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gallavich-annise · 6 months ago

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Shameless Rewatch Thoughts!

Hurricane Monica

So I think this was my favourite episode of the season so far (even if season 2 Lip continues to Do His Thing). It was definitely a stronger episode and it was dealing with things I cared about! Though I do have a few thinky thoughts about Monica and the set up that I hope don't make it sound like I hated it...

This episode obviously has the return of Monica. That's not a surprise. We deal with that, and it's an entirely different vibe to her previous return. And the episode is almost entirely focused around that, which is probably why it felt stronger. Elsewhere, we have Sheila and Jody futzing about worrying about evil spirits, Karen continuing to try and sell her baby. But the biggest subplot is Lip trying to find a place to stay.

I'm gonna start with Sheila and Jody because I have the least to say about that. Sheila keeps hearing odd noises or feeling odd vibes in the house, and thinks it might be Eddie's spirit. Now, given that they literally just had Grammy die it seems odd to assume it's Eddie, to me. But I guess?! This was all a bit bleh. The audience knows that most of the noises she hears are Frank breaking in to search for Grammy's money, but he is sufficiently good at hiding and she is sufficiently bad at looking that she never realises this.

She calls a priest who asks her if she has anything to repent, and we see flashbacks of her raping Frank and killing Grammy before she says "nothing comes to mind". Now... The way this show is shot varies so wildly that it is hard to know for sure whether they intend that as a "she knows she did wrong but doesn't want to admit it to the priest" or if it's just reminding the audience as an amusing "ho ho she still thinks she's squeaky clean". It's probably the former, but there's room for doubt because the show's tone is so variable when it comes to these things (and, I would note, both are played for comedy at the time 🙄).

At the end of the episode, Sheila and Jody wave some incense around and then fall into some awkward snogging. Later Karen comes home to see clothes strewn everywhere and goes to find Sheila, only to hear "kiss from a rose" playing. As previously stated, I'm not invested in Jody/Sheila at all, and I think they probably shouldn't have slept together... But I feel like they did a good job of showing Sheila discovering Jody's good side in a way we didn't see when he was with Karen; we mostly saw him be fairly dull and ordinary, which is fine... But Sheila sees him be caring and supportive and willing to go above and beyond to help people. Which is lovely, actually. It's not what Karen would appreciate, but it's nice that we see that and Jody gets a more rounded character.

I also think that if Sheila had met Jody before Karen dated him, I would be absolutely fine with their relationship... It's just a bit icky to sleep with your daughter's husband even if he is closer to you in age.

At an earlier point in the episode, Sheila is also trying to convince Karen to give Jody another shot, but Karen is very dismissive. There's a nice bit of dialogue and Karen is kind of sweet in how she talks to her mum there, but it's nothing much overall.

Oh, and we see Sheila is interested in going into hospice care after her experience caring for Grammy. Good to have goals, I guess? So she's going to get an online nursing degree... Yeah, okay. This is, like, a 2 out of 10 for how yeesh Shameless gets. Fine.

So we'll segue into Karen and then Lip.

Karen in this episode doesn't get much to do. There's that conversation with Sheila, which also deals with the fact that Frank has left in a way that seems somewhat decisive, as opposed to just not being there. When she tries to convince her to give Jody a try, Sheila is cagey about the notion of Lip staying. Karen says he's a friend who needs somewhere to stay.

It's a little unclear from these scenes what kind of relationship Lip and Karen are having right now. There's no unsexy blowjob this time, no obvious post-coital conversations or prelude. Karen tells Lip her mom wants him to pay rent if he's going to stay. As far as I'm aware this is just Karen bullshitting, as Sheila didn't say that specifically, but I respect her grift. Lip gets angry, Karen responds in kind and he tells her "good luck getting anyone to adopt without the biological father's signature". First, I don't know if that's true? It seems fake, frankly, given that a common reason for wanting to give a baby up for adoption is not knowing who the father is. Second, Karen responds with "I'll ask Frank" and hooo boy does she have Lip's number on speed dial. Critical hit! Love it.

It's those moments, actually, where we see how Karen and Lip are in tune with each other that are the best of them. They have good banter when they're chatting happily. They know how to viciously wound each other when they fight. It's good drama. They do have a lot in common, I just wish Lip didn't take his obsession with her to such an unhealthy level.

Anyway, Lip apologises later and agrees to go to another adoption meeting because he wants some small say in where the kid ends up. Awww.

Meanwhile Karen replies "I don't want any handouts" right before blackmailing one of her former lovers into giving her money she says is for an abortion. Really getting her scam on this episode. I'm here for it! Scammy Karen is better than mysterious-motivations Karen. At least in this episode it seems her motivation is consistent (money please).

At the adoption meeting, Karen is more interested in what cars the prospective parents drive than anything else. This was just more of the same on that score, so I'm going to move on to the rest of Lip's subplot.

Which is! Mostly storming out of various conversations as Lip, who refuses to graduate high school to become master of the universe, nonetheless expects the world to do him all of the favours.

Now I'm not actually going to call Lip entitled for his attitude in this episode... I feel like the situation is complicated. If I'm right that Karen made up the rent thing to get rid of him, she's a bit of a jerk for that but I get it. Everyone else also has reasons to act the way they do. And Lip has a home he can return to if he faces up to the possibility that high school genuinely is his best bet...

Instead he's trying to find somewhere to stay or live, and perhaps get a job.

So we had the argument with Karen, and after her crack about Frank, Lip is furious and storms out.

Next he asks to crash with Kev and V... Kev is initially "of course" but V points out they'd be taking a side in the Gallagher drama and she doesn't want Fiona's wrath. I get it. That is so tricky for them, because they have a relationship with Fiona and Lip separately. They did the ice cream van stuff! Lip does Kev's taxes! They do owe him. But they're also loyal to Fiona. And... I can understand why they make the call. Lip, however, is furious and storms out.

He goes to the college professor (who literally predicted that Lip would knock a girl up and quit high school) to ask for a job. Said prof says he can't do anything without a high school diploma and should go back. This, again, is solid reasoning. This guy only got involved with Lip to try and improve his academic outcome. They may have had some mutually beneficial exchanges around that, but he doesn't owe Lip anything. It's perhaps a little non-compassionate, but he's a cynical gross professor not a guy running a non-profit so it makes total sense. Lip, however, is furious and storms off.

And after a night sleeping on the L, he goes to Jimmy Steve who agrees to let him sleep on the couch if he'll help with some voicemail hack he's attempting. Lip does, reasonably, point out that he got arrested last time he helped Steve, but then agrees. It's unclear whether he knows about the whole Jimmy thing. I'm certain he wouldn't really care either way, I just can't remember...

We then get a couple of grossly male-gazey scenes with Estefania (oh! Lip makes a crack about Steve and Estefania having the same name so maybe he doesn't know about him being Jimmy!). Estefania hangs out mostly naked and has phone sex with her Brazilian boyfriend while behind a very ineffective screen between her bed and the living area where Lip is on his laptop. And... Okay I'm just going to refer back to my previous statement about Estefania. She had two character traits "physically attractive" and "always on the phone". I will now add a third, because I know it remains relevant: "horny". I obviously have no problem with her being horny and I don't mind that she has phone sex! I mind that it's done to show Lip being skeezy and I mind that she's not given any other character traits to show that she is a rounded human being and not just a sex bot. The show does get a tiny check mark for rep of a woman jerking off, though.

But to move on... Lip uses an online audio translator app to work out that she's having phone sex (as if the fact that she's obviously masturbating and having an orgasm while on the phone to someone is not enough of a clue). He debates whether to tell Steve, but ultimately does while they have drinks at a bar.

This is segueing into the irritating Jimmy-Steve storyline, but I will say that Jimmy's reaction is so fucking annoying. He doesn't give a shit about Estefania at all. He's completely indifferent to her as a person and actively pursuing Fiona at her expense... But when he finds out she's cheating on him and doesn't love him he calls her a bitch. I can't remember his exact wording and my brain is throwing out "duplicitous slut" which is a Locked Tomb quote, but I'm going with it. Like, my dude, my guy... Did you really think you were inspiring loyalty with your ferrety face and weird obsession with a woman you've told Este is your cousin?! Whatever. The rest of that is TBD because nothing is resolved this episode.

Steve does tell Lip he should go back to school though, which is a soft "siding with Fiona while still letting you crash". He also pushes Lip off his chair for being a dick which is the least he deserves.

Since we're here, Jimmy Steve and Fiona have two clashes this episode. The first he comes by the house again and she once more tells him to get lost. Point to Fiona, well done!

The second, she finds out he's harbouring Lip and goes over there to tell him to kick Lip out. He says that he did it to rile her into coming over, so point to Jimmy Steve. One all, onto the decider.

In which Fiona says "actually I'm here to see Estefania" so Steve tells Este that Fiona wants to take her dancing. And Fiona, to her credit, does... Which I find unduly funny, actually. But maybe Estefania needs a night of dancing. I kind of wish she could become friends with Fiona and they could both come to the conclusion that Jimmy Steve is a waste of their time and they can both do better. This isn't even necessarily a bi-Fiona drive, as I don't think they had that much chemistry, just... Friends would be nice rather than the bullshit romantic rivals bollocks, especially as they aren't really rivals emotionally at all.

Maybe I will write that fic...

(I probably won't, so let's move on)

Which brings us nicely to today's main event... Because what else has been going on with Fiona this episode? Monica has!

Fiona wakes up to find Monica in her house making pancakes! It's a happy domestic breakfast! Monica is bubbly and Fiona is 'what the fuck are you doing here?'

And I'm going to take a moment to talk timelines because... What the fuck is the timeline on any of this?

The last episode ended with Grammy dying and Frank going to see Monica, so logically it would seem like it's the next day. A lot of stuff happens to Lip and it's unclear how it tracks together, but conceivably it would be two or three days. But Carl, who just had a football game has another... And would they really have two less than a week apart? Or is this just plot dust? The timelines on Shameless are one of those things like a sibling making jibes they know will rile you and you know you shouldn't rise to it but you still want to punch them in the shoulder but if you do, you'll be the one who gets in trouble. I.... Took that simile too far. Whatever. I just mean I know they're bad, I shouldn't get annoyed, but I do. I just want to feel like the timeline is plausible. Is that so much to ask?

(Yes)

Coming back to Monica.

Fiona is shocked to find Monica back and acting like that's normal. And she gets a call about needing to claim Grammy's body, which Frank refuses to do because he ran after her too much in life. So she's kind of reeling from it all and doesn't have Lip at her side against Monica so she doesn't deal with it as well as she might.

The whole set up and situation is so different to her dramatic return last season, and it's really weird to try and put my finger on why. Because some of it feels like a kind of retcon, even though they do actively mention those previous events.

But in the first season return, there was this feel like she left once and came back when they weren't expecting it... And this time the vibe is "she just does this". I didn't really notice it the first time I watched it, because it was all new and they didn't do anything to dramatically undermine previous events. But there's the fact I mentioned during my season 1 rewatch posts that I don't think they'd decided to make Monica bipolar until season 2. The heightened emotions in season 1 make more sense of this was a rare occurrence, rather than a regular split-and-return cycle. Not that those emotions wouldn't be valid! But the way everyone is kind of resigned to "oh she's back, how long for this time" in this episode means that there is a weird contrast.

There's also a kind of mismatch in emotional intensity between Monica coming back and wanting to take Liam, and asking Carl and Debbie (not the older kids) to be their mom again and this version where... She waltzes back in almost expecting to be accepted, even if not straight away. There's none of the high emotion of yelling between Monica and Frank and their mutual accusations... And I can believe they're a couple that runs hot and cold so it kind of works but it definitely felt different enough that it was noticeable.

Again, it's fine. Dramatically it works... I guess it just makes the time before the Pilot a bit more fuzzy than I'd like. Like the backstory hasn't really been fleshed out enough.

Anyway, moving on to the actual content of the episode we have a lot of different reactions to Monica's return.

Ian nopes out almost immediately and leaves. I'll come back to Ian because he has an excellent turn in this episode. Debbie asks how long she's staying "just forever and a day!" Yeah sure. Debbie is initially reserved. Carl is confused and uncertain. They get through the morning.

As usual, Carl doesn't get a whole lot of play in this episode... It is kind of sad that we don't get more of early Carl, given how good we later find out Ethan Cutkosky is.

So I'm going to go through reactions to Monica starting with Fiona.

Fiona is initially annoyed, and with good reason. She's uncertain, she's irritated by the chaos and the mess (literal and figurative) that Monica brings with her. She's annoyed that Frank has dragged her back again when they were doing okay. And then Monica exercises her charm. I don't know how Monica really feels about her kids on a deep-down existential level. But I can believe that, on some level, she loves them. And her ability to care for and with them varies wildly in a way that results in her horrific behaviour and abandonment. But I do believe she's sincere when she apologises and that she genuinely wants to make things right in a way Frank never does. I don't believe she's capable of doing that without significant life changes, but I do think she means it.

So it's easy to see why Fiona believes her.

It's her mom! Deep down, she's always going to want her mom, even if she's deeply distrustful of it! And Monica gives Fiona the validation she's needed for all the hard work she's put in! You've done it all! You've done such a good job! Now I want to be here for you and do better!!

It's an emotional freight train, and Fiona doesn't even have Lip's cynical voice at her side to keep her grounded. So she wavers. And when Monica offers to look after Liam for the day, Fiona reluctantly agrees. It's her baby after all; even though she worries the whole time and eventually goes home to check on him after a couple of hours.

In between we have a conversation with V where Fiona utters the cynical line "given the option most people will do the wrong thing" which is a great insight into Fiona's world view, given her behaviour this season and how often she's paid lip service to doing the right then and then does the opposite as soon as she's hit by a setback. I love Fiona, and I get this attitude. I'd probably share it if Frank and Monica were my parents. But it is very sad.

V puts a little "silver lining" note into the air. V who saw the havoc Monica wrought last time. V who knows the effect she has on her kids. V still says something along the lines of "maybe you can enjoy it while she's here". And on one level it is fair enough, because yeah... Maybe you can enjoy those moments. On the other hand, it feels like that's a conversation they've probably had a lot of times and something about it felt off to me, probably just in light on my comments about the whole circumstance feeling a little like a retcon.

I believe there is also a moment where Steve says something about enjoying Monica while she's there, but I can't remember exactly. I'm pretty sure two people do this to Fiona... And Fiona does seem to sort of relax into the notion of having Monica back for a while.

(Danger Will Robinson)

Fiona does go back to check on Liam and finds he's fine but Frank and Monica are boning in the kitchen. Ugh.

Other Fiona moments... She makes Monica take birth control pills ("you can take them with your shrink meds I checked" was a nicer touch than the bit I mention later). Monica asks about boyfriends and is conspiratorial about how they should get rid of Estefania to free Steve up for her. It's more sweetness and ingratiating, giving Fiona that validation.

Final note is that Fiona goes to visit Bob to get her to take Monica back. Bob is uncaring and done with Monica. It's a contrast to how they were last time, but that's fine... I'm more bemused that they added her in at all, frankly... They could have not bothered and it wouldn't have altered the episode at all. But I guess it means Monica's not got somewhere else to go right now, and it is a bit of continuity when the emotional impact feels ret-conned.

So next Debbie. Debbie is uncertain about the return of her parents. She is a few months older and wiser and one time more burned and it shows. Debbie's temptation comes in the form of adult attention. It comes from Monica and Frank dancing with her when they've woken her up with loud music on a school night, and lifting her up and playing with her. Fiona tries to send her back to bed, both because it's a school night and because she wants to protect her from getting hurt by Monica and Frank again.

Frank gives an impassioned speech about how Fiona had time with her parents when she was young, before she was in charge, and Debbie should get a chance to have some happy memories. You only get one mother after all. So Fiona reluctantly agrees.

Later on, we see Debbie bring Little Hank round to meet her mother. So I guess he's still around, though we've seen nothing of him since the barbecue a few episodes back... And is unclear what his relationship with Debbie is at this point. They are holding hands maybe? He comments that you can tell what a girl will look like when she's older based on her mother and that she'll be "a fox" which makes both Debbie and Monica blush happily. Little charmer jerk. Whatever.

And then finally in the last party of the episode, Debbie says a few words about Grammy. To say goodbye. She's the only one of the kids that seems genuinely upset about her dying (not sure Lip or Ian really even interacted with her, which is weird given they were the ones to visit her in season 1). But Debbie is obviously the one who's most conscious of the people who come and go. Poor baby Debbie.

Carl, similarly, gets a bit of extra parental attention. Monica and Frank come to his football game! How exciting! They dress up specially and make banners and everyone is there!

Carl doesn't really react to anything. He is present but doesn't have many lines that I remember.

Moving on to Ian. Oh Ian. Ian has some absolutely amazing moments.

First his morning, where he comes downstairs and finds his parents both there. "What are you doing here?" "I asked your mother to come home" "oh you live here now too?" Thank you petty Ian I love you so much.

Then he nopes out and next we see him talk to Mandy. Mandy is obviously upset about something but isn't really saying what because Ian is a bit deep in his own stuff. He complains about Monica, asks after Mickey. She says Ian should visit him, which I thought was interesting... I guess she's seen them be friends while working at the Kash and Grab but it's hard to know what Mandy thinks at this point. Season 3 would have us believe she didn't figure them out at all... Maybe she didn't. But I could believe she was a bit more savvy and tuned in at this point. Anyway, he says Mickey's annoyed at him because "he thinks pussied out" "did you?" "Kinda". I've seen meta on Ian's wording there that makes me overthink it (or, consider: think about it just enough for my obsessive brain) and it is interesting. Mickey expected Ian to help him and got pissed when he didn't. Now they're done and Ian doesn't think Mickey will want to see him. Poor babies. Poor Mickey in juvie thinking about his boy.

But anyway. In context of what I know from the episode that comes after this one, Ian's line "you're lucky your mom's dead" is absolutely fucking SAVAGE and I hope Mandy gets a shit-tonne of hugs for the emotional damage to hear that from her best friend, who definitely means well and doesn't get why it would hurt so much, but ouch. Poor Mandy on all of the counts. She deserves a shit-tonne of hugs for everything.

Oh and while we're on the subject, when did her mom die? We heard Mom was picking Iggy up from juvie in early season 1, so she's died in the last year... Maybe even last 6 months?! Except the Milkovich family is not allowed any kind of consistency so who the fuck knows if that's true.

Anyway, at the first party (Debbie's fall, as described above), Ian gets pissed because he needs his beauty sleep (with that face I'm assuming he gets about 18 hours a day). He yells at Monica, and Frank gets in his face and pushes him and... And and Monica stops Frank. Tells him to apologise. Frank gives a sort of half-hearted apology but Ian. You see Ian falter.

See this is the genius in this episode. Monica is giving each child what they need from her. And it's shitty because she's going to be gone in a flash at some point. But she's giving Fiona validation for her hard work, attention for Carl and Debbie and... Ian is being SEEN. Frank is being made to acknowledge his shittiness for Ian.

Then before Carl's game they have another altercation. "I made cookies." "I guess we're square for you abandoning us then." Ian you're a bitch and you're right and you should say it.

Frank interjects: "Don't talk to you mother like that" "you haven't even picked up your mother's body from the morgue you're going to tell me how to treat mine". Every line in this scene is gold and Ian's delivery is perfect. Petty and bitter and beautiful. Ian I love you. They're so good. All of them. Because this wouldn't have worked as well without Frank and Monica as foils, too. But Ian really stood out here. Loved it so much.

But again, Monica is going to make Ian be SEEN. So she tries a different tack. Hey honey, Frank told me you're gay, that's awesome! You should never be ashamed. And... He resists. He tries. "When I was with Bob it wasn't a perfect relationship but we were never ashamed" "maybe you should be". But she doesn't give up. Let me take you somewhere. To bond over this thing we have in common.

And then he relents. He caves a little and agrees to go out with her. And this is the club scene. Which... I think first time around I watched this on an iPad or while ironing and didn't pick up on all the skeeziness! Because she takes her underage son to a club and makes a joke about him being their fresh meat to keep the old guys coming in. Gross Monica!! So gross! And she points out an old guy and a younger but still very much adult guy who are checking him out. More gross.

Takes your mind off the kid in juvie, huh? But no, because I'm not sure whether Ian's admitted it to himself yet but he's already very much in love with Mickey and no old dudes are gonna cut it. And once again, Monica sees him. "Sorry you're hurting baby". And they have a moment. And then they dance!

Ian has been won over by the siren.

Looking at it this way does make it very much feel like a very different kind of drama where the villain or horror monster is using the hero/protagonist team's weaknesses against them and we see them fall one by one.

Only Lip is left out of this, because he's not in the house. Monica asks after him and complains at Fiona for kicking him out. She tries to talk to him at the game but doesn't get a chance to get her hooks in. So he is the last man standing.

So lastly we talk about Frank and Monica together.

Frank went to get Monica back because he's grieving. As always with Frank it's hard to know how much is real emotion and how much is him trying to garner sympathy, but I think most of it is genuine. Confused and conflicted, but genuine grief. He's not going to get her body, but he is sad she's died. Because now she'll genuinely never be able to say she loved him or was proud of him.

He tries to get a hold of Grammy's money. Jody tells him it all got sent to the other brothers. He rails and rants because "where were they at the bitter end!" Which is kind of fair but also kind of the answer is "not stealing her morphine". Frank be Frank.

Monica and Frank go to the Alibi and Kate and Kev clearly know her and remember her and that's nicely done and all. The only slightly awkward moment is where they have Kate say "you look good. Are you back on your meds" "no they make me fat and anyway I'm *not* bipolar" and...

I can kind of imagine the writers room at this point. "All right we need to bring this up somehow because it's going to be a Thing next episode and we can't have it be a total surprise. So how can we do that?" And this was maybe the best idea they had in the session and it wasn't great but it wasn't awful enough to warrant the kind of rewrites they'd have needed so they went with it. It's far more awkward than almost anything else. Because I think in more naturalistic dialogue she'd just say "I don't need them." And then maybe Kate would follow up.

But it's whatever. Monica is bipolar. Fine. It's not the worst writing the series will pull.

We have the second party scene, the sort of impromptu Grammy remembrance moment, and then Frank kind of breaks down in a corner crying while his family parties. A masterclass acting moment from William H Macy but I don't really care about Frank, so this was not as emotionally impactful to me as I think the show wanted it to be.

I did love the moment where Fiona, who is dressed to to take Estefania out, comes down to find Frank and everyone partying and yells "this is not okay" before changing the music. "Now it is!". It's a beautiful moment to show the change in mood. To show that Monica is back and everyone in the house is accepting of it, even if they're fully expecting her to leave again. They party like Gallaghers!!

In the morning, we see Monica has got Frank's mom's ashes from the crematorium. In a giant bag. I don't know if I believe she actually did that or if she just got some from somewhere else and lied. It's not really worth interrogating.

Frank... Obviously... Rolls some of the ashes into a joint. Because... Frank reasons.

Then we have the Dramatic Final Scene to end in a cliffhanger (other than the tension and drama that comes from knowing Monica is probably going to fuck things up again somehow). Ian comes down. All happy and relaxed. When BAM! TERRY MILKOVICH!

This scene was so good for shock value. Frank LEAPS over the counter to get away from him yelling "I already paid you!" (We didn't see any of that followed up, but I assume that related to Eddie's Alibi because it was mentioned in the Previously). But no. Terry goes for Ian. Monica restrains him (somehow?! I guess?!) and we hear that Mandy is pregnant!

Shock! Shock! Horror!

(There's Frank's little stunned "attaboy"... I can't decide if I like it or not. It takes away from the drama a bit, but it was amusing.)

And that's the end! It was a great episode after what feels a bit like eight episodes of set up. But this episode set everything up for high drama to come, and I'm super looking forward to revisiting that!

I think my biggest problem with it is that I'm not convinced that the Monica we're presented here is the same Monica we saw in season 1. And that's fine, to a point. Because in season 1 as I understand it the show was following the UK shameless playbook more closely and they obviously diverged more from here. I feel like bipolar is the US Shameless guy's 'thing' and that's... Fine. It makes for compelling drama, even if there's are issues with sensitivity and nuance around mental health disorders (and actually Shameless does that better than some shows). So they brought a slightly different Monica back and did a bit of sleight of hand to make it seem like the same Monica. It's mostly fine, but it does show. But, importantly, I think this Monica is the one that we see through the remaining seasons. So that's fair enough. Given that they changed Mandy's vibe when they changed actress I can definitely forgive this.

I've had a lot to say, so if you made it this far remember to drink water and look away from your screen for a minute 😆.

As I said when I started this, I'm writing these for me, but I do get the odd like on some of them so maybe there's a few readers. Thank you for joining me on this little journey!

I'll see you next time!

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