Lost

Liam exists! And everyone is miserable!

So it turns out the writers directly address one of my biggest WTFs about the show and that is, where is Liam? Turns out that his entire family hasn’t noticed he’s been gone for two days, Fiona looking for him one morning and asking everyone where he is. Liam’s been with his friend/bodyguard at his grandmother’s house. While everyone is slogging through the swamp Liam has been kicking back watching TV and eating awesome food. When Liam’s friend asks him why he doesn’t answer his phone, he responds, why should I? They didn’t realize I was gone for two days. Can’t say I blame him.

So back to the misery pit. The Kelly situation comes to it’s natural peak just like I thought it would. Carl is distraught over Kelly breaking up with him and Deb is smug about it. With the break up done she now thinks she has her foot in the perverbial lesbian door. While sulking at work, a guy comes in to rob the store. Thinking the gun is fake, Carl tells him to bugger off and the gun goes off, just missing him. Not a good time to mess with Carl. He jumps the counter and beats the dude with the fryer basket. While Carl fends for his life, Deb sneaks a smooch on Kelly and she does not get the response she was hoping for. Kelly heads for the door (she goes as for as to apoligizing to Deb for leading her on) as fast as she can. Kelly and Deb now know Carl was right and at the end of the episode, Carl and Deb bond over “Kelly the bitch.”

While Fiona took the “stay off the streets” route last week by going to a meeting, Frank stuck to his stride and true self and crashed in Fiona’s old apartment building again. Not a smart move as Frank wakes up to a wrecking ball coming through the wall. He barely makes it out but breaks his leg. He waves off any help and limps home, collapsing in front of the Gallagher home. The kids get him into the house and it’s revealed why he said no to the help, he had all sorts of drugs on him. He manages to finish his drug deal in time to get taken to the hospital where Fiona sticks with him as long as she can before meeting a lawyer about her assault case.

The interesting thing here is the divergent path of the two Gallaghers. Fiona is on the first step back to sobriety. She knows she can’t stay in the pit she’s been in for the last few months…she ended up right next to Frank and she knows where those choices go. She’s going to her obligations. On time with her lawyer her gives her advice that could mean she avoids jail time. She’s already going to meetings and she’s looking for a job. Through the entire episode we watch her make progress. She’s not “cured” of course, she’s still in the pits but she’s looking for the light in the darkness to find a way out. Much like Deb and Carl’s heart to heart, Fiona has one with Lip about how she feels like she can never get ahead. And at the meetings she doesn’t think she can call herself an addict, but she knows it’s in her family and she’s been dealing with her losses with alchohol. Frank is the opposite. He rides that addiction train through another gauntlet. Through the hospital system for the umpteenth time, he’s barely tolerated and he’s literally left on the street to fend for himself at the end.

Lip navigates another crisis with Lori. She’s getting a lot of pressure from her father, and he comes to visit Lip at work to talk about the baby. Lip doesn’t know what Lori is doing with the pregnancy and this makes it sound like she (or her dad) has made the decision to keep the child. As we know, Lori doesn’t take to others calling the shots, so this power play by her father may push her into a choice that spites her dad. On top of this, there’s a history of breast cancer in Lori’s family and she gets tested for a gene that greatly alters her own life expectancy when it comes to being pregnant or not. It’s possible that having a child could prevent her from getting cancer. Lori never wanted to have kids. It’s a lot to handle and they are both forced to wait for the test results.

Kev and V are back to the sweet lovin’ but Kev’s stamina has taken a hit over the sexless 2 weeks. Kev is afraid the surgery changed him and Kermit and Tommy at The Alibi are no help with the pep talks. Something does come up to distract him: their twin swap trick at the school comes to an abrupt end. It took months for the sisters to figure out the Ball’s had more than one kid which is pretty amazing. Now caught, they have two options, pay $1400 in back tuition or Kev needs to play the role of Jesus at an upcoming church event. It’s an easy choice but Kev has two shoulder a massive, heavy cross for 150 yards. No on said scamming came without punishment.

The final note for the night is Fiona’s run-in with Max, the guy she got into the deal with for the retirement home property and her apartment complex. You know, the guy who ended up with everything. At her new job working the graveyard shift at a gas station, he walks in to pay for gas and snacks. Shocked at where she landed since he’s last seen her (behind an inch of bulletproof glass in the hood), he offers Fiona a way out. While the retirement home deal is not expected to move forward for at least six more months, he offers to buy her share of the investment deal out. She’s going to get her $100k back.

A window has opened in Fiona’s pit and she can see the light that’s leading the way out. Her efforts to get back on her feet, no matter how small and insignificant they seemed to her, are paying off.