Season 5 turned out to be a really solid 16 episodes. Things started off with a bang with the escape from Terminus and they managed to keep every episode important regardless of action and death content.

This show walks on a very precarious line every week. The gore hounds want carnage all the time, so a “slower” episode often gets derided as being boring or that “nothing happened.” Something always happens though, you have to pay attention. There’s great character insight and change. Going from a death trap to the brutal environment of wandering the land took it’s toll on everyone. There were major reveals, major internal strife in the group and some very big character losses.

Alexandria itself was like adding a new character. Reintegration into a fledgling, normal society is not easy. PTSD skews everything into darkness.  There’ s a lot there to be wary of, but a lot of that was from the baggage the group brought in with it. “Being out there too long” was the best way to put it. Big Bad Rick made serious waves and although his explosion was extreme, it was needed. I think Carol stole this season, she went through it all this year. Rambo Carol at the start, to my favorite, Incognito Carol at the end. Loved seeing Morgan! He’s like this old thread weaved into the show that may finally get his time. He’s changed a lot and might be the ground that Rick needs.

Through the madness, humanity was (mostly) held down in the end. Both Sasha and Glenn held it together when pushed. Gabriel, a ghost of a man, admitted his trauma and defeat out loud. Rick was proved right.

Major set ups for next season are well established and look to offer up some serious juice. The power at Alexandria is likely to shift, I’m looking forward to see how Morgan is used too. The Wolves are going to bring back the external group threat to the show. The later half of this season was really internal “We are the walking dead,” but this group should bring some serious external terror back. Nothing quite like really good antagonists to stir up the pot.

Drugs Actually

The season is coming in for a landing and some plot lines are coming to a conclusion, a lot of stuff happened that I didn’t foresee, really fun episode from start to finish. Some fantastic acting too.

First, I’ll talk about The Snitch as it was the biggest mindblower for me last week. I thought the revenge plot would kick things off, but it was a much slower burn. Everyone is mad as hell, but Sammi stuffed the first encounter easily. Guns can do that. Deb seemed to really relish in coming up with a revenge plan, but Mickey jumped ahead of her a bit. Pretty disturbing to see Mickey react so casually to killing someone, but he’s not exactly a good person. I think this was the first major event for Mickey and Deb to handle together, they usually don’t get much screen time together. Putting her in her moving stuff seems like a rather cross your fingers plan, but good news for Sammi as she woke up mid move. Will she rear up next week or just take it as the final shot from her half-family?

V and Kev duked it out for most of the episode, but it looks like our favorite neighbors are going to hold it together. It was great to see them happy together at the end for the first time in awhile.

Sean and Fiona have such on screen chemistry, it’s amazing. Their diner scene was great to see play out. It’s hard to believe Fiona and Gus have any future together as they just don’t match up any more. Sean and Fiona may be a bad together from having the exact same serious flaws, but that might be what actually keeps them together in the end. There’s no break in period for broken  people, it’s more like common ground. Are they strong enough to keep bailing out all the water that keeps filling their boat? Much like seeing V and Kev happy, it was nice to see Fiona smile and be happy with someone.

It’s a trip to see Frank uncomfortable about the debauchery that keeps him going. He really loves Bianca and didn’t see what was going between them. She’s been racing to the end of a bridge where he’s been mindful of when to jump out of the car to just get scraped up. He’s been near death before but always had the spark to fight back. Bianca being terminal, has been using Frank’s corruption as a farewell party. His conscious actually kicked in for once (crack is bad for the immune system). I thought for sure she was going to leave him in the dust, but you can’t keep a charmer down for long. It’s been a blast to see them interact and now I’m wondering if Frank will literally help her to the end. Could she convince him to help her commit suicide? I’m having a hard time read her, she’s so adamant not to get any treatment, but will she even wait until she feels really sick? She’s been living like there is no tomorrow. Hmmm…

As much encourgement Lip has gotten (and needs) to elevate his life by applying himself and “getting out,” he really got a glimpse of the other side of the fence. The relationship with Helene is weird enough as it is (the reaction from her husband about the tie was a real red flag. Oh and Norbert too if I’m reading that one right). Those roots to royalty are really being put to the test has he was in the thick of the gentrification. He punched back at it, but I don’t know how he’s going to react going forward. It’s going to get really weird.

That leaves us with Ian. That meeting at the Army base was brutal. He’s sitting at the head of the table while his brother and sisters are trying to help get him cleared of wrong doing by basically an insanity plea. He must have felt like he was being eaten alive. I felt so bad for him. Shocked to see Monica let alone the news that they’ve been talking. Who else could he talk to though? Like he said, she understands. Amazing scene with them talking through the glass. Chloe Webb is an incredible actress, just amazing stuff bringing that intense writing to life. It’s this kind of touchy and on the fringe material being done so well that elevates Shameless above all other shows.

Next week is the season finale, I’m both looking forward to and dreading it.

Trust

A great game of cat and mouse this week, Raylan just waiting to spring his trap on Boyd. Ever the clever rat, Boyd can smell a trap set that specific cat.

Boyd made his decisions on who to trust. He shakes off the betrayal of Zachariah (I’m still waiting for him to show up, Ava thinks he’s still alive too) and makes his final moves to get the $10 million. All in with Ava! He pays off Limehouse for the necessary getaway materials and goes on the offensive. He sends his only two soldiers to go after the bank truck knowing it’s a decoy. By completely screwing them, he gets the distraction he wanted to go pick up Hale by gunpoint so he can ransom her to Avery. A plan that finally worked! He buzzes down the dirt road in a crappy pick up truck to meet up with Ava who is waiting with the getaway car and fake ID’s. He drops a dime on Hale hiring him for the heist too. His cackle was the greatest as he got into the truck. I thought Avery was pissed when Loretta dumped on him at his party, but this is some next level stuff. He can’t trust anyone now as Raylan tipped him off to her betrayal earlier too.

ADA David Vasquez has decided to make things difficult for Ava though. He’s adamant that she’s contributed nothing as a CI, so her deal is null and void. When they snag Boyd, she’s going back to jail. This really bothers Raylan (and me) and tells her what’s going down. She’s given the latest details on Boyd so the feds can get him with the money too! Annoyed beyond any measure of human cognizance, she then tries to think of other ways to save herself. What if she gets Boyd to confess to killing Dewey? That’s something.

Hold on to your hats folks, because Ava says forget all this nonsense and pops Boyd at the meeting place! The sound Boyd made when he got shot was just classic. I’m not sure if it was more shock than pain. She waves Raylan goodbye knowing that the chase is on. Ava has to get to Canada or Mexico as fast as humanly possible. I must say I didn’t see this happening. Getting her deal pulled out from under her feet was the dumbest thing the ADA could have done. Total game changer for Ava, someone who’s had a boot to their head for that long is bound to snap back in a bad way.

The side notes this week were Duffy and Boon. Mike puts things together about Duffy being the snitch and made a move to give him up to Hale. His timing was a bit off though as she was in Boyd’s custody at the time he called her. This should pan out in a big way next week. Hale’s got to tread carefully on this one, since she’s in deep water with Avery already. She can’t let Duffy talk to Avery, that whole “she’s all about killing you too” thing would not fly well.

Boon is a model employee. Does what you tell him to. Fantastic dialog with Raylan in the diner and he really got to show off his Professional Creep abilities in his final scene. All for a hat too…a man obsessed with Raylan just completed his look. Only question now is, how long until their final confrontation?

The show has jumped off into a new tragectory and I love it. Anything could happen now, really exciting stuff.

South Side Rules

A lot of loyalties and trust put to the test! Let’s run them down.

Fiona continued to back Sean in his time of need, even with some rather rude accusations (which were well warranted). She does have his back though. When Debbie decides to go go all the way with Derek, she does the right thing and tells Fiona about wanting to go on birth control. Fiona fights the urge to high horse it and does the right thing. She makes an appointment for her and they go together. Fiona has her back. Great to see this bond come through at an important time.

Frank tries to stick with Bianca when he gets kicked kicked out by her in the morning and then later, aside by her sister (which was well warranted). As we saw last week, Frank has really found a friend (he may try more than that, but there is at least some sort of actual legitimate bond there). V even gave Frank the same reaction I did at first, “What’s the scam?” He got all mad about it and left The Alibi in a huff. He stuck with it though, camping out in front of her apartment building with a bit of vodka. Frank’s stubborn as a mule attitude paid off in a good way for once. I really like this road for Frank, I want to see it play out.

Lip got a much needed wake up call from Helene. His scheming splashed back on him again and she threw his “South Side Rules” in his face. If he doesn’t cut the nonsense, he’ll never get out. Lip saw this for himself at the beginning of the season, but someone of real authority (and perversion…) reminded him of it matter-o-factly.

Mickey and Ian back in full force. Ian is so disconnected from the meds that he purposefully burns the hell out of his hand on the grill at work. Still apathetic and angry about everything, he got Mickey to go on a bit of a bender with him. It actually made them reconnect and have fun, something they both were missing. With things on the upswing, that brings us to The Shameless Moments!

First, Debbie got the brain dead idea that having a kid would be a good thing. To “choose” her own family. She lies to Derek about being on the pill (never see her take it and the doctor told her it takes 48 hours to start working). The mountain of a horrible idea this is. I wanted to jump through the screen and warn Derek. It drives me insane that she could think this was a good idea. I hope to God she doesn’t get pregnant.

AND THEN THE SNITCH. Colossal, Earth shattering, revenge by Sammi! Ian let it slip that the Army was looking for him (with a list about the length of his arm). He comes home with Mickey and then she apologizes to him right as he walks in the door. Ian and I both go, “What’s this about?” and two dudes in fatigues pop out! He gets dragged into a car as Fiona comes home, Sammi drops a nasty line on Fiona and even has the nerve to go back into the house! If next weeks episode doesn’t start with the biggest Gallagher fight in series history, I don’t know what direction up is anymore. There is no way Fiona and Mickey don’t drag her out by her hair into the street and pelt her with everything she owns in the house from the second floor windows. They wanted her to hit the bricks before? That’s nothing now. Holy animal. I can’t believe she went back into the house, I’m still going nuts about it.

Can’t wait for next week.

Burned

Avery had quite a bit of a rollercoaster ride this week. One thorn removed, another one in.

The big mover this week was Loretta McCready, who we haven’t seen in some time. She swung around her home grown flag right in Avery’s face at his own party and he was none too pleased about it. Some not so subtle threats (hello new character Boon) only made her look into local defense possibilities. Loretta is confident she can boot Avery and his “city mouse” girlfriend out of Harlan County. I’m rooting for her, it’s great to see an old character come back with new and reinvigorated purpose.

Avery’s merc problem was successfully rubbed out by Hale. If Seabass knew who Hale was, he never would have let her get her handbag. She’s got an interesting phone book at hand, that kind of clean up service can’t be easy or cheap to find.

Duffy, you little rat! When it fits, it fits.

With that out of the way, Avery still had Boyd to tangle with. Always the opportunistic, Raylan successfully made Boyd fast forward his “steal the money” plan by two days with a well placed lie. This move gave the action but not the result Raylan was looking for. The detonation under the safe went off but it didn’t work. For some reason, I thought it would, as did Raylan, so we were both surprised.

Zachariah finally strikes! I’ve had my eye on him since his first plan didn’t work out and I’ve been wonder how he’d do it.  Chaining Boyd right under the blast was a good one, but with Carl saving the day, Zach better have made a contingency plan for Boyd coming at him.

Gotta say I wanted to Ava to really go pop off on Boyd after he went after her thinking she was scheming with Zachariah. Greed always clouded his judgement, he should have known better. That greed has completely taken over now. Not deterred by being nearly blown apart and buried at the same time, Boyd is committed to stealing the money as Avery moves it from the safe. Raylan, of course, knows Boyd is going to go after it since his plan didn’t work (not knowing the specifics of Zachariah’s wrath).

Boyd is so mad it’s going to be a real test for him to pull himself together. This heist wouldn’t be easy without Raylan shadowing him. Should be some wild action next week! Cops and robbers here we come.

Carl’s First Sentencing

This week Ian’s story took a bit of a break. He wakes up in a rather alarming way and agrees to go back on meds. Mickey watches him (as does everyone else).

Kevin got an unusual temp job on campus! Didn’t see that bringing him back to V in the end like that (“Good talk man.”). He better not tell her what he was doing over the weekend.

Lip gets a bit of a break and he doesn’t see “the angle” on why he’s been helped out with tuition. Not surprising as he’s never really met a truly charitible person in his life before. In typical Lip fashion, he’s clear of one problem and right in the middle of another head scratcher. I don’t know how he does it, but it seems like every woman he gets close to is a landmine. The revelation that she’s married was certainly a surprise, but when the husband is okay with it, this is a whole new road to travel. College is certainly a learning experience. Now are they going to bring the hacker kid back into it, or will this triangle be his undoing? Or both?

I really didn’t think Carl was going to go full gangster. Shows what I know as it’s probably the right choice. If he ratted on his boss, there’s a good chance he wouldn’t make it through this season. As Lip said, “It was bound to happen sooner or later.” As terrible of a road he’s on, let’s face it, he’s been on it for awhile now. Carl was never going to be an outstanding citizen, he’s probably the most like Frank out of all of the kids. He would never get to 9th grade let alone graduate high school. He’s genuinly excited to go away! There’s no telling what he’s going to learn in juvie. Interest in seeing how they handle showing it.  A year is a long time, can’t really skip what he’s up to. Poor Chuckie! That bag of rocks barely knows what’s in front of his face if it isn’t a pancake. Sammi stole every scene she was in, it was pretty wild the lengths she went through. As messed up as it is, she’s probably the best parent on the show.

Fiona is stretched all over this episode. She halts her self interests in favor of her brothers which I liked to see. When Sean hits the dirt (due to things out of his control) she’s the only one there for him. Would she let go of Gus and be with Sean? She has a lot more in common with him.

Really liked Frank’s story this week. We’ve seen him do benders before and I thought this one would be just like his others. Frank is a hell of charmer when he really turns it on and Bianca was an easy mark for him. He got a lot out of those two days with her and so did she. I was pretty shocked to see him not take the money and run. Did he actually make a friend? They had a lot of great moments, it was fun to see Frank guide her into somewhat safe debauchery. I hope he sees her to the end, I think that’d be incredible to watch.

This episode was packed with amazing lines. Almost every conversation had at least one killer line. There’s so much great stuff I’m just going to do a list.

Art and Hale poking at each other about who the rat and killer was 14 years ago.

The Raylan and Zachariah fight.

• Tim’s great line just before that, ” Is no one named Justin around here…” (paraphrased this one a lot)

Every single line of Raylan and Boyd conversation on Boyd’s front lawn with Ty hiding there. Just brilliant stuff. So funny, so fast and smart with perfect delivery. Just the best watching these two trade, the history between them and the end so close.  The final cat and mouse chase, Raylan wants to catch him so bad.

• Raylan smiles from Boyd’s continuous, shut down, smart ass responses and says, “I’m going to miss this when it’s over.”

The fantastic talk between Raylan and Avery to weed out Ty.

• Avery: “Read the sign.” Raylan looks over and sees ‘We reserve the right to deny anyone service at any time’. Raylan holds up his badge to Avery, “And this means kiss my ass.” Raylan pours himself a drink and sits down in front of Avery.

Ty’s plan to try and get something out of his time in Harlan County. Good try, never could have seen a bounty going out on his head. Boyd giving him up was great.

Ava trying to talk Boyd down from going for the millions.

Raylan was simply on point. He’s tired of the run around and really just kicked things into gear. Bringing Ty down so he can just focus on Boyd and getting Avery to help which sets a rat trap for Boyd at the same time. The look they have when they see what’s in the vault was perfect. Then, Raylan looking at Boyd, getting the confirmation that he’s totally baited the hook. Brilliant move. Plus he figured out Ava is burned despite her best efforts to hide it (I thought she was convincing).

Seeing Arlo Givens felt a bit out of place for the series, but that was still a really good scene so I can’t really complain about it. The motivation and desire for Raylan to move on has never been stronger and that really solidified it. Burning Arlo’s stuff at the start then the decisions with the graves made for great bookends.

• “I wasn’t there, but I’m sure he put her in the cheapest one he could.” “And your father?” “I put him in the cheapest one I could.”

Phenomenal episode. Everything I love about Justified.

Uncle Carl

Great episode, this one had it all. A rough one for all the Gallagher’s, but a bit of light at the end of the tunnel.

I didn’t think Svetlana would have a positive impact on Kevin and V’s relationship, but she did manage to be the first one to get through to her. While she does go on a date with the old flame, that lasted all of 2 minutes before she called it off. Kevin on the other hand is going to be in so much trouble.

Fiona, still in the dog house with Gus and when the chips are down she puts a real effort to put things back together. Very few happy endings on Shameless, so it didn’t work (and for good reason).

Lip is another one struggling, but with the help of Kevin, made some extra scratch for tuition and managed to plead his case for more time to extend the due date.

Now my favorite part of this episode was all the story threads that came together in the last half. Starting with Ian who comes home in bad shape, his mind is still reeling and he insisted on denying the Monica diagnosis. He thankfully got the will to flush his meds instead of ODing, but that put Debbie into a frantic shame spiral. She had some the best scenes of the night, trying everything she could think of to get Ian more meds. The talk Fiona and Ian have in the backyard was so good. Ian made a hell of a case for himself (reoccurring theme this week: hypocrites have a hard time making a stand).

Carl’s adventures of drug dealing comes to ahead as Frank uses him in a hail-mary-don’t-do-this plan to try to get rid of Sammi. Carl uses Chuckie to smuggle heroin to Michigan and gets caught almost right away. Sammi rightfully flips out and turns the cops on Carl. Carl has done a lot over the years and dodged a few bullets, but this is some next level trouble he’s in.

The end of the episode contained some of my favorite stuff from this show. Frank going off to The Alibi to be Frank while the others deal with fallout. Everyone else is at the police precinct waiting for Carl. The Gallagher kids totally pulled together, I loved it. Ian turns a corner, Fiona relates to him and they all manage to laugh about how life keeps shoving them all down. They coral around Carl to support him in his biggest time of need. Finally, Mickey comes back from his pit to Ian (helped a lot by Debbie’s great talk).

With all the sharp writing and intense scenarios coming together, Uncle Carl has turned out to be one of my favorite episodes of the series.