Friday, October 7, 2016

What I’m Watching: Shameless (Season Premiere)


Shameless: Season 7, Episode 1 “Hiraeth” (B+)

What a treat, getting two seasons of this show in one calendar year! I didn’t realize that until I looked at an online episode guide. This show has been consistently excellent since its inception, and as usual, this show is heading to new places and maintaining its superb quality. I guessed I missed the post-credits scene from the finale that showed the family throwing Frank into the river, and having him wake up after a month of being unconscious in the ICU with a bill of $150,000 was a moderately deserved fate. Frank is like a cockroach, unable to be killed no matter how hard anyone might try. Crawling back into the house like a rat to find only Liam home showed him how far he’s fallen, and unfortunately Fiona dragging him out of the house and pushing him down the stairs just motivated him to figure out a better way to reinstate himself into the house, taking over Fiona’s home and nailing the door shut so that she can’t kick him out. That’s not what she needs right now, although she’s doing pretty well considering what’s being thrown at her, managing the diner and even bargaining for an additional dollar an hour to stay in that undesirable position. Lip seems to be doing okay, even if his crazy rules to keep his drinking under control are very reminiscent of his father’s attempts in the past, however less noble they were, and subbing in to be Fiona’s dishwasher is a perfect way to keep himself busy and earn some much-needed money. Ian’s paranoia about his boyfriend cheating with his ex-girlfriend seemed to be fueled by his frightening fellow firefighter, but it turns out that he had every reason to be suspicious given the intense making out he saw from the train platform. Debs nearly leaving Franny at the fire station led to her getting her act together and figuring out the way to make it all work, stealing expensive strollers to hire night nurses to offload the parenting to someone else. Carl getting circumcised so that his girlfriend will be more into certain sex acts with him is pretty hilarious, and I enjoyed the brotherly talk that he had with his male siblings about their penises and their sex lives. The three-wheel relationship with Svetlana is pretty hilarious, and despite their financial woes, this is probably the happiest that Kev and Veronica have been. I’m looking forward to another surely superb season.

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