Shameless Season 4 (1 Viewer)

[MarkMel]

I'm a little confused as to why Frank gets moved up the list for a liver when he's no closer to death than he was prior to the kidney scam.

Because he's Frank and dumb luck has been carrying him all his life. And the show wasn't ready to write him off yet. I watched it twice and the first time I saw Dr. Cabdriver carrying the Igloo cooler out of the 'operating room' and I thought it was weird. When they said what really happened to him I got the Igloo cooler.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I found myself quietly cheering Shelia for wanting to marry Frank. If she winds up with the kids she might be the best thing to happen to them.

I love that she's at a point now where she has no illusions about Frank and sees him as the means to an end. And Frank, for his part, is happy to help when it doesn't cost him anything and doesn't require any real effort.I loved the dynamic between Sheila and her boyfriend's youngest niece. You could tell that girl was desperate for a loving parental figure in her life, and never really had one.

Man, this show really is unforgiving. I didn't expect them to go there with Fiona. Hard to see her avoid more prison time again, although perhaps now she will cave and turn in the brother.

In a way I think it was necessary for Fiona to move forward, though. She had to pull a Frank to really know she didn't want to become a Frank. And it triggered what I always love about the Gallaghers, which is that they circle the wagons when one of them is threatened. All of the scenes between Lip and Fiona after he picked her up were just beautiful stuff, along with Debbie finally letting her back in.So whether she does jail time or not, she finally seems to have bottomed out.

Because he's Frank and dumb luck has been carrying him all his life. And the show wasn't ready to write him off yet. I watched it twice and the first time I saw Dr. Cabdriver carrying the Igloo cooler out of the 'operating room' and I thought it was weird. When they said what really happened to him I got the Igloo cooler.

The lobe of the other guy's liver is probably in there too. A pretty ballsy play given that Sheila and Sammy could have easily written down his taxi number and traced it back to him.It's definitely classic Frank, though, being brought to the edge of death right as a matching liver presents itself. As repugnant as I find Frank, I'm not sure what the show would be without his presence.My favorite scene, though, was when Bonnie brought Carl home and he learns her family lives in a van. It really drove home that, however desperately poor the Gallaghers are, it gets so much worse. The Gallaghers are house poor. Bonnie's family is street poor. And while Carl's not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed or the nicest person generally, his reaction was exactly right. I do think either Carl, Bonnie or both are going to end up in juvenile detention by the time the season's over.

 

[ScottH]

In a way I think it was necessary for Fiona to move forward, though. She had to pull a Frank to really know she didn't want to become a Frank.

I don't know, I thought it was a bit of a cheat by the writers because they had already made it pretty clear how devastated Fiona was over letting Liam ingest coke and it was pretty apparent she had already hit rock bottom. If she had a history of drug problems and addiction I could totally see her going further down, but this seemed like a bit of a stretch for her character.

The lobe of the other guy's liver is probably in there too.

What makes you say that? I don't think that's the case. The doctor was pretty clear that the incision was in the wrong place and I'm sure that guy was just a plant.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I don't know, I thought it was a bit of a cheat by the writers because they had already made it pretty clear how devastated Fiona was over letting Liam ingest coke and it was pretty apparent she had already hit rock bottom. If she had a history of drug problems and addiction I could totally see her going further down, but this seemed like a bit of a stretch for her character.

After getting humiliated at World Wide Cup, she went to the addict brother's apartment to rage at him. Once the fight was out of her, she looked at her seemingly hopeless life and just said, basically, fuck it. I can believe that from her given what we've been shown.

What makes you say that? I don't think that's the case. The doctor was pretty clear that the incision was in the wrong place and I'm sure that guy was just a plant.

Except the guy was screaming and yelling in his native language about how he'd changed his mind and he didn't care how much he was going to get paid for it. The guy definitely thought he was losing part of his liver, and given the shady thing Dr. Cabdriver did to Frank, I can't see him not having taken something out of the other guy.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I just can't do episodes where TV shows kill kids. I even have to change the channel when a St. Jude's commercial comes on. There's just something so impossibly cruel and unfair about young kids dying before they've had a chance to really live. So even though I knew where it was headed, when Frank crawled out of bed and little Emily was already gone in her bed, it just destroyed me.Very strong hour of television, though, especially getting a window into Frank and Fiona's relationship back when there was still affection and hope. Through Emily, you got to see Frank express feelings for Fiona that he would never express to her face.The culmination of Mickey's storyline was just perfect. Everything about it was played exactly right. Mickey and Ian are one of my favorite TV couples. The repressed Polish neighborhood hoodlum and the bipolar Irish male escort are two incompatible messes, and yet they make each other better when they're together.Really loving where they've taken Debbie and the pizza delivery boy. Just hope they don't take it back into creepy territory.I loved the social worker over time getting an understanding of the mechanics of the Gallagher household, and finding value in it and what Lip's contributing. Loved Lip and his sort-of-girlfriend scamming her d-bag father.Loved that when it looked like they were moving toward Carl and Bonnie having sex, Bonnie said no and that Carl was fine with that. In the early seasons, I thought Carl was a psychopath. But even though he's a sadistic little delinquent, he's got way too much empathy to be a psychopath. It doesn't get much more loyal than him toward the people he cares about.Even though Fiona's in jail for 90 days, it feels like the worst is behind the Gallaghers, finally.

 

[mattCR]

I really liked this episode too. I thought they covered a lot of great territory

 

[Paul D G]

I'm not sure why people are referring to Debbie's relationship with her friend as being creepy. There was a potential for it to go down that road, sure, but he never once came off as a pedophile to me. Debbie was chasing him the whole time. All he ever did was make her spaghetti and watch tv with her.

 

[ScottH]

I'm not sure why people are referring to Debbie's relationship with her friend as being creepy. There was a potential for it to go down that road, sure, but he never once came off as a pedophile to me. Debbie was chasing him the whole time. All he ever did was make her spaghetti and watch tv with her.

I don't know, I think it's pretty creepy for a 20 year old guy to be holding hands and watching TV with a 13 year old girl. What would you do to that guy if that was your daughter?

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Most of the talk surrounding the finale has understandably been focused on the twist ending, but what absorbed me most was the grace note of hope over the whole episode after a season that's really put these characters through the ringer.One of the reasons I keep coming back to this show is that it never loses track of the love and resiliency of the Gallagher family. They went through a lot, and they're still standing. Fiona's got a job. Lip's still in college. Frank, for better or worse, is still alive. Mickey finally admitting to himself and the world his feelings for Ian just as the ugly side of Ian's bipolar disorder rears its head.Even Sheila and Sammi mending fences had a note of hope.And after so many portrayals of parole officers as uncaring d-bags, I liked that Fiona's parole officer saw something in her and made the extra effort when she didn't have to, and that all of the anger and resentment had gone out of Fiona so that she was just grateful. Regina King's just done great work in that role. Jeffrey Dean Morgan, in his few scenes, was terrific as the recovering addict who's willing to give other recovering addicts a shot in his restaurant.The scene in the diner with Lip and his new college friends waited on by Mandy was a pitch-perfect melancholy portrait. Lip wouldn't be there if it wasn't for Mandy, but the result is that there's a divide now that Lip can't quite bridge. Both Jeremy Allen White and Emma Greenwell knocked that scene out of the park.With regard to that twist ending:

Spoiler

They did a good job waiting long enough that most of us had given up on seeing Steve/Jimmy/Jack surface alive. I'm not sure how I feel about his imminent return to Fiona's life, given the hard won strides she made this year to move past him. His appearance in the final beat is almost like the one storm cloud on the horizon with otherwise stormy clouds.

 

[Paul D G]

Re the twist - as the season began I wondered when that would happen. I was only surprised that they waited until the very end.

Terrific season. I loved Mickey's confrontational scene at the bar and how they told him to essentially shut up and have a beer.

 

[MarkMel]

I thought that Frank was going to take one last shot out of the bottle and then pour the rest out. But that wouldn't be Frank, would it. That scene was beautifully shot too. Where is that in Chicago? It looked like some kind of jetty.

And Jimmy driving by the house, with another hottie, unbelievable! He was supposed to be dead.

That will be Fiona's death spiral for the next season, or maybe her savior?

 

[Patrick Sun]

It looks like where they shoot most of the outside footage for ER when it was still on the air, I think looking out on a lake right next to downtown Chicago, but only during the winter season where everything is iced over.

 

[ScottH]

Most of the talk surrounding the finale has understandably been focused on the twist ending, but what absorbed me most was the grace note of hope over the whole episode after a season that's really put these characters through the ringer.One of the reasons I keep coming back to this show is that it never loses track of the love and resiliency of the Gallagher family. They went through a lot, and they're still standing. Fiona's got a job. Lip's still in college. Frank, for better or worse, is still alive. Mickey finally admitting to himself and the world his feelings for Ian just as the ugly side of Ian's bipolar disorder rears its head.

There was some hope I suppose, but the part of the episode that really dug into me was Frank opening the doors for Carl to follow in his drinking footsteps. And I don't know if I would consider Frank being alive as hopeful for anyone (other than Frank, and the liquor industry).

I thought that Frank was going to take one last shot out of the bottle and then pour the rest out. But that wouldn't be Frank, would it.

Funny, I actually thought he was gonna keel over and die.

I'd been wondering when the Steve appearance would happen. Gotta think that can only be bad for Fiona.

 

[mattCR]

Yeah, probably bad for Fiona who I thought had a great final episode where she now has a job of a sort and she's come to terms with the fact that despite the fact she never had a child hood, she's an adult now and can't act as a child.
I thought the use of bipolar disorder was really sad.. and understandable. I liked that element of the story a lot, and it helped explain so much of his character.

 

[Paul D G]

I thought that Frank was going to take one last shot out of the bottle and then pour the rest out. But that wouldn't be Frank, would it. That scene was beautifully shot too. Where is that in Chicago? It looked like some kind of jetty.

It's on the beach - http://goo.gl/maps/KGrxA