Never Look At The Sun

Sugar Rush Episode 1x10 - "Coming Of Age, Part II"

Episode Grade: A+


No KimVo previouslies this time, just a quick repeat of the last few seconds of the previous episode. Hi Beth! Bye Beth! And, credits.

But that's wholly inadequate for not confusing the kind of people who start watching a show on it's season finale. So, regardless of whether they actually exist, KimVo gets it in now. But I'm going to assume they don't exist, and ignore her. Right on with the new stuff then; Kim runs across the beach, shouting for Sugar. Sugar's still crying, and still covered in blood, and I can see a bunch of extras milling about in the background, but Kim is the only person who pays any attention to her. Man, people in Brighton are desensitized. So, Kim rather ineffectually attempts to clean up the blood a little, and, holding her shit together remarkably well, calmly asks Sugar to tell her what happened. Sugar hysterically shouts that she has to leave, Kim holds her and tells her she's going nowhere in that state. Sugar finally gets out "I stabbed someone, alright!" and walks unsteadily away. Kim gives herself a moment to take this in, then runs after her.

Sugar's now powerwalking down a darkened street, with Kim trailing behind. Sugar's lost a lot of the hysterical edge, though there's still some definite panic going on. She suggests that they need a lot more money than what they have. KimVo tells us she's not asking more questions about the "stabbing thing" because "having a project seemed to be calming [Sugar] down." Sugar steals a bag and changes out of the bloody shirt, Kim counts money from a stolen purse. Sugar bitches at her for not getting more. "Gradually," KimVo says, "The scared girl I found under the pier started to look like Sugar again." Kim spots some patrolling cops, and Sugar yells "Fuck!" and brings her hands up to cover her face, which is probably not the most inconcspicuous thing she could be doing, but they don't notice her anyway. Kim suggests that Sugar come back to her place, as she can get money there. On the way back, Sugar tells Kim she plans to run away to London, and asks if Kim wants to come. Kim doesn't answer, so she quickly retracts the offer.

Sugar loiters outside while Kim goes in to get the money. She's momentarily distracted by Stella and Nathan cooking dinner together, and sounding happy. Kim seems pleased until Stella says "I'm so glad you're back, I didn't want to leave without saying goodbye." Stella explains her completely valid reasons for leaving, Kim gives a stroppy "Bye then." and storms upstairs.

Where she cries. And cries some more. And then KimVo decides that the idea of running away with Sugar is looking highly attractive all of a sudden. Her words; "Why stick around for the boring finale, when you could be co-starring in an adventure of your own?" which, considering we've seen about all we're going to of Nathan and Stella until next season, is some pretty hilarious meta-commentary, I'd say. Kim stuffs clothes and suchlike into a bag, then goes into her parents' room, grabs a handful of jewelery and stuffs in there too. And also, the contents of Stella's purse. Matt walks in and tells her "Don't forget your toothbrush", and hands it to her. Hee! Aww. Man. That's so perfect. Kim agrees, and gives him a sweet smile and a kiss on the cheek as she leaves. And, from now until the last seconds of the episode, the only faces we're going to see are Kim and Sugar. They're the only ones who matter.

Though we cannot make our sun
Stand still, yet, we will make him run

Outside, Sugar's a little taken aback by the fact that Kim's decided to join her, but goes along with it. They get into a little friendly banter on the way to the train station about the jobs they'll be getting when they reach London, which is cut short by the appearance of a police car. Sugar again goes for the 'act as suspiciously as possible' method of avoiding suspicion, and again gets away with it. Kim tells her not to worry about just the one car, but Sugar's all paranoid about snipers on the roof and helicopters and shit, so new plan; they're getting a bus. Kim points out that Sugar still hasn't explained how the stab-happiness came about, Sugar hisses "There's no time!"

Cut, hilariously, to Sugar and Kim, waiting in silence at a bus stop. For a while. Heh. Kim gets a message, most likely from Beth. It seems a little odd that she's waited this long, but fine. Sugar quite blatantly leans over to read it, and asks Kim if that's her new girlfriend. Kim angrily tells Sugar she doesn't have a girlfriend. Which is your own stupid fault, Kim. Sugar points out that she's clearly all dressed up for someone. Kim, annoyed, says "well, there wasn't much point, was there?" and Sugar tells her to piss off then. Word. Kim refuses, she's in for the long haul now, whether Sugar wants her or not. Little more silent waiting, then Sugar starts asking more about Beth. Kim's doesn't tell her anything remotely substantial, then a bus arrives, and Sugar jumps up and down with hands in her pockets to protect from the cold and shouts "bus!" which is just insanely cute. And awesome, because otherwise I'd totally forget that she's as much too young for this shit as Kim.

In a café now, neither of them know where they are. Geographically speaking, either. Kim muses clichéically about how you can live somewhere and not really know it. Then, pointedly, "It's like people. Live with them all your life, and still not know who they are." Sugar, showing immense insight, twigs that Stella's fucked up once again. Well, in Kim's eyes, anyway, I'd say Stella's actually in the right for, like, the first time ever. "Sorry," Sugar says, "If you are." Heh. And hey, remember how Lenora Crichlow is as awesome as Olivia Hallinan, but hasn't previously had much call to show it? Well. Just seemed like a good time to bring that up, I can't think why. Sugar's really feeling the awkward silences that are going on here, and tells Kim she can leave if she wants. That way, more silence, but less awkward. But Kim, of course, refuses, so Sugar realises that she's going to have to let the walls come down a little. Or a lot. First piece of new information; she stabbed the guy with a broken bottle. Kim asks who he was. Sugar shrugs "Dunno, just some guy I was fucking and..." then explains from the start; "I met this really fit guy down Lost Vegas [which, incidentally, I'd have known was the actual name of "The Pyjama Party", had I been paying more attention. Doesn't matter at this point; I doubt we're ever going THERE again.]. We went to the beach. Fucked. Fine... And then his mate's on me." Quick shot of Kim's look of horror. "Soon as he's finished, his mate's on me. Fucking Melissa. He was s'posed to be hers, innit. She bailed on me. Just took me by surprise, that's all." Just took me by surprise. Seriously, this scene is just... it's hard to watch, and neither of them make it easy at all, but equally, it's impossible to look away. And seriously, "That's all." If that doesn't make you want to cry... And Sugar's actually laughing now. "Never done two before. Kind of thing a girl needs to prepare for, right?" And Kim... her face just doesn't change at all, at any point, but it's all in the eyes. Like, seriously, everything. "Anyway, he was a Right. Minger. Stunk of burgers." And, momentarily, the mask comes off entirely, and the tears flow; "I told him to stop, and get off, and he wouldn't." Kim, completely mortified now, asks if she's alright. And Sugar's back to trying to convince her that it's no big deal. "Yeah. No, yeah, I'm fine. It's that poor bastard you should worry about." Which, in spite of it all, does get a chuckle from me, because that's pretty awesome. "Bleeding with his pants round his ankles." And funny back to heartwrenching in three seconds; "Why are they like that with me, Kizz? Why does no one fall in love with me, and follow me round like how Tom does with you?" DAMN, though, that's almost as bad as Kim's "Why can't I meet someone that I get on with?" and so on last week. Kim, intensely, "Because they're mad?" Sugar kind of rolls her eyes a little and gives that a rather dismissive "yeah", like, 'Oh, right. I forgot who I was talking to.' Which, again, is kind of hilarious in spite of it all. And, looks like we're through the pain barrier for now, at least. So, what's next, Kim? "Know how to steal a car?" Excellent.

"The way I figure it, this town has bad for both of us," KimVo reports, "Time to get the hell out of Dodge." Yeah, KimVo, you really can't pull that one off, I'm afraid. Anyway, Kim and Sugar cheerily give a two-finger salute to Brighton on their way out. Kim gets all immature and showing her age and asks Sugar if she can have a turn driving, going so far as to cry "Pretty please! I'll be your best friend!" I mean, she's kind of doing it ironically, but still. It'd be hilarious if it wasn't so awful. Sugar mutters "Jesus Christ,", because clearly she's well above such juvenile activity, but apparently relents, because there's a sudden cut and they've swapped places. And now Kim's flooring it with reckless abandon, and Sugar's panickingly telling her to slow down, but she's totally gone into suicidal thrillseeker mode. Well, until she has totally swerve to avoid hitting another car, anyway. Kim, fairly impressively, manages to do so without causing damage to either party, but Sugar is still not best pleased, so she gets out and starts walking away. Kim follows, of course, and after a short shouting match, persuades her to stop.

And now they're leaning over a road bridge, smoking, and Sugar's going for total denial as a healing technique. "Shoulda just let that guy finish off. Shoot his load and be done. Could be down Lost Vegas now havin' a right laugh about it." But Kim's totally not letting that one fly, so she's going to stand there and state the obvious; "Except it's not funny." Seriously. Sugar tries to carry on regardless, but Kim, again with the obvious stating, tells her "He raped you." But the kind of direct, simple truth is too painful for Sugar to just look at it as directly as that. So "I didn't go down to the beach for a picnic, I knew what I was there for." Fucking hell, though. I knew what I was there for. Kim points out that, as Sugar herself has admitted, she's always to out of it to really know what's going on. And that gives Sugar an out. "So you're saying I'm raped every time I have sex?" Because that makes it better. That, she can take. One death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic. "It's no different from the other times" is what she's been trying to convince herself the whole time, and now she's found a way to get Kim to let her have that. And, to make sure Kim stops pressing, at Kim's "It's fucked up" she responds "So's wanting to rub fannies with other girls." She knows exactly the buttons to press, and she will press them until she gets her way. And right now, her way is denial. Give it up, Kim, you cannot win this. And so she does. As Kim starts to walk away, Sugar, genuinely confused, asks "What do you care anyway?", giving Kim the opportunity to be terribly embarrassing in her praise of Sugar. Not that she's wrong. Smart? Yeah. Gorgeous? Well, not really my type, but sure. Funny? "It's that poor bastard you should be worrying about". So. Yeah. Cool? Well, what the hell do I know? But, seriously, you should listing things certainly before that one, Kim. Less is more. And finally; wasting herself on guys who don't give a shit. Quite obviously a yes. But Sugar, quite awesomely, points out "That's my choice, isn't it?" Whichever one it was that I said I liked her best in? I was wrong. It's this one. It's definitely this one.

Back in the car now, both calmed down rather (Sugar's in the driver's seat, though, because would you trust Kim to drive after that?) There's silence for a while, neither of them at all sure what they're doing any more. Sugar asks if Kim still wants to come to London. Kim, once again displaying total immaturity, snots "I don't care." Total fucking lie, and you both know it. Oddly, Sugar decides to go off on her own version of Kim's gushing praise speech at this point, though she's less embarrassing, of course. Well, it's less direct, all going to university and marrying rich lesbians and, basically, "you're going to have a wonderful life." Kim deludedly tells Sugar that she will too, but Sugar, being the realist now, says "Once I get out of prison, with a fat arse and a heroin habit, maybe." Kim notices Sugar's ability to make the tragedy of her life funny now, and giggles a little at that, but Sugar's careened back into angst mode again already. It is hard to keep up with her. "I want a penthouse," she says sadly, "Even if it's just for one night." And Kim, sparkle in her eyes, tells her to "drive then."

That seems like the perfect cue for a montage of the girls driving through London and admiring the artificially lit momuments, right? Right. They pull up outside a posh hotel, and Sugar claims "No one is going to look for a couple of skanks like us here." If you weren't leaving blatant clues like the stolen car parked right outside, and Stella's credit card wasn't obviously going to be traced, you might have a point. Anyway, they go into their room, which is... spacious. Seriously though, how does Stella's card have enough to afford this, even for one night? She hasn't earned it, that's for sure. Sugar looks out the window and admires the view. Kim doesn't look out the window, and admires the view.

And now they're in the bath together. Sugar admires the jewelery Kim stole from Stella, and yes, she uses the word "bling". And now it's time to delve into a little character backstory; Sugar tells Kim she's never been in a hotel, or even on holiday before. "Mum says 'What's the point of going on holiday when you live in a holiday town?'" It occurs to me that we've never even seen Sugar's mother, but then, that's kind of the point, isn't it? Showing some awesome continuity sense again, Kim replies that since Stella and Nathan love France, her holidays invariably involve them taking her and Matt to France, then getting drunk and leaving Kim and Matt to themselves. Sugar complains that her champagne is dry, and Kim gets all faux-pretentious explaining that it's meant to be. Yes, I really just said 'faux-pretentious'. Shut up. Sugar asks her to go downstairs and get some sugar to put in it (and, man, I have trouble typing 'sugar' uncapitalised now). Kim gives her a somewhat outraged look and tells "You can't put sugar in champagne!" And, of course, Sugar flirtingly responds "You can put a little Sugar in anything." I'm sure you can see where this is going. She starts moving her leg under the water towards Kim, but Kim tells her to stop "unless [she] mean[s] it". So, they have a water/champagne fight instead. Yeah.

More sombre mood now, sitting around in bathrobes. Sugar asks Kim if she'd rather be there with "that girl". Kim pointlessly plays dumb for a second, then tells her Beth's name and asks why she's interested. Sugar claims "I'm not interested! I just thought you were", then fairly quickly contradicts the first part by asking "So, you shagged her yet?". Kim's not feeling this at all, but answers anyway. Sugar carries on "I bet you've snogged though." Kim gives this a "Maybe". Sugar asks if Beth's a better kisser than her. Kim doesn't answer that one. Sugar presses asking, "Come on, who do you prefer, me or her?" which is a totally different question. Kim non-answers "Beth's great." Yeah, that's a real glowing reccomendation, Tony the Tiger. "She's really cool." Oh, well that improves it a whole lot. It occurs to Kim that she might be able to get out of this interrogation by asking some questions of her own, so she asks Sugar who she'd rather be there with, if she could choose anyone in the world. Sugar shallows "Brad Pitt", then, as an afterthought, "but you'll do." Shockingly, Kim's not exactly thrilled by that, and asks "Why?" "Just because," Sugar lamely replies. And now we're getting back to the heavy stuff again. "Why did you call me tonight?" It's a pretty simple answer; "Because I knew you'd come." Which we all knew already, but still. Ouch. "Yeah," Kim says emotionlessly, "Makes sense." Yeah. "It's always going to be like this, isn't it? You call, I come running. You say 'jump', I say 'How high?'" Well, you know who needs to do something to change that, Kim? I'll give you a clue; it's not Sugar. Kim gives a list of all the crap she's done for Sugar over the previous nine episodes; translating for French wankers; kissing Sugar so she could pull, so on and so forth, then tells her to "name one thing you've done for me. One thing. One. Sodding. Thing." I'm sure I don't need to tell you that Olivia rocks this speech, but apparently I will anyway. She does. Kim walks away from Sugar, over to the window. Sugar hesitates for a second, then follows, and says "I'm sorry." And then leans in for a kiss, because she's apologised, so everthying's alright now, right? Well, no. Kim again tells her to stop, but Sugar brushes hair out of Kim's face and tells her "Don't worry. I really mean it this time." And that's enough for Kim. She believes it. And I'm not getting dizzy, so I guess the camera believes it too. And, I mean, this time. That's the key. So, yeah, I believe it. Right here, right now, it's true. This time. It has to be. It's the only truth there is. Just for one night, they get the penthouse. Just for one night.

And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking
And racing around to come up behind you again

So, now it's all over but the montage. I don't what this song is, but they've been quietly slipping in little bits of it all over the season, and it's totally perfect for this. A police car pulls up outside the hotel, and Stella and Nathan step out the back. Inside, Kim and Sugar wake up post-coitally. Kim smiles. Sugar hesitates for a second, then returns it. Stella and Nathan walk down the corridor with a couple of cops. Kim smiles some more. "Don't you just love happy Hollywood endings?" KimVo asks. No, but I sure as hell loved this one.