S1 E01: Tony

Cleverly enough, each episode is titled after one of the main characters. The first episode is called "Tony" after the leading man, Tony Stonem. (That's funny! I wonder if he smokes a lot of weed...)

Thoughts within the first fifteen seconds of the episode:

I'm going to like this show. A lot.

A teenage boy lies in his bed, and the camera zooms out to reveal a duvet printed with two bodies completely starkers (that's British slang for naked - from 'stark naked'), a man and a woman. Honestly, I snickered. Then I thought: Hey, that guy looks familiar. Is he that guy from that zombie movie? Nah, can't be. Much less scrawny. Wait. No. It IS that guy. What's he doing here?

Fun fact: Turns out Nicholas Hoult, the lead in Warm Bodies, had a gig before his box-office monstrosity of a Romeo and Juliet parody.

The episode progresses, and you see this boy go about his morning routine. As I watched, I got a funny feeling that I wasn't going to like this kid - his attitude, the way he treats his parents, etc. Reminds me of Tom Sawyer. He does pay extra attention to his younger sister, though, and pranks his dad so she can sneak in from a night of cavorting. With this appearance, one can only begin to imagine the sorts of shenanigans that went on last night.

Must have been a rager.

Aww, look! It's a baby prostitute.

From what little I've read and heard about this show, parents are ridiculed and essentially portrayed as useless, bumbling idiots. Something to look forward to, I guess?

Anyway, after some fast-paced dialogue and introduction to some new characters (Confession: I had to turn the subtitles on at this point and pull out a British slang dictionary, so I included some new vocabulary in this post), we learn the whole goal of the episode is to get Sid, Tony's best mate, laid that night. Because it's a total disgrace to have a virgin as your best friend. Again, I get the feeling that Tony is a huge jerk who doesn’t deserve any friends, especially a loyal one like Sid. Has anyone read Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?

Aaaaaaaaaand I'm pretty sure that sets the mood for the entire show. Weed references also pop up all over the episode like...well, like weeds.

I also think I got where the show’s title came from: skins (n) - cigarette papers but now more commonly joint papers. It’s either this, or it’s a reference to all the nudity/sex shenanigans. I’m predicting lots of weed.

So now I'm interested to see how the show's soundtrack turns out. We could have a total 60's throwback on our hands - sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. Watch out, Mad Men.

Vocabulary lesson:

• sodding (adv/adj)- intensifier (like dropping the occasional f-bomb (but I'm not sure how severe it is, though)
• pillock(n) - idiot, old derivative of phallic insult
• James Blunt (n)- objectionable person (rhyming slang - hopefully obvious...?)
• If you don't know what rhyming slang is, please refer to the incredibly informative site of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhyming_slang
• dozy (adj) - stupid
• dippy (adj) - silly, empty-headed
• bruv (n) - from "brother", term of address, usually for a friend
• spliff (n) - weed
• on tick - on credit (used with transactions and such)
• safe (adj) - awesome?
• drum 'n' bass (n) - rave type music?
• oik (n) - unsophisticated, uncultured, objectionable person
• fickety fick (n) - absolutely nothing, jack shit?
• tosser/tossa (n) - idiot
• Just thought I'd toss this one in the mix. (Heh.)
• bell-end/bellend (n) - idiot, derived from phallic insult (again, hopefully obvious...)
• cheers - thanks or goodbye
• bosh (n) - nonsense, rubbish

The questionable ones are my best guesses in context, of course.

And forget crashing your car into a bridge. Try accidentally unlocking the parking brake and rolling into the river. Much cooler, yeah?

Thanks to http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/ for keeping me a jive cat who's hip to the lingo.