Slaughter

It’s been a few weeks but we’re back at it!

Mickey and Ian start their cannabis protection gig and since the word is already out that Kev and V are selling and transporting money (thanks Kev) it doesn’t take long for the two to get spotted and robbed. Thankfully, or not, one of the guys that robs them is Mickey’s cousin. He only takes a thousand dollars. This is a pretty funny scene with Mickey and Ian arguing about having only an airsoft gun and leads to a change in strategy: they need a different car. Ian gets the good/bad idea of stealing an ambulance and modifying it to keep them from being caught with a stolen car. It is a good incognito transport vehicle with the problem of a dead man in the back. Cue creative way to get rid of a body in Shameless fashion.

Lip and Tami have put a lot into their house. They’re renting the place from Lip’s friend (who doesn’t own the property) and when the owner finds out about all the upgrades, it’s put on the market. Lip doesn’t have a lease signed, so they are legally screwed. They explore their options and quickly find out that the gentrification of the neighborhood is moving way faster than they realized. Their house is going to sell for over $300,000. They find a murder house for cheap and decide to go for it (or be homeless). Then another shoe drops.

Shameless has always been about economic struggle and this season is highlighting it in new ways. COVID has up-ended everything and put oppressive pressure on economics where the poor are getting crushed further down while the wealthy make out fine and dandy. Where some can’t find a job because businesses are closing, others are buying out small businesses and cutting hours. This happens to Lip at the shop. He reacts violently to his arrogant new bosses and is now out of a job. Now his family is looking at a greater chance of being homeless. It’s a depressing time and that is not good for a recovering addict, it’s going to be a struggle for Lip to keep his head above water.

V goes out to canvas to get out the vote to support rent control that’s on the next ballot and she runs into the gentrification head first too. The South Side residents she’s known are all disappearing. There’s going to be no support for rent control and that’s going to accelerate people getting pushed out of their homes.

Deb tracks Sandy around town and has a lot of questions. Sandy is very secretive and when Deb realizes she doesn’t know anything about her (not even where she lives) she comes at her hard when she thinks she’s working at a gnarly strip club. Turns out Sandy is doing gig jobs (like GrubHub) to make money (a sure sign of a healthy economy!) and sleeping in her car when she’s not with Deb. Deb assumed a lot and it’s as awkward as can be. This was long overdue as Deb hasn’t been sure what kind of relationship they are in. They need to work on their communication skills.

Speaking of skills, Carl uses his again this week. Leesie leans on the locals like a freight train again, much to Carl’s dismay. The kid she “scares straight” pops up again quickly and Leesie ends up hurting herself going Rambo and Carl does some actual work. Instead of intimidating the boy, Carl talks to him like a peer. He knows the escape route the kid is taking and cuts him off. He gains the boy’s trust by showing that he’s actually just like him. He’s grown up doing the same things and knows the same people. Carl offers him other places to go (just like he did with the woman selling loosies last episode) to try and keep him useful and out of trouble. Carl is, whether he knows it or not right now, building a network of eyes and ears on the street for himself. It’s great to see and is a promising look into his future after the show is done and we are no longer following him.

The war with the Milkovich infestation is still strong with no end in sight. Kev and Frank try to reason with them but that goes exactly no where in scary ways. Liam gets scared half to death and rightfully fears for his life so Frank is convinced they have to do something drastic to force them out. His first idea is to get them out of the house so he can unplug Mrs. McCurdy’s life support. She owns the house so if she’s gone, the Milkovich’s will be tossed out. So Frank makes some flyers about an al-right rally happening nearby and that works (and Frank gets his own look at who’s working in his community). Mrs McCurdy is a tough cookie, Frank retreats to come up with something else and a whole lotta people show up at the rally Frank made up.

The final scene is high up on the wild and crazy Shameless scale that will have major consequences. Anything could happen from here. This episode is one of major shifts, the environment around everyone is changing.

NIMBY

The best part of this episode was the Frank, Kev, Liam team-up. The Milkovich family moves in next door and that is like a slaughterhouse and a nuclear waste dump opening up. Frank is beside himself and quick to say his family is way better than them (the Gallaghers are well known in the neighborhood, to say the least). He wants them out. Kev doesn’t seem too bothered at the start buy quickly changes his mind. Liam is afraid for his life. A few plans are made up and none of them work. This will be a long term problem for Frank.

Another thing with Frank, he has one moment where he loses track of what he’s saying. He repeats himself just a minute later and does his best to cover it. It looked like Kev noticed it. It’s quickly forgotten as the Milkovich issue takes over but I think Kev will see it again and start to ask questions when he realizes it’s something that is happening frequently.

Carl is out on patrol with Janes and her hard stance on “justice” is putting him into more questionable situations. Their beat is Carl’s home so he’s seeing people he knows. He knows what they do and why they do it. He knows the struggle. He wants to give people warnings for the little things when she wants zero tolerance. He now has the power to arrest people and alter their lives forever and I think that responsibility is just dawning on him. Then, Janes takes harassment way too far and his conscience gets the best of him. He goes back after he goes off-duty to help. This is some of the best stuff they’ve done for Carl on the show. It’s interesting to see him redraw his lines and assess his values. He’s done horrible stuff over the years, he’s no saint. But it’s reassuring to see that he has morals and cares about other people.

V and Deb duke it out at the beauty pageant with some much needed comedy. Mad Deb is always fun and I always like seeing V flex her smarts and get things done. She’s a great “stage mom.”

A now unemployed Ian gets stuck following Mickey around. Ian doesn’t want him to carry a gun while he does security for Kev and V (not a good idea for a felon to have a gun) so he has to help Mickey as back up. Two is a bigger show of force anyway and Ian does have military training. They stumble upon a very lucrative job offer.

Lip gets dragged to brunch with Tami to meet up with an old teacher. Turns out they were way more than teacher/student. Lip didn’t even have to ask her the guy is so overt. Lip tells her he’s gross because the guy is a predator and she denies it until they meet his fiance. She can’t deny what this guy is and it makes her think about her past. Who needs to pay a crazy amount of money to a psychologist to reach a mind altering revelation? Not Tami! Well, she probably still does. She has layers. Like an onion.

Hall of Shame

The start of this episode confused the hell out of me. Why is there no episode recap and the opening credits different? Why are there title cards? Turns out this s a ‘very special’ episode and there are more to come.

So, this was a clip episode about Ian and Mickey. The first new footage shows the newlyweds getting into a fight and from there the clips are placed to show their dysfunctional relationship through the years. One someone brings up a new point, more clips. They talk about their parents, cue clips of their terrible parents, etc. They even put some bloopers in from filming this episode.

For Ian and Mickey fans, this is a treat. It’s a 40 minute highlight real and it shows off how long 11 seasons really are. The kids on this show were literal kids when it started. There’s a massive history for fans of Shameless to revisit and I’d imagine they’ll do segments for every major character. They’d have to do Fiona so that raises my hopes they got Emmy Rossum to come back for one last episode.

The next new plot moving episode isn’t airing until January 10th, so we’ll see what characters are up for the next retrospective.

Frances Francis Franny Frank

This was a fantastic Frank episode.

The episode starts with the entire Gallagher family starting the day in the same house. It’s typical chaos as everyone has things to do and places to be. Everyone is in the kitchen for only a few minutes before heading out. Deb claims she can’t get Franny to school so she asks someone to help her out. She leaves first without getting an answer from anyone. Liam and Frank are the final two in the kitchen and Liam leaves Frank in charge after Frank absently minded volunteers to take Franny to school. Frank being Frank (and he’s stoned) he doesn’t really know where Franny’s pre-school and he takes her to the wrong school. He has a bit of sense that he can’t leave her there, so he turns it into ‘take your grandkid to work’ day. And today, Frank is on a cannabis procurement mission. Frank and Franny walk around town essentially doing drug deals.

Frank is in his element for the rest of the episode. He sees it as teaching the youngest generation of the family his wisdom and tricks (something he loves to do, which he last did with Liam) and he has a blast with Franny. Franny was raging against the machine with Deb at the start but when she’s out with Frank, she’s very agreeable. He basically uses her in price negotiations because no one wants to (or knows how to) argue with a pre-schooler.

And then something odd happens. While walking down the street, Frank forgets where they are going and where they came from. Unless he’s completely blitzed, this doesn’t normally happen. He’s more likely to pass out where ever he is and wake up and continue on. But Frank is straight by his standards so this a big red flag with Frank’s health to any long time viewer (that would be me). He’s been plugging away pretty well since his kidney transplant years ago. A bad turn, that’s honestly overdue considering how Frank has treated his body for so long, looks to be coming.

With Franny’s help to remind him of what their doing, Frank course corrects and they keep plugging away until the search party of Deb and Sandy find them. Deb is pissed, having found out that Franny never made it to school when she dropped off snacks for Franny at school. The search costs Deb her days gig and possibly her entire business as a handy-woman for hire.

Carl has a much better second day at work. As expected, he’s partnered with a much more like-minded Sergent named Lessie James. She thinks he looks like Billie Ellish, so she comes up with his nickname the minute they meet. Sergent James is a go-getter. She answers all calls, chases and throws perps around, and even lets Carl drive. He even gets his first collar, which he immediately tells his whole family about. James isn’t much for rules though. She has no problem with bending whatever is needed to get what she needs with throws Carl off. He wants to be the best cop he can be and he questions the rule-breaking as they happen (rather surprising for a Gallagher) as Carl does have some morals. It’ll be interesting to see how she influences him. The potential is there for him to lean into being a dirty cop. It’s hard to believe Carl would be squeaky clean but she could create something really bad by teaching him how to do it. They are going to be spending a lot of time together.

Tami has a family crisis. Her sister’s new baby (Brad, Lip’s boss is the father/husband) has a severe heart abnormality and it will cost a fortune in medical bills. Along with Covid-19 it’s another real world issue that millions in the country face. Lip offers any support he can in this trying time for his extended family.

Ian and Mickey’s marriage turns into a ‘who is the man’ in the relationship fight. It escalates to the point where V has to intervene and layout some life facts for them to stop acting like animals. I love it when V snaps into action and she’s hilarious and strong in this entire episode, mostly because…

Kevin is an idiot. Flush with their drug money, Kev can’t help but show it off. He turns himself into a rapper in a music video so the second you see the money he put into his truck, you know what’s going to happen. Compounded with the fact that cannabis is a federally restricted drug despite being legal in the state of Illinois, banks can’t accept cash from sales because it’s illegal drug money (another major real-world issue). So the Ball’s have cash all over the place. Which, Kevin brags about. So of course, he gets robbed. It works out for Mickey though, as he offers his service as armed security so they can launder their money at the casino safely. Combined with their cut with Frank, the Ball’s are giving up half of their income. It’s better than being completely robbed.

Once the day is over, everyone lands back at the house and Deb pops off about how everyone left Franny to Frank. Lip is quick to point out that no one agreed to take her to school because no one heard Deb ask, and she took off assuming someone would take care of her. Deb keeps the blame off herself and Lip isn’t having it, telling her to take responsibility and to realize that everyone has their own problems to handle. Flush with the frustration of his nephew being deathly ill, Lip lets a brutal line fly. “Don’t blame us for you being a bad mother.”

That stops everyone dead in their tracks and Deb ducks upstairs in silence. Lip immediately regrets saying it but it’s done damage. Before this, Frank went to the Alibi to work with Kev and V and he talks about how great Franny is. So much so, he named a mix of cannabis after her. When Kevin says he’s never done that for any of his actual kids, Frank answers well, they’re all bitter, angry, and ungrateful. Wise V quickly suggests he think about why that is. How about those kids’ parents who might have caused those attitudes with their endless awful actions. The message gets across to Frank.

At the very end, Frank gets Franny to wear a dress, one of the things that she refused to do this morning. All dressed up, she poses for pictures for the upcoming Little Miss Southside competition that’s coming up. It’s a bit of sunshine for an otherwise bad day for Deb.

There were a lot of story overlaps which is my favorite way for Shameless to do its narratives. It’s always the most interesting when more family members get involved and interact. The show feels more like a cohesive ensemble when the writers do this. Frank forgetting what he was doing threw me for a loop so amongst everything going on, that’s the biggest moment in the season for me so far.

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.

This Is Chicago

It’s been six months since Ian and Mickey got married and everyone is struggling in a world with Covid-19. It’s not like everyone was doing that well before but here’s a new wrinkle that everyone has to deal with.

Money and jobs are scarce for everyone. With Covid-19 restrictions in constant flux, a lot of businesses have shut down and hours have been cut for those who still have a job.

Lip and Tammi have baby Fred to keep alive and a new home to fix up so Lip is stretching every single dollar they have as far as he can. Lucky for Tammi, Lip is used to being broke so he makes things work far better than she knows.

Ian is working at a warehouse for minimum wage which is better than Mickey as he isn’t doing anything except writing IOUs when raiding their wedding money stash. Ian wants Mickey to get a legal job and we all know the odds of that successfully happening. Ian realizes they left a lot of “adulting” topics unsaid before they got married which is now causing more stress than needed.

Deb is on probation for statutory rape from last season’s fling with her 17-year-old and now ex-girlfriend, Julia. That makes it way harder for her to get a job so she figures she has to make her own business to get any income going. At least she’s got Sandy for support (she’s going to need it).

Frank is raging against gentrification as he spins tales of how clutch the Gallagher family has been to the city of Chicago to a grad student working on a project. He figures the south side has gotten too soft and it’d be good for some classic mayhem to crop up to keep his neighborhood in the neighborhood.

Kev and V are struggling with the bar. Forced to close it for another lockdown, they’ve decided to keep Kev’s gym operating underground and sell newly legalized weed out of the closed Alibi. It’s not legal for them to sell it but it’s bringing in money so who cares about the paperwork for now. Frank takes an interest in their endeavor while bar flies Kermit and Tommy are unconvinced of the benefit of cannabis. The two end up indulging way too much and Phil Collin’s “In The Air Tonight” stirs up something deep between them.

Carl, of all people, is doing the best out of everyone. By hook or by crook (both, actually) he graduates the police academy at the early age of 19. The kid is itching to hit the streets and he’s going to get a steady paycheck? We can only expect calamity on the horizon.

The start of the final season was a lot of fun. It hits all the Shameless marks and judging by the preview, there is a lot of promise from here on out. My only complaint is that Liam didn’t get much screen time, I hope they don’t end up ignoring him in these precious remaining episodes. It’ll also be a crime if Fiona doesn’t make an appearance. There can’t be a complete ending to the show without the elder Gallagher kid!

I’m a big fan of Euphoria. It’s been a while since season 1 ended and filming of season 2 got shut down because of COVID 19 in March. A few special episodes were shot before the regular season could get filming going again and the first part, “Rue” just went up. It’s so good. The writing is simply fantastic and the acting is award winning. I had to share this section, a part that’s so intense and wise.

The whole episode takes place almost entirely at a diner where Rue talks to her much older and much wiser sponsor, Ali. After he gets through a few of her protective walls, Rue opens up to Ali about hitting and threatening to kill her mother.

ALI

It all depends. Why are you ignoring all of the things you believe?

RUE

‘Cause I wasn’t thinking.

ALI

Okay, but that could just be the struggle of all human beings.

RUE

What?

ALI

Living up to their belief system.

RUE

Not all human beings threaten to kill their mom.

ALI

True. Yours is more extreme. I’ll give you that. But why?

RUE

Why is it more extreme?

ALI

Yeah.

RUE

I don’t know. ‘Cause of, like, drugs, and certain emotional disorders.

ALI

You sure it’s that and not just because you’re a terrible person? I mean it just could be because you’re a piece of shit.

RUE

(chuckles) No, it’s not that.

ALI

I mean, ’cause there’s a lot of people with drug issues and emotional issues that don’t threaten to kill their mothers.

RUE

Yeah. No, I know.

ALI

But you did. And your punishment, the sentence you’re giving yourself is that you, Rue Bennett, are beyond forgiveness. That punishment is way too harsh and it’s also way too easy. It allows you to keep doing exactly what you’re doing without changing because you deserve it. There’s no hope. You’re beyond forgiveness. So you may as well just fuck the fuck off forever and go down the gutter because that’s what this girl, this piece of shit, deserves.

This is why the world keeps getting worse. People keep doing shit that we deem unforgivable and in return, they decide there’s no reason to change. So now you got a whole bunch of people running around who don’t give a fuck about redemption. That’s scary.

After breaking down how Rue is self-destructing despite her saying she’s “functioning” Ali shares what unforgivable thing he did. He shows her that addiction is so powerful, it puts everyone into an endless cycle that changes who you are.