Wednesday, October 24, 2018

What I’m Watching: Shameless (Mid-Season Finale)


Shameless: Season 9, Episode 7 “Down Like the Titanic” (B+)

I totally forgot that this show was going on hiatus for a few months for the first time in the middle of a season, and was reminded of it when I saw a billboard advertising the return of “Ray Donovan” this Sunday. This feels like a great place to leave off, though there’s still plenty of unfinished business to be dealt with when the show comes back for its back half of seven episodes, with more fodder past that given that the British original ran for eleven seasons. We didn’t see Ian at all in this episode aside from the alarm he set to remind his family of how much they missed him, and I think that’s fine since I’m never too fond of when comedy shows have characters go to prison and experience completely different plotlines. The most entertaining part of this hour, to be sure, was Carl demonstrating just how dumb he is, offering up “Pentagon, DMV, Cops” as his answer for the three branches of government and eagerly naming Abraham Lincoln as the first president. Fortunately, his life circumstances, as shaped by Kelly, should help him to win admission on completely different grounds. Frank is definitely in over his head with Ingrid, but as a shocked Randy pointed out before Frank convinced him to go pursue his dreams, his returning means something. It’s nice that Veronica is willing to consider Kev’s desire to have another baby in a slightly modified manner, and while I don’t think they need any more responsibility, it should be fun to watch. Who would have thought that Lip would reconnect with the girl who nicknamed him Jabby, and that they might actually be a perfect match for each other? And then there’s Fiona, who really hit rock bottom and had to sell off her building for exactly what she needed to be completely back to square one, thanks to the only semi-generous behavior of the extremely seedy Max, who couldn’t comprehend that someone wouldn’t have $25,000. But then Debs proved to have done just what was needed in not beating Ford up physically - as I worried might be the case - but instead putting him in just the humiliating spot he deserved and letting Fiona take out some of her frustration on him in that comprised state. I can’t wait for what comes next - this has been another consistently great run.

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