“Life’s messy. People have secrets.” -Fiona
Shameless wrapped up its first season yesterday with a wonderfully heartbreaking season finale. So much of the talk about Shameless was people being upset with the Gallagher’s and how they choose to live. If the Gallagher’s don’t care about their own lives, why should I? I think that some people had a hard time grasping the notion that not every person has a desire to “move up” in life. Remember that Shameless is a British show originally and across the pond the notion of the lower middle class sticking its nose at the upper class elite is a long standing tradition. The idea of the American Dream is still present in the United States however. People want to make enough money to be comfortable, to be rich. Not many are ok with the idea of not knowing how they’re going to play rent next month. This is why the Gallagher family is so polarizing in the public’s eyes. Here we have a family that is, at the center of it all, happy. Sure they have a myriad of problems and a lot of history to overcome, but they stick up for one another. They grasp the concept of love and who are we as an audience to hold that against them? The show needs to viewed through different lenses. I’m not suggesting detestable characters like Frank Gallagher get a pass. No far from it. What makes this show good is that we have humane and good natured characters doing the best with what they have. Frank does not fit that description. The show is about Fiona and her family.
Emmy Rossum turned in a brilliant performance as Fiona Gallagher over the course of the first season. Seeing her have to balance all the love she has for her family against the desire to be comfortable and selfish was a thing of beauty. The season finale was no exception. When Lip and Ian were released from prison it was nice to see her so relieved that they’re safe, but she still had the fire to smack them around and hold them accountable. Then as she was walking away, her knowing smile to Tony said so much. Fiona knows he’s a good person, maybe a great person, and she’s very grateful for what he’s done, but she is who she is and they couldn’t work right now. Another great Fiona moment happened when Ian told her he was gay for the first time. It wasn’t when she said, “I know,” because honestly I found that a little silly, but when she said, “You’re still on my shit list.” It’s a great moment for Ian’s character. He learns just how in tune his family is with him and that they care, but still won’t let him get away with whatever he wants. So it’s not surprising that Fiona chose to stay in Chicago rather than go to Costa Rica with Steve. She loves him, yes, but the deal has always been her plus her family and he knows that. Fiona’s idea of comfortability may rest in having a consistent job and bringing in a steady flow of cash. Steve will learn that he can’t take her away from her family.
It will be interesting to see what happens with Steve in season two. I was a little surprised when they didn’t bring up Steve’s duel lives to Fiona. It seemed like it was all but inevitable, however I’m glad they didn’t. Fiona needed to be faced with the decision to leave baggage free and choose to stay. If she would have known about Steve’s other life, it would have been Fiona sticking around because she had no other options. Now that she’s chosen to stay, the writers can fully expound on the Steve/Jimmy situation. Fiona has needed him for both emotional and financial stability, but now that Jasmine is in her life, Steve needs to be there as an emotional partner more than he has. That will be difficult with him in Costa Rica. I envision that the second season will pick up some time in the future where Fiona is stable and so are the rest of the Gallagher’s, but they’re not as happy. I think we need Steve in the show. He adds the element that money does not buy happiness.
Frank Gallagher is the show’s biggest concern going forward. He is such a detestable human being that it’s borderline cartoonish. Shameless tried their best by making him give a curbside apology to his son for sleeping with his girl. However, even that had him justifying his actions claiming that he was a victim in all of this as well. I will say, there was a glimmer of humanity when he jumped back into the urine stream. It was the most bizarre apology and acceptance perhaps ever captured on TV, but in Shameless it works. However, when I hear Frank claiming he’s the real victim, I think of Eddie Jackson. I never thought Eddie was a sympathetic character, but seeing what he went through was tough. Everyone abandoned him to the point where he took his own life at the one place where he felt happy. There wasn’t even that much hesitation when he decided to drop the cinder block in the water. The life that Frank lives is dangerous and wrong and it pains me to see him go unpunished. I’m not sure if he’ll ever change, or even if I want him to. Perhaps we need to hate him, but I’ll be damned if I ever feel any compassion for his character.
It’s for that reason that I don’t think he should be a focal point for the show. I think he is best served as a catalyst for other events. A great example of this is when he slept with Karen. The show didn’t go in a direction where it was all about Frank tying up all the loose the ends that that situation created. It instead let other characters discover the issue and then they handled everything on their own. Tell me you didn’t cheer a little inside when Lip started beating Frank in the snow. The south side of Chicago has a code. People look the other way on a lot of issues, but sleeping with a man’s young daughter is not tolerated. It’s good to see there’s some moral code in the world of Shameless.
Showing posts with label frank gallagher. Show all posts
Showing posts with label frank gallagher. Show all posts
Monday, March 28, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Shameless - "Daddyz Girl' Review
“I’m happy with who we are. Even if you’re not.” -Ian
As we approach the season finale of Shameless, I find myself loving the show more and more every week. I liked the show from the beginning but I feel it’s really come into it’s own. Nothing has really dramatically changed structure wise since the pilot, but yet it continues to get better. The reason is so simple, yet many shows choose to ignore it: character development. Shameless has a host of characters and yet we know each and everyone of them. We may not like some, *cough* Frank *cough*, and others we have deep empathy for, like Fiona. Too often we can get caught up in the debate about serialized drama versus episodic or one camera shows or multi, but ultimately it all comes down to characters. People spent many years trying to find out what going to happen on Lost and lost the ability to enjoy the characters. Shameless has let us enjoy and grow with their characters, while still keeping us very much engaged in the story.
This week was all about raising the stakes. Characters and plot fall short if there are no obstacles to overcome and there is no danger involved with the decisions they make to overcome that obstacle. I’m not talking about Fiona deciding whether or not to jump off a cliff or not, but each decision she makes has consequences and thus has risk. It’s clear that she likes Steve, but up to this point, it’s also seemed like she needed him too. Steve was Fiona’s ticket to luxury and normal life. I wondered last week if the show took all the money away from Steve, if they would stay together. What happened instead was, Shameless introduced Jasmine who started showering Fiona with many gifts, but none more important than a job. Now Fiona doesn’t need Steve for stability monetarily, but rather emotionally. And with Steve in a lot of trouble with Tony, it looks like we could be back to independent Fiona. I don’t want Steve to leave, but I do think the honeymoon is over and he is going to have to do some serious work to get Fiona back, assuming he loses her.
In Philip and Ian’s quest to find Ian’s real dad, we learn a lot about their ideas for what they think of the Gallagher family and their life as a whole. It seems as though Lip is the one destined to make it out of the hood. He’s starting to have feelings for Karen, who we’ll get to in a second, and he keeps thinking about going to school. Ian is content, he doesn’t have the brain that Lip has. So just as we’re starting to root for a Gallagher to make it out, the show raises the stakes once again and gets Lip and Ian arrested. Lip will no doubt take responsibility and we are left wondering just what could have been. Through this obstacle, Shameless has now given us a rooting interest. Due to great character development over the course of the season we care very much what happens to Lip. Just another example of how the show is succeeding.
Perhaps the character that took me by surprise the most this season is Karen Jackson. She just started out as Lip’s friend with benefits, but has recently really come into her own as a force on the show. Shameless focuses a lot on “daddy issues” whether is be Frank, Steve’s perfect father, or in this case Eddie. Eddie got it into Karen’s head that he cared about her, but after learning of her many sexual encounters, he screamed at her and called he a whore, which she now has tattooed on her arm. When she was first upset, I thought it was more superficial. I thought she was just mad because he wouldn’t get her the car he promised to get her. It turns out, there’s only so much a kid can take. Karen embarked on a rage induced depression crusade where it appears her only goal is to make her father miserable. She spray paints his room, breaks his car window, cuts her hair, pierces her body, and starts a cam website. At first it was a type of diary, but she took it to the next level when she filmed her and Frank having sex in his room. Shameless really kicked it up a notch here and this splash will surely have rippling effects on all members of the Gallagher family.
All that being said, I can’t wait for the season finale next week. I’m curious whether we’ll get some form of closure on this season or if it will be left open ended. Either way, I don’t anticipate being let down in any way.
Other thoughts:
Hearing Emmy Rossum singing badly reminds me just how great of a singer she actually is. She at a young age of 18, played Christine in the movie remake of Phantom of the Opera. I half expected her to belt out some great notes and Steve try and market her voice. But that’s a different show altogether.
As someone who uses a pneumatic staple very often, one staple through the hand wouldn’t cause that much damage. You’d be out for a week tops. I’m not mad or anything, because I realize that injury needed to be one that still allowed for him to come home and sleep with Karen.
I found it particularly amusing when Carl made the impression of his middle finger in the needle toy. They’ve done a good job keeping him consistent. It was also great when he tried to hit on the 12 year old in the truck. Subtle, but good.
Just how many show is Brad William Henke on right now? He’s Coover Bennet in Justified, Ernie Moosekian in The Chicago Code and now Hal in Shameless! Good for him. Good work if you can get it.
As we approach the season finale of Shameless, I find myself loving the show more and more every week. I liked the show from the beginning but I feel it’s really come into it’s own. Nothing has really dramatically changed structure wise since the pilot, but yet it continues to get better. The reason is so simple, yet many shows choose to ignore it: character development. Shameless has a host of characters and yet we know each and everyone of them. We may not like some, *cough* Frank *cough*, and others we have deep empathy for, like Fiona. Too often we can get caught up in the debate about serialized drama versus episodic or one camera shows or multi, but ultimately it all comes down to characters. People spent many years trying to find out what going to happen on Lost and lost the ability to enjoy the characters. Shameless has let us enjoy and grow with their characters, while still keeping us very much engaged in the story.
This week was all about raising the stakes. Characters and plot fall short if there are no obstacles to overcome and there is no danger involved with the decisions they make to overcome that obstacle. I’m not talking about Fiona deciding whether or not to jump off a cliff or not, but each decision she makes has consequences and thus has risk. It’s clear that she likes Steve, but up to this point, it’s also seemed like she needed him too. Steve was Fiona’s ticket to luxury and normal life. I wondered last week if the show took all the money away from Steve, if they would stay together. What happened instead was, Shameless introduced Jasmine who started showering Fiona with many gifts, but none more important than a job. Now Fiona doesn’t need Steve for stability monetarily, but rather emotionally. And with Steve in a lot of trouble with Tony, it looks like we could be back to independent Fiona. I don’t want Steve to leave, but I do think the honeymoon is over and he is going to have to do some serious work to get Fiona back, assuming he loses her.
In Philip and Ian’s quest to find Ian’s real dad, we learn a lot about their ideas for what they think of the Gallagher family and their life as a whole. It seems as though Lip is the one destined to make it out of the hood. He’s starting to have feelings for Karen, who we’ll get to in a second, and he keeps thinking about going to school. Ian is content, he doesn’t have the brain that Lip has. So just as we’re starting to root for a Gallagher to make it out, the show raises the stakes once again and gets Lip and Ian arrested. Lip will no doubt take responsibility and we are left wondering just what could have been. Through this obstacle, Shameless has now given us a rooting interest. Due to great character development over the course of the season we care very much what happens to Lip. Just another example of how the show is succeeding.
Perhaps the character that took me by surprise the most this season is Karen Jackson. She just started out as Lip’s friend with benefits, but has recently really come into her own as a force on the show. Shameless focuses a lot on “daddy issues” whether is be Frank, Steve’s perfect father, or in this case Eddie. Eddie got it into Karen’s head that he cared about her, but after learning of her many sexual encounters, he screamed at her and called he a whore, which she now has tattooed on her arm. When she was first upset, I thought it was more superficial. I thought she was just mad because he wouldn’t get her the car he promised to get her. It turns out, there’s only so much a kid can take. Karen embarked on a rage induced depression crusade where it appears her only goal is to make her father miserable. She spray paints his room, breaks his car window, cuts her hair, pierces her body, and starts a cam website. At first it was a type of diary, but she took it to the next level when she filmed her and Frank having sex in his room. Shameless really kicked it up a notch here and this splash will surely have rippling effects on all members of the Gallagher family.
All that being said, I can’t wait for the season finale next week. I’m curious whether we’ll get some form of closure on this season or if it will be left open ended. Either way, I don’t anticipate being let down in any way.
Other thoughts:
Hearing Emmy Rossum singing badly reminds me just how great of a singer she actually is. She at a young age of 18, played Christine in the movie remake of Phantom of the Opera. I half expected her to belt out some great notes and Steve try and market her voice. But that’s a different show altogether.
As someone who uses a pneumatic staple very often, one staple through the hand wouldn’t cause that much damage. You’d be out for a week tops. I’m not mad or anything, because I realize that injury needed to be one that still allowed for him to come home and sleep with Karen.
I found it particularly amusing when Carl made the impression of his middle finger in the needle toy. They’ve done a good job keeping him consistent. It was also great when he tried to hit on the 12 year old in the truck. Subtle, but good.
Just how many show is Brad William Henke on right now? He’s Coover Bennet in Justified, Ernie Moosekian in The Chicago Code and now Hal in Shameless! Good for him. Good work if you can get it.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Shameless - "Nana Gallagher Had an Affair" Review
“Whores don’t get cars!” -Eddie
In last week’s review I stated that the episode seemed very jam packed and that it could have been conceivably two episodes. After tonight’s episode, I stand by that claim. The introduction of Monica was a big event, yes, but I think we could have put it all in one episode. Much of tonight’s episode was all resolution of just figuring out when Monica was going to leave. I actually would not have been surprised if she took Liam with her as I’m sure the logistics for a network to keep a baby on set is tough. Not to mention he’ll grow at a faster pace than the show goes. This episode overall was largely resolution of Monica and exposition about other characters. Nothing *really* changed.
At this point in a series we have to start looking at what stories we’re most invested in. What more do we want to see? Personally, I’m very involved in the Fiona/Steve relationship. There’s still a lot of secret and mystery there. Fiona is ok with slowly detaching herself from the family so long as she has Steve there to fall back on. That won’t be the case by the end of the season. She will inevitably find out and it will undoubtedly come at the hand of Fiona’s old love, Tony. I envision this leading to Fiona needing Frank in some way. And that is a dynamic I think the show can lean on in season two. How do Fiona and Frank work together? Maybe Fiona falls off a bit.
I think we’re all pretty involved with Lip and Ian’s stories as well. Both seem to be sharp enough to better their situation. It’s not that I desire them to get better, but I do find the constant search for what they want out of life to be entertaining. With Lip comes Karen. I only care about Karen as she pertains to Lip. I found her story line tonight to be almost uncomfortable. I’ve seen some “purity ball” type things before at church and they are nothing like that. It seemed a little “child porn-y” to have what’s supposed to be a high schooler talking explicitly about her sexual exploits to a bunch of stuffy old men. I’m no prood, but that left me uneasy.
But I think what we ultimately take away from this episode is that Fiona realizes her place. Before she viewed taking care of her family as part of her duties. Something she had to do because her mom left them to fend for themselves. But seeing the prospect of Liam being taken from her, she realized that she actually takes care of the family out of love. I’ve said it before, the Gallagher’s view of the world is skewed, but they definitely hold family values very close to their hearts. Values of course is subjective.
Other thoughts:
The family dinner scene was a nice one. It was an obvious joke but I found it funny that Frank was more upset that Monica did PCP without him than the fact the she slept with his brother.
Ian is now not Frank’s kid. I wonder what that dynamic will do? My guess is nothing right away. Probably just a few jokes here and there.
Frank is at his most detestable when he’s lusting after money. The only thing he cares more about than booze are those dollar signs. I think Frank is at his best when he’s given a particular task for episode, so long as it isn’t a quest for money that hurts the family. He’s done enough damage and I think the show would be better if he was used in ways that seemed selfish, but actually provided for the family.
So apparently the black baby Liam is the product of Frank and Monica. It was explained in one line that Nana had an affair. So I guess Frank is half black? Yet no other kids have any resemblance to an African American. We know Lip is Franks, but no one else. I find this story element to be a bit too much of a stretch.
Sheila finds herself out of the house again as she throws Eddie out in defense of her daughter Karen. So if we’re keeping track, she’s gone outside twice and both in defense of children. Looks like we know the secret. Seeing Frank happy for her was actually a nice moment.
In last week’s review I stated that the episode seemed very jam packed and that it could have been conceivably two episodes. After tonight’s episode, I stand by that claim. The introduction of Monica was a big event, yes, but I think we could have put it all in one episode. Much of tonight’s episode was all resolution of just figuring out when Monica was going to leave. I actually would not have been surprised if she took Liam with her as I’m sure the logistics for a network to keep a baby on set is tough. Not to mention he’ll grow at a faster pace than the show goes. This episode overall was largely resolution of Monica and exposition about other characters. Nothing *really* changed.
At this point in a series we have to start looking at what stories we’re most invested in. What more do we want to see? Personally, I’m very involved in the Fiona/Steve relationship. There’s still a lot of secret and mystery there. Fiona is ok with slowly detaching herself from the family so long as she has Steve there to fall back on. That won’t be the case by the end of the season. She will inevitably find out and it will undoubtedly come at the hand of Fiona’s old love, Tony. I envision this leading to Fiona needing Frank in some way. And that is a dynamic I think the show can lean on in season two. How do Fiona and Frank work together? Maybe Fiona falls off a bit.
I think we’re all pretty involved with Lip and Ian’s stories as well. Both seem to be sharp enough to better their situation. It’s not that I desire them to get better, but I do find the constant search for what they want out of life to be entertaining. With Lip comes Karen. I only care about Karen as she pertains to Lip. I found her story line tonight to be almost uncomfortable. I’ve seen some “purity ball” type things before at church and they are nothing like that. It seemed a little “child porn-y” to have what’s supposed to be a high schooler talking explicitly about her sexual exploits to a bunch of stuffy old men. I’m no prood, but that left me uneasy.
But I think what we ultimately take away from this episode is that Fiona realizes her place. Before she viewed taking care of her family as part of her duties. Something she had to do because her mom left them to fend for themselves. But seeing the prospect of Liam being taken from her, she realized that she actually takes care of the family out of love. I’ve said it before, the Gallagher’s view of the world is skewed, but they definitely hold family values very close to their hearts. Values of course is subjective.
Other thoughts:
The family dinner scene was a nice one. It was an obvious joke but I found it funny that Frank was more upset that Monica did PCP without him than the fact the she slept with his brother.
Ian is now not Frank’s kid. I wonder what that dynamic will do? My guess is nothing right away. Probably just a few jokes here and there.
Frank is at his most detestable when he’s lusting after money. The only thing he cares more about than booze are those dollar signs. I think Frank is at his best when he’s given a particular task for episode, so long as it isn’t a quest for money that hurts the family. He’s done enough damage and I think the show would be better if he was used in ways that seemed selfish, but actually provided for the family.
So apparently the black baby Liam is the product of Frank and Monica. It was explained in one line that Nana had an affair. So I guess Frank is half black? Yet no other kids have any resemblance to an African American. We know Lip is Franks, but no one else. I find this story element to be a bit too much of a stretch.
Sheila finds herself out of the house again as she throws Eddie out in defense of her daughter Karen. So if we’re keeping track, she’s gone outside twice and both in defense of children. Looks like we know the secret. Seeing Frank happy for her was actually a nice moment.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Shameless - "But At Last Came A Knock" Review
“I was raised by a pack of wolves, just like you were. Only my wolves went to Harvard.” -Steve
Shameless delivers it’s most emotional episode thus far. We get an incredible performance from Emmy Rossum and some really nice developments in the characters. The episode accomplished a few major things. Debs now knows about Steve’s secret life and Fiona realizes that she needs to be a little bit selfish and have a life of her own thanks to the arrival of her mother, Monica. These are two huge developments and I will say that the episode seemed a bit disjointed. These two huge plot developments might have deserved their own individual episode, but nevertheless, we got a solid 50 minutes of entertainment tonight.
At the outset of the episode I was thinking Shameless was up to their old tricks again. We get a nice story from Fiona and the other siblings and the Frank story is a side bar about him chasing money and getting drunk. We learned last week that Frank will do anything for money, even stay sober. So it was interesting when he couldn’t get go through with contacting Monica and even further when he couldn’t face her. Maybe I had missed hearing her name before, but I didn’t think all these shenanigans from Frank would lead to the mother showing up. But when she showed up, boy did she change the dynamic of the show in a hurry.
Debs is the first kid to see her and she greets her by shoving her to the ground. Then Debs tells the whole family mom is back at Sheila’s. There was a very nice moment when Fiona, Lip, and Liam all seem to think Frank did something wrong, but Debs screams back in defense of her father, “Why do you always blame Dad first?” The family is moved to silence at the news of their mother being in town. Liam runs away to Mickey and the rest of the family goes to see her. At Sheila’s house we learn that Monica and her life partner Roberta want to start a family and they want to take Liam with them. In perhaps the finest acting of the season Fiona passionately defends he family. She resents that her mother left her with the kids and left her with all the work to do. The years of pent up rage come flying out when she says she wants to start a family. “Well how about you finish this one first?” Debs and Carl are extremely conflicted emotionally and when they hug their mother, Fiona has had it and leaves. Up until this point I had always wondered why the children put up with Frank. Frank is a worthless father, but he did one thing that can’t be forgotten in their lives, he stayed. The Gallagher’s don’t care about a lot of things, but family and loyalty, they care very much.
Fiona ran away and no surprise, Steve came and comforted her with a new house he bought her. Rewind to the beginning of the episode. Debs is skeptical that Steve is cheating, so she does some detective work and finds out about Steve’s real life as Jimmy Lishman from the North Side. There was a really great scene with Steve and Debs while Mrs. Lishman is ratting out Steve’s gimmick. Just Steve staring at her with a look of terror while Debs gazes on in disappointment. No words between the two, just a story told in body language. Steve has to come clean to Debs and says he doesn’t want a life where he’s expected to be a prim and proper doctor, he just wants to be happy. One concern I have with all of this is that Steve’s go to move is to provide for Fiona’s needs with gifts. I wonder how compatible the two would be if he didn’t have all that money. Does the car thievery really pay that well? Or is he still living off family money? I know Fiona just wants Steve, but the gifts are a bonus.
Fiona will inevitably find out about Steve’s double life. Fiona’s stance on lying is very clear. She told Steve he could sleep with other girls as long as he told the truth, so something tells me Fiona won’t take the news too lightly. One question. We saw Steve kiss a girl we thought was his girlfriend/wife last episode on the mouth, and this week his mother awkwardly kissed him long and good on the mouth. Was Candace Lishman (as it says in his phone) just his sister? Is the mouth kissing a Lishman family tradition? I think Fiona could be talked into staying with Steve if he just lied about his family. But lying about a girlfriend/wife? I don’t think she sticks around.
I’m excited about a few things going forward. The first is I can’t wait to see Fiona fight for her family. It’s clear she wants to move forward with Steve, so I hope they try and start a family together with the children as their legal dependents. I also think there’s a lot of legs to Lip learning Steve’s trade. Lip has a brilliant mind, but doesn’t want to leave the hood. A way he can use his intelligence to get rich and stay a degenerate is by perfecting the art of car thievery. Ten minutes on the job and he already had a few ideas for Steve on how to make business better. Because I love their relationship, I wonder what will happen with Kev and Veronica and their foster child. She took a back seat once Monica showed up, but I am interested to see if they continue to develop this awkward family. I’m not so sure Veronica is ready to go from single to a grandmother in the span a few weeks though.
Shameless delivers it’s most emotional episode thus far. We get an incredible performance from Emmy Rossum and some really nice developments in the characters. The episode accomplished a few major things. Debs now knows about Steve’s secret life and Fiona realizes that she needs to be a little bit selfish and have a life of her own thanks to the arrival of her mother, Monica. These are two huge developments and I will say that the episode seemed a bit disjointed. These two huge plot developments might have deserved their own individual episode, but nevertheless, we got a solid 50 minutes of entertainment tonight.
At the outset of the episode I was thinking Shameless was up to their old tricks again. We get a nice story from Fiona and the other siblings and the Frank story is a side bar about him chasing money and getting drunk. We learned last week that Frank will do anything for money, even stay sober. So it was interesting when he couldn’t get go through with contacting Monica and even further when he couldn’t face her. Maybe I had missed hearing her name before, but I didn’t think all these shenanigans from Frank would lead to the mother showing up. But when she showed up, boy did she change the dynamic of the show in a hurry.
Debs is the first kid to see her and she greets her by shoving her to the ground. Then Debs tells the whole family mom is back at Sheila’s. There was a very nice moment when Fiona, Lip, and Liam all seem to think Frank did something wrong, but Debs screams back in defense of her father, “Why do you always blame Dad first?” The family is moved to silence at the news of their mother being in town. Liam runs away to Mickey and the rest of the family goes to see her. At Sheila’s house we learn that Monica and her life partner Roberta want to start a family and they want to take Liam with them. In perhaps the finest acting of the season Fiona passionately defends he family. She resents that her mother left her with the kids and left her with all the work to do. The years of pent up rage come flying out when she says she wants to start a family. “Well how about you finish this one first?” Debs and Carl are extremely conflicted emotionally and when they hug their mother, Fiona has had it and leaves. Up until this point I had always wondered why the children put up with Frank. Frank is a worthless father, but he did one thing that can’t be forgotten in their lives, he stayed. The Gallagher’s don’t care about a lot of things, but family and loyalty, they care very much.
Fiona ran away and no surprise, Steve came and comforted her with a new house he bought her. Rewind to the beginning of the episode. Debs is skeptical that Steve is cheating, so she does some detective work and finds out about Steve’s real life as Jimmy Lishman from the North Side. There was a really great scene with Steve and Debs while Mrs. Lishman is ratting out Steve’s gimmick. Just Steve staring at her with a look of terror while Debs gazes on in disappointment. No words between the two, just a story told in body language. Steve has to come clean to Debs and says he doesn’t want a life where he’s expected to be a prim and proper doctor, he just wants to be happy. One concern I have with all of this is that Steve’s go to move is to provide for Fiona’s needs with gifts. I wonder how compatible the two would be if he didn’t have all that money. Does the car thievery really pay that well? Or is he still living off family money? I know Fiona just wants Steve, but the gifts are a bonus.
Fiona will inevitably find out about Steve’s double life. Fiona’s stance on lying is very clear. She told Steve he could sleep with other girls as long as he told the truth, so something tells me Fiona won’t take the news too lightly. One question. We saw Steve kiss a girl we thought was his girlfriend/wife last episode on the mouth, and this week his mother awkwardly kissed him long and good on the mouth. Was Candace Lishman (as it says in his phone) just his sister? Is the mouth kissing a Lishman family tradition? I think Fiona could be talked into staying with Steve if he just lied about his family. But lying about a girlfriend/wife? I don’t think she sticks around.
I’m excited about a few things going forward. The first is I can’t wait to see Fiona fight for her family. It’s clear she wants to move forward with Steve, so I hope they try and start a family together with the children as their legal dependents. I also think there’s a lot of legs to Lip learning Steve’s trade. Lip has a brilliant mind, but doesn’t want to leave the hood. A way he can use his intelligence to get rich and stay a degenerate is by perfecting the art of car thievery. Ten minutes on the job and he already had a few ideas for Steve on how to make business better. Because I love their relationship, I wonder what will happen with Kev and Veronica and their foster child. She took a back seat once Monica showed up, but I am interested to see if they continue to develop this awkward family. I’m not so sure Veronica is ready to go from single to a grandmother in the span a few weeks though.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Shameless - "It's Time to Kill the Turtle" Review
“I know I haven’t been the most exemplary father for the past 3 or 15 years, but now I gonna need your help to get through this. From this point forward, we’re going to be a family again. What the hell is THAT?” -Frank
I’d like to start this review with a congratulations to Shameless as Showtime announced today that it will be picked up for a second season! This is excellent news, as I’ve grown to love the Gallagher family and friends. If season 2 offers more episodes like this one, then I’m fully on board.
“It’s Time to Kill the Turtle” was brilliant in the sense that it gave us a glimpse into the future of these characters. Or what the future would be like if things changed. We start with Fiona who has had her doubts all along about Steve being right for her. When she suspects he might be cheating, she is confronted with her feelings about losing him. I think even Fiona was shocked about her feelings for Steve, so it will be interesting to see what happens when she finds out his name is actually Jimmy, has a girlfriend/wife named Candice and is lying to his family about being in college. Then there’s Phillip who, despite being brilliant, has never considered going to college. That is until he was shown the robotics lab by a University of Chicago professor who caught him cheating for other students on the SATs. Phillip saw just how bright his future can be and it might finally get him out of the hood. The question will be whether he takes Karen or not. Karen appears to have no real aspirations other than palling around with Lip. Lip finally realized he may have feelings, but is Karen just going to be someone who brings him back down? Or can she change for the better with him?
We also got to see a side of characters we don’t normally get to see. The best example was seeing the sober side of Frank. In an effort to gain $3000 from a medical study, Frank had to remain sober for 2 weeks. In his sobreity we saw him be a fun and caring father. I really enjoyed my time with Sober Frank. I think Frank is best used on the show when he has a task for the episode. Be it dodging henchman looking to collect money or trying to stay sober. Often it seems like we see Frank just as a picture of what rock bottom is. That constant reminder border lines on beating the audience over the head, so I always like it when Frank is more a vehicle for driving the story in an episode.
Kevin also showed us a bit of his softer side when he and Veronica took in a foster child. Props to Shameless for never letting me guess just what they’ll do next to take a normal situation and mess it all up. They didn’t just get any foster child, they got a 13 year old mother/wife of a 65 year old polygamist. She was the polar opposite of the world of Shameless. Prim proper and reserved. The show gave us two extreme ways to live life and let us see that while not perfect ways to live, people can till find happiness. Kevin and Veronica were only going to keep the foster child for a week so they could get enough money to pay for Veronica’s parking tickets, but after seeing the type of situation Ethel had, Kevin thinks they can help her and wants to keep her.
There was one really poignant moment where Fiona comes home after waitressing at a bar where she’s a glorified stripper and breaks into tears. She works hard all day every day to provide for the family and she never gets treated with the joy the children are showing Frank when all he had to do was be sober for a day. It was even more heartbreaking after seeing Fiona try and sit through a class that taught Microsoft Office. She was the only one in there who did not know a single thing about computers so she wasn’t able to keep up. This gave her the realization that she will always be on the hustle. Life doesn’t seem like its going to get any easier for her.
Fiona and Lip decide that it’s better to force Frank into drinking again than to let him hurt Deb and Carl by going right back to his drunken self after the two week trial is up. Deb had a nice introspective moment where she tells Lip that she’s aware of Frank’s problems but she’s just going to enjoy the good times with her father while she can. It’s interesting that for all the trouble Frank is, the Gallagher’s just might be better off with him not being sober. He’s at least out of the way.
I’d like to start this review with a congratulations to Shameless as Showtime announced today that it will be picked up for a second season! This is excellent news, as I’ve grown to love the Gallagher family and friends. If season 2 offers more episodes like this one, then I’m fully on board.
“It’s Time to Kill the Turtle” was brilliant in the sense that it gave us a glimpse into the future of these characters. Or what the future would be like if things changed. We start with Fiona who has had her doubts all along about Steve being right for her. When she suspects he might be cheating, she is confronted with her feelings about losing him. I think even Fiona was shocked about her feelings for Steve, so it will be interesting to see what happens when she finds out his name is actually Jimmy, has a girlfriend/wife named Candice and is lying to his family about being in college. Then there’s Phillip who, despite being brilliant, has never considered going to college. That is until he was shown the robotics lab by a University of Chicago professor who caught him cheating for other students on the SATs. Phillip saw just how bright his future can be and it might finally get him out of the hood. The question will be whether he takes Karen or not. Karen appears to have no real aspirations other than palling around with Lip. Lip finally realized he may have feelings, but is Karen just going to be someone who brings him back down? Or can she change for the better with him?
We also got to see a side of characters we don’t normally get to see. The best example was seeing the sober side of Frank. In an effort to gain $3000 from a medical study, Frank had to remain sober for 2 weeks. In his sobreity we saw him be a fun and caring father. I really enjoyed my time with Sober Frank. I think Frank is best used on the show when he has a task for the episode. Be it dodging henchman looking to collect money or trying to stay sober. Often it seems like we see Frank just as a picture of what rock bottom is. That constant reminder border lines on beating the audience over the head, so I always like it when Frank is more a vehicle for driving the story in an episode.
Kevin also showed us a bit of his softer side when he and Veronica took in a foster child. Props to Shameless for never letting me guess just what they’ll do next to take a normal situation and mess it all up. They didn’t just get any foster child, they got a 13 year old mother/wife of a 65 year old polygamist. She was the polar opposite of the world of Shameless. Prim proper and reserved. The show gave us two extreme ways to live life and let us see that while not perfect ways to live, people can till find happiness. Kevin and Veronica were only going to keep the foster child for a week so they could get enough money to pay for Veronica’s parking tickets, but after seeing the type of situation Ethel had, Kevin thinks they can help her and wants to keep her.
There was one really poignant moment where Fiona comes home after waitressing at a bar where she’s a glorified stripper and breaks into tears. She works hard all day every day to provide for the family and she never gets treated with the joy the children are showing Frank when all he had to do was be sober for a day. It was even more heartbreaking after seeing Fiona try and sit through a class that taught Microsoft Office. She was the only one in there who did not know a single thing about computers so she wasn’t able to keep up. This gave her the realization that she will always be on the hustle. Life doesn’t seem like its going to get any easier for her.
Fiona and Lip decide that it’s better to force Frank into drinking again than to let him hurt Deb and Carl by going right back to his drunken self after the two week trial is up. Deb had a nice introspective moment where she tells Lip that she’s aware of Frank’s problems but she’s just going to enjoy the good times with her father while she can. It’s interesting that for all the trouble Frank is, the Gallagher’s just might be better off with him not being sober. He’s at least out of the way.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Shameless - "Frank Gallagher: Loving Husband, Devoted Father” Review
“You know when a plane starts going down and they tell you to put your mask on before helping anyone else? Put your mask on Fiona!” -Steve
Shameless’s success is made possible by the way it’s relationships are built. We have a stake in every one of them and yet we don’t know why. Is it because most of us can commiserate with the Gallagher’s way of life? Or is it that in some way we’re jealous of complicated simplicity of their life. Many people are obsessed with getting the next promotion, looking for the perfect person, or trying to find purpose in our day to lives. The Gallagher’s have but one thing to worry about, survival. As simple sounding as the task is, Shameless proves that in the pursuit survival there are speed bumps. These obstacles cause heartache, laughter, and tension, but yet, the drive remains the same. Survive at all costs.
I’m starting to care more about the day to day living of the Gallagher’s. Their survival is incredibly interesting. I’m in no rush to see them better themselves if it means less of the scrambling to treat themselves to illegal delicacies that literally fall off the back of a truck. One of the best touches was when Fiona came home from her night out and seamlessly jumped right in with the faking of Frank’s death. No questions asked. Perhaps rather than wanting the Gallagher’s to improve their situation, we should be rooting for them to find happiness. Tell me you weren’t rooting for Fiona to take the night off with Steve. Tell me you didn’t laugh when all the kids raised their hands to the question if they at one pointed wanted to see Frank dead and seeing Frank be so happy that they answered yes. Frank singing “Family Tradition” at his own wake just perfectly encapsulates the show. We may not understand everything the Gallagher’s are going through, but we wish them well.
There is, however, one grievance I have. Why do all the kids care so much about Frank? Frank tried to sell a vet’s gold watch, rob a blind man, and stick up an old lady to try and get the money. What is something Frank won’t do? I need him to do something redeeming or else the show will become predictable. It can’t just be Fiona cleaning up after Frank episode after episode can it? The Gallagher’s don’t hold many societal norms with high regard, except for family. It’d be extremely hard for me to forgive everything Frank has done and yet continue to risk everything to protect him. Is there something he has done in the past to make himself this beloved by his family? Or is it just the fact that he is family?
Other Thoughts:
- In the ugly world they create for Emmy Rossum, they find a way to make Fiona unbelievably sexy. Her skinny dipping scene was perhaps one of the sexiest scenes on any show this season, period.
- The Kash/Liam/Linda love triangle is starting to get interesting. I wonder how long Liam will keep it up now that its not secret anymore. Kash helped him be ok with his homosexuality and now Liam is starting to be ok finding love in other places.
- Joan Cusack’s character is wonderful. We don’t spend a ton of time with her, but she has so many levels and we care about her. It takes a combination of great acting, writing and directing to pull that off. The sounds and sights they exaggerate when showing the world of Chicago come across as menacing and it makes us understand why the way she is.
- I think the relationship between Steve and Kev could be an interesting one. Two opposite guys both going after the same type of girl. I’m interested to see how much advice Kev is going to give to Steve and if it works. Though I do watching Steve bumble around trying to get to Fiona almost as much as I like the Gallagher’s scrambling to get fed.
Shameless’s success is made possible by the way it’s relationships are built. We have a stake in every one of them and yet we don’t know why. Is it because most of us can commiserate with the Gallagher’s way of life? Or is it that in some way we’re jealous of complicated simplicity of their life. Many people are obsessed with getting the next promotion, looking for the perfect person, or trying to find purpose in our day to lives. The Gallagher’s have but one thing to worry about, survival. As simple sounding as the task is, Shameless proves that in the pursuit survival there are speed bumps. These obstacles cause heartache, laughter, and tension, but yet, the drive remains the same. Survive at all costs.
I’m starting to care more about the day to day living of the Gallagher’s. Their survival is incredibly interesting. I’m in no rush to see them better themselves if it means less of the scrambling to treat themselves to illegal delicacies that literally fall off the back of a truck. One of the best touches was when Fiona came home from her night out and seamlessly jumped right in with the faking of Frank’s death. No questions asked. Perhaps rather than wanting the Gallagher’s to improve their situation, we should be rooting for them to find happiness. Tell me you weren’t rooting for Fiona to take the night off with Steve. Tell me you didn’t laugh when all the kids raised their hands to the question if they at one pointed wanted to see Frank dead and seeing Frank be so happy that they answered yes. Frank singing “Family Tradition” at his own wake just perfectly encapsulates the show. We may not understand everything the Gallagher’s are going through, but we wish them well.
There is, however, one grievance I have. Why do all the kids care so much about Frank? Frank tried to sell a vet’s gold watch, rob a blind man, and stick up an old lady to try and get the money. What is something Frank won’t do? I need him to do something redeeming or else the show will become predictable. It can’t just be Fiona cleaning up after Frank episode after episode can it? The Gallagher’s don’t hold many societal norms with high regard, except for family. It’d be extremely hard for me to forgive everything Frank has done and yet continue to risk everything to protect him. Is there something he has done in the past to make himself this beloved by his family? Or is it just the fact that he is family?
Other Thoughts:
- In the ugly world they create for Emmy Rossum, they find a way to make Fiona unbelievably sexy. Her skinny dipping scene was perhaps one of the sexiest scenes on any show this season, period.
- The Kash/Liam/Linda love triangle is starting to get interesting. I wonder how long Liam will keep it up now that its not secret anymore. Kash helped him be ok with his homosexuality and now Liam is starting to be ok finding love in other places.
- Joan Cusack’s character is wonderful. We don’t spend a ton of time with her, but she has so many levels and we care about her. It takes a combination of great acting, writing and directing to pull that off. The sounds and sights they exaggerate when showing the world of Chicago come across as menacing and it makes us understand why the way she is.
- I think the relationship between Steve and Kev could be an interesting one. Two opposite guys both going after the same type of girl. I’m interested to see how much advice Kev is going to give to Steve and if it works. Though I do watching Steve bumble around trying to get to Fiona almost as much as I like the Gallagher’s scrambling to get fed.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Shameless - "Three Boys" Review
“The devil’s in my balls Billy and he’s coming for the rest of me.” -Frank
In a very good episode of Shameless we learn a lot about the characters when they are faced with confrontation. Frank is faced with the possibility of having testicular cancer. His diatribe on why testicular cancer makes sense was classic. “Which is why I don’t believe in intelligence design.” A really great moment for Frank. I’m warming up to Frank as a character. It was nice to see some real moments from him in this episode, specifically when he realizes he might die of sickness. I wonder if Frank had ever really contemplated death before. Not so much death by itself, but death in a way that he was not responsible for himself. Frank is a selfish man, and he proved it when he drunkenly stated that he would rather take his own life rather than let the sickness get him.
Liam was confronted with his secret boyfriend ,Cash’s, real life. It’s all fun and games for a teenage boy to have an affair with a married man until he goes to his place and sees pictures of his wife and kids. It became too real, and Liam ran. I’m happy that he did. Liam is a Gallagher and it doesn’t seem like many of them want to be tied down to too many things, well expect for maybe Liam, who’s tied down to both a boyfriend and a girlfriend.
Veronica and Kev, who by the way are an awesome on screen couple, were confronted with the idea of marriage. Kev justified calling the wedding off originally because he’s still married. I wonder if he wasn’t tied if he would actually take the leap, rather than put on a fake wedding. Veronica just might be the most easy going woman alive. She took Kev being married in stride and decided to get high and devise a way to fake the wedding. Further, I never thought a couple calling off a marriage could be so romantic. Kev and Veronica’s fake marriage, is ironically, the strongest relationship in the show.
And once again, Fiona is confronted with the choice between Steve and Tony. As a side note, I’m actually really interested in Steve’s car stealing business. I think it adds nice spice to the show. I go back and forth on who I want Fiona to end up with. The real chemistry is with Steve, but Tony is solid and can support them. My feelings toward which guy I want her to end up with is directly correlated to if I want the Gallagher’s to better themselves or not. It’s strange to watch a family be so content with so little. I’m on the fence if I’m mad that they’re not trying to move up socially, or glad that they’re just finding a way to live happy. This is the main conflict of the show. Where do the Gallagher’s go? What’s going to happen that makes them change? And if they don’t change, how does the show keep us interested?
Other thoughts:
-I love seeing new ways the Gallagher’s get free stuff. Today it was stealing toilet paper and seat covers from the public restrooms and peeing drug free in a cup for a meal.
-Anthony Andersen with Tourettes is a nice surprise.
-Good to see Mac’s mom from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia make an appearance. Her spitting on her hand to put out her cigarette was clever. Never seen that before.
-I hope the show doesn’t flip Liam from being gay to wanting to be with his pretend girlfriend. That would seem like a cop out.
What are thoughts on the Gallagher’s improving their situation? How do you view the role of Frank?
In a very good episode of Shameless we learn a lot about the characters when they are faced with confrontation. Frank is faced with the possibility of having testicular cancer. His diatribe on why testicular cancer makes sense was classic. “Which is why I don’t believe in intelligence design.” A really great moment for Frank. I’m warming up to Frank as a character. It was nice to see some real moments from him in this episode, specifically when he realizes he might die of sickness. I wonder if Frank had ever really contemplated death before. Not so much death by itself, but death in a way that he was not responsible for himself. Frank is a selfish man, and he proved it when he drunkenly stated that he would rather take his own life rather than let the sickness get him.
Liam was confronted with his secret boyfriend ,Cash’s, real life. It’s all fun and games for a teenage boy to have an affair with a married man until he goes to his place and sees pictures of his wife and kids. It became too real, and Liam ran. I’m happy that he did. Liam is a Gallagher and it doesn’t seem like many of them want to be tied down to too many things, well expect for maybe Liam, who’s tied down to both a boyfriend and a girlfriend.
Veronica and Kev, who by the way are an awesome on screen couple, were confronted with the idea of marriage. Kev justified calling the wedding off originally because he’s still married. I wonder if he wasn’t tied if he would actually take the leap, rather than put on a fake wedding. Veronica just might be the most easy going woman alive. She took Kev being married in stride and decided to get high and devise a way to fake the wedding. Further, I never thought a couple calling off a marriage could be so romantic. Kev and Veronica’s fake marriage, is ironically, the strongest relationship in the show.
And once again, Fiona is confronted with the choice between Steve and Tony. As a side note, I’m actually really interested in Steve’s car stealing business. I think it adds nice spice to the show. I go back and forth on who I want Fiona to end up with. The real chemistry is with Steve, but Tony is solid and can support them. My feelings toward which guy I want her to end up with is directly correlated to if I want the Gallagher’s to better themselves or not. It’s strange to watch a family be so content with so little. I’m on the fence if I’m mad that they’re not trying to move up socially, or glad that they’re just finding a way to live happy. This is the main conflict of the show. Where do the Gallagher’s go? What’s going to happen that makes them change? And if they don’t change, how does the show keep us interested?
Other thoughts:
-I love seeing new ways the Gallagher’s get free stuff. Today it was stealing toilet paper and seat covers from the public restrooms and peeing drug free in a cup for a meal.
-Anthony Andersen with Tourettes is a nice surprise.
-Good to see Mac’s mom from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia make an appearance. Her spitting on her hand to put out her cigarette was clever. Never seen that before.
-I hope the show doesn’t flip Liam from being gay to wanting to be with his pretend girlfriend. That would seem like a cop out.
What are thoughts on the Gallagher’s improving their situation? How do you view the role of Frank?
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