I just finished binging on the first 4 episodes of this season’s Shameless over the past couple of days, and it has probably been the strongest start to an already superb show yet. I’d say this is owe in large part by changing up the structure of some of the show’s characters.
(Be careful if you haven’t caught up with the episodes of this season’s Shameless yet, spoilers abound, you’ve been warned)
Ian’s Disappearance
After watching a (fantastic) Swedish sci-fi show called Real Humans (I will write about it…eventually) with a pretty large cast with plenty of characters that seldom overlap, I realized that a hallmark of a good show is if it can do away with an important character (or two) for an entire episode (or two) without the audience even noticing their absence. It means that the other characters and plot lines are strong enough to fill in any void left by that character. This doesn’t work for every show and every character of course, some shows lean too heavily on one central character. Although The Walking Dead exemplified this with a string of late season 3 episodes focusing on a handful of characters entirely that were some of the series’s best episodes.
But I digress. Ian has been shipped off to Army boot camp or wherever for 4 episodes now, and I haven’t even missed the guy yet, save for an occasional ‘oh yeah, Ian’s in this show’ thought. The strength and interestingness (not an actual word, do not use in real life in public) of the other characters more than made up for his absence.
I also think that shipping him off was probably the best thing for his character, towards the end of season 3, his character was defined solely by his gayness and pining for Mickey and being angered at Mickey marrying some Russian prostitute. That really reduces his character to only one facet of his personality. Ian was a Gallagher, he raised hell, stole stuff, and did all sorts of hijinks with his brother, focusing almost solely on his gayness neglected all of that and frankly made him a bit shrill. “But…but…but…you luuuuuurve me! Just admit it!” wah wah wah.
At this point I wouldn’t even mind if he was absent for the majority/entire season but I highly doubt it (also I haven’t seen anything about the actor leaving the show). Hopefully when he gets back he can be a bit tougher and less whiney and clingy of Mickey.
Good-Bye Jimmy!
Speaking of actors leaving the show, I was pretty enthused when I read that the actor playing Jimmy/Steve would not be a part of season 4, even though I hadn’t even started on season 3 yet at that point. Jimmy had always been the weak part of the show for me. Having watched the UK series first, comparing American Jimmy to the UK equivalent played by James McAvoy probably tainted my opinion a lot. There’s one thing the Brits do infinitely better than American actors. They can be be egotistical, cocky, kinda douche-y characters, and yet, you can still like them. Americans have to try infinitely harder to achieve that (and oftentimes still fail). Might be the accent. American Jimmy was never really likable. I couldn’t buy Fiona falling for the guy. He just came off as smarmy and smug and unlikable.
Another example of this is the character of Tony Stonem (played by up-and-coming actor and incredibly lucky boyfriend of Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult) in the quite good British teen drama Skins. A bit of a dick, narcissistic, etc, yet, I didn’t hate the scenes he was in. There was something very watchable about him unlike real-life d-bags where you just want to get out of their sphere of self-importance asap. When Skins was adapted into a US series for MTV, whoever played the American equivalent had all the self-obsession and douchiness but none of the charm. One more example (though one without an American equivalent to contrast) is Misfits‘s Nathan.
I grew to like Jimmy more in s3 as he became a Mr. Mom to the Gallagher clan, and towards the end of s3 I wouldn’t’ve minded him staying in season 4, but with his departure Fiona can now be defined by something beyond her relationship with Jimmy and freshens up the romantic side of her character, which also explores the slutty side of Fiona Gallagher. More on that later.
Depth and Misery for Frank Gallagher
I never really quite liked the character of Frank, either the British or American version, but I grew to accept him, but he was certainly my least favorite Gallagher. He was redeemless drunk, which, yes, that’s the whole point of his character, but it felt like Frank’s character stalled and never really got off the ground and was stuck in a stagnant place. Again, that’s the whole point of his character and I grew to accept it, enjoying seeing the glint in his eyes whenever he stumbled into some get-rich scheme.
They added a whole ‘nother layer to Frank this season though, especially in the first 2 episodes. Faced with his eventual mortality, he no longer was stumbling around drunk spouting off ramblings, he was bedridden, glumly suffering (and accepting?) the consequences of decades of heavy drinking. Of course he’s back to his scheming ways trying to get a liver out of his other other daughter, and spouting stuff about the government forcing him to break a leg just to stay alive as he shambles into the bar, but for those 2 episodes, Frank was golden. And even if he returns to his old ways soon enough, he’ll still have the cloud over his head of his failing liver.
I also like that they found an excuse to shave off his mangy hair.
Lip in College
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More emphasis on Debbie & Carl
Along with Ian, having the 2 oldest Gallagher boys leave the house really opened up a lot of room metaphorically. Debbie and Carl, who’ve both been aces since episode 1 and quickly proved themselves as the best kid actors this side of the Modern Family kids, stepped it up and filled in those voids with ease. Debbie especially has been shining as she makes the transition from kid to teenager and navigates the physical side of becoming a woman.
The guy that plays her boyfriend(?), Matty, has been a solid casting choice. He’s affable (an exception to the above statement about American actors struggling to be likeable and charismatic in unlikeable roles) in a role many others would turn into a creepy sideshow. Sure, when he didn’t run away when Debbie told him she’s 13 set off the creeper alarm in my head, but there’s something bubbling underneath him I can’t quite put my finger on. Is he gay? That feels like it would be too easy an answer. Is he a loner glad for companion to share in his cinephilia? That seems like a more likely answer, and yet, I’m still not certain of that either. I’m unsure how long this guy will stay on this season, I’d be glad if he stayed all season long as Debbie’s sort-of boyfriend. But he could potentially just be in for a couple of episodes for Debbie to explore her initial foray into sexuality.
Also let me just state how uncomfortable I am with Debbie’s scenes sending risque selfies to him. The actress is what, 15? Shudder.
Now onto Lip. Making him a fish out of water at college is a fun choice. I’ve enjoyed watching his struggles with it, though something about Lip putting in the hours at a work-study job and being fairly straight-edge leaves something to be desired of the raise-hell Lip Gallagher we’ve come to know. It also seems like eventually he’ll realize college is just not for him and rejoin the Gallagher house by season’s end, though Kevin’s pep talk and the end of episode 4 leave me unsure. Also, at the end of episode 4, I’ve right about reached my tolerance threshold of having shitty college things happen to Lip just for shitty college things happen to him. It’s starting to veer into contrived territory.
More Mickey sans Ian
This is the same guy that plays Mickey. wut.
One of the interesting things about UK Shameless, was the large turnover in the cast. A lot of core characters
left throughout the course of the show and early on. This let them fairly organically bring in a host of new characters, including more of the McGuire clan (renamed Milkovich for the US). I bring this up because up until this season, Mickey had been described only in terms of being a thug, or Ian’s fuckbuddy. Letting Ian leave, yet keeping Mickey in the picture breathed more life into his character and let the craziness of what it means to be a Milkovich shine through (the part of the 4th episode where he quickly scuttles all the prostitutes out of the brothel because they’re not getting paid enough is fantastic). And small moments such as getting it on with a ginger in the bathroom and beatin’ it to a picture of Ian is a nice light into the more sentimental side of him, without veering into sappy-mopey. It’ll be interesting to see what happens to these 2 when Ian comes back, Mickey will probably appreciate him more but Ian will probably be hardened by his time in boot camp and more nonchalant about the two.
2 things.
I’d like to see Fiona’s bad side. The Gallagher clan has a notorious reputation right? Fiona has been the most clean-cut and put together of them, I’d like to see her do some Gallagher-esque things every once and awhile, swing a bat, smash a car or something. Just show she has it in her, despite being the relatively sane caretaker among them. Though, they have been exploring that destructive side of her with her infidelity, which they sewed the seeds for early in the season with V remarking how this monogamous-relationship Fiona was a 180 from her promiscuous history. I quite like the back-and-forth and chemistry between Fiona and her new boyfriend, but it looks like that relationship is on a path heading towards break-up. Though if it ends up with Fiona striking up a relationship with the brother, I don’t know if I’d mind. A long-term relationship between those two seems like it might be more interesting than the one she’s in now.
I don’t know how I feel about V & Kev getting triplets/four kids. I liked wondering how they would manage to raise one kid, but 3-4 seems like it might be something that the writers might use the undo button for to somehow get rid of them. I imagine this was because the actress playing V was pregnant in real life so they decided to write it into the show. I really don’t mind though as V & Kev are the best part of the show for me. They could get a spin-off that focuses solely on them and I’d tune in every week.
Also, this shirt is the tits
AVthatsme 