XXXIV

An episode of being overwhelmed and packed with action. Right from the start, things look bleak. 12 Spanish ships off the coast, likely with 1,000 men on board. And Rogers lets them in.

A series of stands, scrambles, and retreats, this week was a bad one for the pirates. Any kind of advantage they had is lost.

Bones gets punished at the Underhill estate before Silver finds out that the Spanish are coming and Silver gives his reasons for siding with Flint instead of him. Appropriately, Bones is pissed. Then the leader of the slave rebellion, Julius, meets Flint and they discuss pushing the revolution forward.

The frontal assault on the Nassau harbor pounds the place into splinters and sends any survivors fleeting. As word spreads across the island that the Spanish are invading, plans for survival are hastily put together. The move with the biggest payoff: Max’s partner has the smarts to pack up a ship and GTFO before the Spanish move in. It proves to be a life saver later on.

Max finds Jack and she goes with him onto the boat they took over thanks to Anne. She sees Anne, broken and beaten and while she tries to apologize, Anne wants nothing to do with the traitor (something Jack brought up when the first met).

Now Rogers has come in with the Spanish and he gets a bad feeling that he’s brought way more firepower and rage than he should have. Once on Nassau, he witnesses the mayhem Then, he finds out the Eleanore isn’t with his people, that she left with an escort hours ago (with Flint). He has no idea where she is and he’s brought war to the island. In an effort to keep her safe he talks to the commander about keeping her unharmed when she’s found and he’s told there’s no stopping this. Rogers sold the idea to Spain by telling the Governor to burn everything to the ground. In doing so, he thought Eleanore would be safe with his people and now that she’s not, he has to find before anyone else does.

Flint is with Madi and Eleanore and a few men when they see a Spanish patrol. They flee to the Barlow house, a place that was visited quite a bit in the beginning of the series. This safe place is soon discovered by the Spanish and it’s defended but Flint and a few others go off to chase down a few men to keep reinforcements from coming back. Eleanore refuses to believe that Rogers had anything to do with the Spanish showing up.

Underhill gets attacked in an epic fight scene. The first wave proves to be a distraction from a sneak attack from the rear. Many are lost and the pirates have to retreat into a building and only survive because Julius shows up with reinforcements. But that was just a fraction of the Spanish force.

In the most shocking scene of the episode, one of the original attackers at the Barlow house wasn’t killed and gets into the house. In a brutal fight, the man gravely injures Madi with a blow to the head and Eleanore barely manages to kill the man. She too is gravely injured as the house catches fire.

Flint returns with Eleanore dying outside of the house. She says she tried to get Madi out, but couldn’t. She dies in Flint’s arms, believing that Rogers isn’t with the Spanish. Flint returns to Silver and he’s devastated by Madi’s death. Everyone at Underhill has been rocked and Spanish reinforcements are coming. The pirates have to flee. Flint takes over, he orders everyone to the beach.

Out on the ocean, Jack patiently waits to see if survivors appear, despite the danger of being spotted by the Spanish. In the only good part for Max, her right-hand man thanks her for standing by him. Before this, Max thought she had nothing. With Nassau overrun and Anne beaten, Max is crushed. So much sacrificed for no return. Flint shows up on the beach and Jack picks them up.

Rogers, once hell bent on revenge finds the personal results for his actions. Eleanore dead.

Crushed Max turns her sorrow into rage. With everything gone, everyone hurt or dead, she won’t stand for it. In an epic moment, she confronts Jack about being a meathead in fighting society from the outside in. He calls her a traitor that’s lucky to be alive and she counters with a plan. When Flint goes south to Madi’s home, they will go north to Eleanore’s grandfather. She’s going to make Rogers pay.

When Flint and Silver reach land they find out why the Urca treasure was never sent and that word of Nassau has fallen has reached other colonies, both pirate and slave have shown up in support. The rebellion is not over.

This episode had it all. Great set up, great action, some incredible character moments and the parting gift of knowing that all hope isn’t gone. Eleanore and Madi being killed in this episode as they did came as a major surprise to me. Eleanore and Madi talked a lot with each before their end and it brought both of their lives into a great perspective (Madi especially as she came into the show proper much later). For as easy as it was to wish Eleanore taken out for all she’s done I found it to be bitter sweet. Sacrifice so much for nothing in return.

In the end, I think I came fully around to Taboo. The last two episodes in particular were really good as there was plenty of payoff.

Tom Hardy is the draw to the show and he anchored it down in every scene he’s in,  the dude is intense. One of my favorite scenes is when Chichester goes to Delaney’s house to get information on the slave ship. Delaney is really sporadic, slinking low in his chair and he otherwise looks like a mess. He offers to leave and come back later but Delaney tells him to stay because, as we know having watched him for 7 episodes, that he’s always like this and there will never be a better time for them to talk. Hardy can play a maniac like very few others can. He makes it look believable and manages to keep from going overboard.

The show offers more than just a great main character. Strange makes for a great foil (as Jonathan Price often does) and Atticus had a great look to him. I didn’t like Lorna Bow when she was first introduced but she really grew on me and she has one of the best arcs on the show. Suprisingly, Delaney’s sister Zilpha, didn’t. Her story ends with episodes to go and she floats into the rest like an afterthought. I thought the title of the show mainly referred to her and Delaney but by the end, it didn’t seem like that at all. Oh and on another downside, I have to mention Prince Regent. Not the actor or the character, but the terrible makeup. Every scene he’s in is distracting because he looks so off. A terrible fat suit and prosthetic face makeup that doesn’t look anatomically correct. In the last episode, there is a close up of his face that really puts it over the edge. The makeup is so thick that despite the clean edges around his nose, under his eyes and above his cheekbones, you can clearly see where the prosthetic begins. He talks and his cheeks don’t move at all let alone move like flesh (especially weird looking because it’s supposed to be chubby cheeks). It’s clearly a mound of what I’m pretty sure is foam latex.

So what was the show about? I’m not sure. Clearly Delaney, but that’s awfully simple and I feel like missed something. Saying Delaney is damaged is an understatement so it’s hard to navigate his motivation and traumas (that are often visually represented as hyper-edited dreams/hallucinations. He was underestimated by everyone in every capacity and each step of trying to take him down by Strange and the rest of the East India Company. Through extensive build up (most of the show really) he proves to be incredibly smart, extremely wealthy and can take a beating that would make Superman want to take a day off. There was closure with the major plot points, though. A satisfying battle at the end brought every major player into the road and dealt with. Delaney got most of what he wanted and overall I liked the end.

Now, will there be a second season? The end was written as an opening for more and as a pretty complete conclusion if the show didn’t get picked up for more. I have yet to see anything about a season 2, but I feel invested and interested enough in Delaney to check out more.

Edit 3/10/17: Second season is confirmed.

XXXIII

Looking back to episode 4, it was pretty stupid to think that Eleanore’s plan would work. The whole thing hinged on Rogers doing what she wanted, based on love and we knew from last year that he questioned her loyalty since she had been on Nassau for so long. Maybe if she told him that she was pregnant with his child it might have given his decision more consideration (maybe, he’s pretty cold blooded).

So the plan. Fork over the Urca gold (the central McGuffin for the first half of the series) to get control of Nassau and avoid a nasty battle that could very well be a loss in the end. Eleanore and Flint are all in. Silver is shocked and Madi sides with going for it because Bone’s earlier betrayal threw the slave allegiance into chaos. With her people getting brutalized so much already, she doesn’t think they have enough support to even try to fight. Bones is absolutely against it for a list of very good reasons. That leaves Silver stuck in the middle.

While pondering being trapped in giving his word to so many people, Silver doesn’t know what to do. Hands, his right-hand man and killer extraordinaire wants to hear exactly no belly aching. The only leader he will follow is one who will make a decision and stick with it.

Rogers had every intent of rolling up onto that beach and killing some pirates. Getting the message from Eleanore about her plan makes him change course but in a direction that Eleanore and Flint never thought of.

So Flint wants to pay him off with the Urca treasure? For him to take a hike with Eleanore and float off to wherever. The treasure that they stole from the Spanish. In a rather brilliant move, Rogers leaves Nassau but doesn’t go to the port that Eleanore asked (told, in his interpretation) him to go to. He goes to Cuba and tries to get Spain to help. At first, he’s basically laughed off but when he mentions the Urca gold to the Governor, that gets his attention. Rogers is smart. He knew asking for help wasn’t going to work. So he made it personal for them.

The Urca gold is being brought out of hiding to Nassau per the plan. And it turns out that Silver makes the decision to side with Eleanore and Flint. He throws Bones under the bus in doing so but makes Hands spare his life at the last moment. Bones has been through some brutal stuff in the series and this might be the worst of it. I didn’t like seeing Bones get betrayed (especially when he’s been right more than wrong).

Jack makes it back to Nassau (zero word on Anne) and runs into Flint waiting for the Urca treasure on an isolated beach away from the fort. When Flint fills him in on the plan, Jack fills him in on reality. He has no idea who Rogers is and neither does Eleanore. They’ve completely underestimated him and from what he’s seen Rogers due (RIP Teach) he’s certain that Rogers didn’t go tuck his tail when he left. He’s coming back.

So, stupid Eleanore and Rogers, the two biggest instigators and backstabbers on the show, have probably screwed every single person on Nassau. They have a way bigger problem than Rogers sitting off shore now. He’s got Spain rolling in with him and they are rolling deep. Max is the first to see it with a spyglass in the fort. I hope she drop kicks Eleanore over a barrel.

Action wise this episode was quiet but the set up for the last half of the season has escalated things to unseen levels on Black Flag.

XXXII

Now that Nassau is taken, it has to be held. Easier said than done when pirates are involved.

Silver and Flint start off standing together, the decision makers of the pirates as some of the English (and quick thinking Eleanor) made it into the fortress. There’s a lot of moving pieces in the eye of this storm.

The English men in their stuffy suits want to fight back immediately and Eleanor manages to persuade them to wait for Rogers to come back to Nassau. They need the man and firepower that he’s going to come back with. When she finds out that Max wasn’t taken in, she’s worried.

Madi goes off further into the island to check on the settlements to see if she can salvage the growing slave rebellion that was harmed by Bones actions of pushing to take Nassau and going off on his own. She finds out that a new threat has emerged from the penance the slave owners brought down from Bones’ actions: a leader has emerged. He has rallied a large swath of men by overthrowing a settlement and he intends on taking Nassau in the names of the slaves. Pirates be damned.

While working together to keep Nassau from eating itself alive in all the turmoil, Silver and Flint are working well with each other. Until Bones gets into his ear. Bones has been busy. He’s been cutting off possible trouble makers and he also managed to get Max. Using the leverage of Max, he forces Silver into a talk without Flint. He thinks he knows why Eleanor wants her so badly (she’s the one that sold them out at the beginning) and that trusting Flint is and always has been a mistake. He’s left a trail of bodies as far as the eye can see to get his way and any idea he comes up with to keep Nassau is just another terrible event waiting to happen. He suggests to Silver that now that he has something worth living for (Madi) he needs to be the sole shot caller. Then, Silver finds out from Max that someone very important in Flint’s life may still be alive, hidden away many years ago.

Back at sea, Rogers splits his group into two when he rescues a fleeing boat from Nassau and that Eleanor is still there. He’s going back to Nassau and he appoints one of his most trusted men to take the pirates they’ve caught to another friendly port. The guy wants to stick with Rogers and go to war, but Rogers makes him go. Now, Jack and Anne are part of those few dozen prisoners. This guy and those that are taking the to the authorities are pissed. All alone they decide to slowly take their revenge. The rest of what happens at sea fills the action quota for the week. A brutal fight for survival, it’s Anne who gives them the chance they need. Riveting scene.

Max gets reunited with Eleanor and as the crocodile tears start building, Max isn’t hearing it. She constantly told Eleanor and Rogers what was going to happen if they kept pushing and it did. Ignored through it all, Max has nothing left and cares little for how Eleanor feels. Flint and Eleanor are two peas in a pod, everyone close to them gets dashed on the rocks while they get to move on and destroy more.

Finally, Rogers floats up to Nassau and the pirates are in trouble. It’s a Man O’War so it’s got serious firepower so they’ll be able to get to the beach with little problem. When discussing tactics, Flint gets a message from Eleanor. He and Silver go to meet her in secret where she lays out an offer. In exchange for their buried treasure and safe passage for everyone, she’ll leave Nassau and the fortress (and its guns) to them.

This is a last ditch effort if there ever was one. Eleanor wants to bail out. All the work she’s put into Nassau in her adult life is gone and she sees nothing to salvage. If she can get this deal it gives her two options. Clear of the pending doom she can move on with Max. Or she can hang back, scoop up Rogers and use the money to pay off his debt and move on with him.

Silver rightfully says no. The treasure is the pirates future. If they live through this, they need the money to do anything. That bounty is the holy grail for basically everyone standing behind Flint and Silver. If they lose that, it will be full on mutiny. Flint on the other hand…no idea what he thinks there is to gain for himself by saying yes. Tunnel vision perhaps? He weighs his entire life, failure or success, on him taking back Nassau.

Eleanor getting her way seems far fetched. Rogers and her handmaiden are her only true allies she has left and the talk Bones gave to Silver already tilted his view on Flint. Flint telling her yes has to cement Silver on ditching Flint. I can only hope that Jack can get back to Nassau and crosses paths with Eleanor. That’ll be a wrap on her backstabbing.

I’ve never heard of Legion until the show was announced way back when. Looking him up you can see his rather important lineage to the X-Men universe. With the knowledge that he is the son of Charles Xavier, I’ve gone into Legion with little expectations. The last month or so they advertised this short season like it was the second coming.

Two episodes in, Legion feels like it’s in the X-Men world (it shares a certain production design aesthetic) but feels very unique. David is an incredibly powerful telepath but doesn’t really know. He was diagnosed as schizophrenic. He sees and hears things all the time and has no control over it. Sometimes people have gotten hurt. He’s been in and out of mental institutions for at least a decade and he considers himself with no silver lining: lost, depressed, sick, crazy. His sister, Amy, is probably his only tether to happiness.

In one facility he meets another patient Syd and their relationship changes everything. It leads to a road of enlightenment and danger where he comes to turn that he isn’t sick, he has powers. The voices and the visions are real. With a haunted childhood and an adulthood of doctors, isolation, and medication David has a lot to work through as he’s hunted once he goes into hiding with Syd and an organization of like-minded individuals committed to helping him.

The pilot is packed with info and characters to take in. Getting to know David is tough (as it should be) and it’s a constant question of what is real and who is a friend. Aubrey Plaza as his not so good of an influence friend Shannon is the fastest highlight to come for. The  end of the pilot puts it’s full X-Men brand shoes on for you to check out.

I’ve found episode 2 to be really impressive. Shocking, actually. With the introduction of David done, we go into (literally) his head for the dirt. Presenting his past the way they do gives the direct line to discover who this guy is. What made him this bundle of nervous power. I dig the supporting characters (especially Wallace) and every scene felt important. Whatever that fat man/demon thing is is super disturbing. The ultimate boogyman of what that creature is, where it’s from, what it wants and holy animal, is it real, has me hooked.

Major shout out to the crew on this show. It starts on the page and comes to life in some amazing direction and editing. There are too many incredible moments to mention but basically anytime Wallace and Dr. Bird are working with David is nuts. Whatever the budget is for this show, every dime is seen on screen. Seamless visual effects to display morphing time, space, and locations. They visually jump around in David’s memories so much that it shouldn’t work but it does. The sense of being in the narrative perspective of the main character, even when he isn’t “there”, is masterful work. Everything with the MRI machine is brilliant. The lighting cues, the blocking, the incredible editing. This episode needs to be put up for awards.

I can only hope that after seeing this that the best is yet to come.

XXXI

This might end up being in the top 5 episodes of the series. There is some intense moments, to say the least. There’s a lot to unpack here.

I’ll start with Max. In the last episode, she made her own moves in the dead of night to end the battle for Nassau with Long John Silver. It didn’t work out and she was ratted out. That put Max firmly on Berringer’s bad side and he had enough of her, putting her up for treason. Berringer is throwing his full weight around as the only authority in town, and Eleanor is the only one who could help her. With a trip to the gallows in her future, Max has very few avenues of rescue available. Her two main helpers try their best but fail. The good news for Max is that getting into trouble kept Eleanor on the island, dashing Rogers plan for Eleanor to get help. That’s bad news for Rogers.

With Billy Bones gone rogue with a large swath of the pirates, Silver and Flint work in their smaller group to take back Nassau. The Long John Silver boogeyman has been working well in town and Flint is still confident that they can take their home back with enough slave resistance. John coming back from the dead brings renewed faith in Madi. This group has a bit of an advantage- Rogers took off with quite a few men so Nassau isn’t as well guarded as it could be.

On the ocean, Blackbeard, Anne, and Jack catch up to Rogers. It does not go well. They lose the battle and get taken prisoner. Charging forward to get even for Vane’s death has delivered them to death’s door. A major win for Rogers, he makes an example out of the notorious Blackbeard. I did not know what keelhauling meant until now. Seeing Teach strung up like that, I thought they were just going to dunk him head first into the ocean repeatedly, an advanced water boarding if you will. He disappears into the water, some strange noises from the boat are heard and he comes back up head first and with cuts all over him. He is messed up. Teach lived through it and Rogers orders another round and they show it all. His body is literally scraped along the bottom of the boat. Absolutely horrific.

In a moment that rivals the badassery of Captain Vane spitting in the face of the crown by walking off to his hanging to kick off the resistance, Blackbeard manages to thumb his nose at  Rogers authority. and clips his power move by surviving three rounds of keelhauling, forcing Rogers to shoot him. Absolutely nuts.

This whole segment was brilliantly put together, it might be my favorite scene in the series. We don’t see what happens to Teach the first time. All the pirates are shaken, their Captain taking a brutal punishment from their sworn enemy. The shock when they see him alive and Rogers’ complete annoyance that this bastard is still fighting him. The second time around and we are shown exactly what Teach is going through. He comes back up and it’s gross. Rogers feels vindicated and gears up to send Jack up for his turn. But Teach sputters to life and everyone is shocked. His men are in disbelief, their leader, their tough bastard of a leader is still with them. Rogers orders Teach around again and we only hear the horror. We wait on the boat with everyone to see what comes back up. Teach is dumped onto the deck again and he looks like ground beef. His people look at him, their spirit taken with their captain. And he comes back again! The pirates swell with pride with this unheard of level of defiance. Blackbeard will never be forgotten. With no way out he still managed to defy his enemy. While Rogers does get to kill him, his triumphant moment is ruined and he’s so flustered that he does nothing to Jack.

Back at Nassau, Berringer starts the public hangings after ignoring some spy info Eleanor passed him from Max. She wanted him to silence the resistance away from the people. With three hung and the next set coming up, Berringer is riding the power wave, ready for Silver to show up right there so he can show everyone he means business. Eleanor knows what’s about to pop off and she’s petrified–she takes off to hide with Max and a few others.

Enter Long John Silver into Nassau. Him in front with his one leg and the others behind him (even Flint!). It’s a huge moment for Silver, a legend come to take back the power. All out war breaks out right there in the center of town and just when it looks like Berringer has the advantage, Bones shows up with his crew and they overwhelm the crown. In another nod to Silver’s ascent to leadership, it is he who gives Hands the go ahead to kill Berringer.

The pirates have planted their flag back on their home turf while Rogers had his own win at sea. But Rogers has a real problem on his hands. He’s lost home base and thus, any kind of leverage. There’s really no negotiating chips he holds aside from Jack and Anne. He’s out numbered with no place to land. Eleanor is also trapped on Nassau, she never made it to her uncle for help. Rogers is on his own along with that boat anchor of debt still tied around his neck.

I don’t think they’ll be able to match the action and insanity of this episode next week but I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Time for some TV catch up!

A Series of Unfortunate Events is by far the best show I’ve watched this month. Based closely on the book series (that I have not read) it’s much like a Roald Dahl story come to life. This story of three siblings who lose their parents and get hounded by a dreadful man named Count Olaf for their inheritance has hints of Tim Burton at the helm. It’s actually Barry Sonnenfeld behind he camera (which you will be quick to notice if you’re familiar with his work. Also, no swirly fences so that gives it away that Burton didn’t touch this). Great cast, music and the makeup on Neil Patrick Harris (Olaf) is phenomenal. I was legitimately bummed when I ran out of episodes. They better get season 2 going quick or the kids are going to look too old.

Taboo is the latest big show on FX.  Led by Tom Hardy (and the main reason why I checked it out) it’s a grimy show to be sure. I’m not sure how much I like it two episodes in. Considering I’m still engaged, that gives it an edge over Kurt Sutter’s Sons of Anarchy follow up. Hardy plays John Delaney, an adventurer in the 1800’s who comes home from Africa when his father dies. He inherits some land, snatching it away from a deal his sister made and her husband made to sell it to the Crown. John is an intimidating man, to say the least, and has quite a few rumors following him from Africa. An assassination attempt already happened so I’m going to stick around to see how things play out.

Gotham is back for a brief time and it looks like Jerome’s cult has been growing in the darkness of the city. Riddler’s plan to get revenge on Penguin is full steam ahead too. This show is so weird I love it.

The Mick can be quickly boiled down to Kaitlin Olsen’s Always Sunny character, Dee Reynolds, getting her own show away from the brothers. The kids make this show (the youngest is hilarious). It’s a perfect fit for Fox, I like what I’ve seen so far and hope it keeps up.

Workaholics burns into its final season! If you’ve ever seen it, you know what to expect and it delivers. These three shmucks are so stupid. I’m really curious to see how they finish the show.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has hit some rough patches but this season has started strong. A rather daring musical episode to start, the water park episode was great and last week had a great take on reality TV. It was a smart choice they made years ago to make short seasons, gives them more chances to make killer instead of filler.

Man Seeking Woman- I don’t know how many people watch this show but I hope it’s a lot. I love the creativity of how they present the world of dating. This season picks right up with Josh’s new relationship with Lucy and even though on the surface that’s well-worn territory the writers always find that next layer of awkwardness to explore.

Baskets needs awards just for giving Louie Anderson a killer job to do. This show is so oddly wholesome (?) and weird you need to watch it to understand. I have no idea where the (very talented) creators got the idea for Chip Baskets. I mean, they guy went to France to become a clown. Aside from Anderson as Mrs. Baskets, Martha Kelly as Martha is the breakout actor and character for me. I hope this show hooks her up career wise. The start of the season has been really good with Chip on the run, him in a road movie scenario opens him up to all sorts of scenarios and characters. Love this show with its careful tightrope act of pratfalls, awkwardness, dysfunction, and family heart.

Another one of my shows is on its last season, Grimm, I think they’re doing it at the right time too. With all the escalation that’s been going on and all the discoveries, it’s nice to know a conclusion is coming. Two episodes in, I think they’re off to a good start. The Captain going full villain and how they have to deal with him while dealing with the growing threat of the Black Claw making moves worldwide. Part cop show, spy show, and creature feature, this show has a lot to give.

Sleepy Hollow had a serious season finale last year. With a major character killed off, there was a lot to question about where this show could go. Did it lose too much? With the new location of D.C. and the new characters, this season is really a reboot of the show. It’s easy to see the explanations put in for new viewers, but they keep that stuff pretty quick for old fans of the show. It’s not bogged down and all the elements that made the show popular are still there. I like the new characters so far and the search for the new Witness and the rise of new (and old) threats are as fun as ever. So far, so good.

Coming Soon

Legion kicks off on FX on Feb. 8th. It’s their big dive into the superhero pool bringing live action Xmen to the small screen. Xmen has been on some uneven footing over the years but this project looks really promising as they’re focusing on a character that’s never really been in the mainstream spotlight before.

Black Sails kicks off in a week! It being the final season is a bummer. After such an awesome season last year, I have really high hopes for this last arc. I’m a huge fan of this show and want it to end as well as it possibly can. The show runners and writers are awesome so I’m sure it will.

Face Off is finally back this week! One of two reality shows I watch, I’m stoked to see this year’s All-Star cast compete.

Requiem for a Slut

It’s been awhile since the whole family was together (Kev and V included) so this season finale felt like a major culmination.

This episode balanced the black comedy with the drama and traumatic dysfunction of Shameless exceptionally well. If I didn’t know any better going into it, I’d say it felt like I was watching a series finale.

Let’s check in with everyone for the last time until next year:

Kevin and V’s battle with Svet was put firmly on the backburner for next year. Kevin is working at the Fairytale (tail?) and are weighing their options on going after Svetlana to get The Alibi back (something Fiona is all for).

Carl is doing well and comes home for a short time to everyone’s delight. Frank looking at him funny in his uniform and asking what it was for was a brilliant and effective bit of writing. It’s complex dysfunction and series history boiled down to two lines of dialog that says so much about Frank.

Ian takes a bus back from the border and only tells Trevor the truth that he was “with Mickey” during the few days no one could find him. He spiked Trevor’s trust into the dirt and they’re on the outs. Trevor does attend Monica’s funeral, so all might not be lost.

Lip is putting his best foot forward. He’s sober, going to meetings and keeping busy in positive ways. It looks like his relationship with Sierra has some light left in it.

Deb is moving forward too. Having lost her job at the laundromat, she’s taking welding classes and catches the eye of her instructor.

Fiona keeps it together, balancing her workload and the family crisis with Monica. In the end, she moves forward in obtaining the apartment complex.

Monica brings everyone together (her father shows up!) and gives Frank one last adventure to chase. Distraught and in mourning, he perks up when he realizes a key she left behind is for a self-storage facility. There, he finds Monica’s final dangerous move to secure the kids a parting gift. Her “legacy.” Of course, that brings up some dangerous possibilities, one Fiona fights and Frank champions.

Tons of great moments. Kevin is really funny through the whole episode. Lip talking to Sierra about the future. Ian facing the mistake he had to make for closure and continuing to help others at work. Deb being proactive to make a life for her daughter. Grandpa whupping Frank’s ass. The crazy fight with Frank and the whole family and Fiona going off on Frank in the backyard. His absolute heartbreak as his damaged muse’s memory is crushed by the truth Fiona forces him to listen to.

Fiona had a hell of an episode. Burning the candle at both ends, she went through the ringer until the very end. You could taste the built up rage and resentment she had for Monica with each passing scene. Talking about funeral arrangements with the funeral director, then the scene with Monica in the casket. The all-out brawl with Frank and the admonishment of how awful Monica was to them all. Her solution to Monica’s “legacy” was pretty brilliant and I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone hit a body in a casket before. Shameless to the letter. It all came around at the memorial service which was a terrific send off followed by a party at the Gallagher home. A classic staple of Shameless.

Seven seasons in and it was one of the best of the series. We don’t get that kind of goodness a lot. A whole lot of closure came this year and Season 8 is set up to take off from a new starting point. Can’t wait for my favorite show to come back.

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.