Shameless - Recap: Fiona. Fifififa.
Shameless continued tonight with a penultimate episode for Season 4 that showed us an endearing side of Frank like we’ve never witnessed before. Meanwhile, Fiona’s 90-day sentence for breaking her probation showed Lip’s true colors.
To kick off the recap, much of Episode 11 focused on the 90-day loss of Fiona in the lives of the rest of the Gallagher clan. We watched Fiona take the 3-hour bus ride to prison in uniform, file in with the rest of the inmates, and get assigned her bunk. There’s still an innocence to Fiona that is constantly brought to the surface during her Season 4 trials and tribulations. She still seems like a fish out of water, even if she is, as Lip initially put it, guilty as charged. It’s nice to see her siblings supporting her, though, as they did this week by texting her pictures and words of encouragement.
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Debbie: Just for a moment there during Episode 11, it seemed like Shameless was going to throw Debbie Gallagher a bone in the love department. We met Henry this week, a boy who seemed quite like the male version of Debbie, albeit still slightly older. Even Debbie’s skanky friends were smitten at first, only to then realize that the 11th grader was more into dissecting frogs than watching porn, something that seemed to bring a sense of relief to Debbie, if anything. By the time he gifted her a dissected frog’s heart, we were all on board, and I think we’ve all been long ready for the Matty “romance” to be over and done with.
Unfortunately, the kind gestures, like the frog heart and sketching a portrait of the Gallagher ginger, were all just part of another sinister scheme. Henry lured Debbie to the bottom of a stairwell and got a little too handsy after offering to take her to the dance. Debbie didn’t necessarily mind the little bit of action. That is, until Matty’s girlfriend and Henry’s stepsister, Seema, made her presence known above. A bra-clad Debbie found herself as the subject of copious amounts of snapped cell phone pics. Hey, Seema slipped Henry $50!
Debbie was, needless to say, devastated, but I think she showed a lot of maturity this week. First, she wasn’t about to let things get too sexual with Henry at the bottom of some random staircase in school. Next, she admitted to truly starting the feud with grown-up Seema, even if she turned out to be cruel beyond belief. It was newly single Matty who comforted Debbie and subsequently offered to take her to her school dance as post after post of Debbie’s shirtless pic popped up on the internet. Seriously, though, wouldn’t a grown nursing student like Seema get in a ton of trouble for organizing that kind of strange sexual humiliation for a 13-year-old girl? Also, I still can’t wrap my mind around the Matty situation. I don’t know what’s in this for him, but 13-year-old little girls usually aren’t friends with twenty-something men.
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Lip:
Liam's text to his big sister: "Fiona. Fifififa."
Lip’s manhood was called into question for a moment there during Episode 11, as he nearly broke his verbal agreement with Amanda to deliver a disastrous dinner with her parents. Remember, her parents are pretentious rich folks with a high standard for their daughter. Lip’s not one to have to defend his integrity, though. Before we knew it, he was bursting into his girlfriend’s lecture and publicly inviting her to dinner at the hustling and bustling Gallagher house. With Fiona gone, there was no other option but for Amanda’s family to join the mayhem.
Carl continued to help Bonnie scrounge up treats for her little brothers and sisters this week, eventually inviting the children the chance to stay at the Gallagher home considering the fact that their van was freezing cold. Lip was initially not at all okay with taking on what seemed like a dozen extra hungry mouths to feed, but considering the fact that Amanda’s folks were on their way over for a planned meet-the-parents dinner from Hell, he made an exception. Unfortunately, the agent from child protective services showed up just prior to inspect the house during a surprise visit. True, Lip lied about the whereabouts of Fiona and Frank, but I really like that Shameless, thus far, hasn’t really painted social services in a bad light. Mostly, the people who’ve been brought into the Gallagher’s life through these inspections over the years have helped out. For example, this woman made sure to point out plenty of the problems in the actual physical house that need fixing for safety reasons, but gave Lip credit for taking in stray neighborhood kids who were suffering in a freezing van. In the end, she made sure to quietly alert Lip to her next “surprise” visit.
The dinner with Amanda and her parents featured cheap beer, screaming children, and leftover lasagna stolen from the school cafeteria. Basically, it went perfectly well. In the end, Amanda’s appalled father secretly offered Lip $10,000 to dump his daughter. Of course, we didn’t necessarily want Lip to sell his relationship, but we know this family is in financial trouble right now. Amanda was devastated and left with her parents in a huff; however, she later circled back and scolded Lip for not asking for more money. It was all part of the plan, and the two ventured upstairs alone to cap off the successful evening.
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Ian and Mickey: Episode 11 brought on the christening of Mickey’s son, a family event he felt obligated to attend, though he remained in a strange limbo between his life with the Milkovich clan and Svetlana and his relationship with Ian. I loved that it was Carl who first began questioning the relationship status and love between the two, especially now that he has his own budding romance with Bonnie. Also, before continuing with the Ian/ Mickey drama of the week, I liked that Shameless isn’t taking Carl down the sex route with Bonnie just yet. The hilarious masturbation storyline was one thing, but he is, indeed, a 12-year-old child. Bonnie, apparently, doesn’t like sex, and Carl seemed absolutely fine with continuing with whatever young puppy love they have going on as it is. As I said, it was cool that Carl was the one to get the gears turning in his older brother’s mind about his relationship with Mickey, who remained closeted and chained to his life of lies in the outside world of the South Side.
Ian, refusing to back down, crashed the boy’s christening at a gorgeous church, and eventually took to watching the festivities at the Alibi from a back table. Episode 11 also marked the return of Mickey’s father, Terry, from prison, setting the most important part of the plot into motion. The sham of it all sickened Ian, who only had Kev (Steve Howie) looking out for him with a free shot of whiskey and a wink of encouragement. Before long, though, it was Mickey who found himself stretched too thin. His wife has been relentless about his sexuality and lack of dedication to her. There is no sense of understanding or empathy for either’s forced situation here. Mickey has no respect for her and she has no respect for him, but there is a baby in the picture now. Ian, on the other hand, refused to continue to play his role in this mess, warning Mickey not to return to his bed that evening or, well, ever again.
This brought upon one of Mickey’s most important moments ever on Shameless; coming out! Mickey snapped off the music and commanded the room's attention before declaring that he is, indeed, gay. After a few seconds to process with no reaction whatsoever, the music turned back on and the party continued. It seemed only Ian was blown away by Mickey’s moment of pride, though his father quickly launched into another epic bar fight. Before we knew it, Terry was being hauled off to jail yet again, and a very bloody Mickey was taunting him with his sexuality the whole time while the cops cuffed his father and tossed him in the back of a car. The officer handing Mickey let him off the hook, though, as he had a husband to get home to. Mickey and Ian closed out their awesome arc for Episode 11 with laughs and smiles through the cracked ribs and shattered teeth outside of the Alibi.
Frank: With a punch to Frank’s nuts, Carl managed to do what Sammi (Emily Bergl) and Sheila (Joan Cusack) had failed to. Frank awoke from his deep slumber, yet he seemed to be in what the doctor described as a state of post-operative delirium. Basically, he mixed up names, faces, stories, etc. Carl was Lip, Sheila was his mother, and all that would fix this was time. Mostly, everything leading up to Frank’s waking up set up more tension between Sheila and Sammi, who have different ideas about what’s best for Frank. Needless to say, Sammi is the sensible one, concerned with her father’s recovery rather than Sheila’s wacky wedding proceedings.
The most important part of delirious Frank’s arc for Episode 11 centered on his hospital roommate, Emily. Emily was a little girl who seemed to be a few years younger than Carl. It was initially unclear as to how she’d fit into the story at first as a young girl in need of a heart transplant, but by the end of Episode 11 she was a huge part of Frank’s extremely endearing moment. In the middle of the night, Frank stirred awake and began calling out for little “Fiona.” He subconsciously recalled the night he left his actual daughter and her brothers to freeze in the cold outside of a park, the story Fiona shared in court in order to win custody of her siblings. One small detail that I thought was great was that Shameless had previously hinted through Frank’s delirious comedic conversations with Sheila that he perhaps had an inappropriate sexual relationship with his mother, then nearly, for just a brief moment, had us think that maybe that carried on with his relationship with a young Fiona as he whispered, “Don’t wake Monica,” to this clueless little girl in the hospital bed next to him. The truth is, Frank simply wanted to apologize to his daughter for abandoning her, and he promised to try to be a better father. He just didn’t want anyone else, other than Fiona, to see him so vulnerable. That was clever writing on Shameless’ part, but we always expect good stuff from the writers of this show.
Emily’s father had left when she became ill, so this little girl was more than happy to accept Frank’s apology for Fiona and to hold his hand while he fell back asleep. Shameless ended this week with the tragic death of Emily as Frank called out in desperation to “Fiona” as the hospital staff wheeled her away. Meanwhile, the actual grown Fiona took her first communal shower in prison.
What did you think of Shameless, Season 4 Episode 11, “Emily”? Did you like that this show is offering more insight into the mind of Frank? Are you happy that Mickey and Ian are now free to love? When is Debbie going to catch an actual break? Do you like Lip with Amanda? Carl with Bonnie?
Thanks for reading my Recap and Review of Shameless, Season 4 Episode 11, “Emily”!