Alright, everybody, what an episode. I didn’t feel the need to scribble down lines and notes as much as I might for other Shameless episodes this season. “South Side Rules” felt authentic and emotional, and if you watched to the end of the episode, you probably screamed as loud as I did. For that very reason, this review will be more broad, looking back on the season and looking forward to the final two episodes.
Finally, a development with Frank I don’t hate! Not only did he not sleep with Bianca, but he seems genuinely interested in her. It’s a little weird because of the age difference, but I love this idea of Frank using his terrible habits to help a dying woman live her life to the fullest. It was sad to see Bianca’s sister leave in tears after hearing she didn’t want to go through with chemotherapy; however (and I can’t believe I’m going to say this), Bianca is so relatable, and it’s not difficult to understand her situation. In two episodes, Shameless has developed a character I totally understand, maybe even a little more than Fiona.
That’s right, I said it: Fiona has been severely lacking in this season. When we do see her, it’s the same old stuff over and over again, and she never makes any progress. This season should have focused on recovery for her, but instead it focused on digging up her past and proving that she is still chaotic.
Meanwhile, Debbie takes advice from Derrick’s not-so-sister about how to get a family: get pregnant. Even though the doctor explicitly tells Debbie she cannot be active until forty-eight hours on the pill, she lies to Derrick and doesn’t use protection. I do not want to see pregnant Debbie on Shameless!
“South Side Rules” also had some very defining moments for Lip, too. After Kev accidentally gives a bunch of college students hallucinogens and one jumps out of Lip’s window, Lip gets a wake up call. His professor tells him to stop being a “ghetto outlaw, who thinks the world is out to get [him] when it’s clearly leaving gifts at [his] feet.” This is a call back to “Rite of Passage,” where Mickey accuses Lip of not being South Side enough, and he’s completely correct. Lip has grown out of his old home, and maybe out of people like Kev, too.
Kev finally goes home to V, and we get a lovely shot of them staring at one another in bed. I am so excited to see how their issues unfold in the remaining two episodes.
Finally, Ian and Mickey. Shameless refuses to give us these two in a happy place without ripping our hearts out at the same time. Earlier in the episode, we see Sammy talking to Ian about how the government wants him for going AWOL. We get a nice bit where Sammy remarks that everything Ian did was “pretty hard core,” and Ian says, “No, just mentally ill.” Ian is making progress, but he still feels nothing. He and Mickey are struggling when Ian decides he wants to go out. Sure enough, they go back to one of the most historic places Mickey and Ian fans all remember: the baseball field. They fight like they used to, they curse at one another, and they drink. I couldn’t stop laughing at this part I was so happy they were back to their normal selves. They come back to the Gallagher house singing Pat Bennatar’s “Love Is a Battlefield,” which is all too true for the moments about to happen.
They enter the house and Sammy looks stiff. She tells Ian he has a bright future ahead of him and two Army officers step out to arrest him for all of the crimes he’s committed. Mickey and Ian fight back, but the officers pull a gun out and they have to surrender. At this point of the episode, I was screaming at my television. I was thinking “But what does Sammy get out of this?” and then she says, just as Fi shows up on the stoop, “Doesn’t it hurt when someone you love is taken away?”
This episode got back to the roots of Shameless. It allowed me to be completely taken aback by the events in the show. I desperately hope Shameless can keep this energy going for the remaining two episodes, because this season has been less than ideal as a whole. We need some resolution for the Gallaghers, and we need it now.
[Photo via Showtime]
Follow Us
