Notes

In the Skins RP world, it seems the character that admins always take, or the character with the most applications is Elizabeth ‘Effy’ Stonem. This could be for a wide variety of reasons. First off, Kaya is gorgeous. Second is she’s the Queen Bee and in two series. She also has two guys trying to earn her affection. In most Skins roleplays I’ve been in, I often see Effy portrayed incorrectly. She’s too concerned with love, or trying to kill herself every other day. The need to have a ship seems to trump everything else plot-wise. Keep in mind, I am by no means an expert, nor do I claim to be. This is just my take on Effy by researching her character. I’ve played Effy countless times, and I always got showered with compliments. I suppose this guide could also work on portraying a character similar to Effy. This is a bit of a summary of Effy (I think a refresher is always good) Also note, I’m not ‘hating’ on anyone that roleplays her currently, or had roleplayed her. These are simply my thoughts and mere suggestions. Feel free to not agree with me.

A glance at Effy:

We first get a glimpse of this mysterious girl in the very first episode of Skins. The bond between her and Tony is the first thing shown. He lies and gets shout out by Jim just to sneak her in. It’s obvious she has a double life thing going on. Her parents see her as this sweet and innocent girl, but we learn that’s not the case. There’s also the fact that in the first series, she’s mute and we do not hear her utter a word until her episode and she’s getting the pharmaceutical injected. Effy is an enigma, even what she says is it’s own mystery. She can be charming, and she is wise beyond her years. In 2x7 she voices Sid’s monologue, prompting him to grow aware and annoyed. She also helped mend the relationships of Tony and Michelle as well as Sid and Cassie.This is just generation one Effy. As many know, Effy was the spotlight in Generation Two of Skins and we see her as a more prominent character. Games seem to be something she’s pretty damn good at. She plays people. Look at her giving the list of things not to do at college to Cook and Freddie. She’s pretty much setting up the competition right then and there herself. She’s like Tony in that aspect. She is aware she’s pinning the best friend against one another. She even tells Freddie ‘but your mates are interested, too’ in her own way and has him acknowledge the fact she’s wanted by many. She seems aloof and in most cases, uncaring. I truly think she cares about Pandora and Tony the most. As any character in Skins had family problems, so does Effy. She catches her mother cheating on her father, and with that information she often dangles it in front of her parents’ faces (3x4) Hell, she even cries and runs down to the dock in that episode. Eventually, Jim finds out about Anthea’s affair and storms out. There is a lot of fighting, and we do see it take its toll on Effy. When Freddie comes to give her bracelet back she’s there smoking.

Effy’s past:

So we know she’s quiet. We know she’s seen some counselors about that. Her parents said they would give her anything, so long as she asked for it using her words. She was a selective mute. I think that could be brought out once more if something were to happen and trigger her. It could put a dynamic on Effy that we haven’t seen since the first series. Effy’s like the Cheshire cat in my opinion. She speaks in riddles and seems to enjoy that. It’s hard to peg her down. In some ways, she is a sort of femme-fatale. Effy is intricate, and the writers did a goof job on her character. Obviously, Effy is not shy. If anything, I think she’s one who strives to get control. As she lacks control with her own home life, and her own mind I think she toys around with people to get a grip on what’s going on around her. We don’t know too much about her past (ie before the show starts) But, that’s what I think is important when wanting to roleplay her. There’s so much of Effy that roleplayers often just scratch the surface. In series 2 she seems to be the one caring for her family. She helps Tony the most and even bitches-out Abigail Stock. Effy also takes care of Anthea who seems to be addicted to taking Tony’s medication. Oh! The accident! Tony’s accident in my mind really affected Eff. I think him being in a coma or just in hospital is really what got her to speak so openly once more. I love how when Michelle and Sid come to visit she’s cold to them because neither of them bothered to help Tony, being too wrapped up in themselves. Effy doesn’t really have any friends. She has people she hangs out with (Julie, the boys in the warehouse, the other boy she gets to sleep with Cassie) but none of them she brings home or is shown to really connect with. But then, she is forced to befriend Pandora. She soon warms up to the girl’s quirks. In the second series we also see Effy’s view on love and how she thinks it’s good for nothing. Tony calls her out and tells her she probably does care for people. In my mind, I think Effy cares about people so much it almost consumes her and she doesn’t even know it. She also shows more responsibility as she cleans the house for her father and puts her mother back together for when Jim comes home from his trip.

Effy during the series:

I’m going to consider present Effy as the Effy in generation two, up until series four. Since we still don’t really know how she will be in Skins 7, I don’t want to analyze her in that way yet. Anyway, back to the point. Effy is the popular girl at Roundview with Pandora at her side. Katie sees her like that and in my opinion, even tries to be Effy by dating Freddie and acting like a complete bitch. Effy is still mysterious and most people want to get to know her. As mentioned, she does prompt the game between Cook and Freddie and JJ calls her out on that. (bless him) She is reckless. As in the first generation, she still seems apt at masking her emotions coming off as calloused and indifferent to most things. But, let’s remember. Effy is human. Something do get to her. Remember how upset she got when she discovered Pandora and Cook in 3x4? How that made her sick in 3x8? Effy is by no means perfect. She’s selfish in some aspects. I might be biased because I have a love-hate relationship with her character, but that’s what I think. Effy seems to have her rise, and then downfall as she hit Katie Fitch with a rock, leading the group to leave her out. But of course, Cook rescues her. In 3x10 they’re kind of like outlaws. It’s seen she cares for him in the little things. She’s a mess in 3x10 and finally realizes she can’t do it all herself and calls up Freddie to come and save the day, showing she is somewhat dependent. In series four, her mental condition is drawn out and focused on. Effy opens herself up to Freddie, but that seems to overwhelm him as well as only cause her to further lose her sanity. Effy notices a lot of things, and I like to call her captain of the Naomily ship. She notices Naomi in 3x7 and confronts her about her sexuality, and accepts her. Naomi bites back though and points out that Effy is in love with Freddie (who is still with Katie) and Effy gets disgruntled. She doesn’t like confrontation. Let’s move on to 3x8 wherein Effy had her bad trip. I think that was her downfall and the climax to series 3 Effy. Katie only antagonizes her which causes her to freak out, throwing the rock. Right after she sleeps with Freddie. That was a bitch move, but I don’t think Effy was completely aware of what she was doing. her guilt is obvious the next morning and she’s shifty and nervous. After the third series ends, Effy goes on a summer Holiday to Italy. This is in the Skins books. I suggest reading them. Google is your friend in finding free pdfs of it. You learn a lot more about all the characters since you’re inside of their heads. Effy misses the first day back and Freddie grows annoyed. Coming back later, she tells Pandora it was good she broke things off with Thomas. Effy is slowly more comfortable with love, going to visit Cook and telling him she loves Freddie. (poor Cookie monster) 4x5 marks the series 4 downfall of Eff. Anthea goes out (Jim is no longer a part of the family really) so She throws a party. Effy re-decorated her room and became death obsessed. Her psychotic depression is really shown here. Freddie takes her out and she talks about these creatures she has been dealing with all of her life and how because she allowed herself to love him, she can no longer fight them and she is weak. Also, the theme of the party she throws is a goodbye party. Perhaps hinting at her suicide attempt. She bugs out and hides under the bed and goes on to tell Freddie she can only trust him. (paranoia setting in) Seeing Cook only prompts her to freak out even more and she yells at him to get out. Freddie takes care of Eff and then we see her freaking out a bit more as he doesn’t take her home but through the Judgement Day parade. With all of the costumes and loud noises, Effy once more freaks out and runs away. She find Katie who takes care of her. From then, she goes to Freddie’s grandfather’s where she goes to the loo and slits her wrists. In hospital, we get introduced to John Foster once more. (aka the doctor who took care of Tony before) he seems creepy and almost has a thing for Effy. Foster tells her to pretend the bad things never happened, which is something she states to Naomi. I find Effy to be more dry after all of this. Dry as in more removed from everything happening, like she’s a bit emotionless but not as she was before. Getting her grades seemed to set her off once more. She leaves the pub and finds Cook who confronts her he’d do it all again. The next day she goes to the park and remarks how she never noticed the lake or pond in it. Cook takes her out and they have a night together, but Effy doesn’t know who she is. Until the pair go to where Tony was hit and she has a meltdown, trying to get a car to hit her. Cook saves her and brings her to Freddie as per her requests. (the little shit Freddie was packing his bags to leave, by the way) Effy is put in the hospital once more and Freddie is there. He tells Foster to fuck off. Foster kills him. Effy doesn’t know he is dead, so we don’t see her reactions. But, we do see her get Freddie’s notebook and how moved she is by how much he loved her.

Personality points:

guarded
enigmatic
seductive
manipulative
calculating
lustful
escapist
complex
Common misconceptions in the RP world:

Effy is played as a total bitch. While she is mean and the Queen Bee she is not really that bichy. If anything, Katie is the total bitch.
Effy is played as totally in love with Freddie and depending on the plot of the rp (if Freds is dead or not) she just goes right back to him. I don’t think she would go back in love with Freddie that easily if he did leave her or something. She would be hurt and guarded, probably going back to her generation one self.
Effy has sex with everyone. While she was promiscuous, she wasn’t really a total slut.
Effy is a drug addict. Okay, Effy does smoke a lot and dabble in the world of drugs, but she is not a total addict.
Effy’s depression is ignored.
Effy’s depression is played entirely wrong to the point where it would be insulting. Look at these pages (X) and (X) to know how to write someone with psychotic depression
Her plots are all the same, most having to do with self harm or suicide. There was more to Effy than her depression. Don’t glorify her depression. It’s not cool, or beautiful.
Further reference:

This analysis (X) is truly amazing and I urge you to read it.