S10.E11: Location, Location, Location

[ElectricBoogaloo]

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Frank finds a cushy place to make his new home; Lip gets cold feet when Tami moves forward with a plan for their future; Ian sees a new side of Mickey; Debbie's love triangle reaches a breaking point.

Promo:

Clip:

Original air date: 1/19/20

[Petunia13]

Groomzilla Alert! 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I knew Lip wouldn't leave the south side! I don't blame Tami for being mad at him because he could have told her that before she quit her job and started making plans. He seemed fully on board when they visited the house so she had no reason to think that he was going to back out.

Mickey's anger about the chiavari chairs cracked me up. I had them at my wedding but only because the venue where we had the reception had only one chair vendor and those were the chairs we were allowed to use. I actually didn't care one way or another about the chairs because they're just chairs. As long as you can sit on them, they're fine with me. I mean, honestly, how many wedding reception chairs do you have specific memories of?

I'm glad that Debbie's girlfriend figured out what was going on and ended things. I didn't need that double crossing going on forever. But the girlfriend and her daughter need some counseling because sleeping with someone to get back at your mom is a lot.

I was kind of hoping the house really was haunted because Frank sucks. At least he relented and went to Liam's school so he wouldn't get kicked out. It seems like the very least he could do but as we know, Frank usually can't bring himself to do even the bare minimum.

[scrb]

See that's the problem with the Gallaghers.  They're so co-dependent.  They had to concoct a reason for Fiona to leave because the actress had a salary dispute.

But otherwise, they all stay around each other.  Especially Lip, who had many opportunities to better himself, make a better life, maybe even help his siblings.  Instead, as we've seen, they self-sabotage.

Yeah they had to rationalize, Lip didn't want to become beholden to her family, for his home, his job, his life.  So being beholden to his family is better?

The contempt in Tami's face isn't about her nail salon job but she sees what a weak-willed coward her baby daddy is.  She may justifiably conclude that she doesn't want her son growing up around all these co-dependent losers.

Then Lip could become single again and have more sexy hijinks.  They'll probably get back together but I don't know, they've depicted her as the dominant one in the relationship so she's going to surrender and move into that shitty house?

Edited January 19, 2020 by scrb

[preeya]

I've come to the realization that without Frank's bullshit, I could deal with the rest of the story lines. They are not great but they entertain me 100x more than the repetitive "Frank Schtick."

Wasn't too hard to figure out Lip wasn't going anywhere. He'll probably be Ian's best man.

I hope Tami leaves and never comes back.

Carl is really dumb.

[chabelisaywow]

2 hours ago, preeya said:

I hope Tami leaves and never comes back.

YUP - she was not sympathetic to his sobriety at all. It would have been easier if they killed her off. 

Edited January 20, 2020 by chabelisaywow

[Chaos Theory]

One of the things I HATE about British tv shows is the heavy character turnover just to be edgy.  One of the reasons I like the American version of Being Human better then the British version.

One of the things I HATE about American tv shows is that they often refuse to write out characters even when it starts to make sense to do so.   One of the reasons I like the British Version of Shameless more then the American version.  

[iMonrey]

I agree they definitely should have killed off Tami. She's an abrasive, off-putting character and she adds nothing to the show. It's actually not a bad idea to buy a run-down house like that and flip it. Look at the gentrification that has been going on in their neighborhood.

Thank God this dumb thing with Debbie and the mother-daughter combo is over. I can't believe they were actually ripping off Mrs. Doubtfire by having her run back and forth between dates. 

[scrb]

They made the actress playing Tami a regular so presumably she will be around through the finish.

I didn't like her cocky, abrasive personality at first.

But now, I'm thinking she has joined the family to potentially change things up.  She wasn't going to let Lip skip out on the medical bills and didn't want to be holed up in that house raising her son with all the siblings and whomever they invited to crash there.

Lip wasn't going to grow up, just continue the same patterns, stay close to home.  She's challenging all that, because if she was a shrinking violet, the Gallaghers would steamroll her.

Lip's a father now.  It would be lame if he lived with his family until he was 30.  Even until 25.  He might as well become Frank in that case.

I know we're suppose to be in love with all the hijinks, how "shameless" they are in the things they do, pull off.  But if they're still trying to screw the man over 10, 20, 30 years from now, how are they any different or better than Frank, whom they loathe?

 

 

[Lone Wolf]

There's actually a name for the trope in which a character schedules dates with two people at the same time.  It's called the Two-Timer Date, and I saw it coming up the Dan Ryan as soon as Debbie said that she wanted to choose the restaurant.  I think it dates back to I Love Lucy, or in other words, the beginning of recorded time.

'Nuff said.

 

[madhacker]

the only thing i hope is that when hopefully ian and mickey do get married the writers pull a surprise appearance from Fiona. But knowing them right afterwards the cartel shoots Mickey in a drive by

[preeya]

28 minutes ago, madhacker said:

the only thing i hope is that when hopefully ian and mickey do get married the writers pull a surprise appearance from Fiona. But knowing them right afterwards the cartel shoots Mickey in a drive by

Or his father will do the shooting.

Fiona is history.  They'll write a congratulatory text message from her to Ian.

The bigger question will Frank be there with his new "Yard Guy" buddy?

[ladle]

This episode was awful. 

[iMonrey]

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Lip wasn't going to grow up, just continue the same patterns, stay close to home.  She's challenging all that, because if she was a shrinking violet, the Gallaghers would steamroll her.

Lip had a stable influence in Amanda and he ended up dumping her like yesterday's garbage. He doesn't have a history of showing growth just because he's sleeping with someone who is trying to better him. Maybe it will be different now with a baby but we've been down this road before.

[BigDfromLA]

12 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Lip had a stable influence in Amanda and he ended up dumping her like yesterday's garbage. He doesn't have a history of showing growth just because he's sleeping with someone who is trying to better him. Maybe it will be different now with a baby but we've been down this road before.

Amanda was my all time favorite of Lip's girlfriends. She was also the cutest. I'd love to see her come back, as a post-college young adult. Lip would be a lot more receptive to Amanda now that he's more mature, than he was as a hyper, drunk, immature college student.

Edited January 22, 2020 by BigDfromLA

[LibertarianSlut]

On 1/20/2020 at 8:58 PM, ladle said:

This episode was awful. 

So awful.  This show has gotten so bad that I had decided to stop commenting on it, but I was doing something mindless before, and Deb’s Mrs Doubtfire drama jumped into my head, and it was like the straw that broke the camel’s back and the dam burst:

Was there any fucking reason in the world that Debbie had to keep putting the bow tie on and tearing it off while racing between engagements other than Crazy Shameless Hijinx?  She went to a lesbian dinner with a woman’s tuxedo on.  I doubt that a bow tie would have caused anyone to connect the dots and say, “hey, a bow tie!  I would have never suspected it, but now that there’s a bow tie involved, you must be two-timing me on my daughter in the hotel across the street!”?  

Now that the vault is open, I have to say that the writers fucked up yet again.  Frank didn’t have to go to Liam’s school to keep him enrolled.  At the time the principal gave Liam the ultimatum, he gave him three options to stay in school, and only one of them involved bringing a parent to the school grounds.  Maybe Liam was lying because he missed Frank, but that’s not his style, so I chalk it up to a writing room FAIL, though I do sympathize how hard it must be to remember the dynamics of a storyline that originated one or two whole episodes ago.  

Lip is such a loser.  I would have no idea what Amanda would want with him at this point in time.  His Stockholm Syndrome is so bad that he has to say that he can’t move to a city that has a team called The Brewers, as it would affect his sobriety?  There are reasons not to want to move to Milwaukee.  That doesn’t crack the top 100.  

I can’t talk about Mickey and his eleventh hour full personality transplant.  And I guess Ian’s bipolar has just up and vanished, as chronic, hereditary, violent, dangerous psychiatric conditions often do.  

The only things mildly redeeming about the episode was Frank freebasing with the other freeloader, and Mickey’s cousin.  

Oh, and I am waiting with baited breath to see how Carl’s undercover garbage man-cum-real estate investing storyline turns out.  Really.  I mean, this is some exciting, interesting, well-written, edge-of-your-seat shit.  

At this point, with one episode left, I am just like the little engine that could, chugging uphill:  “I think I can, I think I can...”

[ElectricBoogaloo]

3 hours ago, LibertarianSlut said:

Now that the vault is open, I have to say that the writers fucked up yet again.  Frank didn’t have to go to Liam’s school to keep him enrolled.  At the time the principal gave Liam the ultimatum, he gave him three options to stay in school, and only one of them involved bringing a parent to the school grounds.  Maybe Liam was lying because he missed Frank, but that’s not his style, so I chalk it up to a writing room FAIL, though I do sympathize how hard it must be to remember the dynamics of a storyline that originated one or two whole episodes ago.  

Frank wouldn't have had to go to school in person if he were a normal parent but because he's Frank, that was the only option. Liam made Frank do it because he didn't want to get dumped into foster care again (or have CPS poking around into their family again since his two legal guardians don't even live in the house at this time).

School administrator: We don't have current proof of residency on file for you. 
Liam: So? 
School administrator: So how are we supposed to know you ain't committing fraud so you can go to this school?
Liam: You think someone would commit fraud to attend this shit hole?
School administrator: My job is tied to how much paperwork is completed and how many files are current so if your dad, Francis Gallagher, could just bring us a copy of his valid state-issued ID.
Liam: He doesn't have a valid state ID.
School administrator: Okay, then copies of two utility bills in his name.
[Liam shakes his head]
School administrator: All right, then he's going to have to come in and sign this form attesting to his residence. If we don't get this, I'll have to remove you from school while we investigate this as a fraud case.
Liam: A vacation from this school? What's the downside?
School administrator: Any student removed from school triggers an automatic review by CPS. See the downside of a month or two in a state-run group home?

[LibertarianSlut]

I thought Liam was fibbing about Frank not having an ID, so as to perhaps avoid the situation altogether. Frank would needed to have a valid state-issued ID or he wouldn’t have access to the account Debbie set up in his name at the beginning of the season.

Also, when the principal said the “parent Frank Gallagher” would have to come in and attest to being a parent, and this is the time my husband I both both said, “oh, he can bring anyone in to sign Frank’s name.” We thought the story was going to go there, and Liam was going to bring the black mentor guy from earlier in the season to sign the name, or anyone.

So my takeaway was that Liam didn’t need Frank. Just another plot hole.

[ladle]

Stupid question, but wasn't there an episode in an early season in which Fiona was made their legal guardian?  Or am I hallucinating this?  

[ElectricBoogaloo]

7 hours ago, ladle said:

Stupid question, but wasn't there an episode in an early season in which Fiona was made their legal guardian?  Or am I hallucinating this?  

Yes, Fiona was made the legal guardian of all the kids in S3 (back when they were all still under 18) but Frank retained his parental rights. That's why I said in my above post that Liam has two legal guardians but neither of them currently live in the Gallagher house.

[msrachelj]

Does the actress who plays Mickey’s sister, I think she is, have some kind of illness ? Or is  the greasy balding hair Supposed  to signify she’s a drug addict, although that thinning looks like it’s real, and she’s so young, I hope it’s reversible. 
And there’s no way that beautiful old grand house belonging to a woman with a Rolls-Royce and loads of money would not have a security system!

Edited January 28, 2020 by msrachelj
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[ElectricBoogaloo]

On 1/28/2020 at 7:58 AM, msrachelj said:

the actress who plays Mickey’s sister

Sandy is Mickey’s first cousin. Mandy (who we haven’t seen since S6) is his sister.

[TheRealT]

On 1/20/2020 at 1:09 AM, chabelisaywow said:

YUP - she was not sympathetic to his sobriety at all. It would have been easier if they killed her off. 

 

On 1/20/2020 at 12:11 PM, iMonrey said:

I agree they definitely should have killed off Tami. She's an abrasive, off-putting character and she adds nothing to the show. It's actually not a bad idea to buy a run-down house like that and flip it. Look at the gentrification that has been going on in their neighborhood.

Why didn't they kill her off? Or, more specifically, what was the point of the storyline with her getting a life-threatening infection after Fred's birth and being out of commission as a parent for a few episodes? After the first episode, I thought she was going to die for the storyline purpose of giving Lip a dramatic single dad story and freeing him up for sexy hijinks.

But the writers' actual intention was to set up some boring stories about Tami feeling like the baby hates her, them moving into a trailer temporarily, and them contemplating moving to Milwaukee? Seriously? Why? Did they really think the audience was invested in Tami and wanted some in-depth story about how she adjusted to parenthood? Why?