Everything you could ever want from an evening. Songs, choirgirls, colourful costumes, fellatio... rabbits

I don't know why I like this show so much. It bears no resemblence to my high school experience. During my summer bout with insomnia, I watch the entire first series of Skins and have been hooked and further immersed in my obsession with british mass culture. Imagine my orgasm when Bill Bailey, regular team captain on Never Mind the Buzzcocks was slated to guest star as Maxxie's dad in series 2. My internet obsessive worlds collided for a magical evening. If Busted would have guest starred I might have gone into convulsions.

Last season's cliffhangers left us with the necessary questions on which to ruminate all summer. What happened to Tony? Will Cassie move to Scotland? Are Chris and Angie doomed? The 'wild world' sing along wrapped up the season with just about every character coupled off. We had some resolution with Anwar's birthday. Most importantly, before the singalong, Tony had seemingly committed to end his sociopathic tendencies and was on his way to setting things straight with Michelle.

Because of the teasers this summer we know Tony survives. The first episode of this season reveals that Tony did wake from his summer long coma but is still suffering the effects of his brain injury after being mowed down by a bus. It is pretty obvious that the writing staff didn't spend hours with scientific research on traumatic brain injury as shown through the depiction of Tony. Nonetheless, we know he is fundamentally altered. He can't remember certain people, has problems with hand eye coordination and fine motor skills, and may or may not be able to write his name, a necessary skill to continue on in school.

Tony, being the villain for the better half of season one is now the helpless victim. This leaves an opening for the next villain and looks as though it will likely come from outside the circle of main characters. But are we supposed to completely forgive Tony for all his transgressions last season? Does saving your sister from hipster drug addicts and getting hit by a bus give you carte blanche? This remains to be decided as we are introduced to the current state of the Stonem affairs and how they are dealing with a new Tony.

This episode was also mostly Maxxie centered. I have always considered Maxxie to be a strength of the show in that he is a gay character completely outside the sitcom stereotype. He has straight friends, both male and female and isn't relegated to one-liners regarding fashion or Mark Ronson. I thought the Maxxie/Anwar episode, while at times ridiculously comedic, was the most poignant in the honesty of male friendships. Bill Bailey was spot on as Maxxie's dad. Also a relationship not straight out of high school teen issues tv where the oafish dad can't relate to his effeminate, fashionista gay son, but rather had honest conflict regarding generational differences and responsibilites. Who knew Bailey could do drama so well too?

The remaining story lines were only touched on gently. We know Sid spent most of the summer at the hospital with Tony, but is now avoiding him and the rest of the family. Cassie did in fact go to Scotland and communicates via video messaging, giving Sid ample room for jealousy. Michelle is spiraling into drinking and promiscuity. A confrontation at the rave alludes to the fact that she did not put her time in at the hospital along with the others.

Chris, Jal and Anwar were mostly background characters. I hope Anwar doesn't become the Kenneth of this season and fill an entirely comedic role. He is hilarious, but I thought the storyline involving his faith and family was really good stuff. I thought Jal was underused last season but am really excited at the possibility that she and Chris make a go of things.

Also Effy, the enigmatic delinquent of last season is speaking this season which kind of made her less interesting to me. I am not sure what kind of role she plays in this season.

We also got no scenes in school (I don't know if it has started yet).

In keeping the scandalous tone, the episode ends at a rave with the LSD and booze fueled confrontation between Michelle, Sid and Tony, likely setting the stage for further conflict as Sid feels overwhelmed in his new thankless role as primary caretaker, Michelle feels left out and Tony is exceedingly frustrated at his new limitations.

This episode obviously set the stage for a change in the group dynamic. Michelle is 'going through something,' Sid is ever distant, Cassie is in another country, Jal is asserting her hotness (haha, did she ditch Kenneth this summer?), Maxxie is dealing with the 'ASBO army' and his desire to pursue dance against his father's demands of education and sensible career paths.

I was really glad to see these characters again and hope the addition of new characters (I heard rumors of a new step-sister for Michelle, and it looks like Maxxie has a stalker) doesn't make Anwar, Chris, Jal, or Cassie into background one dimmensional characters. Also, the tone was notably more serious. I know that the Tony storyline is much darker, but contrasting to the first episode of last season with the 'mad twatter' drug dealer and driving a car into the river, this episode seemed a bit bland by Skins standards.

While most of my readers have not and probably won't see this show, I still have been thinking all week on how to blog this episode. Oh yeah, and I probably should have put a spoiler warning up top for Rob who is just starting series one.