Go Home, Gentrifier!

This was a pretty quiet and tame week as a lot of set ups were started.

First, Carl had a disappointing first day at work. Pumped to hit the mean streets of Chicago as a cop, he’s partnered with a veteran officer who doesn’t put his neck out for anyone. This is the opposite of what Carl wants to do so it’s very frustrating. He sticks by him though, giving a good line about his commitment to being the best partner he can. He manages to get his superior officer to go out to celebrate all of the new recruits and it looks like Carl is going to get a new partner. Safe to say he’ll have a very different work ethic.

Liam has found a new hustle, selling PB&J sandwiches for cheap to the kids who can’t afford a hot meal at the cafeteria. Because their parents are behind on payments, they get nasty food. Liam sees an easy opening for monetary and social profit and starts to make his mark when one of the cafeteria ladies tries to stop him.

Lip continues his household hustle and runs into some bad part of the neighborhood problems. His house keeps getting vandalized. He just wants to live and own something nice for once so it’s another layer of struggle he doesn’t need. It turns out that their neighbors are the vandals. They have the same idea as Frank, keep the place just crappy enough to keep investors away and their hometown won’t be gentrified. This is it for just about everyone in the area. If they get priced out, there’s no place for them to go. Lip and Tami take the road of understanding, by doing a little (well, big if we’re being honest) tagging on the house and everyone is happy. They’ll fix up the inside and still be comfortable.

Frank takes the lead in V and Kev’s pot business. After agreeing to a three-way split, Frank finds the product through his street contacts after every legal contact has been cleaned out. With the pandemic in full swing, cannabis use is at an all-time high. Then he teaches them how to make proper edibles, making for increased profit. They sell all of it in a day and Frank wants a bigger cut because he did most of the work (he’s right, for once). V doesn’t like that and she tries to buy the weed herself, only to get busted by Frank, who will now take even more profit for the transgression. It’s fantastic maneuvering by Frank. No one is more streetwise than him so it’s a lot of fun to see him in his element. He put in some legit work–Frank might be lazy and a hardcore addict but he loves a hustle–and got rewarded for it. His cut was $1300. He’ll clear $2k no problem next time which is a small fortune. So the question is, how long will it last and how will it blow up in their face?

Feeling the spousal pressure to get a job, Mickey goes out and his first stop is to get a job at the warehouse Ian works in. The interview doesn’t go well in the best ‘Mickey trying to be honest’ kind of way and he leaves in a huff. Something does catch his eye. They throw out a lot of food when it expires. So, Mickey steals a truck and then steals a dumpster full of packaged food. He brings it to a contact he buys it for cheap after some Mickey fast talk. Frank isn’t the only one who knows how to work the system. An annoyed Ian, after seeing his skimmed first paycheck, can’t say anything when Mickey is rolling around in his cash.

Deb throws a princess party for Franny’s fifth birthday, which she doesn’t want. After all the prep she does, the only thing that hits the mark is Uncle Mickey showing up with toy guns. Yeah, that’s all they did for Deb.

In another quick update, Kermit and Tommy are keeping their distance from each other, and everyone notices. They won’t say why. My bet is on Kermit cracking first.