What I’m Watching: Shameless

Shameless: Season 1, Episode 9 “But At Last Came a Knock” (B+)

Lip’s breakdown of the situation to Ian serves as a perfect summary of this episode and its impact: it turns out Frank is the good one. Being clued in to the current state of Monica and hearing her express her rather faulty story for abandoning her family almost makes Frank look like a saint. While we know he’s not, and he hasn’t even been present recently after essentially leaving his family to be with Sheila, he still has some relationship with his children, even if it’s not a directly positive one. Either way, this is one complex family dynamic, and this episode was extremely interesting. Monica having left the family and claiming to have had faith in Fiona to be able to raise the kids all by herself informs the worldview under which the Gallagher children operate. Fiona’s championing of her siblings’ accomplishments, modified for more positive dramatic effect, was quite entertaining and impressive. As far as other developments go, Cash catching Ian with Mickey was one thing, but the most dramatic and stirring moment of the episode was Deb’s visit to Steve’s house. Seeing her face when she saw Steve was only matched by his face when he realized that she had busted him. I find it absolutely fascinating to see their relationship play out, and young Emma Kenney and Justin Chatwin both knock their scenes out of the park. The new house Steve has bought Fiona could dramatically change things, but I suspect that, for one reason or another, that won’t last, and I hope it doesn’t go away along with Steve, since losing him would be a real shame.