S10.E06: Adios Gringos

[ElectricBoogaloo]

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Frank and Liam get wined and dined by potential baby buyers; Carl comes up with a strategy to protect Anne's family business; Ian gets on Paula's bad side; Debbie fights to protect Franny from Pepa.

Promo:

Clip:

Original air date: 12/15/19

[Christina]

This show has never even attempted to get legal things correct, but based on that preview, Pepa is getting partial custody? No, no she wouldn't. If Illinois had some type of grandparent rights, which few states do and I didn't look it up, Derek's parents could get a visitation schedule because of his death. But back when his Mom tried to get custody she was shut down. That storyline is stupid. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

It's a good thing I already hate Debbie, or that line telling Franny to stab a dog would have been it for me. That's not shameless behavior, that's psychopath behavior and not funny at all. I'm probably going to skip it until I get a chance to read the reviews here. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Oh, Frank, you taught Liam too well. Now the student has become the master. Or he would have if that couple hadn't run off with the baby.

Tammy's irrational jealousy annoyed me. Sorry, but squeezing someone's arm is not always "I WANT TO HAVE SEX WIT YOU." I guess we're stuck with them as a couple now that they're living together in the RV. It was surprisingly generous of Debbie to loan Lip the money for that. Then again, it's good for everyone to have three less people in the house.

Is Kevin really THAT dumb? He doesn't have the cognitive ability to change the Michael Jackson story to fit with his coach? Come on.

How does anyone forget how to do the electric slide?

[scrb]

The Tami story is lame.  Now all 3 brothers may have long term relationships but Lip can’t exactly move out?

Of course if there’s stability there may also be a chance for progress so it can’t last, because apparently they will keep the show on the air until the kids can collect social security.

meanwhile Debbie has to resort to shenanigans to get money.

same old, same old.

[chabelisaywow]

I liked that the Gonzalez family was inspired (by Carl!) to find a new gig!

I hope the baby is ok!

How many babies did Katey Sagal's character have? 

[link417]

18 minutes ago, chabelisaywow said:

How many babies did Katey Sagal's character have? 

I would like the answer to this, as well. I thought it was something crazy, like six kids, but then her ex only showed up with two babies.

I’m not a religious watcher, though, so I’m sure something happened that I either forgot or missed completely. 

The Tammy character is becoming annoying, but god bless her for agreeing to move into the RV. Poor Lip is honestly trying his hardest to make it work, but no way would I move into an RV with an infant! I’d get cabin fever on day one.

[LibertarianSlut]

3 hours ago, chabelisaywow said:

How many babies did Katey Sagal's character have? 

She was pregnant with six, but agreed to "reduce" to two after a long battle.

With two babies...I keep wondering why Frank didn't go for both upon realization that he could monetize them. Randy doesn't want either; he agreed to keep the one as a compromise. Next episode perhaps?

[Chaos Theory]

Debbie was with her welding job where Lip was at College,   A few steps away from being able to move away from the family and Frank forever.   So something has to give to bring them both back to zero again.   Lip had an affair with a married teacher and self destructed from there.   Debbie welding friends are on strike which means no money is coming in.    Of course Debbie could find another job but she runs into a woman making a living off the system and the Gallagher part of her brain kicks in and she self destructs from there. 

Edited December 16, 2019 by Chaos Theory

[Robert Lynch]

I think this show should quit while it is ahead. The kids are already too old for this and everyone is phoning it in.

[CarpeFelis]

I suppose a little realism is WAY too much to expect from this show, but I laughed so hard when Tami went out in that form-fitting dress with a perfectly flat stomach. No woman who’s given birth as recently as she has would look like that.

[iMonrey]

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I suppose a little realism is WAY too much to expect from this show, but I laughed so hard when Tami went out in that form-fitting dress with a perfectly flat stomach. No woman who’s given birth as recently as she has would look like that.

Heh. My sister did. She has always been skinny, and really only gained weight in that one spot. A week after she had the baby she was wearing belts again.

That said, no, realism and this show have not met. What are the odds Mickey would be released right after Ian? And after they made a big deal out of their goodbyes in prison and Mickey's magnanimous gesture? 

Does anyone like Tami? Who thought it would be a good idea to stick Lip with such an abrasive and unsympathetic character? 

The whole thing with Carl and Anne seems to be there just to service an immigration issue story. They never explained why he couldn't pursue a career in the military, they just wanted him stuck in a dead-end job so he could meet someone like Anne and they swept his other girlfriend under the rug. No way the other siblings would have tolerated Anne's entire family living in that house with a newborn baby and a toddler. 

They just don't know what to do with Kevin and Vee anymore, and Frank's shenanigans got old about five seasons ago. I knew the black couple was going to run off with the baby the minute they asked for alone time with it. Surely Frank has their names and address since he was pretending there was some kind of application process. Calling the cops might be problematic but he could certainly show up at their door.

This thing with Debbie and Peppa doesn't make a lick of sense either. Once Peppa agree to hand over the money she had zero motivation to follow through with partial custody of Frannie. Hopefully that's over now.

[luckylou]

This show should have ended years ago.  It has become tiresome, it has been unrealistic for years and years, and it has never been attuned to actual laws.

I guess it keeps on going because....why?  Does anyone still watch?  Is it super cheap to make?  Did the British original keeping going and going like this (probably...)   Emmy Rossum was wise to call it quits,  but I have not seen her elsewhere, so maybe not.  

[LibertarianSlut]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

The whole thing with Carl and Anne seems to be there just to service an immigration issue story. They never explained why he couldn't pursue a career in the military, they just wanted him stuck in a dead-end job so he could meet someone like Anne

I liked your whole post, but I wanted to comment especially on the paragraph above:  what the fuck happened with Carl's military storyline?  I know he graduated and the school master or whoever had some choice words for Carl, but...so what?  He graduated from military school.  He can't now use the degree because someone at the school didn't like him?  Yeah, cause that's how it works...

Do the showrunners think that all people other who originated from Latin America other than Anne are here illegally or something?  Because that's how they're portrayed now and that's how they've been portrayed in the past and it's very weird.  

The identity politics on this show have become so weird in general.  Vee made potato salad that has Asian ingredients and the upper class doctors speculated that the person who brought it probably wore a MAGA hat and called the police on their cookout?  Is that how normal conversations operate?  I thought they were implying the potato salad was too bougie?  Where does a MAGA hat come in with bougie?  Two totally different concepts.  In real life, wouldn't the doctor-commenters just pass over the food they didn't want, and maybe someone would comment, like, "ooh, someone got really excited about their potato salad" with maybe an eyeroll factored in?  They're doctors; I don't think they've only been exposed to hot dogs and hamburgers.  I just don't know what that was about other than a conduit for...

Causing Vee to go into a crisis about her forgotten blackness, because she also forgot the electric slide? Which was remedied by her mom giving her a crash course, for Vee to give her daughters a crash course?

That's not...anything.  It's not funny or amusing or witty or an ironic take on life.  The writers are just so obsessed with race that they're not trying to do anything with it, except shove it in our faces.  Humor can definitely be found on the topic of racial differences.  Issa Rae does it really well.  She'll just be like, "is that, like, a white thing?" and she'll pause and it'll be awkward and funny and then she moves on to other funny topics.  This is just lame. (Good to see Dominique is ok though).

Kev's SL was stupid; I'm not even going to get into it.  Tammi and Lip--whatever.  Damnit, I always fall for Lip when he makes gestures from the heart, like the RV.  It is such a stupid idea--and weren't they looking at nice apartments last season?  What happened to that?--but Lip is really good in these unselfish scenes.  I don't hate Tammi; I think she and Lip deserve each other (I mean, she's better than Mandy and Karen), but that was some really lame shit that Tammi guesses she and Lip "are together" since she struck out at the bar, and she just agreed to move into a shitty RV with him.  So...if you hadn't struck out at the bar?  This would be a different conversation?  Good to know.

Looks like Ole Lip quit smoking.  Shocking.  I am with Tammi when it comes to the upper arm squeeze.  It can be nothing.  It can also be something.  If it's not done by a much older woman who is a relative, I'm not sure why it would be done.  I'm a woman, and if I had a platonic male friend who was going through a lot, it wouldn't occur to me to squeeze his arm at all, and I definitely wouldn't do it in front of his on-again, off-again, if for some odd reason I was going to do it, out of respect.  And if someone who wasn't a blood relation did it to my man?  I'd probably tell him that I don't trust her, she went overboard in her "friendly" gesture, and unless she wants to talk it out with me, he is free to see me or her, not both (when I mean "see," I mean "date."  Obviously Lip can have his arm sequeezed--or any part of his body squeezed--and I'd still let him see his child).  But I'm just guarded like that.  Chalk it up to once bitten, twice shy, so I can see Tammi's point, not saying she's in the right.

I enjoyed Liam and Frank in the hotel with the baby.  A lot of good lines, and a story, and conflict, and I like them together.  Notice how this storyline has to do with race--changing the baby's outfit for the Asians, wearing special ties for the Africans--but since it's not just about race, it's about a lot of things, it flows?  

That kiss between Carl and Anne with the smushed tamales was gross, but I am so proud of the storyline.  This is Shameless.  The tamale wars forced Anne and her family into a tight corner, so they did something innovative and different.  In any other time since season eight, they would have just had a physical altercation with the other Mexicans, won, and gotten to sell their tamales.  Now they are forced to use their brains, sell vegan tamales to white yuppies, and make enough money to move.  I enjoyed this thoroughly.

Deb...whatever.  It didn't really do it for me.  It would have been funnier and taken up less time from the plot if Deb had just borrowed a red-headed kid from someone she knew.  There is no way the foster home would have just had an open house like that in the park.  It's a siren call to sex offenders.  I guess I would have liked the time to be spent more on Pepa actually trying to care for the child.

I'm not sure what I got out of Ian's storyline other than it's interesting that Mickie seemed to get the best PO and Ian the worst, and I look forward to seeing how that will play out.  Another score for the show was Ian, at the end, just driving the ambulance past a person who needed help.  I need these people to be jaded.  It's like drinking decaf coffee if they're not.  

It was a pretty solid episode for what I guess I call the post-Laundromat days.  So glad Mikey's gone!!

[iMonrey]

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I guess it keeps on going because....why?  Does anyone still watch?  Is it super cheap to make? 

Possibly because they have a licensing deal with Netflix. Botton line, someone is still making money off of it.

And it's frustrating, because I feel like there is still story to tell. I am still invested in most of the characters, but the writing is creatively bankrupt. 

I think Frank should have ridden off into the sunset with Sheila about five seasons ago. He could have returned for guest appearances, kind of like how Monica always popped in and out. But the show will not let go of the idea that William H. Macy is the big draw, and his antics aren't funny anymore. 

Incidentally, the shot of him eyeing the babies and seeing the cartoon dollars dancing over their heads was something I would have once said was beneath this show. 

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what the fuck happened with Carl's military storyline?  I know he graduated and the school master or whoever had some choice words for Carl, but...so what?  He graduated from military school.  He can't now use the degree because someone at the school didn't like him?  Yeah, cause that's how it works...

I think military school was initially a plot device to write Carl off the show so Ethan Cutkosky could finish school. Now that he's back full time there really isn't much they can do with the military unless he's segregated off on his own story in a different location. And I get that. But they were in such a rush to throw this Anne story together they glossed over a lot of important character and plot points.

[scrb]

They probably took the military thing as far as they could.

If Carl was going away, then they'd have to drastically reduce his presence on the show or maybe remove his character altogether.

So apparently they decided they'll keep the character rather than find a new regular cast member.

[chabelisaywow]

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 He graduated from military school.  He can't now use the degree because someone at the school didn't like him?

Isn't what he received the equivalent of a high school diploma? 

[preeya]

9 hours ago, Robert Lynch said:

I think this show should quit while it is ahead. The kids are already too old for this and everyone is phoning it in.

And Frank's "schtick" has been done over and over again, to the point where it is quite unbearable.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

13 hours ago, LibertarianSlut said:

Vee made potato salad that has Asian ingredients and the upper class doctors speculated that the person who brought it probably wore a MAGA hat and called the police on their cookout?  

They were assuming it was made by a BBQ Becky type of person because V made a goop recipe for potato salad with pears and cranberries (no Asian ingredients were mentioned).

[Robert Lynch]

I think the reason why William H. Macy is there because they are paying him more money than his former co-star, Emmy Rossum. I remembered Emmy was complaining about last season.

[LibertarianSlut]

4 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

They were assuming it was made by a BBQ Becky type of person because V made a goop recipe for potato salad with pears and cranberries (no Asian ingredients were mentioned).

Ok, I read the link--apparently a white woman called the police on black people who were barbecuing and the police thought she was crazy--and I still fail to see the comparison between that, and a salad that had fruit added to it.  

Nothing about that suggests 'white' or 'black' to me.  If they were trying to say it was bougie, which is what I think they were trying to get at, they missed the mark.  On another Showtime show, The Chi, there is a black chef who makes elaborate food like that, and his friends and family love it.  No one suggests that he's white, or wearing a MAGA hat.

I just feel like it was shoehorned dialogue, because it's hard for this show to go more than one scene without bringing race into the picture, whether it's a racial topic or not.

[iMonrey]

4 hours ago, Robert Lynch said:

I think the reason why William H. Macy is there because they are paying him more money than his former co-star, Emmy Rossum. I remembered Emmy was complaining about last season.

Both Macy and Rossum lobbied for her to get the same salary for her last season, and she got it (or close to it). Then she quit. Go figure.

I do wonder where Macy's head is at though. Is he simply happy to collect a weekly paycheck at this point? Does he actually think the show is still good? Does he live in some sort of bubble where everyone is telling him everything is just great? I'd like to think he could look objectively at the writing and see how stale and repetitive it's has gotten, especially for his character. 

[chabelisaywow]

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I do wonder where Macy's head is at though.

Regardless of the writing - I think he works with what he is given.  I invariably cringe whenever he is on screen.  He looks like he smells.  lol I think he is very method. 

[Robert Lynch]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Both Macy and Rossum lobbied for her to get the same salary for her last season, and she got it (or close to it). Then she quit. Go figure.

I do wonder where Macy's head is at though. Is he simply happy to collect a weekly paycheck at this point? Does he actually think the show is still good? Does he live in some sort of bubble where everyone is telling him everything is just great? I'd like to think he could look objectively at the writing and see how stale and repetitive it's has gotten, especially for his character. 

Probably the money.

[taanja]

On 12/16/2019 at 12:45 PM, LibertarianSlut said:

  It was a pretty solid episode for what I guess I call the post-Laundromat days.  So glad Mikey's gone!!

I agree. And I like the "post laundromat days!" good one.

I wouldn't watch if this show didn't still entertain me. I have never understood the hate watch thing. Life it too short and I have too many channels and choices to watch what I don't like.

Anyway -- Kev and Vee were never really my favorites -- IMO their story arcs are pretty much filler-- so lame. But the potato salad thing was funny. When Vee was making that shit I was like---what kind of potato salad doesn't have potatoes? Ugh!

Frank and Liam selling the baby was great! Haha! He is definitely a Gallagher - in fact -- he out Gallaghered Frank!

That little foster child and her red-haired sister were perfect. In fact the older one seemed very Gallagher too. Are we sure she isn't really Frank's long lost child? Or Lips? Or hell! Even Carls?

I've always had a soft spot for Micky and Ian. Those two kids are so cute!

[CarpeFelis]

Anybody else wondering if the couple who disappeared with the baby were really looking to buy a baby, or if they’re also planning to sell him?

[taanja]

18 hours ago, CarpeFelis said:

Anybody else wondering if the couple who disappeared with the baby were really looking to buy a baby, or if they’re also planning to sell him?

Yeah I did. And Frank didn't actually get paid, right? It looked to me like they took off before payment was ever made.

I do wonder about this eternal summer in Chicago???  It;s been 3 - 4 season of summer (one of the characters actually said in this ep that it was "summer") I miss when they actually filmed in winter. It made it seem more real.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I guess we live in an RV now:

 

[Kip Hackman]

On 12/16/2019 at 12:50 PM, luckylou said:

I guess it keeps on going because....why?  Does anyone still watch? 

I finally tapped out after this episode. Not because it was worse than any of the other S10 episodes, but because I realized that I don't care about any of these people anymore. Or what happens to them.