YMMV / Skam

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Before season 4, many fans theorized if Vilde was secretly gay. Despite her obsession with William, it could be read as a typical teenage crush getting attached to the guy taking her virginity and showing her kindness while she had low self-esteem, while she still showed many signs of being uncomfortable with sleeping with a guy such as having to get drunk to do it. Meanwhile, she displayed many typical sides of a Lipstick Lesbian, was very comfortable being intimate with the girl squad, was apparently happy to learn that Isak was gay and didn't mind making out with Eva at a party. Come season 4, however, and she starts dating Magnus, which, due to the above, felt to many like a wasted potential and became subject to some criticism (see below).
• Angst? What Angst?: The ending of season 4, episode 5 suggested that Noora would not be on speaking terms with Sana as Noora angrily confronted the latter for knowing that William presumably had a new girlfriend without telling her, but come the next episode Noora's not upset with Sana at all. Neither does Noora seem very depressed over the William news, which might have been intentional to show her getting over him, at least, until his actor suddenly returned for the final episodes.
• Base-Breaking Character: There's some tension as to whether Vilde is a redeemable character in season 4, as she has said some Islamophobic things and also has a very irritating co-dependent relationship with Magnus, but on the other hand, she has an alcoholic mother and may not have been taught the right values growing up, and has struggled with body dysmorphia and an eating disorder.
• Broken Base:
  • Opinions are split on whether Noora/William is a heartwarming couple or just manipulative and unhealthy on William's side. Even with those finding them a nice couple, there's also some discussion as to whether what they have really is 'true love', or if it's a more typical teenage love that, while passionate now, probably won't last long (considering how fast they get together without really knowing each other, and do very little else but make out when they're together).
  • There's some on whether season 4 lived up to the rest of the series or if it turned out a little disappointing due to ending with some loose threads, while it might also have suffered from following the extremely popular and well-received season 3.
• Catharsis Factor:
  • Noora confronting Nicolai at the diner in season 2, throwing his own cocky attitude and blackmailing over having her nude photo in his face when she points out that having that photo is actually illegal and he could go to jail, along with having recorded everything he just said.
  Noora: You know what they do to child pornographers in prisons, right? If you are in the showers and drop the soap... I wouldn't pick it up.
  • Season 4 episode 8, seeing the girl squad arrive in their very own 'russebuss' while shouting Sana's name and let her on, followed by them flipping off the Jerkass Pepsi-Max girls before driving away is an immensely satisfying moment.
• Creator's Pet: Noora has been accused of being this and to a much lesser extent (mostly due to the fact that he quit the series), her love interest William. Season 2 is a Noora-focused season — so, if it were to follow the pattern of the other seasons, she would get much, much less focus in the other seasons. However, Noora's plotline, such as her return to Norway and estrangement and breakup with William gets a lot of focus throughout Season 3 and 4.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Eskild and Linn! Also, as of season 4, the entire balloon squad, in particular, Yousef, Mutta, and Elias, for their general sweetness and charm.
  • Julian Dahl, although he has never been seen, has been present throughout the course of the series, and is first mentioned in season 1, episode 3, as a boy stalking Isak on Instagram. For some reason, he has become a fan favourite, and there have been many calls made to feature him, if only to see what he looks like after having been mentioned at least once every season.
    • In season 2, Noora is introduced to a boy named Julian who, like her, has been to Madrid. His face is not shown.
    • In season 3, the signup list for Vilde's kosegruppe features a signature by Julian Dahl.
    • In season 4, Sara gossips about how her friend Lea will be angry when she finds out that her friend Oline slept with Julian Dahl
    • In season 4, Jonas lies to the boy squad about eating alone at McDonald's using the borrowed money of Julian Dahl, later confirming from Isak that he is rich.
    • Also, it's implied that a pre-game or "vors" that some members of the girl squad attended was at Julian Dahl's house.
• Fridge Logic: Sana's behaviour in season 4 appears to contradict some of her season 2-self. Notably, she at one point gives Noora a heartwarming speech on how important it is to try and understand people, particularly the ones you love, yet in season 4, Sana immediately removes her Love Interest from Facebook when he tells her he's not a Muslim. It is possible, however, that Sana removed him more out of fear of what her religious mother would think, than of her own feelings.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff:
  • Skam gained a lot of popularity in other Scandinavian countries, especially Denmark. In 2017, reports were made of the show gaining a Chinese audience as well, of all things. It also has a US fanbase.
  • The Isak/Even pair has gained massive popularity and is the main draw of the show's numerous overseas viewers, likely due to the completely casual and realistic portrayal of a gay relationship and their coming-out story. Isak/Even gained such a huge fanbase, in fact, that it beat out US series Shadowhunters's gay couple Magnus/Alec in the US poll "TV's Top Couple 2017", a big achievement for a pairing from a Norwegian series to make.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • After Isak and Even starts dating, Isak tells Even he prefers having mentally ill people out of his life (referring to his nutty mother). Then it turns out Even is bipolar. It might explain why Even suddenly withdraws from Isak after the latter says this.
  • Sana's speech to Isak about Islam and that no one should be bullied is heartwarming, but when season 4 reveals how much bullying she faced when she was younger, it becomes rather sad. It also makes Isak's earlier comments to her about religion being bullshit even worse.
  • The gay jokes at Isak's expense, especially the one from Jonas, his best friend and most likely his crush become sadder after watching the end of season 1. Also, Isak singing "I'm mister lonely" and talking about Jonas being in love with Elias.
  • Eva hugging Isak and telling him how great he is after telling him about kissing Chris becomes less sweet when it later turns out he was screwing her over.
  • Season 2 is about Noora's increasing problems over being drugged at a party, having her nude photo taken and being tricked by the perpetrator to believe she slept with him while being out of it. The season becomes a lot harder to watch when not long after, a worrying statistic erupted of many Norwegian teenagers (mostly girls) having photos or videos taken of them naked, or worse, during sexual activities, then spread online afterwards. Thanks to this trend, the scene where Noora confronts Nicolai at the diner has been considered all the more important in hindsight for pointing out that being discovered of possessing photos or videos of naked people below the age of 18 will land you in jail.
    • That, however, is also harsher in hindsight for the series in general, as Noora reveals in Season 4 that, despite her Moment of Awesome against Nicolai, she couldn't face testifying against him in court. Even worse that this is Truth in Television for a lot of assault victims.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight:
  • Sana throwing water at the Pepsi Max girls becomes this when she reveals she was sticking up to Vilde.
  • Meta example: as mentioned elsewhere on this page, the original series faced a lot of backlash from lesbian and bisexual women for arguably offensive portrayals of female same-sex attraction. In particular, much ire was drawn from the show having no canonically bisexual or lesbian female characters (which some fans felt was made especially grating by there being at least four gay or bisexual/pansexual male characters in the show: despite the main demographic being teenage girls, the only lgbt representation is for men) and portraying “straight” female characters kissing as a silly, drunk mistake. Several of the remakes have chosen to include lesbian and bisexual female characters.^note Skam Netherlands has Janna (the Chris counterpart) as bisexual; Druck makes Mia (the Noora counterpart) bisexual; Skam France has Alexia (the Chris counterpart) as bisexual and the Original Character heroine of the six season, Lola, develops a rocky but healthy relationship with a girl; Skam Spain has Cris and Joana as two bisexual girls in a coming out storyline similar to Isak and Evens from the OG; and Skam Austin has Eve (the Eskild counterpart) and changed their Isak equivalent to a closeted lesbian named Shay and presumably will have a female pansexual Even character.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Even and Isak's conversation about parallel universes where they are doing different things together has become this, given the many remakes of the show where parallel versions of them play out different versions of their storyline.
• Hype Backlash: Given the show's massive popularity, this was inevitable.
• Just Here for Godzilla: For some, Season 2 is filled with too many romance clichés between Noora and William, and find that its depiction and lesson about dealing with drugs, depression and sexual assault is the strongest, if even only worthwhile part of the season.
• Narm:
  • Noora running after and trying to stop William when he thinks she's slept with his brother is a heartbreaking scene, but at one point Noora jumps on William in a manner looking like she's trying to get a piggyback ride rather than stopping him.
  • The ending of season 4, episode 5, while usually viewed as a great tearjerker, can also come across as this to others who thought the whole thing felt too contrived with every possible thing that could go wrong for Sana going wrong in just the span of ten minutes.
• Periphery Demographic: Despite being a show directed at teenagers, the show has gained massive popularity for older audiences as well, to the point they're said to outnumber the teenage fans. Even elderly people have confessed to watching it. Although Word of God is the show was always suitable for people older than 16 to watch.
• Signature Scene:
  • Isak and Even's underwater kiss in Season 3 is a well-known shot from the series. The shot itself is directly inspired by a similar shot in Baz Luhrmann's 1996 Romeo and Juliet film, which was referenced in the series earlier.
  • To a lesser degree, Noora's "The Reason You Suck" Speech to William after he insulted Vilde in Season 1 is also a pretty known scene from the show.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Skam had a lot of popular supporting characters who were often believed to be intended as protagonists in later seasons, but the show's ending at Season 4 ended that. While most of them do get episodes centred on them before the end of the series proper, many people were disappointed that none of these characters had more focus, which may cross over with They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • Vilde. While a very important part of most seasons, especially Season 4, Vilde struggles with an eating disorder and a severely mentally ill mother, and there's a great deal of suggestion that she may be bisexual, but most of this is only shown in passing.
  • Jonas. Alongside the Aborted Arc of Isak's crush on him in Season 1, his one centric episode focuses not on that or on his excessive drinking, hinted at throughout, but on him dating Emma, which was not popular, and then getting back together with Eva at the end of the series.
  • Chris is a very good friend to all the other girls, but her episode is mostly about being a Living Emotional Crutch to the girls.