Shameless: Season 1, Episode 8: Re-Cap

This week on Shameless we saw a different side of  ‘ole Frank Gallagher – the sober side. It all started after Frank woke up in a hospital, after having been out cold for two straight days, which apparently is just a drop in the bucket when compared to Frank’s past blackouts. Upon waking, Frank was met with an offer to stay sober for two weeks as part of a study and be rewarded with $3,000 dollars. What’s the one thing Frank likes more than booze? Money… so of course, he accepted the challenge.

Frank in a sober state made for some fascinating, funny television. What made sober Frank so amusing was the fact that he was the exact opposite of drunken Frank in every sort of way. Sober Frank was a good father, ambitious, and even had good things to say about America. I almost think another few days and Frank may have even gone out to look for a job, but that might be pushing it a little. Frank was cooking up Mickey Mouse pancakes, getting high on the real kool-aid, playing the piano (a hidden talent apparently), and going bowling with the kids  – it was really a sight to behold.

By my count, Frank’s quest for $3,000 ended on about the third day when he got to the remodel-the-house phase of sobriety. The one who pulled the trigger? Debbie of all people. Debs and Carl were given a talking to by Lip the night before where he told them about how the new Frank was temporary, comparing him to a turtle the duo neglected last summer. Between that conversation and one Lip later had Fiona, you could see how much it hurt it him, and how he didn’t want Carl and Debs to go through the confusion and disappointment he went through. Debbie kind of understood what Lip was saying, Carl not so much … but he got a new turtle out of it.

In other developments this week, Kev and V’s foster child arrived, and I don’t think she was what anyone was expecting. Her name was Ethel, she’s 13 and she came from a religious sect, she was married to a 65-year-old man, had 4 other co-wives, and oh yeah she apparently has a child of her own. That’s just the beginning. While V was a little freaked out at first, and who can blame her she warmed as the episode went on, making her French Toast by episodes end. Kev on the other hand was excited for fatherhood from the start, it just proved to be a little different than he imagined. It was decided that it seems Ethel will be staying a little longer than one week.

We also need to touch on the Ian storyline. It seems he is totally off the Kash train, which lead to multiple awkward scenes at the minimart. Speaking of awkward – the Malkovich household, the situation felt awkward to me, but Ian looked right at home. He was hanging with Mandy then he faked going to the bathroom and instead once again went to bed with brother. Soon Ian was back on the couch sandwiched between Mickey and Mandy who it seems has no idea what happened minutes before.

Finally, let’s talk a little about Steve or should we say Jimmy? Steve is apparently not really named Steve. His name is Jimmy and it seems he’s playing everyone in his entire life. His brother thinks he is a student at Michigan, not living on the other side of Chicago stealing cars for a living. We also briefly meet Candice, who sends a text Debs discovers on Steve’s phone early in the episode, which leads to a Fiona-Steve confrontation, resulting in Steve claiming she’s a co-worker, that’s clearly not the case. All kinds of red flags here, I would give Steve the benefit of the doubt because I genuinely do think he has a thing Fiona and the entire Gallagher family, but how could you trust someone like that?

Other observations:

• If the already married thing threw you off the Kev bandwagon, hopefully you’re back on after watching this episode
• Loved Sheila trying to entertain Frank with her little jig, and playing ‘Go Fish!’
• Sometimes we overlook Fiona and forget she’s still only 21 and how rough and stressful life is for her, we really saw her struggle this week
• While Frank was hilarious, Fiona was heart-wrenching, I’m picking Lip as the MVP of this episode
• Pretty sure Kash and Ian are done, it’s clear Ian has had it but Kash hasn’t
• The Mandy dynamic is really awkward, almost uncomfortable
• Also enjoyed sober Frank reading the Hunger Games to Debs and Carl and on a side note, those pancakes actually looked like Mickey Mouse, well until Carl went all Gene Simmons on his
• What is Debs up to? She is not going to let this Candice thing go by the way side, for a 10-year-old she’s one scrappy little thing
• I have a feeling Steve is going to be a big part of next week’s episode – will he be exposed? Stay tuned…