Relationship Spotlight: Anwar Kharral & Maxxie Oliver (Skins (U.K.))

Although these two members of the first generation of Skins don’t get a ton of attention or screentime (they share a centric episode in series 1, and Anwar doesn’t get a series 2 centric at all,) I’m fond of them.  Both provide some nice comic relief, but whenever they are asked to bring the drama, they can accommodate.  More than that, close friendships between a straight guy and a gay guy are a rare breed in fiction, and I love happening upon them.  (A few spoilers.)

Besides their mutual second-string status in the group on a meta level, Anwar and Maxxie are dissimilar enough that there’s no obvious reason they’re best friends.  Of course, that’s nothing new for Skins – in this generation alone, Tony-Sid and Michelle-Jal are good examples of wildly different people in particularly close friendships.  Maxxie and Anwar are in good company, and as a bonus, their friendship isn’t nearly as dysfunctional as Tony-Sid or Michelle-Jal (seriously, those kids have issues.) 

Maxxie is a happy-go-lucky boy from a working-class family with a passion for dancing and art.  He has West End ambitions and a fairly laidback approach to wooing interested boys, when he can find them.  While Maxxie exudes an easy cool, Anwar is maybe the epitome of Trying Too Hard.  He’s a hard-up virgin who’s pretty much obsessed with girls, but whether he’s aiming for suave, manly, or gangsta, his unfocused enthusiasm usually takes it too ridiculous extremes.  He’s not big on forward planning, and his only major goals involve partying, getting laid, and keeping the first two a secret from his conservative Muslim parents.  (I should point out, like basically every teenager on Skins, Maxxie enjoys partying and being crazy just as much as Anwar does.  The difference lies in the execution:  Anwar kind of flails in everything he does, more often than not making a fool of himself, while Maxxie pulls things off much more smoothly.)

Because they don’t get a lot of focus, much of what we see of Anwar and Maxxie is simply a good time.  They hang out, joke, drink, and indulge as a team; Anwar joins Maxxie for a depressingly-uneventful Big Gay Night Out, and Maxxie does what he can to help his hopeless friend improve his game.  However, we most clearly see how much they mean to each other when they’re not getting along.  The two fall out on a school trip when Anwar, spurred by a brief bout of locker-room panic but citing religious reasons, tells Maxxie that being gay is “just wrong.”  Obviously, Maxxie’s having none of it, but it’s evident how badly he wants to make up, repeatedly encouraging Anwar to just take it back so they can be friends again.  What’s more, the fight blatantly wrecks both boys – Maxxie gets wasted and makes some reckless decisions, and even in the midst of his several-episodes-long stubbornness, Anwar is miserable. 

And so, we see the depth of their friendship in the negative space where it used to be.  They both feel the loss; they can no longer come to one another to share a laugh, an anecdote, or an important moment, and their temporary rift throws off the entire group dynamic.  It’s given just as much weight as a romantic breakup, and their eventual reconciliation is sweet and heartfelt.  In fact, both gen-1 seasons feature big declarations of Maxxie and Anwar’s friendship.  I suppose that’s partly because both boys’ only date out of the group, and their love lives tend to take a backseat to the other characters’, so their most significant tie is to each other.  Still, I’ll take it.  Strong platonic relationships rock, and whatever the circumstance, I’ll gladly accept them.