S05.E10: South Side Rules

[tennisgurl]

 

To be fair, it isn't realistic to expect any of these characters to have happily-ever-afters.

I don`t expect the show to have everyone living perfect, happy lives. I don't want everything all happy, and PC. That wouldn't be true to the show or the characters. I just feel like I enjoy watching the characters actually attempt to better their lives, even if just in small ways, or at least get involved in funny or interesting things. My big issue with the season so far, is that characters are making their typical bad choices, but we don't have any context, and they don't spend enough time with them to be really invested. Franks stuff has gotten old. They spend too much time with him. I get that he`s the truly shameless one in the bunch, but he cant shock me anymore with his awfulness. I am kind of interested in the Bianca stuff, because its different. Sammi is just a waste of a character. She isn't likable or interesting, so when she does fucked up stuff, its just annoying. So we get a million scenes of Sammi being ridiculous, and a few scenes with Ian, V, Carl, and other major characters. Why are we spending so much time with this minor character, while the long time ones are left out cold?  

 

 

She still has to go to work and leave the kids to their own devices. That's what she's always done. She volunteered to take on custody just so they wouldn't wind up in foster care.

Its fine for her to go to work and have her own life. And I don't mind her making awful choices. I loved her story last year, even when it was hard to watch. I cut her a ton of slack. But this year, her story is just boring. And she is basically leaving her siblings to fend for themselves, which she never even did as their big sister. have I mentioned her romances are boring? And this show should be a lot of things, but it should never be boring. 

Edited March 25, 2015 by tennisgurl

[india wilkes]

 

Why are we spending so much time with this minor character, while the long time ones are left out cold?

When you get the answer to that, please let me know! I've been wondering that too! 

[Lastwaltz]

I wonder what will happen to Sammi now -- beyond just getting tossed from the house. I sort of hope Mickey will kill her, lol. 

 

I love Lip starting to embrace the 'gifts dropped at his feet." If that sexy prof serves no other purpose than to give Lip a reality check, she's fine by me. The mother in me was aching for him to do the right thing and get those trippy kids to a hospital -- that spice stuff is notoriously dangerous, right? -- but the Shameless fan in me was so very glad that he didn't get arrested for it. 

 

I hope that's the last I see of Amanda. 

 

DEBS, why, you idiot?? Although I love Fiona and think she's doing the best she can, please, Fiona, get a grip on Debbie before she's completely lost. Although it's probably already too late. 

[paramitch]

I found this episode just so upsetting in so many ways, especially to watch Ian taken away after the really lovely and needed respite with Mickey. The two actors just kill their scenes together, so Sammi's actions definitely were a kick in the stomach.

 

Yet while I find Sammi reprehensible, I do think there was a lack of Gallagher response to her legitimate upset last week. I certainly buy that Sammi (who is every bit as unbalanced in her own way as Monica or Ian) would act out -- I actually feared/expected that she would shoot one of the kids. Her only child Chuck (who is certainly special-needs at Forrest Gump levels) was duped by his desire to help his heroic uncle Carl (who saved him from bullies) and he now faces at least 2 months in juvie. Worst of all, the entire situation was set up by Carl, and further by Frank. I actually feel kind of sorry for Sammi, even if I find her incredibly icky and loathsome. I understand why she's completely bonkers at the moment -- she's no brain surgeon herself and all she knows is eye-for-an-eye.

 

What sucks is that I love Emily Bergl and have for years, so to watch her play this utterly loathsome person is tough, yet she does imbue Sammi with these moments of warmth and humor that have me rooting for her (most memorably during what we thought were Frank's last days and all the other kids had left her to manage him, albeit understandably, alone).

 

She can be so believably warm-hearted, but with this action I do think she's gone too far--I do not expect Sammi to survive this. Mickey's vengeance will be Biblical. On the plus side, I do think we'll get Ian back -- he was underage and mentally ill, so any decent lawyer is going to get him off.

 

Meanwhile: I really get those who dislike Deb this and other recent seasons. I used to love her. Now I can barely watch her scenes at all. I can't stand what the writers have done with her. 

 

More than any other character on "Shameless," for me, Deb is the character the writers have let down in the past few seasons. There's been none of the sensitivity shown to her coming of age that was shown to other characters.

 

And worst of all, while yes, this is "Shameless," watching  13 year-old girl try to seduce and then ultimately rape a 20 year-old, then decide to jump right into her next relationship with the express goal of getting pregnant... It's upset me on a level that has made me question (yet again, endlessly) why I watch this show.

 

I grew up like most of the Gallagher kids, and it was pretty much that bleak. But what I gained from it, and what I feel the "Shameless" writers lack, is that for instance as a direct outcome of my environment, I had this ferocious control over my own sexuality and circumstances. I was a lot like Deb (pre-puberty) but I was determined to get out of there NOT pregnant and with all the scholarships, etc., that I needed.

 

So to watch smart, sweet nurturing Deb of previous years become this nasty-tempered idiot who was suddenly so driven by hormones that she raped an unconscious guy and kept a virginity banner in her room and (now) is actively trying to get pregnant because of some girl's comment at a barbecue? I just don't buy it, even from a TV character.

 

I bought that Deb was so desperate for attention that she'd sleep with her new boyfriend, even if it dismayed me. But I also liked her being upfront and going to Planned Parenthood with Fiona, who at least was doing her part to seeing that the Gallagher household did not gain yet another hopeless, screaming mouth to feed. I really dislike the Deb of last season and this, and hate the way she's evolving -- I think it lacks nuance or a real understanding of adolescent female sexuality -- but I kind of got it and could go along with it dramatically.

 

Until now. Deb's scene at the barbecue and afterward just struck me as hopelessly over the top and not believable (nor did the rape of not too long ago). Deb isn't stupid, that's her charm. And while I know hormones make us all stupid, I was at least hoping to see a Deb these writers would do the right thing toward, and who would be responsible with her new sexuality in a way that was believable, as Deb has always been mature when it comes to 'managing' or researching consequences (although her decisions have been so skeevy to watch I admit that I can barely take the show anymore).

 

But here Deb's tossing away her newfound freaking pills to "join" her boyfriend's family, and the timing just isn't believable to me. I'd have believed it after some horrible trigger event -- Fiona's arrest, or Ian's arrest, but not where it fell here. As it is, it just feels jarring and overly prurient, overly shocking and "Shameless." The Deb of the first 4-5 seasons of this show would have been smarter about her newfound sexuality than what we've seen, or so I feel. And no way would her brothers have simply shrugged at a 20 year-old boyfriend OR the new guy sleeping in her room.

 

As far as Fiona and Sean, I like him a lot (and have a soft spot for cello-playing Dermot Mulroney)--I just wish they hadn't put her together with a genuinely terrific guy as her other choice. I also think Sean has almost been too persuasive to the point that I'd rather see them as friends (which I've enjoyed) versus lovers, although I think they have ridiculously smoking chemistry together. I wish good things for Sean -- and for Fiona -- and together, I fear that the show is (rather heavy-handedly) telling us there's no happy ending possible for them. I hope I'm wrong.

Edited March 25, 2015 by paramitch

[BonnieD]

 

I get that she's lacking structure and stability (Jeez Fiona)

I especially like how Fiona makes some remark about raising 5 kids when she ISN'T doing that at all! I miss the early seasons where she really did her best to supply what they needed and be there for them. Now she only drops into the house about once an episode if that. She's gotten worse instead of better.They've changed her character to a point where she's almost impossible to root for. Ditto Debbie no longer being "the smart one" and looking after herself and the family. Suddenly they're writing her dumb, or at least as if she's given up. She no longer tries to make sure bills get paid and food is on the table like she used to. Remember when she used to run the day care? Although I guess this new lack of initative could be seen as teenage rebellion.

 

The show seems so intent on finding out what new level of ick they can sink to. What else they can throw at the audience. That they forget about consistent character presentation. Or maybe the point of it all is that such a dysfunctional family can only unravel more and more and can never find any lasting happiness or comfort in life.

[Sisygambis]

With regards to Fiona being so absent from the household, I almost felt like the "Where Were You" bumper at the beginning was being used to drive the point home. The bumpers were reused a lot during the first 3 seasons, but season 4 and 5 have had very specific, unique for each episode openers.  The one this week with Fiona talking about raising 5 kids felt very deliberately used to accentuate that she isn't actually raising the kids right now - at one point in the ep, even though last week she told Sammi to get out, she's all disgusted that Sammi isn't doing housework.

 

I'm hoping this is leading somewhere - maybe to a confrontation between Fiona and Debbie, or Fiona doing some soul searching about where her life is going  - maybe she will face up to her own problems?

[paramitch]

I'm kind of in the middle on Fiona and her presence in the house. I do feel like she's there a good deal of the time, and we do see her actively attempting to be present for whatever the others need, as with Ian and Deb, etc. As icky as Sammi is, until Carl's latest shenanigans, she was routinely and pretty capably handling the caretaking duties -- breakfasts for the kids, packing lunches, etc., and since she's otherwise homeless, it felt like a believable trade. 

 

So I feel like Fiona's kinda-sorta moving in with Gus could be seen two ways -- one, as a way for the writers to inject more romance and drama into Fiona's storyline -- and two -- and perhaps more believably, as an understandable opportunity for Fiona to simply get a respite from that house.

 

While I don't believe Fiona would leave Liam (especially hampered by his neverending toddlerhood) in the care of Sammi to the degree that she has, what is believable to me is that Fiona would erroneously think that Deb and Carl probably don't need her that much at this point, when as we've seen with Deb, the reverse is actually true. So I kind of get that Fiona's used the opportunity to run off, however temporarily, especially when the whole marriage storyline has taken place over just a few weeks (and we still saw her going home many of those days as well).

 

What I'd really like to see in the future is some realization by Fiona that she does need to be there, that she is still the guardian (a tough road but one she signed up for) and that she's let the middle kids down this year, especially Deb, who really badly needs some sensible grownup female guidance beyond just trotting her down to Planned Parenthood.

Edited March 26, 2015 by paramitch

[Blue Castle]

One of the big problems with Fiona this year is that there was a lot happening with her and her choices and we never got to see it. She starts the season in 5x01 in her usual role as the Gallagher guardian (her legal role BTW), then she marries Gus. If this were the Shameless of series 1-4, her marriage would've involved discussions/arguments with the rest of her family, scenes of her deciding how to work out her marriage in regards to the kids, maybe a scene where Sammi offers to step in, and some stuff about changes in the household dynamics.

Instead Fiona gets married after knowing this guy for 2 weeks. No one bats an eye (remember how jimmy tried really hard to convince Fiona and the others that he could fit in with their family in season 1?). Fiona immediately seems to forget she's a legal guardian to three kids and acts like she could leave them no problem and move in with Gus. Sammi is suddenly taking care of everything? With no explanation? When none of them liked or trusted her last season? Then Ian kidnaps a baby, Carl gets arrested, Sammi rats out Carl, and there's no running water or food in the house? And Sammi is still living there? And Fiona is watering Gus' plants while Liam is being taken care of by...who exactly? Sammi? What is going on in Fiona's brain? Last season she was falling apart but I knew why and that entire season had this great exploration of Fiona's character. This season it's just a bunch of stuff that's happening to her. And I feel lucky when the character's behavior tracks from one week to the next. Most of the time it's just like there's a Fiona type person on my screen who's only there to juggle her four (five?) Different love interests.

There were a million continuity errors and missing scenes and character missteps this season and Fiona's story has been one of the worst imo.

[tennisgurl]

Ok so, two big issues with this season that have occurred to me:

 

Ian and Mickey. I follow a few entertainment accounts on Twitter that do a lot of Shameless stuff, and I sometimes browse Tumble, so I know that, before this season started, they were seriously hyping that pairing up. There was merchandise, hashtags, the cast and writers talked about how great they were, all kinds of stuff, most fans (including me) thought they were finally going to get a lot of screen time, work on their issues, and maybe even make physical contact. Cut to the actual season...and yeah. They got some stuff to do some stuff in episodes one and two, but after that? They get about three minutes of screen time until Ian stole the baby, then they continued to get almost no screen time apart OR together, until this episode, where their first real conversation, all season pretty much, is where Ian punches Mickey in the face, and calls him a f****. Ummmmm, yea? And they are still doing this! Look at the episode where Ian got committed. Almost all the trailers and promo stills focused on Ian in the psych ward. And they basically showed us everything, because there really wasn't much of it. I swear, I still cant believe the title "Tell me you fucking need me" wasn't about them. It was about Frank and Sammi. What is even the fuck? Its basically false advertising. Anyone just going by the trailers would think they were major characters...and they ARE major characters, just the writers are unaware of this. But they hardly get any scenes, and the ones they do get, always seem to get cut! Oh and...look I don't want to go here, but, it IS a bit odd that one the one couple that has been a couple for the whole season has had maybe two check kisses, one make out, and a cut away sex scene, whereas pretty much every other couple get constant kisses and sex scenes. But what is the difference? What is it about Ian and Mickey that is different than the other couples? What could it be....

 

So, I might be getting a little conspiracy theory here, but, is it possible that they are spending so much time on the wacky hijinks with Frank and Sammi, because they are submitted as a comedy now in the awards categories? I mean, it kind of explains a lot. Every time something serious might happen, they turn the camera to wackiness. Oh oh, Ian and Mickey might have a conversation about Ian`s mental state, or how Mickeys doing after telling off the man who raped and abused him! Too dramatic, cut to a wacky Sammi sex scene! Oh dear, Kev and V are having a conversation about their marriage! Get to Frank chasing an amputee child! Fiona and Lip discuss their family and their futures? Crap! Get Fiona into a pointless romantic subplot, and have Lip learn the same damn lesson 80 times. Mandy has an abusive boyfriend? That`s a downer! Have her leave the show with him! Just have Debbie rape her friend, and never learn anything! Its wacky! Cant have consequences! That wouldn't be funny! Apparently, they never really got that people loved this show because it was a DRAMADY. It was funny, but it could also be serious and show the real consequences of your actions. This show is never going to win an Emmy, no matter how many times you have Frank wake up naked in random places. Just deal with it, and write a good show!   

Edited March 27, 2015 by tennisgurl

[Slovenly Muse]

Hmmm, you might be on to something with that. Didn't they submit as a comedy last year, too? And they still pulled out all the stops with the Liam stuff and Fiona's breakdown... could be they're more cognizant this season about their show qualifying as a "comedy." Then again, we know from experience that the last two or three episodes in the season tend to be when ALL the crazy shit goes down, so until the season is finished, I'm not quite ready to judge it. I'm definitely psyched to see this all play out.

 

As for Ian and Mickey, I guess I'm in the minority, but I have really loved them this season. Yes, like many people I suspect, they are the main reason I watch the show. But I feel like their entire relationship has evolved so gradually and so beautifully, to the point where one tiny stolen kiss in a van during a robbery felt like an earth-shattering moment. The affection and love and trust between them has always been very evident, but confined to small moments, glances, actions, rather than words. And when the words do happen, man do they ever pack a punch! ("What you and I have, that makes me free.") So it seems a perfectly logical continuation of what has come before... giving Ian and Mickey short scenes that are so poignant and so telling about what they feel and how they express it the way only they can, is all the show has ever needed to do. In the short scenes they have, watching them touch each other, kiss each other openly after all that secrecy and fear, watching Mickey go through hell trying to manage Ian's disease on his own and still decide he's in for the count, interacting in meaningful ways with the other Gallaghers... I've found their story to be really compelling and affecting this season, even if the minutes on screen have been short. I almost feel like more/longer scenes with them might actually start to diminish the power of the scenes we do get, plus it leaves open the potential for further evolution, further build-build up in later seasons. Right from their hookups in season 1, I would have given ANYTHING to see this turn into the Ian and Mickey show! But they've done such a brilliant job stringing it along, putting us through the emotional wringer and creating massive drama out of subtle, understated moments, that I don't regret in the slightest not getting what I wanted! I guess, to put it simply, the pain (as an audience member) of wanting more than you're getting is part of what makes their story so powerful and compelling.

[Blue Castle]

 

So, I might be getting a little conspiracy theory here, but, is it possible that they are spending so much time on the wacky hijinks with Frank and Sammi, because they are submitted as a comedy now in the awards categories? I mean, it kind of explains a lot.

 

Hmm, I'm not sure. This show has always defined itself as a dramedy, I think--and I believe the showrunners are still aiming for that.  Ever since season one there have been tons of Frank's "humorous" storylines--that's never really changed.  He's always gotten too much screen time, he's always had stories that were trying to be funny but which really weren't.  I personally believe the big change this season in the show is due to the fact that John Wells took a step back and Nancy Pimental is the main showrunner now.  I think this is why so many characters are half-way unrecognizable and so many things appear only to be dropped with no explanation or follow through later--there's a new person running things and how she views the show is very different to what we previously had.

 

Regarding Mickey and Ian, I'm of two minds.  On the one hand until 5x10 they were the only characters who had a story I was enjoying this season so like Slovenly Muse I've been mostly happy with how the show has handled them.  How they both dealt with Ian's mental illness was handled really well.  They had very little screen time but their story made sense, it wasn't pointless, and they were in character (something that cannot be said of Fiona, Lip, or Debbie's season five stories).  On the other hand I completely agree with you, tennisgurl, that Mickey and Ian do get far too little screen time compared to the other pointless subplots we've had for most of the characters.  Since they do have an interesting story it would've been nice to see more of it instead of watching Frank and Sammi yelling at each other, Lip worrying about money until it dropped out of the sky, Fiona watering Gus' plants while her family is in shambles, and the gentrification subplot that went nowhere.  So I wish they'd had more scenes but at least their scenes were mostly good ones?  nd I'm not sure about this army plotline (it seems really contrived) but maybe it will be good, too (hopefully)?  I do think it's really weird how little onscreen affection is shown between them, though, when they are a couple who have been together since season one and they're massively in love.  I also did not appreciate having their first big romantic kiss of season five occur after Ian sucker punched Mickey and called him a f*****.

[Advance35]

I have to agree with you Slovenly Muse, I think Ian and Mickey do have one of the more poignant and effecting tales.   I don't really calculate screen time or anything else but I've felt like I'm getting a good look at their lives and where they are physically and emotionally.

 

I've never noticed a lack of affection or their displays of affection in relation to anyone else on the show because it's always seemed like Ian and Mickey WEREN'T openly affectionate people.   A large part of that is due to their environment.   I actually found the line "What you and I have makes me free" to be OOC at the time.  I was much more moved by the quiet scene Ian and Mickey had on the hood of the cop car when everyone had left (funnily enough they were both bruised and bloody at that point too).

[tennisgurl]

Oh, don't get me wrong. Ian and Mickey are by FAR the best thing about this season. They have the most consistent and interesting story line by a HUGE margin.  Five seconds with them touching foreheads sell them as a couple more than 100 scenes of Fiona banging Gus against the shower. Every time they show up, the show gets better. I guess i`m just greedy, and want more! 

[junemeatcleaver]

Ian and, by extension, the Mickey/Ian storyline, has been such a boring drag until the fight/date tonight.  I was waiting for someone, anyone, to tell Mickey to stop acting like a fucking nursemaid all the time and act more like Mickey Goddamn Milkovich.  And please, I hope Ian is more adjusted to his meds once he gets back from his (most likely) episode and a half stint in military jail, because I've had enough with the drug zombie stuff.  I don't get why the one thing they had to be true to life with was with how mood stabilizers can affect a person.  That is not compelling tv to me.

 

I was thinking last week how Chuckie would be free and better off if Sammi was out of the picture, and now it looks like she's not long for the show.  There's no way she has a future with on this show now that she's messed with the show's woobie.  But this is Shameless, so who knows.

Edited March 28, 2015 by junemeatcleaver

[Chas411]

Sammy is an awful creature but seriously, Fiona is fucking worse. She hasn't had an interest in Ian in episodes but of course arrives back in time when he's being arrested to give him a sad face and make it all about her. Fuck off Fiona.

[kieyra]

I watch so much television that it's been a long time since I've looked at a naked actress and felt jealousy/self-hatred, but Jesus Sascha Alexander's bod.