.

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Breakfast in Bed at Tiffany’s

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Tea’s getting intimate with Audrey Hepburn in her dreams when Nana strolls in, which would be embarrassing if Nana didn’t think she was walking into a Nuremberg Rally.

Blair Waldorf (at least in the books, IDK re: the TV show) Also Loves Audrey Hepburn, Maybe They Should Bang

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Probs Nana is thinking, “Audrey Hepburn sure is looking lovely these days.” She calls Tea “Ruthie” and says she doesn’t want her marrying that boy. Tea figures this would be a good time to bounce her private ideas off somebody who has a lot of love but not a lot of memory.

Tea: “Something’s wrong with me Nana. I want the sex but the girls I sleep with? Bore me. They’re catty and clingy and I dunno — it never feels like enough. Is it too much to ask for someone to be interesting? I just wanna feel equal.”

And I Said, What About Breakfast at Tiffanys and She Said “I Think I Remember the Film”

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Two thumbs up for the “gay AND.” As in: she’s not a one-note lady for whom navigating homosexuality is the only issue. ‘Cause it ain’t — relationships are complicated & confusing regardless of gender, and by often watering down teevee homo plots to “Gay” being enough to ride a character, writers really shortchange us. So Big Up to Brian.
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Riese

Riese is the 41-year-old Co-Founder of Autostraddle.com as well as an award-winning writer, video-maker, LGBTQ+ Marketing consultant and aspiring cyber-performance artist who grew up in Michigan, lost her mind in New York and now lives in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in nine books, magazines including Marie Claire and Curve, and all over the web including Nylon, Queerty, Nerve, Bitch, Emily Books and Jezebel. She had a very popular personal blog once upon a time, and then she recapped The L Word, and then she had the idea to make this place, and now here we all are! In 2016, she was nominated for a GLAAD Award for Outstanding Digital Journalism. She's Jewish and has a cute dog named Carol. Follow her on twitter and instagram.

Riese has written 3164 articles for us.

126 Comments

  1. Absolutely fantastic. I feel like I should keep on watching the show just to be able to better understand these recaps.

  2. Oh I liked the dress. Both of ’em are totally hot, and in a way that actually reads as dykey, rather than a “conventionally straight-girl-looking actresses written into a lesbian subplot” way. That is a nice change.

    I like “Tony summons two stray worms of personality from his feet” however. Hahahaha.

  3. “Look Me in the Eyes And Tell Me You Didnā€™t Find My Little Debbie Dress Attractive.” so fucking good

  4. I could not stop laughing at “Tea’s family is playing ‘who can talk the loudest’.”

    Am I the only one who cringed anytime the “scaredy cat” was uttered by Tea/Betty? I mean, really? SCAREDY CAT? Does anyone above the age of 4 say that?

      • it’s true! as in, “I hope you get some good narcotics, Stanley.” what’s the deal with that? a friend of mine stopped watching after the first episode for this reason alone.

        • i would TOTALLY say “narcotics,” it’s such a fun word. Am i the only person who picks words based on how they sound/look. Maybe.

          • I’m a word nerd so I would say narcotics as well
            I think it was meant to be taken in that nerdy way, not in the literal preppy way like how Barbie said “too urban! too urban!”
            Now, that shit

    • “Am I the only one who cringed anytime the ā€œscaredy catā€ was uttered by Tea/Betty?”

      NO. I hate that phrase sooo much. It just bothers me. I bothers me more than Tony.

    • totes agree with you about cringing when they would say it; they sounded like they didnt know what it meant and just didnt believe in the phrase itself (does that make sense?)

  5. downloading it now! it probs wont come out in new zealand til 2015 anyway, so i dont feel too bad about it. hope it’s half as good as the UK version was.

  6. I like that this blog might never truly leave the L Word behind. Which is good, ’cause I’m definitely not.

  7. ahh, this article reminded me that I used to walk by Meow Mix everyday on my way home from high school, for 3 years, just waiting until I’d be old enough to go in (obviously not as cool as Tea)…then they closed it my senior year *sad baby dyke flashback* haha

  8. You didn’t even mention the best line of the whole episode. Where after the chick in the plaid shirt picks up Tea she says “Are you up for breakfast, or did you eat enough last night?” Tea obviously says “Oh you know I did.”

  9. your recaps are hilarious. i was hoping for more snark, though… i mean some of the lines sounded plain ridiculous, but it’s probably more to do with the crappy, emotionless delivery. guess that’s what happens when you go ultra low-budget and cast kids with no/limited previous acting experience (tony especially.)

    i think the tony/tea sex scene would have been more effective/palatable if he went down on her as opposed to fucked her. it’s one thing to feel humiliated knowing it something she’s not into period, but another knowing that a girl could please her doing it and he couldn’t. i feel it would have been more powerful on her part for some reason. also would have been true to the tony/maxxie scene.

  10. I love the recap! I actually saw it but I didn’t really get it. The language they use is retarded plus is it me or are the commercials hella long? Also, the literary tat is one of my favorite poems but its way too serious for a teenager.

    • -itunes. if you want it that bad you wanna spend the $
      -google
      -mtv doesn’t have a convertor like bbc does?

        • i hear from a wise old sage/LOTR like mythical creatures that certain websites may or may not contain episodes of skins…

          heres a hint:

          google latestepisodeonline

          that is all. also where in canada you from?

          • manitoba whut whut

            i watch it through tv.blinkx.com — the links are iffy (not virus-y, just quality is give and take), and the take-down-due-to-infringement is hella fast, but i’ve seen all of the episodes so far.

            i’d wait until it was on the teevee, but by then i’ll already know everything, cause the autostraddle recaps are srsly the best part.

  11. I really, viscerally disliked it when Michelle quipped back ā€œHey guys, why donā€™t you all go screw each other in the ass. It looks like you want to, the way youā€™re all touching each other and everything.ā€ She used it as an insult, and people took it like that, doing that “ooooo” thing when someone’s just put out a really apt insult.
    It’s great that there is an out lesbian with an interesting story arc, but they’ve seemingly erased any type of non-heterosexuality in males as far as I can see, and even poke fun at the possibility of non hetero males. Every guy they’ve shown so far has been hugely stereotypically obsessed sex, and seducing or leering at women.

    • yeah. any kind of fag discourse is upsetting. hopefully the writers find a way to incorporate how male sexuality is experienced by teenagers into the show as well.

  12. I agree, that line really bugged me as well. I rewatched the scene and noticed that Tea looked kind of irked for a moment, but then smiled at Michelle. I took it to mean that sometimes when your straight friends try to defend you they still don’t really get it.

  13. Wait… Tony and Tea really had sex? There was actual penetration. What?

    But Her and Michelle are like BFFFFF’s and they should hook up. I think Tea should hook up with all her straight friends, it’d be so Shane of her.

  14. You recap’d the shit out of this show. Great job! For some odd reason I enjoyed watching her masturbate… until nanna walked in, then I got Black Swan flashbacks. eeek :-/

    • Lol!
      I watched that movie in the theater. That scene was pretty hot and then got really scary. The music and everything

  15. Ever since 11 PM Monday night, I have been waiting for this recap! Oh my god.

    Can I just say….her dancing is THE fucking best. SO ADORBS. #iwanttodancewithherplease

    Also, getting off to Audrey Hepburn = win.

    I totally agree re: in love with the character, not the episode.

    As she and Tony were headed to penetrationland I kept going “NONONONONONONO” cause I was afraid we were going to have sexuality!crisis. Thank god she laughed!

  16. This was HILARIOUS. I really liked this episode and have a feeling I won’t like any of the upcoming episodes as much, especially if they’re anything like the first one. The whole show should just revolve around Tea. yes.

  17. Okay, one thing that pisses me off and it happens a lot.. is that when they show a somewhat bisexual woman (more lesbionic) woman struggling with her sexuality they always show her having bad sex with a man to show her gayness. It’s always awkward, fast, laughable, detached just really horribly bad. Yet the lesbian sex is so perfect, fun, passionate, etc. Straight people can have good sex too.
    It’s one thing to prefer sex with one gender over another but why does it always have to be horribly bad to make that point?

    • While I see your point, I don’t see how a lesbian not enjoying sex with a man means that straight people don’t have good sex…

      • I don’t think it’s like that.. if you are a lesbian fine. like I said I understand a gender preference but as stated below it seems like bad sex made her confirm her lesbianism, not sex with a man.

          • sex with a woman= boring in my mind

            But that is besides the point. I am talking about how it’s always depicted in this same way. I had bad sex with a man so that must mean I am a lesbian.

          • I think it’s depicted that way frequently because it happens that way frequently. I know I’m not the only one with whom that scene resonated. Even some of us who feel very secure with our sexuality get curious about what all the fuss is about, then the dick comes out and we burst into laughter (muffled laughter if we have any tact). You have to admit, if you weren’t aroused by men there’s no way not to find it awkward/comical.

    • Actually I agree. I kinda sends the message that bad sex makes you gay. I can hear a lot of straight guys going, “She just needs a REAL MAN.”

  18. I’m really surprised to see that no one has anything critical to say about how this lesbian character is being portrayed. There’s a reason U.S Skins adopted a pretty femme ‘wild’ lesbian – perhaps the most ‘attractive’ subset of the queer community (for straight viewers). For most of America she isn’t actually uncomfortable to watch because her character is designed with a superficial and constructed sense of depth and emotion. Moreover her drinking and apathy fit in with her otherwise ‘wild lifestyle choice’.
    If she was an awkward lesbian that couldn’t pick up girls/was in love with straight girls – her character would make a lot more people uncomfortable and I don’t mean the radical evangelical right that is bothered by everything that challenges white heteronormativity. I mean regular people that think they are ‘okay’ with the LGBTQ community.
    Her character exsists to create controversy, to “represent the queer community” and to appeal to a heterosexual audience that wants to see the queer community as a group of attractive lesbians.

    • i see what you’re saying here, i do, but i don’t think it’s fair or necessary to categorize tea as ‘femme’ (she’s kinda skewing androfemme, which, style-wise, also happens to be trendy, for better or worse) or apathetic. it’s pretty clear that her apathy is a front, and i think that’s overwhelmingly relatable.
      there are all kinds of ways to be a lesbian. if she were unable to pickup girls or dealt with life in a way other than drinking, like idk sobbing herself to sleep every night, i’d have a problem with that portrayal. also this is skins, not my so-called life — it’s supposed to be ‘grittier’ or whatever.
      tea is awkward in her own way. and it seems a little early in the game to declare that she doesn’t have a crush on a straight girl or has never or will never. but i didn’t watch skins uk, so maybe you know more about her probable storyline than i do.
      also? i don’t see what’s wrong with heterosexuals seeing the queer community as a group of attractive lesbians. that view of lesbians would fly in the face of the typical reaction of “but you don’t look gay!” when a conventionally attractive girl comes out.

      • Perhaps I just find her character’s personality/storyline somewhat predictable and cliche. I also hate the show so I have a bit of a bias.
        I can’t think of any lesbian or 2-3 episode bicurious character, for American audiences, that hasn’t been ‘conventionally attractive’ – these female characters feel so designed to mesh comfortably with a heterosexual audiences. I don’t have an issue with seeing conventionally attractive lesbians on TV – it’s just bothersome that the straight community in the states is really only comfortable with a certain type of queer.

        • “I canā€™t think of any lesbian or 2-3 episode bicurious character, for American audiences, that hasnā€™t been ā€˜conventionally attractiveā€™ ā€“ these female characters feel so designed to mesh comfortably with a heterosexual audiences.”

          i feel like the same could be said about any social group represented on tv, save for the ‘geeks.’ that’s kind of just a given.

          “itā€™s just bothersome that the straight community in the states is really only comfortable with a certain type of queer.”

          in my experience, the type of queer that most [bigoted / concerned] people in the states are comfortable with is the kind they can see coming from a mile away. queers who exist outside of the concerned person’s perceived norms, which unfortunately is a really rigid set of stereotypes that are too depressing to list, tend to make those kinds of people uncomfortable. i mean we’re still dealing with the perception that we’re gay because no men want to fuck us.

          anyway whatever. practically everyone on tv is pretty. having a lesbian character be lumped in with ‘everyone’ instead of being singled out seems fine to me.

  19. what i need is for MTV to create a spin-off for Tea. she’s not in the original uk skins anyway #justsayin

  20. Also,

    “You, really don’t give a shit, do you?”
    “Nope, I really don’t.”

    THIS IS HOW WE LIVE, NO FUCKS TO GIVE
    NO FUCKS, 2011

  21. Great recap Riese!
    I was glad to see Tea wasn’t into Tony at the end. It seems whenever there is a lesbian character in a tv show or movie there is always “that guy” who’s mission is to try to turn her straight. SO ANNOYING!!!

  22. I really liked the grandma scene because it showed they understand their queer history, but I wonder if it might have been lost on their target audience.

  23. I don’t know how I feel about this. For one, I’m happy that there’s some lesbian representation in a teen show. But, also the plotline seems so tired and boring. I feel like I’ve seen it before: lesbian likes girl in denial, sleeps with boy (for some reason I’ll never know)… It’s just been done. And done. And done. So I guess I’m just bored now.

    I will say though that Gay Grandma is a nice touch.

  24. I really liked Nana, too. It resonated with me a lot (ie. i cried), just because I’m sure my family had gone through similar things. Anyway, it had pathos and, really, octogenarian Jewish lefties are never shown on tv unless it’s a pbs documentary. So yea, I give them major kudos for that. Also, I think the show is authentic re/ Americans teenagers. Look, most of the kids are annoying on this show. But, teenagers do act like this, maybe not the drinking and promiscuity so much as the stupid jokes about sex and insecurity masked with bravada. Also, many teens are annoying little shits, irl. Lastly, the US show has better cinematography than Uk ver. and combined musically it sets a tone that’s more interesting than it’s predecessor and makes up for some less talented actors or stilted dialogue. I probably have more confidence in this show than is warranted though.

  25. Riese, The thing about shipping is that it often has little to do with what is shown from both characters and more to do with a series of options. It could be about affirmation, fantasy, transference, etc. In this case, one character, Tony, desires the other, Tea, who is thoroughly uninterested. An objective viewing and respect of both characters should seemingly lead to the recognition that Tony’s want is meant to be unreciprocated and that Tea does not want any sexual relationship with him because she does not find him sexually attractive. More specifically she is only sexually attracted to women.

    The thing is that viewers often substitute their own visions and agenda’s in place of what is depicted. Many a heterosexual female viewer will see Tony as attractive and will disregard Tea’s feelings or desires because they are viewing it from the aspect that they are Tea – they may see themselves as also being Tea, a lonely person looking for love, while disregarding the sexuality of Tea – replacing it with their own heterosexuality. Many a heterosexual female viewer will think they could be a cute couple just like me an my boyfriend. And many a heterosexual female viewer will just find the thought of a good looking boy and a good looking girl hooking up as exciting.

    Many male viewers meanwhile will find Tea attractive and compelling. In doing so, many will disregard what feelings Tea displayed while enacting their own fantasy or transference scenarios.

    Tea’s disinterest in romance with Tony, her thorough lack of sexual chemistry with Tony, and her disgust at sex with Tony does not factor in to the shipping scenarios because these viewers are not interested in the character’s feelings and interests. They are interested in their own feelings and interests. It is no less different than Toby/Emily shippers on Pretty Little Liars. For example, said shippers would never want a straight female character to become bisexual because it is about their seeking of affirmation and of fantasy.

    I don’t think this is homophobic in any way. I can certainly understand the argument it is heterosexist. But in the end, I see what is all too common when viewing television which is the disregarding of one character’s feelings because it does not figure in what the viewer is most comfortable with. That is the true shame when someone ships Tea and Tony. They are basically saying Tea is no more than a vessel for their desires instead of being a character.

    • i almost wrote “CHRIS HD CAN YOU EXPLAIN THIS TO ME” but i didn’t have to. thank you.

      maybe i was a shenny shipper because i wanted the hottest girl in town to like me even though i am insane

  26. I liked this episode.
    I watched it with two straight friends of mine, a guy and a girl, so I think we all took it just a little differently.
    I for one though do NOT like Betty.
    Maybe because I was Betty. (I was also Tea, but let’s keep it simple) I try to remember that they are young, so they are right around the time when a Betty would be having these feelings. But she was soooo back and forth; she stared Tea _down_ in history class and shimmied around with her at northern soul and even went down on her back at Tea’s house. This girl was Never Scared until the next school morning, when up pops her reservations and her boyfriend. Like, what? “I have to have a boyfriend,” okay well yeah but don’t be tryna fingerbang her one night and chat about your boyfriend the next day and kiss her by lunchtime then get mad when she doesn’t wanna deal. Nobody has time for those games
    These kids

    • THANK YOU. I could not stand Bettyā€™s character. The show had this great opportunity to explore the contrast between Tea, someone confident and sure of her homoism, and Betty, someone who is maybe questioning her sexuality and struggling with figuring out who she is vs. what is expected of her by parents/society/Teen Vogue, etc. Instead, we see Betty go from ā€˜Oh, I might be interested in some homotivitiesā€™ to ā€˜YEP, definitely going down on a girl all gay-like right nowā€™ to ā€˜OMGZ, Iā€™m STRAIGHT, donā€™t touch me!ā€™ to ā€˜J/K, you guys, Iā€™m totally a lezzer! Letā€™s make out in front of everyone at school, including my boyfriend of whom you may recall me being SO concerned about just mere hours ago!ā€™ in a span of what, maybe 24 hours? I understand that shows are obligated to push through some plotlines to keep their story arcs moving, but damn, Gina. That shit takes time. How about some character development instead of creating another throw away, two dimensional character? Maybe some of this perception is due to the Betty actressā€™s awkward as hell acting, but I can get past the horrible acting for the most part. Thankfully, Tea is portrayed as being a complex, multi-faceted person and I hope I can say that for the other leads as the show progresses because we only seem to have over exaggerated clichĆ©s of their Brit counterparts at the moment. Yes, Skins was always deliberately over the top and a little absurd, but it still FELT real (with some glaring exceptions). This feels like pandering to a less intelligent audience. That being said, I still agree that while this show has many faults, itā€™s still an important show for younger audiences for a lot of reasons and Iā€™ll still fight for the showā€™s right to party in the midst of all this PTC garbage. I just wish it was also a show that wasnā€™t so painful to watch as an adult too, ya know?

  27. Woah. Random link, but the ‘Over the River and Through the Woods’ thing is a play. The British premiere of which was directed by my nan. Crazy shit.

  28. I guess I’ve watched way too much UK!Skins, where the sex scenes actually looked like sex scenes. I read the Tea/Tony bit as just awkward making-out, maybe a little groping. I mean, c’mon, it was so short! And even though I’m probably wrong I’m sticking with my interpretation because I really can’t buy Tea actually having sex with Tony/don’t want to throw up.

  29. I watched this episode with a few of my close friends, all of whom are queer, and we actually found many parts of the episode problematic. I, for one, am sick of seeing the issue of consent neglected so often on mainstream television. Considering Tea is a lesbian (who is out to her friends) and had been drinking, consent is clearly an issue in the sex scene with Tony. Also, the scene where Michelle is “defending” Tea is totally offensive. Fighting homophobia with a DIFFERENT KIND of homophobia, that’ll show ’em! I guess I just really had high expectations of this episode, and it was disappointing. I really only enjoyed Tea’s dancing (legitimately adorable), and I wanted to like this show SO MUCH.

  30. Straight men and straight women don’t get pissed when depictions of leading straight characters on television are conventionally good looking. Gay men don’t get pissed when depictions of leading gay male characters on television are conventionally good looking. Why in the Hell do so many lesbians in our community get pissed when depictions of leading lesbian characters on television are conventionally good looking? It is sad and reflects badly on the person who gets pissed.

    • i agree…. you are either attractive to a somewhat conventional degree or greater, or you have to appeal and work the token-quirky-looking characters (who can be just as much a fan favorite). for me, personally, i am attracted to and can identify with a more femme or slightly-tomboyish (aka tea) character than a more butch character. i know im not alone with that view, and that alot of people might disagree, but its also just my personal opinion. im sure straight people cant identify/worship every straight character in every show and movie either, theres a niche for everyone.

      i also think that the point of using conventionally good looking lesbians is to get the point across to the other majority of the population that just because someone doesnt look gay they are automatically straight. once its a nonissue then im sure people wouldnt care about seeing other representations of gay people. rome wasnt built in a day.

      im not saying that anyone deserves any more screentime than anyone else, but 100-footers are whom ordinary folks see as “gay” in real life just by virtue of being 100-footers. and while we are all up in our gayness and in these blogs and communities and stuff, to heteros storylines like tea or naomily are like WTFISALLTHIS/CONFUSION.

      baby steps.

      • im pretty sure if it wasnt seen as all exotic and shit that straight guys would stop fawning over it. desensitization amirite.

  31. “I mean they take ten busses and a hydroplane to get to school and itā€™s only a hop/skip/jump to pussy palace?”

    ahhhh riese you kill me! also so glad to see the ‘is it sex’ flowchart again.

  32. IMPORTANT QUESTION:

    UK SKINS SEASON 5 Episode 1!

    The watered down US version just isn’t filling my craving.

    • yeah i just found a place and downloaded it in like 5 min. i didnt even know the first episode was the franky themed one. i just was reppin’ in general. even better!

  33. Yes, I just decided, I’m only going to watch this show because of the recap. It feels like old “The L Word” times again.
    Thank you Riese for making me laugh :D
    Hate the show, UK version was so much better, but I like Tea.

  34. I really want to like this show, but I just can’t. People that I like enjoy this show (and the UK version) and I always love to stick it to the obnoxious morality police, but…damn, you guys. This is really awful. Like, it’s so boring it makes my stomach ache and I actually get kind of angry that I’m being bored to such an extreme.

    I’m out.

  35. Does anyone know the name of the song where Betty kisses Tea in the caffeteria???? please help me figure out the name of the songg, I cant figure it out nor find it for the life of me. GREAT recap btw

  36. oh mahh gawwwd you guys are GOING TO LOVE FRANKY OFF SKINS UK. srsly recap this immediately. oh my god. adorbs. love. she so awkward.

  37. You guys are obviously missing the most important part of this entire episode: The teacher that gave the anti-drug/everything else speech was Glen Coco! Pshh, who cares about lesbians and their images in the media when something like that happened. Y’all need to get your priorities straight. (Oh, and the actor’s real name is David Reale)

    • No way?? As in “you go Glen Coco” Glen Coco? Wow. I kind of thought that USA Skins was a lukewarm version of Uk Skins, but now I think it’s pretty decent. Hahaha “and none for gretchen weiners”

  38. oh my gosh riese you make my knees weak everytime i read a post by you (which by the way weak knees when your sitting down = awk in the library); you had me at the breakfast at tiffanys quote!

      • im pretty sure a majority of this site can relate on like 5000 levels to franky. myself included. franky is fly as shit and hopefully she doesnt get bludgeoned/bludgeon someone in 4 episodes

      • Frankie is amazing. I’m pretty sure everyone, every where can relate to this character. She is the loner, weirdo, unconventional part that I believe everyone has inside. And the actress that plays the part so phenomenally.

        I don’t even know how this episode won me over so quickly. It took two or three episodes of gen 1 and 2 before I felt any connection to a Skins series.

        It is a little weird that the popular, mean-for-no-apparent-reason characters (Mimi, Nick) will get their own episode when Skins is usually about the less stereotypically visible high school archetypes.

  39. Most important part of this episode?
    The British Effy’s first monologue, from when she shot up in that weirdo funhouse, is written backwards on a bedsheet in Tony’s room.
    Screenshot here: http://i.imgur.com/7z0dk.png
    YOU GUYS IT’S SO AWESOME.

  40. i’m a teenager, and i don’t live where skins usa is set or anything, but i have a question:
    is it me, or is all of their dialogue (esp. slang) super awkward?
    i guess i’m not familiar enough with how brits talk to feel like something is normal, but the stuff they say on skins usa comes off as badly written, over thought and halting. yes?

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