003 - Mini McGuinness (because you're one of the few people who don't see her character arc and storyline within series 6 with rose-colored glasses on)
Skins stole my rose-coloured glasses and stomped them into pieces long ago ;)
003 | Give me a character & I will tell you: Mini McGuinness
How I feel about this character: I feel... disappointed. Bitter. Resentful. Sad. Hateful. It's hard tho to separate my bitterness and disappointment in the character with the series in general cos they're so tightly wound together. Before S5 even came out, I liked Mini. Primarily cos by that time we all knew that Skins wouldn't just do a vapid, bitchy girl. Michelle and Katie (& Effy in some way) proved enough to me that the whole HBIC/Queen Bee thing is obvs just a front. Mini would be no different. I'll admit Liv was my #1 still, but when people were like "OMG Mini sounds so awful!" I was like, "You must be new here." I stand by my claim that the first 5 episodes of S5 were some of the best, most cohesive, and realistic that Skins has ever done, and Mini's happens to fall smack in the middle of them. Cos coming off Rich's S5 ep, it was hard to think that something could beat that. And I'm not sure Mini's did, but it certainly wasn't worse. And as expected, we got some insight into Mini and why she is the way she is, and it worked. I especially loved how real Mini behaved around Franky -- and I don't mean this in a shippy way. I mean, Mini's BAD behaviour. I think most girls can attest to the familiarity of Mini's attitude and behaviour and reactions, if not from her perspective then from Franky's, or a bystander like Grace's. I personally saw so much realness from all of those, having been the nasty bully, felt bullied/insecure, and watched it from the sidelines at other times. It's not something to be proud of but it's undeniably familiar. (And I'm not merely talking about 5x01, I'm talking about Mini's behaviour throughout S5 and her gradual acceptance and realisation and confusion.) So we got this character in Mini that was slowly coming to terms with her messed up preconceptions and her own issues surrounding attention/love/friendship/honesty/etc. And even by the end of S5, tho she took on a completely opposite role (esp re: Franky) than she did at the beginning, it still felt totally organic to react as she did; especially since it's new to her and she's trying to hold onto it as hard as she can. So, long story short: I loved Mini in S5. Her development --perhaps more than any other character, save maybe Rich-- was so brilliantly natural and believable. And although it was completely predictable that she wasn't as 1-dimensional as her initial bio made her out to be, it was still engaging to watch.
I'm honestly trying to think about something nice to say about it. Especially Mini. Cos really, the Mini I saw in S6 wasn't even the same character as in S5. Just as half the cast (if not all) seemed to be re-imagined into completely different, "more accessible", more melodramatic ridiculous characters than the ones that had been so painstakingly and brilliantly built in S5. I did try valiantly to somehow combine the two characters and fanwank myself into oblivion about HOW that S5 Mini turned into S6 Mini but I just never could. It never worked for me. Pretty much, to quote myself lol (cos I just had to read over some of my so-called ~reviews of S6 & Mini to refresh my brain) Mini "was a layered, interesting character and now she's reverted to nothing more than a glorified tube sock." With about just as much sense. Ugh. That's the gist of my opinion on S6!Mini.
All the people I ship romantically with this character: Honestly? None of those losers. If anything, I'd say fuck all those losers and marry Liv -- cos that was just about the deepest and most honest (and realistic) connection Mini had to anyone. Fuck Malo.
My non-romantic OTP for this character: Liv/Mini. Hands down, no questions asked. And I did like Nick/Mini/Alo from 5x08; Nick/Mini in general once they broke up were... I dunno. I felt it and once again they dropped that great potential like a sack of rotten potatoes in S6. Shame on you, Skins.
My unpopular opinion about this character: I really began to thoroughly dislike her, probably even from 6x01. I hated Malo. I hated Minky too, just for the record. I hated what they did to her. I wanted her baby to die. Hell, I wanted them all to die.
One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: Following up from my answer above, lol, I wanted the S6 finale to be a shock cos it wasn't real, everyone was dead EXCEPT Grace, kinda like The Others (haha spoiler alert for a film that came out like a decade ago). So all of that was just their ghosts and THAT'S why Rich couldn't be with Grace, cos HE was dead. Not her. *shrug* Well, I think that would have made more sense considering how blatantly terrible and nonsensical the S6 fartfest was on the whole.
Essentially, I wanted S6 to just not have existed entirely. Skins should have just ended with S5.
My het ship: None. It's not cos I'm a Minky lover and think Mini's totally gay. But it's mostly cos I think all the guys around her are fucking losers. Or mental. Or not right for her.
My fem/slash ship: Meh. Again, maybe Liv/Mini. Simply cos I don't see anything else... and I hate Franky. (I never used to. I even could dig Minky vibes for a bit in S5. And plus, I really liked their friendship that came out of all the drama of S5. But again, fuck S6.)
My OTP: Mini/no baby/no Bristol/no boys/brain transplant/happiness.
My OT3: Mini/Grace/Liv. FRIENDSHIP OT3 FTW.
My cross over ship: Does Gen2/Gen3 count as a cross-over, lol? Cook/Mini. Emily/Mini.
A head canon fact: Rocks fall, everyone dies.
