Shameless - Season 3 Episode 4 - Recap and Review - The Helpful Gallaghers

“The Helpful Gallaghers” saw our favorite South Side family set aside their sometimes Shameless ways in favor of, well, helping. Of course, no good deed goes unpunished, especially not on a show like this. Let’s sort through the wreckage!

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Fiona (Emmy Rossum): Poor Fiona thought she had avoided the pitfalls of her new cashier position down at the supermarket; however, decent pay, good benefits, and great hours were set aside this week as the lead Gallagher took it upon herself to avenge her fellow female employees, all of whom were given an extra "break" a week to “service” the manager. Knowing she’d narrowly escaped “Bobby Breaks” herself, thanks to Veronica (Shanola Hampton), something still didn’t sit right with Fiona.

In an attempt to rally the sexually harassed (and exhausted) women, Fiona threw a girls’ night party at her house.  The “town hall of blow jobs" quickly spiraled out of control, though, as some of the women revealed that they hadn’t ever really minded the ten-minute task a week if it meant flexibility and free stuff; like expired meat, dying carnations, etc. In a private vote, the majority ruled to keep the pervert of a manager on duty. How could they not want to blow a guy who let them have off for their mother’s funeral?.. In her enraged frustration, Fiona let it slip that she’d never had to take a “Bobby Break.” Needless to say, the girl who picked up her slack wasn’t too happy. Sorry, Princess!

Lip (Jeremy Allen White):  My love for Mandy (Emma Greenfield) continued to grow this week, thanks to a little push from Lip. After hearing that her half-sister’s meth-head mother had overdosed, Mandy found herself in a tough situation as the girl’s only known relative. Having intercepted a personal plea for their father to rescue her from having to enter the foster system, Lip suggested the two scope out the situation before jumping to conclusions.

Shortly after meeting the girl, Mandy started to bond with her stranger of a little sister. Attempts to pawn her off on trusted friends failed, and the girl ended up, where else, at the Gallagher’s! At least, she’d stay for a short while. Fiona, having witnessed Lip stepping up to the plate before, recognized his naïve ability to unintentionally dig himself in too deep with “hood girls.” A move like that means something to a girl like Mandy, whose father is a pedophile. As Kev (Steve Howey) put it in the preview trailer for next week’s episode, Lip inadvertently built himself a “ghetto family.” Honestly, I’m thinking they’re going to pass the girl off to V and Kev to foster. They’ve done it before!

Lip’s arc this week ended with a slightly more romantic kiss goodnight from Mandy and a glaring “I told you so” moment from Fiona. Uh oh, Lip!

P.S.- Debbie discovered that the girl has a secret “girl penis.” She kept her cool, of course.

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Carl (Ethan Cutkosky): They sent Carl away to "cancer camp." Do I even need to keep writing?

Carl, coping with the fact that he caught cancer from his dead grandma, saw himself shipped off to what was sure to be the most exciting week of his life. With a rifle range, he’d be sure to kill stuff. The camp was, however, nowhere near as perfectly dangerous as he’d imagined from the brochure. Fed up with a camp that lacks carcinogenic sprinkles for ice cream, features healthy chicken as opposed to some tasty McNuggets, and has a damn vast variety of clowns, Carl began to rally his fellow sick buds.

The goal was, of course, a peek at some “ti**ies.” The only pair of boobs Carl had ever seen were his older sister’s, but it’s not like he could stare at those. Instead, Carl and his pair of fellow fatally ill hooligans managed to coerce a college-aged counselor to flash them. They’d done a pretty great job of making her feel guilty for ruining their last real adventure on Earth, considering that she caught them in the act of trying to steal pain meds to sell. The girl was, as expected, caught in the act by a clown. She cried all the way home on the camp bus. Thankfully, she had a very impressed Carl to comfort her.

I liked seeing Carl more heavily featured. He never fails to get me chuckling, and he’s most definitely the most underused Gallagher. Now that Ethan Cutkosky is a little older, maybe they’ll start building on his character. I enjoyed him saying what could have been his “last goodbyes” to his brothers and sisters. Even when his actually sick friend informed him that he would only have gotten invited to camp if he were dying, he seemed resolute in his determination to have a damn great time sticking it to the authority. Carl's the best, you guys.

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Ian (Cameron Monaghan)/ Jimmy (Justin Chatwin):  Jimmy found himself in a strange predicament this episode, as well. After receiving a somewhat cryptic call from his father, Jimmy agreed to meet somewhere local for drinks. As it turned out, Jimmy’s dad was thrown out of his house by his wife. With nowhere else to go but, you guessed it, the Gallagher’s, Jimmy and his dad barged in just after Fiona finished dealing with Lip's situation. Absolutely sloshed, the man crashed on the couch, while Ian snuck upstairs. I could feel the pit in Ian’s stomach when the drunken man eyed him and had that spark of recognition about him.

After the boys had gone to sleep, the man stumbled upstairs to pee and to, obviously, cozy up to Ian. Problem; he jumped into Lip’s bunk by mistake and “grabbed his sack.” With no other choice, Ian explained to Fiona and Lip that he’d been sleeping with Jimmy’s dad.

Ian: “He’s nice.”

Sometimes that’s all it takes, especially when the alternative is Mickey, who I guess has his own dirty-ish charm about him yet is undeniably mean. On the porch, Jimmy’s dad opened up to him about the situation, as well.  The wife had thrown him out mainly due to the fact that he ran out of money, but also probably… maybe… kind of because he’s gay.  Jimmy’s mind was blown.

Also, this is the recap where I decide to officially drop “Steve” from my lexicon.

 

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Sheila (Joan Cusack)/ Jody (Zach McGowan):  Sheila and Jody hit more bumps in their relationship. Absolutely unsatisfied sexually, Sheila turned to Frank (William H. Macy) for help. Having refused to be Sheila’s guy on the side, I’m assuming to literally protect his own ass, Frank spent the episode prepping Jody and pumping him up for Sheila’s toys. Also, how great were the reaction shots while Jody talked to the guys at the bar about what it meant for him to be a sex addict?

What did you all think of Shameless Season 3 Episode 4, “The Helpful Gallaghers”? Did you like seeing Carl in a more featured role this week? What did you think about the outcome of Fiona’s “town hall of blow jobs”? What will come of the relationship between Ian and Jimmy now that the secret is out? How will Lip treat Mandy’s heart?

Thanks for reading my Recap and Review of Shameless Season 3 Episode 4, “The Helpful Gallaghers”!