Pimp’s Paradise

The title refers to Frank and Carl, but by the end of the episode Frank has a lot to celebrate and Carl can’t keep fronting to everyone who walks by him. Losing Nick has devastated him.

Carl tries to keep his spirits (and his image) up by throwing a house party. Fiona puts an end to that the second she comes home and Carl leaves, pouting like a child. Sean manages to actually talk to him which is some kind of win considering how shut down Carl’s been since he watched Nick lose it to his madness. The one scene with Dominique was a great touch.

Frank on the other hand, won over Queenie to stay. He wined, dined, smothered her in attention, stood up for Chuckie (full effect Shameless!) and laid it on thick when Debbie came back. Gotta give it to Frank, the only other creature on Earth that knows how to burrow as well as he does is a tick.

This maneuvering by Frank ended up turning around the power structure of the house. Fiona’s absence from the house completely eroded her standing. No one over the age of 4 listens to her. She’s at odds with Debbie over the pregnancy, Lip is circling his own stupid drain of being thrown under the love bus and Ian is off making what could actually be his first positive relationship. Fiona’s name is on the paper work for the house, but it’s Carl’s money paying for it and Queenie moving in means there is a mother figure taking over her place. Fiona is literally getting pushed out with Debbie getting the attention she wants (just in time too as she was seconds away from hitting Erica’s landing strip) and Frank is finally getting one over on her. She has zero backup from any family member (how Liam wanted to stick around with kale on his plate is beyond me). Without Sean I’m sure she would have put up a fight, but with his place to fall back on, she relents quickly.

Queenie seems like a positive influence so she could be good in the end, but there’s little chance Frank is not going to maul that relationship again and Debbie is going to spiral into Fiona’s arms when the baby comes. Debbie has started to show so I’m sure the last bit of the season will be mostly about Debbie’s pregnancy. Time will probably move fast to do the birth in birth in the season finale or maybe in episode 11.