Shameless – Weirdo Gallagher Vortex

By: Ariba Bhuvad

After nine seasons of Shameless, aren’t we all sucked into the weirdo Gallagher vortex? It’s almost hard to imagine a time when this series may not exist, but let’s not think about that just yet. The Gallagher never disappoints when it comes to twists and turns in their life and every time the series seems to find stable ground in their lives, they surprise us with another outlandish scheme, lie or situation that sort of makes us proud of them (as horrible as that may sound).

It’s become obvious that Lip (Jeremy Allen White) is super conflicted over taking care of Xan (Scarlet Spencer) and keeping her in his life. An incident at school causes Xan to break her arm and end up in the hospital, but there’s just one slight problem–Lip is not her guardian. In fact, anyone related to Xan is still nowhere to be found and it’s starting to become a problem for Lip who is constantly on edge over Xan being taken away by Child Protective Services. When the hospital staff starts to become suspicious of Xan’s situation, Lip creates a distraction and runs away with her before anyone from DCFS shows up. It’s unclear how Lip is going to handle all of this moving forward, but considering he is willing to (almost?)  kill a guy to create a distraction we’re going to assume it’s going to get worse before it gets better.

Frank (William H. Macy) has found a new project to fixate on in the form of helping Mo White (Dan Lauria) campaign to run for Congress. At the end of last week’s episode, Frank convinced everyone at the Alibi to pitch in and convince Mo White to run and this week he and Mo are out scouting the neighborhood for support. Of course, along the way Frank is collecting money, which is less than likely to be used for the actual campaign but we don’t expect anything less from Frank. Before Frank can make some serious financial progress, he learns that Mo stepped away from politics due to a pedophilia conviction for which he wears an ankle monitor that shocks him when he gets too close to a school. Apparently, in years past he had an affair with someone that was 15 years old and still has six months left on his parole. But despite this roadblock, leave it to Frank to convince people to support Mo anyway. Imagine if Frank used all this power for something good–he could probably take over the world.

It was wonderful to see the pairing up of Carl (Ethan Cutkosky) and V (Shanola Hampton) this week as V helps Carl snag a recommendation letter for West Point. But how exactly does she manage to make that happen? V used to be a dominatrix for a local Congressman who would asked to be called “Wubby.” She uses this to her advantage to help Carl out. Thankfully, the pain turns into Carl’s pleasure as he gets the letter he needs.  However, he is still stealing puppies from the clinic instead of gassing them. That not last long as West Point is in his sights.

After Frank’s debacles, Liam (Christian Isaiah) is forced to attend public school much to his dismay. He struts off to his first day wearing a tie, which he soon learns is only going to make him a target for bullying. Things aren’t exactly that great for Liam when he starts school. Not to mention his knowledge level is far superior to the curriculum there, which ends up helping him out when he recruits a classmate to help protect him from a bully in exchange for helping him do well in school. Let’s hope Liam can find a way back to a place that better suits his educational needs, but for now, it’s the public school life for him.

Debbie (Emma Kenney) is a on a path of sexual discovery and contemplates her sexual orientation after making out with her new friend from last week. When she goes to Ian (Cameron Monaghan) for advice on how to know if you’re gay or not, he dismisses it by saying she just thinks she is. This leads her to say something profound to Ian who has been struggling with religion and “Shim” (she/him God) since he got out of jail. She suggests that instead of trying to save the world, perhaps he should take care of himself. Debbie is always keeping it real.

Fiona (Emmy Rossum) continues to grow as the businesswoman and investor she has become after landing the commercial real estate deal in the last episode. Something tells us she may get screwed over in the process, but here’s to hoping it actually works out. But because of her working directly with the real estate jerk from last week, Ford (Richard Flood) is dealing with some jealousy issues. It seems like he may want a relationship after all and ends the episode with a trail of condoms that lead from the front door into the bedroom where he is waiting for Fiona–naked.

Ian is utterly confused and frantically searching for the meaning of religion and how to find a way to talk to “Shim.” When he was in jail he felt he was able to speak to “Shim,” but now that connection is gone and he has no idea what to do. This sets him off on a religious journey as he visits leaders of various religions to learn more about their connection with God. Basically, they aren’t able to help him in the way he wants which leaves him more confused than ever.

Kevin (Steve Howey) deals with more than he expected this episode after learning that someone has written about the Alibi and said it is the #1 most rapiest bar. And given the various objects around the bar and the patrons of it, it’s not a far-fetched assumption. He puts all his effort into making the Alibi feel safer again and implements changes to the names of drinks, putting a sign out front and asking the patrons to change their offensive language and behavior. He also hands out contracts of consent so that the women in the bar feel comfortable with being flirted with. Will he able to change the perception of the bar? We sure hope so because we are so for Team Kevin.