Well, episode 6 of Shameless tackled the topic of education
and in more ways than one. The main plot of the episode revolved around the
most underrated Gallagher, Carl, who as we already knew has a pension for pain.
We were aware of Carl’s hobbies of torturing house cats and action figures, but
this week we learned, not surprisingly, Carl is a bit of a bully in school – biting,
punching, and kicking his fellow classmates. The issue was brought front and
center when Carl handed Fiona a letter stating that a parent had to meet with
the principal at the school’s parent-child night. Fiona went down to try to fix
things, but to no avail, the school needed a parent. Fiona then pleaded with
Frank to show up to avoid the school calling child services, that wasn’t
looking good though because as Frank had just finished explaining to the
Jackson’s at breakfast, he has a phobia of schools.
Lip also learned a lesson or two this episode, while showing a vulnerable side we hadn't really seen before. While there’s
no doubting the kid’s a genius, you can’t win ‘em all, sometimes you’re going
to get outsmarted and when you lose, it sucks. SAT season continued this week,
and for Lip it was also the week it would end. After taking a test for a
basketball player by the name of Morgan, who was not getting into that posh
preschool down the street if he had to take the test on his own, Lip was
approached by an investigator for the Education Evaluation Service. While Lip was let off the hook easy
after the investigator certified his genius status, the more painful lesson came next when
one of the football players Lip took the test for found out his “score” had
been invalidated and showed up at the Gallagher house for revenge.
While Lip’s book smarts were getting him in trouble, it was
the street smarts that Kash was being taught by Linda, Ian, and NASCAR driver Michael
Waltrip. Before Linda left Kash and Grab she scolded her husband, announcing
the market was short on inventory yet again. Once Linda left, old friend Mickey
Malkovich entered. Mickey grabbed, looked at Kash and left … before returning
for some dip. Apparently, Kash has a history with Mickey’s father and doesn’t
feel it’s worth the fight, sending Ian off with cash to replace the stolen
items. Linda beat Ian back to the store though and quickly pieced it all
together. That’s where the cardboard Michael Waltrip cutout came in. Linda
takes the boys out back for some shooting lessons. Ian, thanks to his ROTC
training impressed, while Kash – not so much. What was confirmed from this
chain of events was that both Linda and Ian have balls, Kash doesn’t.
We were also educated by Frank and his wacko theories of life, even more so than usual. If it’s possible, I found Frank even less likable than usual this week. Frank had a job, a pretty simple one too, he had to drive a car a few blocks and park it for $6,000 dollars. Frank being Frank accepted, and Frank being Frank didn’t follow through on his word (Shocker!) While Frank wouldn’t attend a meeting with the principal on Carl, he did attend a parent teacher conference with Karen, which led to a frosty exchange in the hall with everyone except Debbie who was the one to grab Frank’s attention. Nonetheless, it was still less painful than the beating from the two goons who finally caught up to Frank in the school moments earlier. Even without Frank showing up, Carl got off the hook, thanks to Steve and his “teacher’s discount” price for pot.
While new lessons were learned this week, the show ended
with something we already knew well, that through thick and thin; invalidated
SAT scores and “Deadhead” principals, the Gallagher kids are always there for
each other, even though their father isn’t.
Other Observations and Comments:
- Wonder what happened to Marty or V for that matter? At least the Alibi Room was still standing…
- Speaking of loose ends from episode 5, Steve got back in the good graces of Fiona awful quick
- Steve gets people and he’s very good at taking advantage of them: case in point, Principal Munroe
- On the same subject, Steve’s depiction of Fiona seems to be spot-on and she knows it, she doesn’t want to rely on him because she knows he’ll let her down, and frankly I think she’s right
- Not feeling Sheila’s going to be having a breakthrough anytime soon
- I’d bet we haven’t seen the last of that investigator, who also happens to be a professor at the University of Chicago
- Is Lip and Karen’s relationship on the rocks? There were certainly signs …
- This was the most tightly written episode yet, not sure if this is an original or an adaptation of an episode from the British version, but everything really tied together cleanly, while leaving a few loose knots for next week
- For those counting at home, Frank has now been dressed up on two different occasions over the first six episodes, the over bet won there for sure
- Episode 6, hard to believe the season is already half over, feels like it just began
- Can’t wait to see what the second half of the show’s inaugural season has in store!
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