Shameless: Season 3, Episode 4 “The Helpful Gallaghers” and “The Sins of My Caretaker” (B+)
What a superb duet of episodes this was, starting with a rather humorous hour featuring some truly spectacular developments and culminating with a much more serious and unfortunate turn of events. Among my favorite parts of the two-episode thread was Debs practicing holding her breath underwater so that she could go to the pool, which resulted in a humiliating incident and her subsequent near-drowning of one of her tormenters. Carl’s time at cancer camp was legendary, and I love that he complained so bitterly and then matter-of-factly convinced the poor counselor to take off her shirt to make his buddy’s dying wish come true. It’s subject matter like that which shows just how tremendously skilled this show is at handling potentially awful and offensive material. Sheila bringing out the beast in Jody was most amusing for the fact that her caretaker’s vow of silence didn’t include refraining from her blog, and that was a wholly hilarious revelation. Steve being torn apart by the news about his father and Ian was unfortunate, especially since Fiona yelled at him for being whiny, sending him right into the arms of his all-too-willing wife. Veronica asking her mom to be a surrogate was a big move, and let’s hope there aren’t too many problems with that. Lip pushing Mandy away and then calling Karen to scream at her and thank her for leaving was tough, and it looks like, for now at least, he’s managed to get back in Mandy’s good graces. After Fiona finally found Aunt Ginger’s body in the yard, there was nothing more simultaneously funny and devastating than the sight of a social worker from Child Protective Services walking in on the horrendous sight of, among other things, Steve’s dad pulling a bullet out of Mickey. Vindictive coworkers are going to be the least of Fiona’s problems, and Frank is going to get a beating once Fiona realizes he was the one who reported them.
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