Shameless – Swipe, Fuck, Leave

By starrymag | October 14, 2016

By: Caitlin Walsh

 

Season Seven jumped right into the Gallagher family being themselves, with a trippy opening sequence of Frank in the ocean, seeing all his kids in a doped out non-reality and waking up in the hospital after what he finds to be a week long coma. It also jumps right into the theme of the season: redefining what it means to be a Gallagher and reinvention.

 

Frank Gallagher

In classic “Shameless” fashion, nothing can kill Frank Gallagher (William H. Macy). He’s a cockroach and a month after being tossed into the river at the end of last season’s finale, Frank wakes up from his coma to realize a few things: his muscles can’t hold him up just yet, he can’t pay any hospital bills and no one came looking for him.

 

Why he’s surprised is beyond me, but it sets off a chain of events that is all too Frank Gallagher for me to resist. He drags himself into the house, eventually being dragged out and dragging himself and his wheelchair back in. He boards himself in Fiona’s room, swearing off all his ungrateful children and reminding them that they “don’t deserve” the Gallagher name. No one seems to care, naturally.

 

In Episode Two, Frank pays some handymen to go as far as cement blocking off the second floor from both sides, confining the family inside. It seems Frank is on the hunt to replace his family this season, but we never seem to shake him for long.

 

Fiona Gallagher

 

Season Six may have ended in heartbreak for Fiona (Emmy Rossum), but Season Seven has her back and brandishing a new motto in life: she is a warrior woman. She is quitting men and quitting relationships. She is her own woman. She doesn’t seem to be exactly processing her failed relationship and wedding with Sean, but hell, does anyone really? Give the girl some time. At least, for once, Fiona Gallagher is paying attention to Fiona Gallagher, first.

 

One fallout of her relationship with Sean (Dermot Mulroney) that she doesn’t want, though – inheriting the position of manager of Patsy’s and dealing with all the responsibility that comes with that (though, let’s be honest – the chaos in there is just the same as the Gallagher house any morning of the week, and Fiona was born for that). But until the company that owns the property can figure something else out, Fiona needs to run things and even haggles her way into an extra $1 an hour (though we think she could’ve fought for more).

 

In Episode Two, while still maneuvering her new manager role, trying to overhaul her staff and bring in new staff members (one whose got heart eyes for Lip, of course) she discovers Tinder and what meaningless, no strings attached sex actually means. It’s a new foray for Fiona, and hell, maybe it’ll be good for her. Fingers crossed.

 

And, of course, Fiona is still a big sister, above all else – something she’s seeming to figure out more and more, rather than being a parent.

 

Lip Gallagher

 

When Lip (Jeremy Allen White) leaves rehab in Episode One, he looks…well, good. He looks refreshed, less haggard than all of last season, and yet he’s still not himself, exactly. He’s still working at it and he’s hit his rock bottom, at least we think he has. He was expelled and he’s back at home looking for work. Professor Youens (Alan Rosenberg), his professor and mentor of sorts from last season, held up his end of the deal. He picked him up from rehab and helps him set up an internship with a tech start-up. In the meantime, Fiona gives him a job at Patsy’s and, of course, he’s back at home.

 

Unfortunately, he’s not exactly sober – not by the biblical term, anyway. He’s got a system and a set of rules for himself, which are more a way to convince him that he’s not in fact an alcoholic (though, really, he is) and he’s better than his father.

 

Everyone else is less convinced, especially V, who tells him that he’s starting to remind her of Frank. It’s enough to make him push the beer away and head home.

 

Ian Gallagher

 

It’s almost like the good old days with Ian home. The first episode centers on Ian (Cameron Monaghan) at Caleb’s (Jeff Pierre) loft, living a cozy couple life. When Caleb mentions having dinner with an old friend, Denise, for emphasis Ian thinks nothing of it. After all, why should he be worried about Denise, right?

 

But after some pestering from his co-worker, who says that basically everyone’s a cheater and after Caleb, Ian is acting a little too cool. He and Lip follow Caleb to the bar where he’s meeting Denise to do a little brother bonding and spying. It turns out it was worth it when they find Caleb and Denise in a steamy make-out session right on the sidewalk. (Sidenote: Really, Caleb?) Welcome back to the Gallagher house, Ian.

 

But in Episode Two, things get a little less cut and dry. Was Caleb wrong to cheat on Ian? Absolutely and his complete indignity at being called out on that makes him a bad guy, no question. He knew that Ian was under the impression this was a monogamous relationship and he snuck around – plain and simple. It’s the details that get a little dicey.

 

First, it’s disappointing to see yet another bisexual character (exciting!) being portrayed as unfaithful, just “the slutty bisexual.” That and Ian’s clear biphobia is disheartening – especially when no one steps in to try and tell him otherwise. Though Caleb tries to tell him “no one is 100% anything,” prompting Ian to (vindictively?) experiment with a girl (which he downright detested) it’s as far as anyone tries to convince him that bisexuality is real, is fine and is valid. He’s disgusted by Caleb and the vitriol in Ian’s attitude makes it hard to sympathize with him.

 

Come down from that high horse, Ian Gallagher. Bigotry doesn’t look good on you.

 

Debbie Gallagher

 

The season opens with Debbie (Emma Kenney) a far cry from the determined young mother of last season (though it makes sense, with the exhaustion we saw from her then). Her first scene is of her dropping baby Francis off at a fire station, telling her it’s better this way, she’s no good for her. That is until the alarms go off and Francis is nearly run over by a fire truck before Debbie grabs her. There goes the abandonment plan.

 

She takes her to a park, where there seem to be a whole lot wealthy and inattentive mothers who leave their strollers that cost more than my rent (what is wrong with all of them, I will never know) and Debbie’s Gallagher comes out in full force. She starts stealing them and selling them on Craigslist, making a pretty penny for each and suddenly on top of the world. (She even makes enough to hire a night nurse, who does not reappear in the second episode and may be gone forever). At this point it probably goes without saying, but Debbie Gallagher is a far cry from the one we used to know. While nothing she does any more surprises me, it all disappoints me.

 

Carl Gallagher

 

Carl (Ethan Cutkosky) is a character I am enjoying more and more as the years go on because he went from sociopathic punk to regular reformed punk and I am all for it. He’s gone from out of control kid, to actually behind bars, to drug dealer, to gang banger and now? He is a normal teenage boy who just wants some action from his girlfriend, but can’t get a blowjob because he’s not circumcised – unlike all the other boys in his family. So, he does what any boy hiding loads of money and desperately wanting oral does (not true) – he gets a circumcision.

 

And for two straight episodes, that’s it from Carl. And yet, we get plenty of Gallagher brother bonding from it that we could use a hell of a lot more of, please. (Yes, it’s mostly involved penis talk, but it’s a start and I’m fine with that. Give me all the brotherly love!) By the end of Episode Two, Carl’s surgery wounds (ahem) have healed enough for it all to be worth it and he finally gets what, to a teenage boy, seems the end all be all.

 

It’s about as romantic as “Shameless” gets, all right?

 

Veronica, Kevin and Svetlana

 

Meanwhile, next door to the Gallaghers are my favorite thruple (as they’ve deemed themselves) and everything is…well, the healthiest it’s probably ever been on this show to be honest. Things are working. There’s an easy system in their house it seems and everyone contributes to both the home caretaking and managing The Alibi. In a strange turn of events, Svetlana (Isidora Goreshter) may or may not be Will Hunting from Good Will Hunting (a sneaky genius) when they all find out that she’s an absolute math wizard and she checks their home finances and the ledger of The Alibi. Not entirely surprising – it’s not good.

 

Aside from that, it’s normal shenanigans in the house. Kev (Steve Howey) is being the best Mr. Mom we’ve ever seen, Svetlana being the true MVP of the entire show (and possibly giving Lip a run for his genius-boy money?) and Veronica (Shanola Hampton) being the typical badass V we know. In Episode Two, she is also still best friend Veronica because at the end of the day, there’s possibly no one that knows Fiona better than her (possibly Lip, but the jury’s still out). And V is the only one questioning the fact that Fiona hasn’t even talked about her wedding day or Sean yet. She’s just carrying on, acting like things are fine, and V knows better.

 

Gear up, fans. Season Seven is bound to be quite a ride.