Shameless – Do Right, Vote White!

By: Ariba Bhuvad

This week marked “Shameless’” 100th episode! Can you believe how much time has gone by?! This milestone comes at a perfect time giving that it is Emmy Rossum’s final season as Fiona and, boy, what an episode it was for “Shameless!” The 100th episode was everything we’d imagine it to be and more inclusive of all the typical Gallagher drama times ten.

The episode is a collection and reference of the past year’s events including #TimesUp and #MeToo as well as an impending election. You name it, it most likely happened on the 100th episode. Seriously, we’re not kidding.

As has been the case for a while, Liam (Christian Isaiah) is the only Gallagher kid that is on the straight and narrow. Well, he’s trying. The recent public school setting has him attempting to adjust to the dumbed down curriculum and avoiding bullies that won’t leave him alone. He has a deal with one of the more intimidating students in exchange for letting him cheat off of him. It’s quite a deal and works out for the both of them as kids run in fear when they see the two of them walking the halls of the school.

But there is a silver lining to Liam’s intelligence, which comes in the form of his teachers deciding to bump him up to the sixth grade. Bravo, Liam! Bravo!

Meanwhile, Carl (Ethan Cutkosky) is still trying to work on building up his community service hours for the West Point application, but he runs into a bit of a problem. Due to V (Shanola Hampton) cutting a deal with her Congressman client, Carl was promised a reference letter. This meant whoever it was originally intended for is basically out of luck. Well, this individual makes his anger known when he shows up at the Gallagher house threatening Carl and challenging him to a duel.

After showing up at the duel, Carl learns that the kid doesn’t even want to go to West Point anyway and is being forced to go by his dad. He would rather go to Sarah Lawrence and be a poet so Carl does him a favor and shoots him in the thigh to make sure West Point can no longer be a possibility. It’s quite interesting to see Carl’s journey during this episode because he isn’t comfortable with the idea of killing anyone, not even the sick dogs he keeps bring home. He tries to make sense of this and seeks help to get over this hurdle from a veteran. Oh, Carl.

Now, let’s move on to Kev (Steve Howey) and V and the Alibi. The Alibi was number one the rapiest bars list, but not if Kev has anything to do with it. He puts in all his effort to make the bar a safer place for women and actually succeeds. Not only does he get the Alibi removed from the list, but women begin pouring into the bar. In fact, Kev ends up turning this into a business opportunity when the bar owner of the bar that overtook the #1 place on the list comes looking for help and is willing to pay. There’s an interesting scene at the bar when Kev is speaking with the usual bar patrons to categorize them as Ansaris, Weinsteins, CKs, Kobes, Cosbys and more) based on their pervy behavior. It’s a fearless callout to those involved in the past year’s events.

And speaking of pervy, Mo White (Dan Lauria) is up there with the worst of them. Given that he’s been labeled a pedophile, his interactions with the young girls in this episode just gives us the heebie jeebies. Seriously, he’s so creepy! And in an unexpected turn of events (sound familiar?), Mo White ends up winning the election out of nowhere. Well, it’s probably largely due to the fact that Frank (William H. Macy) hired some Nazi muscle to prevent people from voting for anyone but Mo White. A riot breaks out in one of the polling locations when Antifa shows up and everyone starts throwing punches and gas bombs. It’s quite the chaotic mess and in the midst of it Fiona shows up to participate.

Fiona is all about voting for Ruiz from a business perspective, but takes the whole episode to realize that his political plans would go against families similar to her own. In fact, it feels unsettling to see her so against a class of her own and it doesn’t bode well for the character in any positive way. Another odd point about Fiona’s character arc this season is her relationship with Ford (Richard Flood), which seems to be going nowhere and a circular path. It’s extremely frustrating because we want to see the best of the best from Fiona and we are just not getting it.

Debbie (Emma Kenney) seems to have found love in a hopeless place and is exploring her sexuality with Alex (Ashley Romans). The both of them have fallen hard for each other very quickly, but it doesn’t seem Debbie is entirely sure if she is actually a lesbian. This becomes clear when she talks incessantly about her past hookups with guys and how thrilling and riveting it was for her. Alex is irked by this realization, which bursts the bubble the two have been living in together. She’s fallen for a straight girl before and doesn’t plan on letting it happen again.

And then there’s Lip (Jeremy Allen White) – the guy who has had an incredibly devastating journey, which on a bright note takes him into sobriety but also temporarily gives him a moment to be a father-like figure. Things come to a head with Xan (Scarlet Spencer) when her mother (Nicole Wolf) shows up asking to take her back. In an effort to keep her, Lip sells his bike and plans to use that money to buy guardianship to Xan from her mother. Unfortunately, Xan follows Lip when he goes to see her mother and she is overwhelmed with excitement when she sees her mother has returned. Devastated and heartbroken, Lip leaves the envelope of money behind and runs off. We’re not sure how this will effect Lip, but we sure hope he’ll be okay. He really would make a father, wouldn’t he?

Things are starting to look grim for Ian who is being harassed by those that oppose him and is facing possible jail time if he is convicted. Those that adore and support him want him to go to trial because it means more eyes on their cause but he’s pretty lost over what to do and it’s yet to be seen what he will decide.

All in all, the 100th episode of “Shameless” has it all and it’s over-the-top drama as we have come to expect from the Gallagher family. The future is unclear for every member of the family and while this seems to be the case at all times, there is an odd feeling in the pit of my stomach this time around. I’m not sure how Fiona will exit the series and what it will mean for the dynamic of the family, but it feels like something major is headed our way and I’m not sure how to go about dealing with it.