Note: This is a warning that there's some occasional strong language in this chapter. (It's Skins, so it's really unavoidable.)
It's Friday morning. Effy is lying awake staring at the alarm when it goes off at 5:00. Naomi is in the living room, practicing for her routine, when Effy asks for her opinion on dresses (one red, one blue, of course). Naomi doesn't appreciate the interruption, but she's especially bitter that Effy's not coming to her performance that night or to the doctor's with her. Effy apologizes, blaming it on work, and gives her a kiss on the cheek before leaving. Naomi isn't mollified, but tries to de-stress.
For those keeping track, this is at least the third time in this episode when Effy has been too busy with work to spend time with or attention on Naomi. And for those who love Lily Loveless, the faces and wiggle she does here while trying to relax are adorable. Kaya has her trademark smirks and eye rolls, but Lily is so incredibly emotive.
Ellie Goulding provides the soundtrack while the scene cuts back and forth between the two women. Effy is at work, relaxed, confident, happy. Naomi is hospital, waiting, worried, scared. Jake comes over to Effy and says something quietly; she laughs and smiles. Naomi is by herself and sad.
That night, Effy walks into the lobby, stunning in a gold and silver dress. Jake compliments her, and then tells her it makes her look older. Ha! Not only the opposite of the compliment he wanted to pay her, but also re-enforcing the awkward age gap. Good job. Effy calls him on it, and then twists the knife by asking if he's there to babysit her. He won't be staying with her, he assures her, but wants to make an impression on the clients. The two go back to talking about something other than what they mean, discussing money as war while referring to love/relationships. Effy is the one to break first this time, telling Jake that he's winning. They kiss, briefly, before Effy pulls away saying, "Easy, boss."
Jake and Effy go to meet their investors, in what looks like the same bar Effy was looking into when she brought the report to Victoria. Max Stibbard is the investor Effy wowed at lunch, and he's brought his associate, Freddie. Ok, the name can't be a coincidence, but Effy doesn't even react. This Freddie shows himself to be an ass during the rest of the evening, but we really don't learn anything more about him. Freddie immediately hits on Effy, while making a reference to "diseased hamsters". Yes, seriously; I can't make these things up. Awkwardness, thy name is horny male. Jake departs, and Effy reveals her intention to take them to a comedy show.
The comedy club is dingy, with plaster walls, plywood tables, and some very green fluorescent lighting. Freddie gets the beers, the MC makes a joke about men being sodomized which the crowd chuckles at (I laughed too, and thought it was funny, but contrast it with the next bit.) and then introduces Naomi … Campbell. It's easy to get used to her name, but she must go through life constantly seeing disappointed faces when people hear her name and then see her.
Naomi opens with a question to the crowd, which no one answers, and it gets worse from there. She stutters over material, and then is nonplussed when everyone laughs when she makes a casual reference to her girlfriend. The heckling begins, with a man calling her a dyke. Naomi casually agrees with it, and tries to pick up where she left off.
This is huge. Naomi spent all of Series 3 insisting that she wasn't gay, crying about it in the shower, even almost shagging Cook. It was climatic when she left the Love Ball with Emily, after not wanting to go as a couple, and then she told Emily that she loved her. Naomi had a had time telling her hippy, commune-running mother that she was gay, but she's now proclaiming it to the world at large. She's comfortable with who she is, and that's fantastic. And suddenly, perhaps Naomi's decision to go into comedy makes a little more sense. She has to know that she'll be heckled, that she'll need to draw on her own experiences for material, that she will be exposing her self - not just exposing herself, her body, but exposing who she is and what she thinks and how she feels - and that is the opposite of the Naomi we saw in both Series 3 and 4, who was running away scared from the way she felt. This is a matured Naomi, actively seeking to grow, that we see before us. And that makes it a pity that she's not received better - but judging by the way she shrugs it off afterwards, perhaps she was prepared for this. Or perhaps she has other things on her mind, and just doesn't care.
Naomi's using the same joke she tried out on Effy and Dominic, but this time it's less well explained, more drawn out, and even more awkward. The heckling increases, Naomi swears back at them, and she's booed off the stage. Freddie enjoys this part, booing along with the crowd, despite having already confirmed that she is Effy's friend.
Outside the club, Effy tries to comfort Naomi, but Naomi's not having it, saying she wants to kill herself. Effy says she needs to go (Still keeping track? That's number four.) and Max invites Naomi to join them.
In a new club, Naomi is unimpressed by Effy's investors. Ah yes, I'd forgotten about the Campbell dislike of commercialism and corporate behemoths. These, then, are not Naomi's ideal companions. They end up at a roulette table, and Naomi begins lecturing Freddie on the evils of his profession, ignoring Effy's warnings. Effy takes over the betting for the pair, at Max's urging, which leaves Max free to run his hands all over her. Naomi gets up in disgust, leading Effy away to confront her, but Effy's okay with what's happening as they're important to her firm. She tells Naomi to go home. Naomi protests that she needs to talk to Effy, that she needs to go somewhere, but Effy cuts her off, saying she's busy. That's number five. Naomi makes one more attempt to bring Effy to her senses, calling them disgusting (and they are, really) but Effy physically pushes her away and returns to the table.
The scene changes to Naomi, lying down in a hospital gown, in an MRI machine. We next see Effy asleep in bed, still in her dress from the night before. She's woken by very loud music coming from above. She walks up to the roof, yelling at Naomi. It's still dark outside, probably just before dawn. Naomi is standing at the railing, staring out at the city. Much the way Effy opened this episode… Effy angrily asks Naomi what is wrong with her. We can see that Naomi's crying as she turns around and tells Effy: "Cancer." We can barely hear her over the music, so Effy makes her repeat it. Naomi screams it, this time, and adds "You win" before breaking down in tears. Effy stares at her, helpless.
Now we know why Naomi's been in pain, and to see the doctor so much. We know perhaps why she's so aggressively drowning her sorrows, why she wants to go to New York and why she's uninterested in finding a job. And Effy wins, because she won't have to be bothered by Naomi anymore.
This scene echoes two earlier Skins moments. It's an obvious parallel to Naomi's breakdown on the rooftop in Series 4, although she hasn't violated her friendship with Effy or done anything wrong. It's also similar to Sid's breakdown in Series 2, after his dad dies. Sid doesn't tell anyone about his dad's death, for a whole day after discovering, until he tells Tony while they're at a concert - a moment, again, where we can barely hear him over the music. We don't know, this time, whether Naomi's been keeping her cancer a secret.
Effy is an in elevator, going up, and Ellie Goulding is singing again. Effy looks nervous. Jake is waiting for her outside his door. She goes to him, kissing him desperately, and the door shuts behind them.
And under stress, Effy is reverting to her old ways. When you don't now what to do, go for the sex, take your mind off things. We don't know that Jake feels that way, though, and between stealing Victoria's man and sleeping with her boss, Effy is playing with fire.
Next time, on Skins: Emily's back, and thrilled to see Effy! … Effy tells Naomi, "She deserves to know what's going on." … Effy's standing behind Jake, wearing only his dress shirt, then throwing papers around at her desk while his voiceover says, "I've gone over the figures, everything's low." They're lying in bed, naked, while he says, "I need an 'Effy special'. Can you make that happen?" … Effy and Jake are standing outside, and she says "I need you to tell me that this isn't as bad as I think it is." … Effy is sitting in the boardroom, talking to the firm's lawyer, while Jake has his back to them. … Dominc is saying, "Before you, I was fine." He's yelling at Effy, "Now I'm fucking pathetic." … Emily is standing in a building decorated for Christmas, and she slaps Naomi … Effy is crying.
Note: Thank you to all my reviewers! Some of you don't have accounts, so I can't message you, but know that I'm grateful.