Skins (U.K.): Series 1, Episode 5 – “Sid” (2007)

 

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 7/8^th’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.

 

PC is great in this episode, excellent mix of drama and comedy in his performance.  In particular, there’s an eyes-glued-to-the-screen conversation between them at the end, with topnotch acting all around.