TV Review: Skins 6.7, 'Alo'
Over six seasons of Skins, we’ve seen a lot of crime take place...
rating: 4
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Over six seasons of Skins, weve seen a lot of crime take place. Off the top of my head, weve had murder, theft, assault, drug use, drug dealing, and corpse stealing. Finally one of the principle cast members gets busted for something, but, surprisingly, its not any of those things. We begin Alos (Will Merrick) story with him at a big outdoor party dressed as Peter Pan. This sets the tone for the episode, which is all about Alo needing to grow up. While at the party he spots Mini (Freya Mavor) sitting off on her lonesome. He wants to talk to her, but shes clearly not interested and still hasnt told him that shes pregnant. Rich (Alexander Arnold), acting as Alos heterosexual life partner, wants Alo to move on and encourages him to hit on a girl who is dressed as a fairy. The girl is named Poppy, and soon she and Alo are having all sorts of fun kicking it together at the party. She seems very nice and friendly, and is obviously very interested in hooking up with Alo; something Mini picks up on when she finds the two of them being cute together. Late that night, Alo gives Poppy a ride home and she leaves him a note making it very clear that shes interested in a different kind of ride. The two meet up the next day and go for a ride on Alos tractor, then spend time rolling around in the woods, giggling and having a great time. Poppy gets Alo to come over to her house and the two spend time playing a Dance, Dance Revolution kind of game in their underwear before retiring to Poppys bedroom for a different kind of exercise. Its during this exercise that Alo starts taking notice of things in Poppys bedroom; things like pink walls, unicorns, horses, and posters of teen idols. Its then that he asks what he should have asked before and finds out that the answer is, Almost fourteen. Alo leaves, very panicked and worried that hes a pedophile (he isnt, but thats a discussion for another time), and then later, rather foolishly, shows up at Poppys house for her fourteenth birthday party, and chooses that time to make it clear that hes not going to continue his affair with her. Shes surrounded by her friends (who think its cool that shes getting it on with an older boy), and makes something of an issue of this, which results in him fleeing the house again. He tries to talk with Rich about his situation but before he can, Franky (Dakota Blue Richards) corners him and tries to talk with him about Mini. Alo cant deal with that at this point, somewhat understandably. He finds Rich and tries to get him to flee to Amsterdam, but Rich isnt having with that. Eventually Alo decides to just move on. He goes through the motions of school and goes to an exam. While sitting there, the police show up, and soon he finds himself stuck in jail facing three years in prison This was a very good episode. I liked Alos episode last year, too, and Im pleased to report that this is as good. In both he comes off as a basically decent guy whos easily confused by the world, but generally tries to do the right thing. I also think that Merrick is a decent actor and does a good job with the role. I do find it vaguely odd that of all the things the various kids of Skins have done, its Alo who gets arrested and gets arrested for something that kind of, sort of wasnt even his fault. He did indeed have sex with the girl, but he didnt know her age and wasnt smart enough to think of asking. Whoops. This episode was really good and while I find it odd that this particular crime is the one that one of the kids has to face legal problems over, well, at least the show is letting us see that there is indeed some fallout from the kind of lives the kids we see live.