“Skins”

Hannah Murray as Cassie Ainsworth

“Skins” tells the story of a group of British teenagers who are trying to grow up and find love and happiness, despite questionable parenting and teachers who more want to be friends (and lovers) rather than authority figures. Hannah played character Cassie Ainsworth for the first two series of the show (the first ‘generation’ of cast members) and appeared in 17 epsiodes, beginning with “Tony” and ending with “Final Goodbyes”.

Characterization

She’s thin, she’s blonde, she says “wow” a lot.
– Tony Stonem, “Final Goodbyes” (Series 2)

Cassie is depicted as being eccentric and suffering from several mental disorders — most notably, anorexia nervosa — and multiple issues, including low self-esteem, suicidal ideation, and drug addiction. Murray described her character as…

” …very interesting because she has a lot of problems, and she’s very troubled, and she’s anorexic and completely lacking in self-esteem and self-belief, but along with that she’s sort of quite smart. I think that she has quite a good reading on a lot of the other characters about what they’re like and how they work and stuff, and I think she’s a very clever girl, and she’s also kind of silly and dreamy and quite fun at the same time as being a very tragic character.”

The titular second episode of the first series and the penultimate episode of the second series focus on Cassie; the former focuses on her mental state and the latter focuses on her relationship with roommate Chris Miles. The show’s producers and writers described her centric episode in an interview with The Independent as being about “how she gets through her day without eating … how she feels and what her tactics are”, and campaigned to prevent any announcement of any counselling helplines during the episode’s credits because they “didn’t want a little preachy drama where everyone hugs at the end”; instead, the producers hoped that people would recognise their own faults in Cassie. One reviewer described Cassie as being “as pale as Hamlet’s Ophelia and arguably twice as mad”.

Character Arc

At the beginning of the first series, Cassie is recently discharged from hospital after a suicide attempt off-screen. Her best friend Michelle Richardson arranges for her to take Sid Jenkins’ virginity at a party. Throughout the first series, Cassie develops an attraction to Sid, who unintentionally stands her up twice: after being unintentionally stood up in “Sid”, she attempts to commit suicide; and after Sid stands her up again to rescue his best friend Tony Stonem’s sister Effy from overdosing, she decides to move to Elgin, Scotland. She postpones her plans after discovering Sid loves her; the first series ends with her meeting up with Sid on the night she moves away.

In the second series, Cassie is in a long-distance relationship with Sid; the relationship becomes strained when Sid begins to think Cassie has been unfaithful. After Sid’s father Mark dies, Sid travels to Scotland to meet her as Cassie simultaneously travels back to Bristol to meet Sid. Frustrated at Cassie’s disappearance and his father’s death, Sid begins a relationship with Michelle.

As a result of Sid’s relationship with Michelle, Cassie becomes extremely promiscuous (with men and women) and mentally unstable: in “Chris”, her actions result in her roommate Chris Miles losing his job as a junior property salesman and causes a significant amount of tension between him and his girlfriend Jal Fazer; and in “Effy”, she attributes her addiction to “mindless sex” to her failed relationship with Sid. After Sid becomes aware of her actions, he confronts her about her promiscuity, apologises for dating Michelle, and tells her he loves her.

Cassie’s subplot in the last three episodes of series 2 focuses on her friendship with Chris. She and Sid are back together, and tells him she will “love him forever”. However, she witnesses Chris suffering from two subarachnoid haemorrhages, the second fatal. She is traumatised and flees to New York City. There, she meets a kind young Iowan named Adam, with whom she forms a strong platonic friendship when he offers her a place to stay in his apartment. He later leaves the apartment to find his ex-girlfriend at Cassie’s suggestion and, distraught, she Cassie gets a job as a waitress at Adam’s old diner in Manhattan. The penultimate scene of the second series depicts Sid wandering through Times Square looking for her and ends with him turning to look inside the diner.

Images

Character Quotes

Cassie: I didn’t eat for three days because I wanted to be lovely.

[Maxxie's wearing devil horns]
Cassie: Wow, Maxxie, you look all horny.
Maxxie: You can tell?

Cassie: Michelle’s so lovely. Michelle, my girl. I love her, I love her, I love her! So hey. Wow. fuck you, Sid. Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you!

Cassie: It’s your choice, Sid. Everything is your choice. Wake up Sid.

Cassie: You like me. You like me. Look up, if you like me. Look up, if you like me.

Cassie: Do you know what hurts most about a broken heart? Not being able to remember how you felt before… try and keep that feeling, because… if it goes… you’ll never get it back
Chris: What happens then?
Cassie: You lay waste to the world… and everything in it.

Cassie: Do you remember when you rode with me in the ambulance after I tried to kill myself?
Jal: Of course.
Cassie: That’s what love feels like.

Cassie: [showing them her slugs] That one’s called Sidley and that’s Mischa. Isn’t Mischa just so pretty. Look at Sidley, sliming all over her. Disgusting, isn’t he?
Pandora: Are they doing it?
Cassie: Yes, they are doing it. When I’m ready, I’ll pour salt on them. When I’m good and ready.

Sid: I hate you.
Cassie: I hate you right back. Why don’t you pop over to Michelle’s and give her one? Oh, another one!

Michelle: Cassie, you remember Sid, right?
Cassie: Yeah, erm, wow, lovely… No. But, I like that you’re funny looking, it’s cute. Like wow, man.
Tony: How’s the treatment going, Cassie?
Cassie: Oh, it’s cool. I wear a white dress and now I can eat yoghurt, cup a soup and hazelnuts now. If I’m not sick, they let me play with the cats. Yeah, it’s like… hazy days, you know?
Tony: That’s encouraging.
Cassie: Oh, thank you! You’re so nice.
[She starts to kiss Tony]
Michelle: Cass! Cass!

Cassie: I’ll love you forever, Sid.
Sid: You will?
Cassie: Yes. That’s the problem.

Cassie: Love is, like, really important. It’s good to be loved. Even if it’s only for one night.