Shameless – You’ll Know the Bottom When You Hit It

By: Ariba Bhuvad

Lip (Jeremy Allen White) says goodbye to Xan (Amirah Johnson) in this week’s episode of Shameless. After Fiona (Emmy Rossum) botched his attempts to become a foster parent for Xan, Lip is infuriated with her and wants her out of the house. In an attempt to do so he packs up all of Fiona’s belongings and throws it onto the sidewalk for when she comes back home. Because of Fiona’s mistake, Lip has to let Xan leave with the DCFS worker (Sharif Atkins), something that may be better for her in the long run or at least for now. As he says goodbye, he hands Xan some money before she heads out and lets her take his favorite pillow.

Speaking of Fiona, she has to pick up her final paycheck and heads to Patsy’s to pick it up. As expected, her encounter there goes as horrible as one would imagine. When she arrives she finds out that the other hosts/hostesses all split her tips thinking she wouldn’t be back. It’s safe to say Fiona is pissed so she does her best to piss off the workers and warn the guests about the food they’re eating at Patsy’s.

Carl (Ethan Cutkosky) has his work cut out for him, but not in the way one would think. While he’s killing it at work he’s concerned about the growing connection between Debbie (Emma Kenney) and his girlfriend Kelly (Jess Gabor). He knows that Debbie is into girls and he’s not very happy with how close she’s been getting to Kelly. A feud breaks out between Debbie and Carl in this week’s episode as they fight for Kelly’s attention. But in the contest Carl seems to be losing because whenever he calls and texts Kelly she doesn’t answer yet it seems Debbie is in constant touch with her. He finds out that Debbie is going to Kelly’s scrimmage with a hydrating flavored drink for her and decides to go as well with what he says is Kelly’s favorite flavor. When they arrive at the scrimmage they both scream out for Kelly in support of her victories, but it seems Kelly only has eyes for Debbie.

After lying about his vasectomy Kev (Steve Howey) is forced to actually get it done with a lot of pushing and convincing from V (Shanola Hampton). During his recovery he walks around the Alibi and home with a pack of ice over his crotch but is faced with an unfortunate situation when there is a citywide blackout. During the blackout Fiona shows up at the Alibi, frustrated over what happened at Patsy’s. Once again she starts drinking early in the day. She asks V to cash her check and keep all of it to cover her bar tab. Hoping to take advantage of the blackout, Frank (William H. Macy) visits a man that has stocked up food and supplies like its the apocalypse. A deal is made between him and Frank so that they can both benefit financially from the fear breaking out in the city.

And while Frank tries to figure out how to cash in on the blackout, V confesses that she bought $500 worth of meat which will spoil because the electricity is out. Kevin begins freaking out because not only do they have to figure out what to do with the meat, but he’s in severe pain from the surgery. At first Kev goes home and grabs all of their coats to help keep the freezer insulated. However, later a plan is made to have a cookout where they will make burgers and sell alcohol to the public. This way they will profit from the sales and be able to use the meat before it spoils.

There is an unlikely duo in this week’s episode of Shameless between Fiona and Frank. Fiona ends up joining Frank as he profits off the blackout and helps him to sell the supplies and negotiates a financial deal that will bring her out on top. Their entire day is rather successful which prompts Fiona to ask for even more money. She is taken aback to hear Frank tell her later that she should watch how much she is drinking. It’s not because he wants her to stop drinking, but because when she drinks she becomes angry. He believes alcohol should be fun but with how she is drinking it’s better for her to just stop. Later that day Lip and Fiona get into another fight where he tells her that she needs to go to a meeting, but instead she grabs more beer and starts chugging it down.

As the day goes on the Southside starts to learn that the rest of the city has power except for them. Once again, Fiona starts a protest and has everyone march towards the Northside to fight for their rights. During their walk the power finally comes back on and everyone retreats back to the Alibi, even though she wants them to continue marching on. After returning to the Alibi, Fiona gets angry and accuses everyone of being fake Southside supporters. V starts to notice just how far gone Fiona is and decides to take some advice that Lip gave her earlier–do not let Fiona stay at their house. It would be for her benefit and hopefully hitting rock bottom will help her see things better so V tells Fiona that she won’t be able to stay with them. This rejection and loneliness finally hit Fiona hard and she ends up going to an AA meeting by the end of the episode, a meeting that Lip is at as well.

After Xan leaves Lip is feeling lonely and frustrated so he decides to pay Tami (Kate Miner) a visit who has been ignoring him since she told him she’s pregnant. He shows up at her work demanding a conversation about what Tami’s decision is regarding the pregnancy . The conversation doesn’t exactly go as well as Lip would like. Instead, Tami informs him that he doesn’t get any say in the pregnancy and she’d rather it stay that way. But Lip begs to differ and wants to be a part of this, no matter what she decides.

While Carl’s romance problems only seem to get worse by the end of the episode the same can’t be said about Lip and Tami. She finally shows up asking to see Lip and the two of them talk about having the baby and possible names they would give it. There just might be a happily ever after in this story after all!