Oh, man. That did not go down the way I thought it would be. Don’t read this if you haven’t watched this episode yet, I’m going to get into it.

The push and pull for Nassau took some serious turns in this penultimate episode of the season. Silver and Flint had a really interesting conversation once they got back to the hideout island. Flint’s questioning of Silver’s  choices in handling that mini-mutiny was more advice than questioning. Flint is always quick to judge and admonish, but this was much more of a peer to peer talk than I think we’ve ever seen before. A welcome to the horrible side being a captain speech if there ever was one.

Being spotted by Hornigold pushed Flint’s hand, giving away their secret hideaway and army. This moves the start of the war to an accelerated timetable. The people of the island must mourn the death of Mr. Scott, the father of their home who fought and protected them for years from far away and undercover.

Now, for the bananas portion of the episode, the pirate’s plan on Nassau for Vane. Their movement to get his trial out into the open, thus delaying it to buy them time to figure out how to spring him collapsed and caught on fire in one quick move. Eleanore just blindsides everyone by doing the complete opposite of what they wanted. No delay, no pauses, no negotiations, she gets Vane on the gallows in a single day. This is a mind mind-boggling rise  from a woman who was once damned just months before. Sent away to die, she comes back as a suspicious-at-best advisor, gets in with The Man and takes his command when he gets sick. This is some Game of Thrones level of political maneuvering. She’s telling important men wearing powdered wigs what to do like she was born into English royalty.

Amazing episode for Vane. Zach McGowan crushed every scene given to him. His disgust and breakdown of Pastor Lambrick when he comes to see him talk about repenting to help him find “peace” while he still can. When he waves off Billy Bones last ditch effort to get him out. His awesome speech on the gallows and then when the cart starts to move he walks off of it. One of the most badass exits I’ve ever seen. They fixed it so he would suffer so his fellow pirates come over and aid him in a faster death! Stunning. The crowd completely changes, once jeering and throwing food at him they are shocked into disgust. A martyr has been made, the foundation of a revolution set!

Phenomenal episode and all hell is going to break loose in the finale.

How cool is that promo picture? It’s back to the 80’s and The Cold War with season 4 of The Americans.

Glanders, the premiere, kept it simple and straight forward picking up pretty much right where season 3 left off.

Paige is (obviously) still freaked out about know what her parents do. She fishes for details from her mother and Pastor Tim is encouraging her to do so. PT is going to be a problem and the motherland is none too pleased that Elizabeth brought her daughter home to meet her dying biological grandmother. That wasn’t part of the deal, but Elizabeth and Phillip both felt it was necessary to show Paige a connection to her real ancestry to temper her anxiety.

With the bug being found last season, Martha was close to being found out and Philip went to extreme measures to protect her. By framing someone else, he gets Martha off the frying pan but knows he has to talk her through it or she’s going to flip out at work. He works his spy game negotiation skills like a pro and not only talks her down but keeps her as an active asset.

It’s a good thing too because he had to get some FBI intel for the latest spy mission given to them. Gotta love sneaking around at night with wigs and fake beards to hide from surveillance to talk to an undercover informant! I don’t think any other show on TV does the spy jams as well as The Americans does. The score a major conformation: the US is developing some nasty biological warfare weapons. The hook for the season has been lowered.

On the Soviet front, there’s some suspicion going on at the US embassy and Nina looks like she’s successfully working off her debt. She’s got her scientist on the right track: they’ve made major advances in stealth plane technology.

Finally, Stan finds out Phillip has been “close” to his ex-wife (from his new girlfriend of all people). Not good to have an irate FBI neighbor when you’re a spy…

Next week: Pastor Tim. Uh-oh.

A Yurt of One’s Own

“You know that just cause we were born here, doesn’t mean that we end up here.”

Where do I start with this one? I guess I’ll just break it down by characters out of story continuity.

Lip is first because his is the simplest this week. So much for “awesome” Lip being back. He’s an embarrassing mess.

V and Kev’s new plot line kicks off by rubbing a patron at the bar the wrong way. How to save Svetlana from deportation? The solution: V and Svetlana get married. It could work if Kevin can get over his temper tantrums.

Frank, Queenie, Debbie and Chuckie take off for Queenie’s hippie commune. Frank sees this as a great way out as he’s being hunted from last weeks bad decisions. When they get there, it looks like Debbie will be the first one to tap out and head back to civilization, but she has a turn of heart by the end. Her “eeew” looks at the start were great and given the close attention and advice from Queenie (having your own swank yurt helps too) makes her decision seem like a good one for now. Frank sticks it out among many un-Frank-like trials and tribulations but leave it to a drug source to keep him happy. Poor Chuckie, not sure what’s going to be left of him.

Carl and Dominique hook up! How does it happen? Toss all his poser behavior away and what do you get? Someone Dominque wants to be with! Loved the quick scene he when he runs down to the kitchen where he asks his brothers if they have any condoms.

Fiona’s a mess for a good part of this episode. Trying to patch things up with Sean, she makes no headway. More to the point, it gets ugly and a break up looks all but said on screen. Gus swings by the diner and calmly says they should get divorced. “Here’s my lawyer’s card, meet me there tomorrow at 2,” makes Fiona talk to a divorce lawyer for advice. That spirals out of control real fast and makes for a hilarious meeting. In swings Sean to lift up Fiona in a rather beautiful way.

Mandy Milkovich returns! I was so happy to see her despite the horrible circumstances. I loved seeing Ian come through for an old friend, reminds me of the good old days. She’s working as an escort now, something Ian can relate to, so he kept it judgment free. The look on Lip’s face when he sees her leaving the house was something else.

The further into the episode, the better it got. Liked this one a lot and I hope we see Mandy some more.

Rackham gets a lot of mileage this week. He starts off by giving some rather prudent advice to his rat cellmate before he’s taken away in the coach with Rogers to meet the Spanish.

Bobbing around right on the outskirts of Nassau’s vision, Silver has to deal with a small mutiny aboard his ship throwing the tenuous treaty with the other half of the rebellion. He decides to go with the truth and brings Madi in on it right away so they can work it out together. It proves to be the right move, but Madi flexes her authority, putting Silver in his place (one of my favorite scenes).

Good old Max can smell a trap from a mile away when Eleanor tells her how the meeting with Anna went. It helps to really know the people you are up against. In fact, Max has her eyes wide open this episode while Eleanor is showing her rust. With her ears all around, Max also realizes that if she can figure out what the caravan route is, anyone paying attention can. Max also puts her new mistress on notice that she’s an amateur and recognizes that the three-way trust triangle between her, Eleanor and Rogers has been compromised by a spy. Eleanor and Max try to raise the alarms with the English about the pirate plot but are dismissed.  Good old Captain Hornigold can put two and two together.

This brings us to the fantastic coach scene.  Rackham’s great origin story, telling Rogers of his personal disgust with England and thus, Rogers himself. It gives way to why Rackham feels so strongly about the importance of his last name, of leaving a legacy. Rogers pulls the “You think you know me, but you have no idea,” speech just before the attack pops off. Awesome attack scene flying down that dirt road in one long, up close and personal sequence. Second only to the typhoon set piece a few weeks ago.

Bringing the events to a close, the pirates plan almost went perfectly. Treasure and Rackham in hand, they lost Vane to the clutches of England thanks to Captain Hornigold and have to figure out how to get him back. Embarrassed by what happened on the boat, Silver figures out a way to silently punish the man who attacked Madi’s man. Max is in full business mode, shoring up her plans with Eleanore. They have to stick together to make it through another day. There’s a lot of trust issues going around.

Be a Good Boy. Come for Grandma.

Queenie continues to be the mother bear of the house as the others flit about her. In typical Gallagher fashion, the kids all try to make a break for it at breakfast when they don’t want to deal with her nonsense. She locks them down like only a mother can, which was impressive. She’s really a ray of sunlight in that house, it seems like nothing can bring her down (we”re all waiting for the Frank bomb to go off). She’s given more (positive) support to Debbie than anyone and this week she got Lip sorted with a rather shocking method.

Speaking of Lip, this has got to be the end of Mrs. Robinson. We’re through denial, anger, pathetic bargaining, depression and with the end credits scene a rousing bit of acceptance. Mrs. Robinson has kept him away from the family and I’m ready for awesome Lip to come back.

Debbie had the freak of the week b-side story. Saw that creeper coming from a mile away. Glad she hit the ground running and we can move on to the next step (7 months pregnant!).

Ian’s still on a good path. The kid needs purpose and I’m glad he’s found it. A bump in the road exposing their skeletons in the closet, but I think it’s a great sign of maturity and respect. Don’t see that much on Shameless.

Who didn’t see Frank’s part in taking over Carl’s job in the gang? That whole segment wrote itself. There’s no way we don’t see him next week in traction. Or hiding in a dumpster. It’d be pretty lazy if they let Carl get away with bringing in Frank, but they probably will.

Sean to the rescue! Not sure how many people on Earth would stick their neck out like that to get Carl out of the business. Carl’s going to be working that diner sink for years to pay him back. Far and away the best part of this episode was the scene with Fiona and Carl in his bedroom. That was a long time coming and another highlight for Emmy Rossum’s reel. This episode probably had Ethan Cutkosky’s best work too. Carl being distraught about Nick and the world he got himself into really came through

And then the Gallagher F train comes rolling through. Will finds one of Carl’s guns and Sean (rightfully freaks out). It’s interesting to see Fiona try to “sorry” her way out of it and make an attempt to minimize what happened. Crazy stuff like that is more or less part of her life, so she’s kinda used to it. That isn’t normal and she didn’t consider what would happen if/when Sean’s ex-wife finds out. While she really could do nothing but apologize, she’s got to learn to take responsibility. She said similar stuff (I’ll just explain what happened, they’ll understand, I didn’t mean it, it was an accident) when Liam got into the drugs. Because it was an accident she felt it wasn’t her fault. That doesn’t fly when it comes to the law.

Fiona pulling out Carl’s corn rows closes another chapter for the season. With four episodes left, here’s what I’m thinking. Lip should be more prominent in the family again. Debbie’s pregnancy will most likely be the focal point, I don’t think they’ll do any more solo “adventures” with her. If Frank is actually walking around, there’s no way he can’t be hiding. I’ll be really disappointed if the writers just let him off, he screwed with people who know where he lives who don’t let that stuff fly. Sean and Carl might have gotten off OK, but Frank cost them more than money. There’s gotta be some fall out from Will finding that gun and it will most likely end his relationship with Fiona. There are no happy endings in Shameless, but I’m not too sure how hard they’re going to bring this one down. Sean would still in the show but it’s another relationship Fiona tanked.

“We’re all villains in Nassau…”

Light on action this week but there was more than enough killer dialog to make up for it. The themes of this episode: history and sympathy.

Rackham is locked up and has to wait for the world to move around him.

The Flint/Vane project goes into motion with a sneaky trip to the island. This is Madi’s first mission with a ton at stake and she succeeds but Silver had a harder time on his end. He did manage to make his point when pushed, though. Too bad Rogers managed to curb that maneuver with Max. Great scene with Flint and Rogers, I love conversations between two sides of the same coin. Another great scene is The Maroon Queen laying it down on Flint when they’re making plans to go to Nassau after Flint comes back with only Vane. She recognizes flints recklessness and slows him down.The guy needs to be put in place from time to time. It’s a good thing Vane is involved because he pretty much saved this mission by finding Anne first. Great ending setting up the all or nothing snatch and grab mission.

By far the most interesting piece of this episode is the Max, Rogers, and Eleanor triangle. Max and Eleanor have that touchy past (to put it mildly) and Rogers is like the third wheel, but he’s the one steering. Eleanor is a traitor to everyone on Nassau, having burned every single bridge. More than enough was said to make sure everyone knew it, all the way up to England hearing it. Rogers reluctantly had to take her along for the ride because she is valuable. Stabbing everyone in the back wasn’t in her character. She had to and it eats her up every day since it happened. Rogers and her fall for each other (I believe she really has) but he can’t ignore her past and tells her so. That scene is fantastically written and performed. I haven’t felt any sympathy for Eleanor in awhile and that bit hit me (brilliant idea from the writers using the grippe illness as a parallel).

Now the Eleanor and Max relationship. This whole ordeal has twisted in on Max in ways she never imagined. First it forces her to have to work with Eleanor and it ends up putting Max in a very similar position that Eleanor was in. Max now knows what Eleanor went through, the hard decisions she had to make and why she had to make them. Max again feels sympathy for a person she was sure she would hate for the rest of her life.

I like Rogers a lot, they gave him a  lot of layers and this Nassau boondoggle is digging into him more every day. He’s a good guy trying to do honest work in a pirates world. He believes in what his country wants to do, restore order and make a contributing society. He does everything he can to keep people from getting hurt, no matter what side they are on and obstacles keep getting thrown in his way. As he said to Flint, if it comes down to it, if you choose to try and steal this all away again, he will do what he has to do. No more offers or talks, it’s war. Rogers is being forced down a path he doesn’t want to take, just like Eleanor was.

Some neat stuff went down this week.

Silver is basically sidelined this week, I admire his tenacity despite it being so bullheadedly stupid. Good thing he managed to get Madi on his good side so quickly. Mr. Scott is fading fast but a smart man always passes down his wisdom. Even though Madi’s been groomed predominantly by her mother, it looks like her father is going to fill in some missing pieces she’s going to need for when she takes over.

I was right about Rackham’s idea being really stupid but I didn’t see him taking that stupidity and making a stand with it. If he’s going to get rolled over, he’s not going out without making a name for himself. He did want a clear name, after all, telling Anne that that’s about all he had and cared for. The people of Nassau will speak his name one way or another.

Vane throws Blackbeard under the boat again. A man’s home is hard to throw away I guess. Coupled with that knowledge he got on the boat last episode, I’m sure Vane feels like he’s got a workable plan he can do with Flint and I’m inclined to agree with him.

It’s fantastic to see the independent arms of the pirates come together to put the squeeze on England (without them even knowing it). They’ve been apart for so long, but Nassau brings them together. Woodes Rogers is getting squeezed from every single side, Eleanore is basically seen as floating garbage by everyone and Max is doing everything she can do to hang on (interesting seeing her share the same boat as Rackham, but being on the opposite side of it). I really like where this is going, ingenious way to take the Spanish treasure everyone has been after for so long, remix it, and turn it into another treasure hunt with huge stakes. Sucks to be Anne right now, practically all of known civilization is after her.

Pimp’s Paradise

The title refers to Frank and Carl, but by the end of the episode Frank has a lot to celebrate and Carl can’t keep fronting to everyone who walks by him. Losing Nick has devastated him.

Carl tries to keep his spirits (and his image) up by throwing a house party. Fiona puts an end to that the second she comes home and Carl leaves, pouting like a child. Sean manages to actually talk to him which is some kind of win considering how shut down Carl’s been since he watched Nick lose it to his madness. The one scene with Dominique was a great touch.

Frank on the other hand, won over Queenie to stay. He wined, dined, smothered her in attention, stood up for Chuckie (full effect Shameless!) and laid it on thick when Debbie came back. Gotta give it to Frank, the only other creature on Earth that knows how to burrow as well as he does is a tick.

This maneuvering by Frank ended up turning around the power structure of the house. Fiona’s absence from the house completely eroded her standing. No one over the age of 4 listens to her. She’s at odds with Debbie over the pregnancy, Lip is circling his own stupid drain of being thrown under the love bus and Ian is off making what could actually be his first positive relationship. Fiona’s name is on the paper work for the house, but it’s Carl’s money paying for it and Queenie moving in means there is a mother figure taking over her place. Fiona is literally getting pushed out with Debbie getting the attention she wants (just in time too as she was seconds away from hitting Erica’s landing strip) and Frank is finally getting one over on her. She has zero backup from any family member (how Liam wanted to stick around with kale on his plate is beyond me). Without Sean I’m sure she would have put up a fight, but with his place to fall back on, she relents quickly.

Queenie seems like a positive influence so she could be good in the end, but there’s little chance Frank is not going to maul that relationship again and Debbie is going to spiral into Fiona’s arms when the baby comes. Debbie has started to show so I’m sure the last bit of the season will be mostly about Debbie’s pregnancy. Time will probably move fast to do the birth in birth in the season finale or maybe in episode 11.