SKINS: lots of COCAAAAINE + mental illnesses = bad times

Once again, it's been awhile since I watched this last episode of Skins, but I remember liking it surprisingly much in spite of its being a Freddie episode?  It was actually pretty good!  Granted, a good 60% of why I liked it was because Cook was able to break out of prison super early and act his little juvenile delinquent heart out in the last 3 minutes.  Yay!  He is definitely the best actor on the show now, at least since Effy went all mysterious, brooding Slutty McSluttypants on us.  Anyways, RECAP AWAY!

So, this ep begins with Freddie and Effy having a raucous drugs-and-sex-filled evening in Effy's parents' house.  They're doing all sorts of crazy things ALL OVER Effy's parents' house.  Sexing it up on the stairs, even!  It's sort of weird how both of her parents have seemingly disappeared forever without stopping to say goodbye in any previous episode!  Oh well.  I'm sure everything's fine.

Freddie and Effy are so in love!  The next morning, Freddy makes a lovely breakfast-in-bed for Effy.  How sweet!  But Effy's just like "ehh, gimme the vodka and drugs."  Something is definitely up with her.  Weird.  So Freddy goes back to his normal house (turns out he still lives with his parents.  Lame!  What sort of 16-year-old DOES that?!?!) to grab some food or something, I don't know, and his dad yells at him for stealing all their food, or something like that.  They have a fight, Freddie's dad just DOESN'T UNDERSTAND what it's like to be in love, and so Freddy runs off to his grandpa's nursing home for a friendly chat with the only friendly, understanding adult he knows.  They play ping pong.

Freddie goes back to check on Effy, and she's plastering pictures of gory deaths and Holocaust victims all over her bedroom walls.  Yikes!  I guess everything is NOT fine with Effy.  She says some scary, dark things and Freddie is very worried.  So he pulls an all-night, cocaine-fueled research session (seriously, SO MUCH COCAINE) to figure out what's wrong with her.  Turns out she's really depressed.  Oh no.  

We learn that this is particularly painful for Freddie since his mom killed herself.  Yikes!  So he's determined to help Effy fight her inner demons because he wasn't able to help his mom with that.  THIS IS VERY SAD.  Freddie goes to ask the school counselor for help, but the counselor is really obsessed with Michael Jackson and the best advice he can offer is "you gotta be starting something, Freddie."  

That night, Freddie goes back to Effy's house and finds that she has thrown a huge party.  Everyone's there, doing lots of drugs and being craaaaazy!  Freddie thinks this is weird, because Effy was just decorating her walls with Holocaust victims this morning.  He asks someone what's going on and they're like "Oh, Effy's throwing a goodbye party!" and Freddie's like "For who?" and they're like "I dunno" which of course means Effy is planning on killing herself.  YIKES.  Freddie finds her hiding from everyone and they have a heart-to-heart.  Effy is seriously unstable but Freddie is determined to help her out.  There was probably a lot of crying, too.  It was very SAD :( :( :(

The next day, Freddie takes Effy out to the countryside for a nice picnic.  It goes well until Effy FREAKS OUT and they have to go back in town.  The problem is, Effy somehow gets lost in a huge crowd of people in garish costumes celebrating Carnival (happens all the time in Bristol) and FREAKS OUT even more.  Freddie finds her with the help of Katie, and they go to see Freddie's grandpa.  And he's like, "You need help with this lady.  It is clear that she is your One True Love and that she is seriously unstable.  She needs some major help!" (oh, he is so understanding!).  Which begs the question, WHERE THE FUCK ARE HER PARENTS?!?!?!  (And WHERE IS TONY?!?!)

That question is answered quickly enough, when Effy is in the hospital after trying to kill herself.  YIKES.  Her parents materialize out of nowhere and tell Freddie that they will need his help with Effy, and he's like "No DUH, Effy's parents!  Start being PARENTS, why don't you!!"  I think Effy says something mean to Freddie, too?  I don't remember exactly, but she certainly didn't say "Thank you, Freddie, for saving my life and going to impressive lengths to help me stave off my ferocious inner demons!"  Freddie is super upset now.  He goes to Effy's place and burns all her grisly Holocaust pictures in a bonfire, which is very nice of him.  Cook pops up out of nowhere, and he's like "I will help you, Freddie.  You're my best mate!  I forgive you for stealing my One True Love" which is very nice of him.  They hug. 

THOUGHTS:

• Freddie was actually really good at the acting in this episode!  COLOR ME SURPRISED!
• I guess it makes sense that Effy would be super depressed after watching her brother get mowed over by a bus, witnessing her parents' divorce (they got divorced, right?), and nearly bludgeoning a close friend to death while in a drug-induced stupor?  Seems likely.  And it was nice how they made it all seem pretty realistic, from what I could tell.  I mean, they didn't reveal that Effy had a serious mental illness in one episode and then rid her off that problem by the end of it just because Freddie tried Oh So Very Hard to help her.  Sometimes that doesn't work with depression!  So it's pretty admirable that they're leaving this issue open, to be explored more in-depth later on.  Which seems to be an interesting story arc!  I AM LIKING THIS.