As
Sid’s dad, Mark is obviously most relevant in the Sid-centered episodes. So, today’s entry will allow me to properly introduce you to this
character.
Plot
first: Sid is basically a chronic
screw-up. He’s on the brink of failing
history, and everything rests on his ability to complete an important paper in
the next two days. However, his best
friend Tony offers all manner of distraction when he intentionally shakes
things up between him and his girlfriend (the one Sid is in love with) and
tells Sid that a rebounding Michelle is Tony’s gift to him.
(In
case you haven’t noticed, Tony is kind of a psychopath. He’s constantly manipulating the people in
his life, playing head games with them for his own amusement. I know that teenagers are basically walking
ids and thus sorely lacking in empathy, but you don’t usually see teen
characters portrayed like this – puppet-mastering people’s lives for no
apparent purpose. While he’s no Joffrey,
Tony is definitely someone I wouldn’t want to know.)
If Tony
is trying to pull Sid from his coursework, Mark’s aggressive, overbearing
manner helps to push him from it. He
probably spends 7/8th’s of his screentime cursing and screaming at
Sid, making all sorts of vague threats about what’s in store for Sid if he
doesn’t get in gear. With a dad like
that, it’s no wonder Sid wound up with a best friend who regularly tells him
how stupid and useless he is. Poor Sid.
But Skins is at its best when it shows you
an archetype and then flips it. For all
of Mark’s shouting, he isn’t exactly a success story himself. He talks a big game, but in truth, his
marriage is on the rocks, his job is nothing to write home about, and even his
screw-up son seems to undermine him at every turn.
It
seems to me that Mark is a mass of insecurities masked by a lot of angry
words. He sees a lot of himself in Sid
and loses his temper with him because 1) he projects his own failings onto Sid
and 2) he knows he’s not doing well with the whole “dad” thing, and he can’t
admit it to Sid or himself. He really
loves Sid but doesn’t know how to express it or how to help his son instead of
push him.
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