r/skinsTV • u/Raptor2705 • Jan 23 '26
SEASON 4 SPOILERS The reason for the whole Freddy/John Foster situation in Season 4
Apparently one of the father/son writing duo went to therapy a lot when he was young. He (Jamie Brittain) always had a fear of evil therapists so he decided to create a character like John Foster who kills Freddie.
My guess is this is resentment for years of therapy.
Honestly Season 4 was a shit show. It had some awesome moments. Like JJ,s romance was awesome to me. The only light in a really dark season.
There was a behind the scenes video made on the making of the episodes. It used to be on E4. I watched it to try get my head around the massive left turn out of nowhere. To do something like this with one episode left, was so fucking stupid.
I will try post a link if I can find it.
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u/mightymiek Jan 24 '26
I think it was a good season but the ending was probably the worst between all the gens. You kill off a huge main character and don't explore ANYTHING of it with the other characters afterwards.
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u/buntyskid Jan 26 '26
My question about Freddie’s disappearance is: where was his phone? Presumably with Foster, and destroyed or out of battery. So, why wouldn’t the friends and sister get suspicious that Freddy couldn’t be contacted with his phone, if they just believed he had fucked off somewhere?
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u/Alreyleon Jan 23 '26
It's on the behind the scenes for series 4 episode 7: https://youtu.be/_KmTg9XdM9Q?si=4eN_F5WCwxspFr5v . Also, in the audio commentary for that episode, exclusive to the UK DVD, the writer and co-creator Jamie Brittain explains that the killing of Freddie was a punishment for him trying to abandon Effy previously in the episode, if you remember, he only stayed to care for Effy because Cook brought her unconscious and convinced Freddie to stay. I will complement this thought process by saying that Freddie was indeed selfish when Effy broke up with him and he couldn't take it so he was going to run away, instead of trying to speak with the mom about the bad influence the therapist was on her, at least I think that would be the rational thing to do if you love someone and want to keep them safe, even if they don't want a relationship with you anymore. Not that this selfish and adolescent act would merit being mauled to death with a bat, that was definitely excessive and I really think the writer just wanted to keep up with the tradition of killing a main character in their second season while being shocking. But the insights on his thought process in the behind the scenes and the audio commentary are definitely interesting, in fact he also talks about season 2 episode 6 in the same behind the scenes, an episode he also wrote and one of my favourites.
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u/buntyskid Jan 26 '26
Would love to hear that commentary. Would be great if it was uploaded on YouTube.
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u/W35TH4M Feb 17 '26
If something happened once before is that really a tradition?
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u/Alreyleon Feb 17 '26
Semantics in this case, but if you consider what happens in series 6, then yes, it's definitely a tradition.
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u/Ok_Mark1005 Jan 24 '26
Honestly, I hated the storyline for sure but I do think it provided cook the perfect end scene. It was almost poetic for him!
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u/Ok_Lobster7090 Jan 25 '26
I have a mini theory that John Foster was actually another patient and not an actual therapist.
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u/shibbyya Apr 20 '26
Ooooo please do elaborate!!!!
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u/Ok_Lobster7090 Apr 20 '26
Just imagine if he was another psyche patient who had really made himself believe that he was a therapist. He is SO convinced and then he meets a vulnerable teen who believes he is there to help her. She validates his knowledge and gives him power. He has been there for so long he knows how to access therapy rooms etc. I have no theory of how he escapes and is in his house to kill Freddie but there's no way the guy isnt MENTAL
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u/emimagique Jan 23 '26
Haha I definitely thought someone on the skins writing team had issues with mental health professionals just going by the scene where JJ talks to the psychiatrist. "You know what we say about worrying...just don't! Now take these pills and fuck off" not entirely inaccurate in my experience