Shameless - Season 3 Episode 5 - Recap and Review - The Sins of My Caretaker

In what might have been the best episode thus far during its Season 3 run, “The Sins of My Caretaker” saw the gang on Shameless struggling with their own personal sets of dire circumstances amidst the chaos of digging up Aunt Ginger’s bones. The city was planning on working on the backyard sewer mane, threatening to land the Gallagher’s in hot water. When Child Services popped in for their first unannounced visit, the Gallagher’s ended up dunked in water that was straight-up boiling.

Lip: Lip (Jeremy Allen White) realized he’d potentially screwed up his casual relationship with Mandy (Emma Greenfield) after helping her rescue her half-sisterbrother, Molly. Mandy started doing his laundry, pitching in around the house, and being, generally speaking, girlfriend-like. The sweetness got to Lip, eventually. Having taken to selling fireworks and weed from the ice cream truck with Kev (Steve Howie), Lip was infuriated to find Mandy showing up uninvited to help. He sent her away in a brief explosion, earning himself an earful from Ian when he arrived back home. Just because Karen treated Lip terribly doesn’t mean he has the right to do the same to Mandy, Ian's best friend. That night, Lip apologized and the new couple (?) put on their own private fireworks show.

Debbie: The moment had finally arrived for spunky little Debbie (Emma Kenney) to experience her first day of the summer at the city pool. Unfortunately, she wasn’t prepared to deal with a group of “sluts” abusing her for not yet “maturing.” Seriously, how devastating was that bathroom scene between Fiona and Debbie after the girls heartlessly bullied Debbie by making it look as though she got her period at the pool?

Nobody messes with the Gallagher girls! Debbie, never one to retaliate too subtly (Hey, she is Carl’s sister), almost drowned one of said awful sluts with sandbags and her newly acquired ability to hold her breath for as long as need be.

Fiona and Jimmy: Fiona (Emmy Rossum) was alerted to the town’s need to work on the sewer mane located dangerously close to wherever Frank (William H. Macy) had buried Aunt Ginger fourteen years prior. Unfortunately, Frank had no idea where he’d placed the body, precisely, giving the Gallagher’s only so much time to find the remains before the city found out about Frank’s ploy to earn some extra weekly pocket cash. He’d been using Aunt Ginger’s disability checks for years, remember.

Meanwhile, Fiona was dealing with the fallout of what had come out during her attempted “Town Hall of Blowjobs” last episode. Now that the other ladies at the supermarket were privy to the fact that Fiona hadn’t been carrying "her share of the load," they were on the attack; putting thumbtacks in her cash drawer, locking her in the bathroom, etc.

Jimmy (Justin Chatwin), still devastated over the revelation that his father had been banging Ian (Cameron Monaghan) behind his back, was uncharacteristically helpless this week. Normally, I could get behind Jimmy calling out Fiona for not recognizing his personal issue, but as Fiona put it, they were literally digging up a dead body. Drunk, Jimmy ended up finding comfort between the legs of Estefania. Man, for some reason I can never fully get behind the Fiona/Jimmy relationship. Something's gotta give there.

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Ian: Jimmy’s father had recruited Ian to do some dirty work. Having been locked out of his house by his ex-wife, he hired Ian and his friends, Mickey included, to rob his own house. Noting that they were free to steal whatever they wanted, so long as they made it out with a few key items, the boys were on board.

Mickey hadn’t yet revealed how jealous he was, exactly, surrounding Ian’s fling with the older dude. He’d made some japes but, to Ian’s disappointed, failed to stand up for their relationship. As Ian put it, at least Jimmy’s dad kissed him. That was enough for Mickey. Before entering the mansion to pull off the stunt, Ian got his first goodbye kiss. Things, of course, went awry when it actually came time to do the deed. Mickey, having gotten greedy, attempted to steal a grandfather clock and ended up getting shot by the man’s ex!

The Gallagher’s tend to have bad days, worse days, and downright awful days. During this episode, we got a glimpse of the worst moment this family has had in maybe all three seasons. By the episode’s close, their little makeshift “hood” world was shaken to the core. Child Protective Services arrived just in time to catch Mickey having the bullet removed by Jimmy’s dad, Fiona digging up Aunt Ginger’s leg, and Debbie gloating about how she’d almost drowned a slut. Next week, things are sure to get interesting, as the Gallagher clan finds themselves separated and in foster care!

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In Addition..:  As expected, the sexual pressure Sheila (Joan Cusack) had placed on Jody’s (Zach McGowan) shoulders sent him off the deep end. While attempting to run her personal hospice service, Sheila found herself dealing with an impossibly large incoming of packages containing sex toys. The nun she found herself caring for was not amused, taking to the internet via iPad to blog about “The Sins of Her Caretaker”. Sheila ditched the woman in front of a church and tossed her suitcase under a bus. I’m thinking Joan Cusack is a little underused this season. She’s such a great character, but they need to tie her back to the Gallagher’s in a bigger way than they’ve been doing.

Kev and Veronica (Shanola Hampton)found out some further earth shattering news. As it turned out, V has a mere 0.1% chance of conceiving children. Wanting to pass on her own genes, and make a baby with Kev, Veronica enlisted her mother for help. Using a turkey baster (!) her mother attempted to use Kev’s sperm to get herself pregnant! Wow, in here I just thought they were going to agree to foster male Molly! This is a little much, no? I still love them.

What did you all think of Shameless Season 3 Episode 5, “The Sins of My Caretaker”? Is this show just getting better and better, or what? How will Fiona get the gang out of this one? Do you want more from Sheila this season? Is Karen staged to make her dastardly return just in time to ruin Lip's relationship with the infinitely cooler Mandy?

Thanks for reading my Recap and Review of Shameless Season 3 Episode 5, “The Sins of My Caretaker”!