Shameless Review: How Low Can You Go?
The basis of Shameless is that the Gallaghers put the fun in dysfunction. But "I'll Light a Candle for You Every Day" took their dysfunctional antics to a whole new low, while simultaneously showing us a rare remorseful side of the family.
How low can Frank or Fiona sink before their conscience begins to feel heavy? For Frank, who knows what the answer is, but consider: we basically saw him sex a woman to death this week.
There's really no PC way to talk about what happened between Frank and Dottie (aka Butterface). Last week, she told him that she can't have sex because her heart would explode. This week, after realizing she wouldn't be getting a new heart, she asked Frank to make love to her. That's certainly a Hell of a way to die!
Of course, what Dottie didn't know was that there was a heart for her. Her new sham of a fiancee Frank heard the beeper go off and told the service that Dottie had already passed. Then he proceeded to go on a rant at The Alibi about how people shouldn't get a second chance with organ transplants.
It's hard to believe that Frank can keep topping all of the messed up things he's done before. I still want to puke that he slept with Karen, but this was the worst. He let a woman die. Plain and simple. Sure, she asked him to take her to her death bed, but still.
There are just some things that are a bit too disturbing. Fiona sleeping with a married man and stealing the contents of a purse were obviously morally wrong, but in the spectrum of this episode it wasn't that bad. Besides, we see Fiona remorseful for her actions. She at least tried to pay the purse woman back, until obscenities were tossed left and right. By the way, Lip, you are too smart to think the bag could've only gotten $200 on eBay. Step up your game, man.
Lip gets a pass this week since Karen is going to marry her weird random boyfriend. I feel bad for him, but it's also a blessing in disguise because Karen is off her rocker.
Did anyone else just plain laugh during the sex scene with Fiona and Craig? Talk about the fantasy being way better than the reality! Taylor Kinney is one hot piece, but after seeing those faces he made in his minivan I'm not sure I will ever feel the same way about him. Fiona was blinded by rage when she made that decision and completely regretted, it as evidenced by a certain call she made right after.
Well, hello, Steve, it doesn't look like you're missing Fiona all that much. What a d-bag and what a fake green screen he was standing in front of. Fiona is just struggling to keep it all together and you know her heart is still broken. When I spoke to her before the premiere, she mentioned a major transgression in episode that for which Fiona would end up paying.
I'm sure we'll see the fallout from her fling with Craig on next week's installment. So... what did you all think? Were you as horrified by Frank's actions as I was? Did you think Veronica was too hard on Kevin about buy the bar?
Leigh Raines is a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.
More Shameless News
Shameless Review: Endings and Beginnings
Shameless Review: Holiday from Hell
Shameless Review: Don't Have to Aim Low
Shameless Review: Rock You Like A Hurricane
January 27th, 2012 9:32 PM
The bar owner is Jack Carter....89-year-old Jewish comedian
Rank: New User
January 27th, 2012 5:48 PM
To be shameless just means to be shameless. Frank thinks the way he thinks, and he lives by it.. what ever it is. His drunken conversation with kevin actually makes sence. Who knows if the person that got that heart really didn't need it more.. yes its horrible what he did but he is shameless. no one should feel bad for him.. just enjoy watching it. Sometimes some people get the short end of the stick and some times they don't. This show is showing everyday lives that people might look down on and instead sit back and laugh because no one is perfect.Enjoy watching it.. sitting back and laughing at life because it really does kick people in the ass
January 26th, 2012 1:09 PM
.......as for Frank's character, it passed the point of irredemable when he told answered the pager and reported that the transplant heart wouldn't be needed......but, then, Frank being an ultimately dispicable character is the point of this series.......and at the root of why his children are forced to live the existence they do. Frank is lifelike in his dispicability, men like him really exist......and as a comedy, the goal is to cast his dispicable nature in light of it's humor.....something the series has done well.
January 26th, 2012 1:08 PM
I found the episode disturbing and the death scene as disturbing on a fundamental level as anything i've seen on television...If the goal was to provoke a strong response, the writers scored beautifully. There was an attempt to paint it as darkly comedic, but the result was really an extraordinarily tragic pathos....and one that made me very uncomfortable to watch.....and yet, on some level, it was as real a death scene as any i've seen on television, made more awful by it's mundane nature......a life there one men, then gone the next.....no dramatic transition, just a very real and lifelike death
Rank: Staff Member
January 24th, 2012 3:21 PM
Miranda I'm with you the Green Screen used in Steve’s scene was terrible as was the mystic tan they used to make it look like he was living the life of Riley. I think it's important to remember that this is just the second season of the U.S. version of Shameless. It is still subject to the sophomore slump curse just like any other show. That being said, i still shamelessly enjoy it. While Frank has certainly hit new lows I think they did a good job in the scene where he was as drunk as we've ever seen him rambling to Kevin about who deserves organ donors. Frank can be so comedic at times that we forget that he is a drunk who abandons his family on a weekly basis. The best part of this season has been the increased number of scenes featuring Kevin (Steve Howey). His line this week about going to the "loan store" to pick up some forms was great. "You mean the bank?" Veronica has also been amazing.
My favorite scene was Fiona: How do I look?
Veronica: Like me...
Fiona: Oh sh-t!
January 24th, 2012 10:35 AM
suicide by sex with Frank was the worst thing I have ever seen on t.v. I believe it is called 'jumping the shark'. I too felt dirty after watching and I was a big fan.
January 24th, 2012 1:23 AM
does anybody know the name of the bar owner of the alibi? I think he is a comic but i can't remember his name and can't find it anywhere
January 24th, 2012 1:00 AM
This. Episode. Made. Me. I'll. I. Can not believe. That the. Writers let this. Fly. I. Actually. Felt. As. If. I. Was. A bad. Person. For. Watching. This. One. The. Message. This. Episode. Gave. Was. One. That. It. Was. Ok. To steal, Fuck another. Womans. Husband. , lie to. Someone. To. Get their. Money. And. Have. Them. Die. They. Didn't. Get. Their. Heart. Transplant. I will. Not. Watch this. Show. Again. I. Feel. Like I. Need. To. Go. To. Confession. Just. For. Watching. This. Show. , I. Know. I. Am. Not. Alone
January 23rd, 2012 3:05 PM
Biddle: direct hit. Is it too much to ask for one single redeeming characteristic? There's no conflict, therefore no tension. Why watch?
Rank: Guest Star
January 23rd, 2012 2:07 PM
Love Shameless on Pay cable Sunday night....... except for the Macy character, that I have loathed from Day 1.
Too bad he didn't take the dirt nap on the episode !!!!