Skins 3x05 "Freddie"

In this episode where we get to follow Freddie. It starts off with him, on a skateboard, at a skate park riding the problems away.

We get it quite clear even there, not even a minute into the episode that Freddie has a lot on his mind.
When he feels like his done, he takes his board, walk away and in the next scene we are in Freddie’s living room. There his sister Karen sits, talking to a camera.

Karen: “Every day I know this is what I was born to do. It means everything to me and nothing else matters accept… This is for you mom.”

‘Search for a Sexxbomb’, catchy title of a sleazy wannabe ‘Search for the next pussycat doll’ kind of show. It starts off with a dude, the host, presenting: “Singing Juicing Down. Please welcome Karen Mclair. Then this nightmare appears;

I mean should it even be legal to dance that bad in TV? Even my three year old cousin dances better. And what’s with the sleaze bag male dancers? USCH!
Anyways, Freddie arrives home. In the hallway there is a family picture with his mom, dad, sister and of course himself. He strokes a finger over his moms face in the frame. Then we’re back at the ‘Search for a Sexxbomb’ show that I desperately had tried to mind blocked. But it was a totally unnecessary work apparently.
In the living room Karen sits with a remote in her hand, Freddie walks by but stops when he sees her. Karen who is watching herself in this horror show is so totally in the ‘zone’.

Freddie: “How can you watch this again?”
Karen: “Shut up Cockhead!”

Then the judge in the horror shows says “You dance like a gazelle on acid… I love it.” Apparently you must be on acid to really appreciate it.

Karen: “Do you think I look hot?”
Freddie: “Don’t be fucking twisted, you’re my sister!”
Karen: “DAD, Freddie says I look ugly!”
Their dad walks into the room
Dad: “She doesn’t look ugly, she looks sexy!”
Freddie: “That wasn’t what I said. She’s talking bullocks!”
Dad: “Tell your sister she looks sexy on television.” Freddie pride slowly gets tarred apart. “Go on tell her!”
Freddie: “You look sexy on telly Karen.”

Dad: “Now let’s watch the good bit”
Karen and their dad sit back in the sofa with the remote in hand;
Freddie: “You know you bloody won!”

Karen gets all happy when they say she won and goes through to the final. She high-five her dad then the camera goes to focus on the show where Karen is dedicating the song to her dead mom.

Freddie: “For fuck sake dad, listen to what she’s saying!”

He throws of his bag then head for his shed in the backyard. There in the garden Effy sits, no one knows what she’s doing there, doubt she does herself. But when Freddie sees her she join him in the “Famous Shed”.
Well in their Effy snoop around, looking at the guys porn, asking what they do in there, finding a huge water dunk filled with some liquid that Freddie says is pee. He rolls a splif for Effy then sits down beside her. They smoke in the peaceful surrounding until Cook comes bashing in starting to abuse that poor defenseless boxing bag. Cook who don’t notice Effy just ramble away, JJ did notice Effy and tries to get Cook to shut up. It takes a while, then Cook sees Effy, and man how quiet it got. You could hear the ants building its nest, the hair on Freddie’s neck rise and the breathing of a dustbin. But Cook soon thought it was to quiet so he interrupts and starts banging about.

JJ: “Welcome to our fortress of solitude!”

Nice try JJ, breaking the silence… nice try.

The three musketeers (JJ, Freddie and Cook) hang on the wall trapped in a photo. Their souls will be in there forever until a beautiful Princess called Effy shall come and set them free… Riiiight.
JJ who obviously hasn’t understood that Freddie kind of despise the Sexxbomb nightmare talks about how hot they are. Effy sit there rolling her eyes, Freddie looking at Effy and Cook smoking splif and half hanging over Effy. Since the air is full of tension JJ tries to light up the mood. To show us his new ‘improved’ trick. He borrows the splif, flip it into his mouth. But it doesn’t go as he thought so he’s in desperate need of water so he grabs the dunk with pee in and starts to pour it down his throat. Effy & Co give him disgusting glares. But before we know it he brings a lighter to his mouth and SWOSH he’s a fire breather… They all get scared, though Cook can’t seem to stop laughing. But perhaps it’s his way of showing his fear.
When everyone has cooled down Cook wants some ‘action’ with Effy, but she doesn’t want to and this time actually stands by it. Cook who apparently can’t deal with rejection throws Effy out of the shed.
Freddie gets called into have dinner. Sitting there high on splif, he admire the lamp his sister and dad talks. When he gets tarred from his daydreaming he tries to leave the table. But his dad won’t allow it. He tells Freddie he has to be home the next day because the TV team is doing a portrait of his sister and her family. He is going to tell them how much he supports his sister and how much this means for the family. The only problem they can’t seem to believe is that Freddie wants nothing to do with it. They start to argue, his sister provoking him behind their dads back. But when Karen imitates him it goes too far. He manages to control himself so instead of hitting her he just pull down her pants. Freddie goes out the hallway and before he leaves he tells his mom he’s sorry.
Outside he sits with his back against the wall smoking splif.

Next day it’s time for Hamlet in school. They have all supposed to read the book, and now shall discuss it. Apparently no one has read the book so the teacher starts talking to her Gerald hand who obviously has read the book. Freddie who is late comes in during this slightly strange situation. There are two seats available in class. One next to Effy and the other one next to Cook. Who should he choose? The love of his life? Or his so called friend? Well as any boy probably would he chooses the girl.
The teacher tells them that if they don’t read the book they all going to fail. But Pandora has read the book… so she thinks. But when she starts to ramble on about Voldemort so Emily feels obligated to te

ll her she has mixed up her books again.
The hidden sexual tension between Effy and Freddie is in this scene pretty obvious. Arms lay next to each other. The hair on Freddie’s arm rising in harmony, and when Effy put her hand over his it gets even tenser. The only one who seems to notice this besides Effy and Freddie is Naomi. Giving Freddie a flirt she smiles a little for herself. Freddie just looks like the puppy he is.

Teacher: “Anyone else?”
Naomi: “Hamlet is basically a teenage boy. He got all these desires. But he doesn’t have the bottom to reach out for them. So, he goes mad, wanks of about Ofelia and it ends up so boring that somebody has to kill him.”
Teacher: “I’m not sure that’s right! There is no wanking in hamlet.”
Naomi: “Mm, yeah there is. Loads only they call it ‘soliloquising’”
Cook laugh out loud.
Cook: “Nice one blondie!”

Next scene we see how JJ flies out of the classroom with Cook after him, pinching him. Effy comes out and just walks by, so does Freddie but Cook and JJ stops him. They try to convince Freddie to go out with them, but since Freddie has to go home for the “interview” he declines and walks away. Speechless they stand before Cook gives JJ another hand.
Freddie really doesn’t seem to like being on television. Karen seems to like it though, fame hungry and is happy as long as she’s famous. Man that must be tiring to listen at.

Interviewer: “So Freddie… tell it what it means to you to have Karen in the grand finale of ‘Search of a Sexxbomb’?”
Freddie: “Uhm, It’s like you know. Well I, I mean. I can’t quite put it into words”
Karen grabs Freddie’s arm very tight.
Freddie: “It’s great. It’s great.”
Karen: “He’s the best brother in the whole wide world. I mean we take every day as a blessing from God because you know mother isn’t with us anymore. It really makes you think!”
Freddie: “Does it? About what?”
Karen: “That you know, life is precious… and stuff.”
Interviewer: “Freddie why don’t you tell me what it was like to lose your mother.
Freddie: “I didn’t lose her, it’s not like I’m not gonna find her on the back of the sofa or anything!”
Interviewer: “Okey, but you know like how did it feel?”
Freddie: “Oh it felt great, Jordan. It felt really great. Let me ask you. How does it feel to be a cocaine snorting low budget corporate puppet?”

Interviewer: “Uhm… yeah… okey. I think we’re gonna cut here.”
Karen: “No mom was… she was the one who told me I got a talent and a gift. Who first sang with me, believed in me. When I’m singing out there, I’m not just singing for me, I’m singing for her. And I’m singing to anyone who ever been through tragedy.”

Then the interviewer (who also is the main judge) jumps up all happy telling Karen how much he loves her. He thinks she’s warm, sweet and cool… wonder which planet he lives on… Planet of blindness? He also wants to eat her, which I find pretty terrifying. I mean who would want an old sleazy guy with hair who hasn’t been washed in

four weeks to bite you? No one, if they don’t have a weird fetish for it. Then he asks for his “ass hole runner” think he means assistant. Freddie direct him towards the other ass holes.
The camera doesn’t even manage to get off before Karen is all over Freddie again, his dad alike.
Out in the shed Freddie goes to collect his thoughts and in walk JJ. Chocked over Freddie’s shirt and fancy pants he starts to quote lines from a movie, Freddie quotes back leaving them laughing till JJ mentions Cook.
Apparently Cooks uncle (who we meet in episode 2) is having a pub quiz. Freddie on the

other hand isn’t so keen on going. So he tells JJ that he won’t do everything Cook says. To light up the mood JJ once again does a magic trick. This time with cards. Freddie takes Effy’s bracelet in his hands and watch that instead of JJ.
Outside of Effy’s door he stands with nervous trembling hands. Inside Effy sits in the kitchen with her fighting parents. The bell rings, Effy jumps up, open the door and there he stands all puppyish.
She let him in takes him to the living room where they can hear her parents fight. He gives Effy her bracelet back and says they would be good together. Effy disagree since she’s probably gonna break his heart. But what he didn’t seem to think of is that maybe she’s afraid that he’ll be the one breaking hers. Anyways her parent’s comes bashing into the living room, stop to fight when they see Freddie. Both Effy’s dad and Freddie leaves of get thrown out.

Effy’s dad: “They aren’t actually crazy you know. They’re just women.”

Freddie just stands there with his puppy face. I think it’s quite unbelievable how many puppy faces that dude can do. Effy watch him from the window.

Back at the skate park Freddie do what he does best. Skate and think, but apparently that isn’t such a good combination since he seems to fell more than stand up. I knew it was true. Men can’t do more than one thing at a time. He fell and scrape up his arm.
Next morning he wakes up by banking and screwing machines. He heads out towards the shed, opens the door and TA-DA all white, no car and a whole new bar.
During the night, or morning, Freddie’s dad has transformed Freddie’s hangout to a new place for Karen to practice her dance routines for the show. His dad thinks that Freddie should grow up and he transformed the shed to help Freddie.
To drown his sorrows he tags along to the Pub quiz. At the pub Naomi and Emily are in one team. JJ, Cook and Freddie in another. But when Effy walks in with a new man on her arm it gets too much for Freddie. And on top of that he finds out that Cook has slept with his sister. He drinks too much, probably too fast because the next time we see him he pukes and then lay down seeing Effy talk to him. Though I doubt she actually did, just an illusion created by his delirious mind.
With a bag of chips (Fries) he jumps over the fence to their backyard. Hearing the music coming from the shed he walks there. Inside Karen is practicing her moves for the final. When she screws up the moves he claps his hands in appreciation leaving Karen to jump.
He goes up to confront his sister. She has taken away the one think that kept him sane… his shed. She of course doesn’t know what he’s talking about so then he confronts her about Cook. Calling her a whore their dad comes in making Karen go out. Since he only heard the “whore” part he punches Freddie in the face.

Dad: “Freddie don’t you ever speak to you sister like that again!”
Freddie: ”What are you gonna do about it?”
Smack
Dad: “Freddie every time I look at you I wonder. You got your mothers eyes but… I don’t know who you are anymore. You just skate around! You just fucking skate around.”

The next morning he wakes up with a nice, round black eye. He thought all night about his father’s words and maybe the dad had some point in it.
Eating breakfast, reading ‘Hamlet’ didn’t help. Neither did the skate board. He light up a splif taking a smoke before he threw it down the ground along with the skate board. Walking away from it and perhaps from an old way of living. He walks over to Effy’s house again. But this time Effy didn’t answer the door, her mom did directing Freddie to the park where Effy usually hang around when she wants to get away from home.
He runs runs faster than the wind but when he comes to the park he can’t find Effy which I can understand. Effy is out on a float in the lake sunbathing. To help him locate her he dials her number on his cell. Hearing a distant signal he turns to find Effy standing on the float with the cell in her hand. Turning them off Freddie strips of his shirt and starts to swim towards Effy. Effy jumps of the float in a half dive half bomb kind of way swimming to meet up with him. They meet in a passionate kiss. Effy tries to say something but Freddie interrupts and kiss her again then tells her “Now you know how I feel” before he turns back to shore.
Effy seems both confused and slightly unhappy.

It’s time for the grand finale of “Search for a Sexxbomb”. First we get to see Karen’s competition, and I must say. Even though I really don’t like Karen she is so much better than the stupid thing on stage humping her own leg. They jury indeed seemed to like her though, but when Karen comes onstage it’s a whole new deal. The crowd goes wild, the few who’s there. Freddie turns up and join his dad in the whole “Woohoo lets cheer for Karen so she will win” thing.
Apparently she didn’t win because in the next scene she sits in their living room once again, this time crying. Freddie tries to comfort his sister when the doorbell rings. Outside stands Cook and JJ.

Cook: “What you doing man, let’s go out and fucking celebrate!”
Freddie: “What?”
Cook: “She fucking lost!”
Freddie: “I’m not going anywhere!”
Cook: “Okey then, we bring the party to here. Come on Jay”
Cook walks inside with JJ in his tail.
Freddie: “JJ”
JJ: “He wanted to come around and I told him not to do anything bad… okay?”

Freddie just shakes his head before he heads after Cook, leaving JJ in the hallway to close the door.
In the living room they all greet. Cook take a seat in a chair, Freddie’s dad leave the room to get the cups to the kitchen.

Cook: “Bad lock Karen, in the competition like! What you know what goes around comes around. How much did you lose with again? Fifteen votes? That’s about how many people who was in Uncle Keith’s pub tonight!”
Freddie: ”You voted against her?”
Cook: “Not just me, everyone in there. JJ even.”
JJ: “Cook, don’t”
Karen: “You fucking did what?”
Cook: “you took my shed I took your competition. Fair is fair”
Karen: “Your little shit, your ugly little bastard… Bastard!”
JJ: “Come on let’s go out. Come on… let’s go out.”

When Freddie’s dad comes back he brings Karen out of the room leaving an angry Freddie, an angry Cook and an scared JJ.

Freddie: “Your prick. Your selfish fucking Prick!”

Freddie grabs Cooks sweater and threatens to hit him. Cook just makes a mock out of it. But instead of hit him Freddie heads Cook who goes jumps up and grabs Freddie threatening at the same way Freddie just did. But instead of head him Cook just kiss him, telling him how much he loves Freddie before he storms out the room. JJ just stands there, nervous, sad and so alone in the world but still not.
Freddie knows how he works, tries to say he’s sorry but Cook appears in the doorframe yelling at JJ to come. Before they go out Cook smash down the family picture that hangs in the hallway.
Freddie walks to Effy’s house once again. Also this time its Effy’s mom who opens but she is clearly annoyed telling Freddie he should give up and get the hint.
He backs out the street seeing Effy in the window. Seconds later Cook also appears in the window kissing Effy’s neck and provokes Freddie. Instead of taking the glares he just walks away.

Is it just me or did Freddie get all his so far action in one episode? I mean kisses from both Effy AND Cook... Love is in the air...

- Elin