Mysterious Effy Stonem

There are two fascinating characters in the British series Skins. The first is Tony Stonem, the protagonist of the first two seasons of the show, and the second being his sister, Effy, or Elizabeth, who takes over as the protagonist of the second generation of characters in seasons three and four. They're similar in their jet-black hair and bright blue eyes, unique smirks and extreme intelligence. Tony has a poster of the Fellini film 8 ½ hanging in his room, his favorite book is Anna Karenina, he won a national poetry competition at 8 (as Effy later recounts in her interviews with a disturbed psychologist) and received national recognition for a history essay later on. He speaks of the uniqueness of life in terms of its unpredictability through the analogy of subatomic particles that have no pattern of movement and collide by chance. Tony has been defined as a Machiavellian chauvinist while Effy has been observed as a Femme Fatale.

Personally, I believe the show is interesting because of the fascination that stems from these two characters and their development. Their creators have had success in bringing two characters of incredible complexity into being, who are also easy to fall in love with. As it is often the case between men and women, however,  Effy naturally possesses much more emotional intelligence than her brother's more practical abilities. She is able to take care of her brother, her mother, and repair Sid and Michelle's relationships all at once. When Tony mistreats his longtime girlfriend or partner, she calls him a wanker. Towards the end of the third season, her mother says she knows too well that Effy has too much love in her heart and it "scares her to death". There is an excellent video montage of Effy done to Lana Del Rey's Carmen where the lyrics:

Darling, darling, doesn't have a problem
Lying to herself 'cause her liquor's top shelf
It's alarming, honestly how charming she can be
Fooling everyone, telling Hum she's having fun

She says, "you don't want to be like me
Don't wanna see all the things I've seen"
I'm dying, I'm dying
She says, "you don't want to get this way
Famous, and dumb, at an early age
Lying I'm lying

The boys, the girls, they all like Carmen
She gives them butterflies, bats her cartoon eyes
She laughs like God, her mind's like a diamond

Tellingly reveal that she is too pretty but most importantly too intelligent and perceptive for her own good. Unfortunately it is true that she is unlucky in that most of the things she has been in contact with crumble. Her brother gets hit by a bus in front of her eyes, her mother is at times depressed, has an affair and then separates from her father, her love or soulmate gets bludgeoned to death by her psychologist, and lastly, in Skins Fire, her best friend dies from cancer. Some say that she tries to combat this misfortune by bringing control into her life through a stoic appearance and running away from her problems and emotions through different methods (she doesn't want to give in to her deep love for Freddie so she literally runs away with Cook). However I would like to add something to this analysis. As has been mentioned, Tony has a deep effect on Effy. She admires her older brother, and in a "lost" vlog posted , she is seen speaking to him and asking him for help. She runs away from emotions because when Tony was confessing his deep feelings for Michelle, he literally gets hit by a bus (for those who like the term, Tony gets providentially punished for "simping" and Effy gets the message). A pretty jarring event whose trauma has a lasting impact, especially for a young teenage girl. She runs away from deep emotions because of this event, and tries to emulate her brothers manners of intelligent manipulations ("wicked games"), but in the end her strong emotions get the best of her.

Some say that no one is actually in love with Effy, just with the mysterious and fun aura she defends herself with. I disagree. It is precisely the moments where there is a break in her shell and her emotional intelligence gushes out that she is most lovely. One can think of the scene where she is smoking by the water, or when she is at the hospital to see Katie and apologize and Freddie tells her he doesn't want to see her anymore. Effy loves Freddie because he is also emotionally intelligent and he loves this trait within her. He has personal experiences with it because of the depth and death of his own mother. Sadly, tragedy is beautiful, and for those who have surpassed it, an interesting hidden story is adds to their persona. One only needs to think of the fascinating fictional and real personalities among whom some examples are the Count of Monte Cristo, Julien Sorel and ASAP Rocky. Sometimes simply being pretty and intelligent is not enough.

We glimpse into Effy's young adult life in Skins Fire where she is an ambitious woman working in the perilous world of investment banking in a hedge fund whose offices are based in the Gherkin. She has gotten past her psychotic depression, and is using her intelligence to quickly learn and make a name for herself in this environment. There is a telling scene towards the beginning of the second episode where her boyfriend (who is also her boss) comes over for dinner and toasts to Effy, "The most fucking together person I have ever met", to which Effy's friends laugh and say that she hasn''t always been that way (referring to her past depression). Effy gets upset and leaves the table, her past emotional difficulties obviously being a sensitive spot for her.

Once again, her story ends in tragedy. In love with her boss (perhaps for his strength and his admiration of her sense of "control"), and worried for his problems at work, she takes advantage of another man who is also in love with her to commit some serious insider trading. Her emotional "weakness" in committing this crime not for personal ambition, but to help her boss, who she loves (and who ends up betraying her). The distressing quality of her fall is that it shows that the power inequality between men and women stems from the more noble qualities that women generally posess,  and can be taken advantage of. While it is true that many a man has wasted themselves over a woman they love, perhaps they are more inclined to seduce as many people as possible rather than admire deeper personal qualities in one person.