We Few, We Lucky Few, We Band of Gallaghers!
We’re back with the Gallaghers a few months since Fiona left town and the new normal (which is never normal) has been established: Deb is in charge of the finances since Fiona left her the 50k. It seems like the most logical and safest bet considering Deb is currently the most trustworthy with finances. Or at least she acts like it. Everyone is pretty spread out at the start, so the opening episode establishes what everyone is up to now.
Ian is in prison and we don’t get to see him but the family is planning to go see him very soon. Fiona is shown calling Deb’s phone at the very start and they talk later so we know that the character hasn’t been sucked into a void. She’s not on the show for us to see and hear, but she’s still part of the universe. I’m sure this will fall to the wayside quickly (and they don’t need to show her on caller ID all the time) but I appreciate the recognition.
Deb managed to bring Liam back home by agreeing to some of his culture demands. He’s all about the black power education, growing his hair out naturally, wearing a dashiki to school, picking a new culturally appropriate name and going to classes with V about African heritage. You have to give the kid credit as he endures a beating at school for wearing the dashiki and otherwise not fitting in (which isn’t out of Liam’s life experiences so far in his young life). It’s great to see V travel with him on this journey and she cooks traditional African meals for them which seems to be the first real roadblock to his new lifestyle. Pig intestines aren’t high up on the tasty scale, apparently. Being a 10-year-old American has its limitations as one of the last things he says to V is about getting pizza.
Deb has everything charted on for the Gallagher finances. That 50k from Fiona is a major advantage for the family, something they’ve never had. She’s being careful to keep the household afloat, ahead of the bills for once and making repairs. Frank is offended Deb won’t give him any money and he’s incensed that she’s docked him $600 for a new couch. Frank’s leg has healed but living on the couch for 5 months destroyed it. So while Deb has put up a responsible front to everyone, she’s secretly bought a ton of expensive clothes. She’s rented a storage facility to house it all, she basically has her own secret bedroom in this thing. She’s keeping all the tags on it, has an elaborate system to return everything on time so technically she’s not spending money on all of this. It’s more of a loan. This is Shameless so there is no way this is going to work out. I’d say she has 10k worth of merchandise.
Frank, broke as he’s ever been and now without pain meds for his leg, kicks off his next hustle. He has a really funny argument with Deb about not giving him money, essentially saying every irresponsible thing about money and being an adult to her, and storms off. He can’t scam any more pills from the doctor so he figures out a way to steal some. On the run from his bait and switch, he runs into Mikey, his partner in crime from last season. He’s also working the scam scene and they end up hanging out for the day, stealing nice couch cushions from a hotel and doing some drugs. Frank now has a sympathetic ear to complain about his family to.
Kevin has air balled himself into a midlife crisis. He embarrasses himself at a pickup game of basketball and he’s mortified that his status as an athlete–as a man–has fallen into the trash. So Kev is on the hunt to get his mojo back. He doing weird diet stuff to get into better shape for basketball and he blames his old sneakers for holding him back. V shoots down buying $250 shoes because they are on a budget so he goes back to an old job to make some quick money: a dancer at a gay bar. He makes a quick pile of cash and gets the shoes he wants. Of course that does nothing since shoes don’t help your jump shot or make you run faster, or give you the knees you had 15 years ago.
Finally, Lip is navigating the very pregnant Tami. She’s super happy which is not Tami. Lip is thrown off by her sunny deposition and Brad assures him that once the baby is born, she’ll swing back to normal in no time. At work, Tami suddenly goes into labor, Lip gets her to the hospital and complications arise. She has to have an emergency C-section and while the baby boy comes through fine, Tami takes a sudden turn and is rushed away to surgery. Last season Lip went all-in on being a parent with Tami. She tried to run from him (literally) so many times that he wanted her to know that she wasn’t going to be a single mother. Her fear of that shouldn’t be what makes her determine what to do with the baby (adoption or otherwise). So on this momentus day of their future together, it’s possible that Lip will be a single father instead. I’m not sure if they are going to go through with killing Tami off the show and I’m not sure if I want them to. Either path leads to a lot of story possibilities and I don’t think they need to do something so dramatic just to be dramatic (of course this scenario is, unfortunately, a real one).
A solid start to the season.