Anyone still watching this? This show is a total guilty pleasure of mine.
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So Lip risked his brother’s future to steal a laser for a battlebot competition? Seriously, WTF? And I can’t at all remember how Frank ended up in Mexico.
I loved the Jimmy scenes in this one–his father-in-law’s casual shooting of Marco, then taking him along for the ditching of the dismembered body parts while talking about how big the lake is…oof. I wonder if he’ll tell Fiona what happened.
Kevin and Veronica’s new gig had me rolling on the floor. We shall overcome, indeed.
It’s close to a guilty pleasure for me, since at the end of the day its just a grittier soap opera. But I think the quality elevates it enough I don’t feel the guilt. I feel a lot guiltier about, say, watching Big Bang Theory or Big Bad Mama ( the original with Angie Dickinson and William Shatner of course ) :D.
I’m not sure we were shown or expected to know. I think it is just one of those things that happened off screen while he was on his four month bender.
I thought it was a generally okay episode, but I’m afraid my interest in Joan Cusack’s travails might get a bit worn. She was a great supporting character when she had Frank and Karen to bounce off of, but I’m not sure this storyline holds my interest now that they are ( apparently ) out of the picture for her. Hopefully something changes there.
And I fear they are a little too transparently setting up Fiona for a major fail of an obvious nature. I hope they are fooling me and the fail (and there will be one, has to be ) will be more subtle than a simple loss of money in some stupid way.
I could nitpick a few more things as well ( still not crazy about the “new” Mandy, Estefania’s smiling simpering in the background the day after her beau was dismembered rang a bit false ). But I’m still glad to see it back on DVR :).
All the on-off plots with Lip are ridiculous and dumb. They made him too smart basically. He’s not a frustrating genius who underachieves because of his lack of drive or stubbornness–he’s a writer created problem and they try to wave it off on the theme of “self-sabotage.”
It’s little things that just make his character annoying in show. He built a wi-fi credit card number swiper–why do they not have a steady stream of low level funds coming from that? He gets arrested so he can win 400$ in a battlebots game?..and some pride from a guy who talked crap about the south side?
I’m still watching the show. I can’t understand what Lip’s goal is, since he could easily get a full scholarship to college and get out of this situation. And did Fiona use the severance pay to get the nightclub job instead of paying the property taxes? If so, that’s going to cause problems in the future.
By the way, I came to this show as a big fan of the UK original, so it’s been interesting to see the differences. For one thing, there were many cast changes in the UK show, with characters dropping out after each series/season, while this US adaption has kept essentially the same cast into the third series/season.
UK TV in general seems to make major changes more easily. I don’t know if it comes from each season/series being a kind of limited engagement or just that UK networks/production companies are more willing to take risks than US ones. Or maybe it’s just a matter of the different expectations of the two audiences.
I watched a couple episodes way back when it first started but haven’t kept up, not watching, not reading reviews. I thought the concept was sorta like The Riches, with an extended/blended family with a shiftless grifter dad – a comedy, a bit dark but not too dark
Then I tune in tonight and watch some poor guy get shot dead, for sleeping with some guy’s daughter (?), and a couple of other guys looking shocked but not too shocked.
It can get surprisingly dark at times. For example the shiftless grifter dad does get played for laughs at times. But at other times he is so thoroughly despicable its a jolt. I give the show creators some credit for not trying to soften him. He has vanishingly brief flashes of humanity and compassion, but for the most he is an unrelentingly vile cancer of a human being.
For all the show’s contrivances ( and there are a number, as with the Lip stuff above ) and silly moments, it doesn’t pander all that much, except maybe in the frequent appearance of attractive nude people ;).
I didn’t realize S3 had started! I need to get my Shameless on.
In terms of dark portrayal of irredeemable people, it was Lip’s ex-girlfriend who had the Down’s baby last season who affected me the most. It seriously disturbed me that she was that cold.
I do find both Jimmy and Fiona pretty easy on the eyes.
Nah, do you really think Frank would be able to get an extra balloon without them noticing? More likely, they wanted him to take 18… got them all in and said, “Hey, I think we can squeeze in one more.” except in Spanish.
…and the cartel let him keep it? Just cuz? He was shown removing the last one in Chicago.
I imagine they gave him a number of baggies/wads and said “Fit as many as you can.” He fit 19 in and then the counter missed one. Frank didn’t pipe up about it and kept the 19th bag.
I feel like Lip feels resentful that everyone assumes HE is the one that’s going to escape and somehow help his family escape as well. I think last season he said words to that effect. Maybe he feels that you can never really escape the life you were born into. He always seems to berating Fiona for trying to do ambitious things (like the first time she planned to try out for that manager gig).
Poor Fiona. I wish she could catch a break.
Last season seemed pretty dark. Karen with her callous attitude concerning her baby, and the whole thing with their mom (can’t remember her name) as well.
Yeah, I have a feeling that once she’s spent the last of the insurance money she’ll come back & use the threat of taking custody of Hymie to extort money from Sheila. Speaking of Hymie, what’s with the helmet he’s wearing? Is that standard for babies with Downs Syndrome? And Frank; just when you think he can’t sink any deeper he manages to surprise you. Giving vicodin to a baby, letting his wino buddies sleep & piss in the bedroom of the only familymember who doesn’t hate him, and tricking Carl into thinking he has cancer. I don’t even know which is was; making Carl think he has terminal cancer, or getting his hopes up about attending camp. I mean he understands what camp is, but it didn’t look like he understood what cancer is or that he’s supposed to be dying. I loved Many talking about how much her father (who got her pregnant) loves being perverts up. And the scene at the end with the grave.
When it began in the UK it was quite refreshing; a genuine attempt at an intelligent representation of (aspects of) working/under class life and culture - so obv always with political undertones.
It’s not a group well portrayed in media, and hardly ever represented.
Most people would probably agree it lost some of it’s early sharpness and anger after perhaps S3 or 4, but nonetheless an important series in the UK.
A mother-daughter threesome? :eek: Was the original show this explicit; I only saw series 1 of the UK version. Are they still following UK scripts, or are they doing their own thing now? And as much as I’m liking the Ian/Micky sex scenes it’s really starting to bother me that they never make any kind of reference to condoms. :rolleyes: I mean they took the time to have Lip show Fiona his roll of condoms so at least he learned his lesson after what happened with Karen. Unless the writers are building up to an HIV scare for Ian it’s just fucking irresonsible to have them constantly barebacking. I mean Micky’s been in and out of juvie.
Speaking of Micky, anyone wondering how this is going to end up? I’m still not sure if he’s bisexual, or just in deep denial about his sexuality (or both), but he clearly thinks of Ian as more than just a warm mouth. It was actually really touching when he invited Ian over for a sleepover and started acting domesticy with the tray of pizza rolls. Then again didn’t their characters turn out to be half-brothers in the British version? :eek:
I’ve watched the UK version through the seventh or eighth series, and the US version has definitely gone off on a different direction. (A big reason is the many cast changes that occurred in the original programme.) And I don’t think that the UK versions of Ian and Mickey were at all related.
Micky also gave Ian that kiss in the van right before the break in, which was sweet. I started out disliking Micky but now I feel sorry for him.
I thought it was pretty unrealistic that the foster dads filed papers already to adopt Liam. I don’t think they can actually move that quickly on something like that, plus Frank and Monica’s parental rights would need to be terminated.
I think they said they that was part of the paperwork they planned to file, and they look like they can afford way better lawyers than either the Gallaghers or DFS. I don’t think they’ll try to get Carl though.
I’m a little confused about the timeline. It’s summer now, right? Lip is a year older than Ian, and this was his senior year so he’s graduated by now, right? But he’s still only 17 (which is possible, but you’d think they mention him graduating). Or does he have to repeat his senior year because of dropping out? Oh, and Sheila does look much better as a blonde.
Is that standard for babies with Downs Syndrome? And Frank; just when you think he can’t sink any deeper he manages to surprise you. Giving vicodin to a baby, letting his wino buddies sleep & piss in the bedroom of the only familymember who doesn’t hate him, and tricking Carl into thinking he has cancer. I don’t even know which is was; making Carl think he has terminal cancer, or getting his hopes up about attending camp. I mean he understands what camp is, but it didn’t look like he understood what cancer is or that he’s supposed to be dying. I loved Many talking about how much her father (who got her pregnant) loves being perverts up. And the scene at the end with the grave.