Shameless: Season 1, Episode 9: Re-Cap

I’ve got a problem, I admit it right here, right now. You know you’ve become way too attached to a show when a scripted series of events pisses you off so much that you lose sleep after watching an episode. For me, that was last night, yes, I lost some sleep over Shameless. I suppose we can blame Frank Gallagher for getting us in this whole mess, but after this episode I have a little bit of a different outlook on him than I did before, more on that in a minute.

Tonight Frank, with assistance from Sheila and Kev, two unknowingly accomplices, introduced us to the mother of the Gallagher kids, Monica (Chloe Webb). Frank needed Monica to sign something so he could get another disability check after apparently getting his foot caught in a train – on a side note, if you get your foot stuck in a train the government should be taking money from you, not giving you money. I digress, long story somewhat short, Frank tricked Monica into showing up at a supermarket thinking she won a giant teddy bear and a one-hundred dollar cash prize. Little did Frank know, Monica would show up with her new partner, Bob (who is not a man, but a big black woman).

Frank initially got away thanks to some sweet moves behind the wheel from Kev, but the ladies followed in pursuit and tracked Frank down at Sheila’s, where Debs happened to be taking a cooking lesson from Julia Child oops, I meant Sheila. Debs ran out once she saw her mother pushing her out of the way and heading home to tell her siblings what was going on down the block. This led to all the siblings (plus V) heading over to the house, except one notable exception.

I felt horrible for all six Gallagher children in this episode, let’s face it – they put up with a lot of shit daily, but this was a whole other level. Ian seemed to take the news the worst, running straight to the Malkovich house telling Mickey he had nowhere else to go. Mickey had buddies over and told Ian he would meet him at the Kash and Grab in 20 minutes. Mickey showed, they headed to the backroom and then who walks in the back door but Kash. Mickey takes off, only to return minutes later to make sure Kash would be keeping his lips sealed about what he saw. Then, in typical Mickey fashion, he grabbed a Snickers bar without paying, at which point Kash, who apparently had been practicing his marksmanship, shot a bullet through Mickey’s leg.

Back though to the Monica saga. Once the kids showed up, including Ian because he really had nowhere to go after the shooting you could see a clear divide. The eldest three Gallagher kids, Lip, Ian, and Fiona wanted absolutely nothing to do with Monica, while Carl and Debs, who initially pushed Monica away were more impressionable and gave in, similar to last week’s episode with sober Frank. Then there is the youngest Gallagher, Liam. Monica and Bob announce their intention to Liam with them – this sets Lip and Fiona off. Things get atomic and Fiona heads out.

While yes, this whole mess was caused by Frank and if the price was right, he apparently would let Liam leave with Monica and Bob, I have a newfound appreciation and a bit of a different outlook on Frank than I did after the previous eight episodes. Say whatever you want about him, we all know he has his share of flaws but so do all the Gallagher’s and everyone for that matter. But you know what? Frank didn’t bail – he stuck around – and while he may not be around much the family still has a father and I do believe the three older children respect that about him, maybe nothing else, but I do think they are appreciative of that.

There’s no way the elder three are going to ever be able to live with Monica, no chance – I have a hard time seeing Carl or especially Debs who out of all the Gallagher’s probably sticks up for Fiona the most, as evidenced in this episode, live without their sister who has done so much for them. Once they realized Fiona was out, I’m pretty sure it hit them. I doubt Monica sticks around anyways, I sure hope she doesn’t that’s for sure – she might be their biological mother, but one thing is for sure – she is not a Gallagher. A Gallagher would not turn their back and desert their family. Final thing, as for the Liam issue, no way Monica should have any right to take Liam after she skipped out when he was two months old. After seeing that entire display over the final ten minutes of tonight’s episode, I have even more respect for Fiona and all she’s done. As Debs and Carl leaned in to hug the woman who gave birth to them, not their mother – that’s Fiona – you could see the pain on the faces of Ian, Lip, and Fiona. Not only did you see that pain, but you could feel it.

Quickly, the other major storyline of the episode revolved around that guy Fiona’s dating – Steve, Jimmy, whatever you want to call him. Scrappy Debbie after some research, showed up at his parents house and got quite a bit of good information from Ms. D-Lish. Turns out Jimmy’s family believes not only that he’s studying at the University of Michigan, which we learned last week – they also think he’s at the top of his class at the University’s medical school. In order to get the underestimated Debs to keep quiet Jimmy gets her a few gifts and lets her in on another big secret … he bought the house next door from the Gallagher’s.

Other Observations:

• Honestly, a lot of the earlier parts of the episode went out the window, the last ten minutes were the most compelling, heart-wrenching, emotional minutes of the season
• I really can’t wait for Monica to leave, and Bob? How obnoxious is she?
• In Kev and V news, Jonah, the son of Ethel came for a visit this week and Kev has shown an interest in adding Jonah as a foster kid too, don’t think V is particularly keen on the idea
• Interesting to see what comes out of the Kash-Mickey shooting
• Haven’t mentioned it as much as the other relationships on the show, but I get the feeling Karen wants something more and Lip is totally happy staying on the friends with benefits route
• I wrote it above, but I seriously underestimated the ability of Debs to get to the bottom of this Steve thing, don’t lie you did too!
• Eddie’s bible study looks like a crazy group…
• It happened with the goons two weeks ago, then again this week with Monica and Bob, no matter the tension in the room everyone always complies with Sheila’s request and takes their shoes off … kind of turning into a running joke
• I think that’s it, I must have forgotten something, if you have made it all the way down here to word 1211 congrats, you must have the same unhealthy addiction to Shameless I do!
• Hopefully Monica leaves next week and as a result this post will be back to its normal length … if not there may not be a post, I may just combust, we’ll see I guess