Monday, December 21, 2020

What I’m Watching: Shameless

Shameless: Season 11, Episode 3 “Frances Francis Franny Frank” (B+)

I like when this show veers towards the dramatic, and not just with siblings saying potentially unforgivable things to each other like what Lip accidentally let slip about Debs not being a good mother. I didn’t expect to feel sympathy towards Frank, but when that’s happened in the past, it’s always been surprisingly resonant, like when he helped a woman to die via orgasm. In this case, it’s clear that his memory might be fading, which isn’t too startling given the many things he’s done to impair it over the years. While he did not succeed in getting Franny to the right school, he did give her a great day and help her feel seen despite the need to do sometimes to do things for other people, like make her mom happy by wearing a dress. There was plenty of arguing over the course of this hour with unreasonable expectations, like Debs thinking everyone else would just pick up the slack without her having an explicit plan for Franny and Tami assuming that the Gallaghers would all pull together to pay for the baby’s medical expenses. She should have just gone straight to Mickey, who got himself the best job possible as personal security and professional launderer for Veronica and Kev, who could really use it given his asinine behavior that got him robbed. Carl hasn’t luck finding a moderate or typical partner, but Leesie seems to check many of the boxes that he needs even if she doesn’t seem quite as concerned without the letter of the law.

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