Saturday, March 2, 2019

What I’m Watching: Shameless


Shameless: Season 9, Episode 12 “You’ll Know the Bottom When You Hit It” (B+)

I’m not sure I’ve taken the time to appropriately praise the talent of Emmy Rossum, who will only be on this show for two more episodes, in a while. The way in which she is able to go from zero to sixty and express such immediate and passionate rage when someone sets her off is incredible, and that was on full display in this episode. I certainly didn’t expect that her new business partner Frank, of all people, would be the one to tell her something that managed to actually confirm that she had indeed hit rock bottom. Calling her out as a bad drunk who gets mean rather than someone who chases the happiness they feel when they get drunk was an intriguing assessment, and, fortunately, after trying to lead a charge against gentrification in Chicago and snapping at other Alibi patrons, she finally took Lip’s advice and went to a meeting, which will hopefully be the first step in her getting better before she likely decides to move somewhere as a way of writing off her character. Kelly breaking up with Carl because she thought he was being too clingy was predictable, but it doesn’t actually mean that she’s gone from the Gallagher family’s lives since she might still end up in a temporary or even permanent relationship with Debs instead. It’s sweet to see that Lip and Tami seem ready to do this thing together, overcoming certain challenges to decide what they both want. The blackout was a great way to bring everyone together and show the spirit of the south side, complete with a successful surf and turf special while Kev was most concerned about the state of his balls.

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