The show was at a crossroads, the first two years focusing on the final two years of high school.
Skins' ambition extended to its cast upheaval after Season Two. It was revolutionary, in a way, to watch ostensible children not trivializing themselves, their relationships, their feelings, or even their work. It's a devastating creative choice, and a devastating performance from Hoult, which never feels exploitative or careless. Suddenly he's mentally behind everyone else he loves. He deals with mobility loss, brain trauma. Having been hit by a bus at the end of the first year, the once-untouchable, magnetic, manipulative 'leader' of the group becomes its most fragile member. That was never demonstrated better than in Season Two to Tony. There's an additional subplot where Anwar unwittingly kidnaps a beautiful Russian woman from her husband. One of the series' standouts, the Season One episode 'Maxxie and Anwar,' dealt with Anwar's relationship with his gay best friend Maxxie (Mitch Hewer), and the realization between the two that Anwar's Muslim upbringing affects his attitude towards Maxxie's lifestyle more than the two ever previously realized. In an entertainment landscape that still struggles with diversity in all areas, Skins excelled here, too.
