Shameless - Recap: Where Everybody Knows Your Name
Shameless continued tonight with an episode that introduced Carl Gallagher to his first true love interest… in detention. Meanwhile, Fiona struggled with life as a felon, and Frank decided that he wishes to spend his final days at the Alibi.
Lip:
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Lip’s arc for Season 4 has actually turned out to be one of the lighter paths we follow from week to week. We were led to believe that Lip’s roomie discovering his inappropriate relationship with the boy’s girlfriend, Amanda, would leave Lip’s college campus life in shambles. On the contrary, his roommate was seriously, though secretly, relieved. Amanda can talk. Thus, while Lip inadvertently did his roommate a favor, he ended up digging himself in too deep with Amanda, who’s taken it upon herself to do everything from organize every tiny block of time in Lip’s day, “dump breaks” and “BJ <3” time included, to making him personal portions of mac and cheese while she cares for Liam. It's important to note that Amanda doesn't given handouts. Everything here comes at a price, be it sexual or otherwise. For example, she's enlisting Lip's help to fool her overbearing parents into thinking she's in an unhealthy relationship. Also, this virgin (surprised?) has made it known that she's seemingly always down for anal sex.
This more humorous plot doesn’t mean that Lip hasn’t had his fair share of dramatic moments. Jeremy Allen White has been fantastic in his “big brother” role this season, caring for Liam in his own time while his little brother struggles with terrifying nightmares post-overdose.
Lip still can’t seem to shake Mandy (Emma Greenwell), though, and every trip back home seems to end up with the former couple back together. This week, however, things blew up in Lip’s face, as Mandy’s very large boyfriend took it upon himself to tackle Lip in the middle of the campus of the University of Chicago, eventually trailing Gallagher into a club fair than ended with the man getting tasered by campus security. This was all very funny, but it was Mandy who Mickey eventually stumbled upon tending to a bloody and bruised face to close out this arc during Episode 9. It was Mickey who previously taunted her boyfriend, so we got a rare moment of some seemingly true remorse from Milkovich here.
Mickey and Ian:
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I’ve said this in previous recaps, but I like that Shameless has used Ian’s absence during Season 4 to further Mickey as an individual character. Even now that Ian has returned to the South Side, the focus still seems to be on Mickey’s coming to terms with his sexuality while simultaneously juggling the birth of his son. Mickey’s wife has no sympathy for him, even considering the horrible circumstances with which they were forced to be a family, and she’s begun threatening Mickey by holding his relationship with Ian against him. If Mickey won’t be a standup father, at least delivering large amounts of cash to help raise his boy, then she will report the continued affair to his father in jail.
Basically, Ian and Mickey put their heads together to concoct a scheme to whip up some fast cash this week. It was interesting to see what was originally set up to look like a new kind of pimping situation with Mickey selling his boyfriend for money, only to then watch things transpire into a fraud prostitution extortion situation. This week, they lured a wealthy married man into a hotel room, only to snap surprise photos to be used for blackmail. Mickey is now rolling in enough money to pay for his child and Bisquick at the Gallagher home where he’s been crashing. It will most definitely be great to watch Mickey come to terms with fatherhood in the coming weeks, especially considering that Ian’s only moment of mental clarity during Episode 9 seemed to be the scene in which he snuck some old baby clothes over to Mandy to secretly help his boyfriend’s baby.
Debbie:
Debbie’s plot was seriously entertaining this week. From time to time, Debbie popped up to begin her quest to destroy Matty’s potential new girlfriend. This young woman is a nursing student, she has her own apt, etc. She’s everything Debbie wishes she could be. What started off seeming like simple childish threats through anonymous phone calls eventually ended with Debbie stealing a giant vicious snake from the pet store and leaving it in the woman’s car for quite the surprise. Perhaps even more entertaining was the fact that this new love interest for Matty is not above fighting back at all! She doesn’t care if Debbie is “ten and plays with dolls.” She’s coming for Gallagher!
Carl:
Did the most heartwarming moment during Episode 9 involve Carl’s first armed robbery? This week, Carl met Bonnie, whose cuteness was only matched by her incredible affinity for any and all things bad and dangerous. This is the female Carl with the volume turned up, and this makes perfect sense. They’ve rightfully given the incomparable Ethan Cutkosky more material during Season 4, so his first love interest makes sense. Of course, some offensive graffiti on the school lockers and even a few hits of acid dropped in the detention supervisor’s coffee are one thing. Robbing a convenience store with a pretend gun is another. I’m not going to lie. I was pretty sure the point was going to be to push Carl too far, only to have him realize that he doesn’t want to actually threaten a man for cash at gunpoint at age twelve. Of course, this is Shameless! I should have known way better. The gun ended up being real, after all, just as real as the kiss between the two behind the dumpster afterwards! I liked that Shameless had Bonnie give Carl all the money, like the thrill of it all was enough for her. Though, this might come back to get Carl now, huh?
Frank:
Things continued to look seriously grim for Frank during Episode 9, but I thoroughly enjoyed the different path Shameless took to handle that this week. Sheila (Joan Cusack) returned home having parted ways with Roger Running Tree. The man might have faked his heritage, but the brood of children that came along with him was certainly real enough. Basically, Sheila is looking to marry Frank on his deathbed in order to seriously adopt the children for which her ex was responsible. Apparently, she needs the spouse. One person who was surprisingly on-board was Sammi, who previously spent the opening half of Episode 9 attempting to covertly transform Sheila’s bedroom into a religious hospice for Frank, who’d begun slipping in and out of consciousness for whole days at a time. There’s no telling whether Sheila, who’s fixated on taking in her old gigantic wedding dress, will actually get to tie the knot with Gallagher, but at least Frank was still kicking for the end of the episode.
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You see, all Frank wanted was to spend his final moments among his buddies at the Alibi, but that’s obviously not possible. Instead, Sammi took it upon herself to transform Sheila’s empty living room into a mock version of the bar, inviting Kev (Steve Howie) and the regulars over to sip on some (non-alcoholic) beer and debate the citizenship of Obama, just like old times. Honestly, I might have given Carl’s first kiss a little too much credit in this recap. Watching Frank tear up with his friends thanks to Sammi was a seriously nice moment that almost has me nervous for Frank’s actual survival. If Cheers taught us anything, it's that sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name. Are they actually going to cut William H. Macy loose?
Fiona:
Even considering her nearly impeccable behavior post-felony, Fiona had a very rough episode. Now allotted time to complete a legitimate workday, Fiona thought her life was about to be set back on track. Of course, we knew she wasn’t going to get away with skipping checking the “Have you even been convicted of a felony?” box on a legitimate corporate job application, even if the interview went incredibly well. Still, it was nerve-wracking and suspenseful to watch Fiona have to finagle her way home in time for her curfew when she realized the train was out of service. After everything from a brief uncomfortable cab ride to taking off her heels and running through the snow barefoot, she just barely made it to her front yard. At this point, we thought we knew just how difficult things were going to be for Fiona.
What came to follow, however, was seriously difficult to watch. First, Fiona’s attempt to restart something as simple as the Gallagher daycare center for which their house is famous was another epic failure. The women of this city do not want a guardian who would let such a tragedy happen to her own child watching over their children, and these moms are no angels. Next, Fiona’s first required NA meeting seemed to offer another route. The nice woman conducting the group conversation gave Fiona a pass for her apathetic behavior and even offered her information on a job that wouldn’t mind her jail record. Fiona joked about the job being “hooking,” only to then realize that, yes, it was. This was also interesting because the woman running the NA meeting seemed together, yet admitted to using the prostitution work to care for her own kids. A glimpse into Fiona’s future?
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Desperate, Fiona took Veronica’s (Shanola Hampton) advice and headed back to Mike’s office to basically beg for leg-up. If Fiona was a victim of downsizing rather than termination, she could get unemployment. Unfortunately, the woman who would have to fudge that detail to the feds was Mike’s sister, who laid into Gallagher with a mortifying speech about she’s a bad person who destroyed her ex-boyfriend’s family. Fiona left the office, the ultimate pariah, on the brink of bawling her eyes out. In the end, Fiona couldn’t take Mike’s sister’s advice, to ruin her own family instead of Mike’s. She ended Episode 9 finally allowing herself to have her tragic meltdown… at Robbie’s apartment. With just a little hint of what’s to come, we can safely assume that this encounter will only end more traumatically for everyone involved.
What did you think of Shameless Season 4 Episode 9, “The Legend of Bonnie and Carl”? Do you think we’ll get to see Lip helping out Amanda by faking an inappropriate relationship in front of her conservative parents? When will Ian release the tension he’s kept built up inside? How will Fiona get out of this one? Will Frank live?
Thanks for reading my Recap and Review of Shameless Season 4 Episode 9, “The Legend of Bonnie and Carl”!