Happily Ever After

This was a hell of an episode.

I’ll start outside of the circle with Kev and V. Svet is in exile (I assume she’s living at the bar) as Kev and V work to excise her from their lives. With her owning the bar, they need a new source of income for their family so Kevin hits the payment to find work. After seeing that his lack of education is going to be a major problem, V sends him out to a bartending job. He arrives to find that it’s a gay bar and when he makes a case for himself, he gets a shot to work that night to see if he can pull it off. He’s a hit! But he could do some side activities for extra money that he passes by V. We’ll see how that goes.

Deb takes a back seat this episode as her drama has more or less evened out. Fiona

Fiona gets her check for 160k for selling the laundromat. After expenses, she’s set to clear just under 80k. It’s a huge windfall for her, one she’s excited about but good ole Lip sneers at every bit of her progress: making a ton of money, buying a new car, and an eye on buying an apartment building nearby from a new contact (with benefits). With her new found experience of owning property, she’s more confident than ever that she can make this work again. The downside is Etta. With the building sold, Etta loses her home of 50 years. Fiona brings her in until she can secure a room at a nursing home for her. Etta settles in pretty quickly…

Ian is on the run with Mickey and it becomes clear in short order that life with Mickey is not going to be an easy one. Their love and lust is very real. As are Mickey’s issues. They have a dangerous hanger on that they have to ditch and then Mickey’s plan to get into Mexico collapses. In Texas with few options and no money, the two go to a bank to make a withdrawal. Mickey, ski mask, and gun in tow, goes for the only option he has gets stopped by Ian who calmly withdraws all the money he’s earned from working for the past year. They get to the border and it’s do or die time.

Lip is wallowing in his own self-pity. He’s lost just about everything and it seems like everyone is either yelling at him or telling him what to do. Deb wisely tells him that if he would get his shit together, no one would be telling him what to do. He goes to AA meetings but hates it. Outside of one, he talks to a fellow addict and they end up hanging out. They share war stories and generally talk about life. At the end of the day, the guy tells Lip that he has to decide for himself to make the changes. The time you’d turn to the bottle must be filled with something else. He actually knits. After shrugging off all the advice from everyone else, this guy who doesn’t seem to care much about Lip either way seems to have made an impression.

Frank and Monica wake up in a room with naked strangers after another night of partying. They steal everything that’s valuable and continue to have a blast together. At home, Frank proposes to her. Yes, they never got a divorce so it’s more like they’re going to renew their vows. Planning a quick ceremony of some sort, they go around to the kids to try and get them to show up for it. Deb is the only one who commits and it’s she and Liam who witness Frank and Monica get into a fist fight over some years ago transgressions. In typical dysfunctional fashion, they quickly make up. As Fiona says later that night as she toasts her awful parents, “You two deserve each other.” Watching the others dance in merriment (after spiking their drinks) Monica looks at her family (minus Ian and Carl) and remarks how proud she is of them. It’s one of the best family moments in awhile actually. She’s got one more plan,  a DEA dangerous plan to leave something for the kids. Frank is, of course, game for anything the love of his life wants to do.

I’ve glossed over a ton of details in this episode mostly because you need to see these long-time-coming scenes for yourself. For the fans (and if you are reading this, you are one of them) there’s some intense, beautiful, family changing  stuff. In the last 6 minutes, a lot of Shameless threads come to an end.

At the little party, Lip apologizes to Fiona. He’s doubted her for so long thinking she couldn’t do anything she said she could do. He was wrong. They bury the hatchet.

Fiona brings Etta to a assisted living facility and walks out with Etta in utter confusion and herself in tears. She bought the woman’s home and business, made a profit from selling it and essentially made her homeless. Not a family member and unable (and unwilling) to solely take care of Etta anymore, Fiona sets her up as best as she can. The girl who always put Southies first, the downtrodden over everyone else, has turned a major corner. The whole season we’ve watched her put her own needs first for once. With success, she has changed. Fiona is now a business woman.

Ian and Mickey’s relationship has been a favorite storyline for many Shameless fans. In this episode, they get the best scenes together. We watch as they reconnect, but we also watch as Ian comes to the final realization that their lives and their paths are different now. Ian needs stability and has started to do well for himself in Mikey’s absence. Mickey is a lifetime criminal. A fugitive that offers no stability. At the border, Ian confesses that he can’t continue any longer and while Mickey is hurt, he ultimately understands and lets go. Ian hangs around to see that Mickey makes it into Mexico.

Morning comes and the Gallagher home is a mess after the parental celebration. Etta is teaching Lip how to knit and Fiona then takes Etta to the nursing home. Frank wakes next to Monica on the floor and goes to wake her up to start another day of scheming, drugs, sex and laughter. Frank becomes frantic when Monica doesn’t wake up. The off again on again Gallagher matriarch is dead.

Next week, the season finale.