Shameless – Series 4

When we return to Chatsworth Estate, it is Lip’s 18th birthday – except he finds out it is actually his 19th, because his parents delayed his birth registration for a year. He is in for quite a day! Frank accidentally sets Sheila’s kitchen on fire. Kevin and Veronica are arrested in Romania trying to adopt a baby illegally. The Irish mobster Maguires moves in next door. Frank’s first wife Monica decides to move back in after nearly six and a half years. Marty returns with the little baby from Romania, making his way back across the Continent hitching rides. So, crammed in the same house now are Monica, Frank’s four sons – Lip, Ian, Carl and Liam (well, Ian isn’t biologically his) – and Debbie, Carol, Marty and Sue (his girlfriend) and his new baby, plus Lip’s girlfriend Mandy and their baby Katie, too. Honestly, I have no idea what Monica is doing, but Frank never told Sheila he never filed the divorce papers – and that the bigamist is now married to both of them. Sheila is understandably upset by Monica’s return. She dreams of going Kill Bill (parts one and two) on Monica, but she opts for a more subtle approach – trying to get Monica back with Norma. To make it worse, Frank can’t keep it in his pants for too long, and soon is sleeping with his first wife again. Monica wants Frank to tell Sheila they never divorced, and isn’t legally married to Sheila. He can’t handle the pressure or the guilt. But when Sheila catches Monica having a cocktail sausage, she puts two and two together: Monica is neither a vegetarian nor a lesbian, but has been having sex with her Frank. Knives fly, and Frank too. And if that isn’t enough, Sheila and Monica decides it’s up to Frank to choose between them, neither will share. The kids group together in favor of Sheila, of course, Monica left them over six years ago, and Sheila is the best thing to Frank. In the end he chooses Sheila, but when she discovers he is still married to Monica she leaves him for good.

Meanwhile, Jamie Maguire came back from his ten-year prison sentence for murder. Instead of return to his criminal family, he decides to work at the Jockey. Sexy kitten Karen plays cat and mouse with the former jailbird, always playing hard to get, even though she’s the easiest piece on the estate. Knowing he is a Maguire, she doesn’t trust him one bit, but is clearly fancies him – and he is all over her. Then he proposes out of the blue. He’s spent ten years in prison, he doesn’t want to waste anymore time, he knows what he wants out of life: her – and who can blame him? She’s a well right piece of ass. What endears him to her is when she realizes he hasn’t had sex since he went to prison! Naturally, the Maguires use any means necessary to make sure Karen stays with Jamie, which includes manipulation, threats, and tortures. Paddy Maguire fears for his life when three of his former inmates all die within the span of a week under suspicious circumstances. He needs to calm his nerves, but scares the shit out of his doctor. So he prescribes him “placeboesque anti-depressants” for a “pretended depression by proxy”! In the end, Paddy learns it was Jamie who took them all out, because they were planning on killing Paddy and taking over his shady ventures.

In other news, Kash Karib gets himself in such financial trouble, he has to lay Ian off from the convenience store. Yvonne is livid when she finds out Kash has taken out loans on the shop and their house. She never wants to see him ever again. The situation is so serious, they stage his suicide – and he is indeed never seen again. Ian runs into a girl who just stole ten grand worth of scratch cards off the Maguires and now the Gallaghers have to hide her up their attic. When she finds out, Mandy is forced to choose between the two families. She stands up for Lip and Ian, but eventually her father finds out anyway. Even though he’s gay, Ian feels attracted to the girl, and they end up sleeping together. He rushes off with her. She wants to leave town with him, but he feels it’s not right. He returns to his charming gay ways fast with one of the Maguire sons. They snort up post-coital and get caught by Paddy. Briefly Kev’s ex-junkie/prostitute sister Kelly shows up unannounced at the Maguires, not realizing her brother’s in jail in Eastern Europe.

The story of Frank and Monica plays out throughout the whole season. Never mind what Frank sees in her, I cannot figure out why Monica ever decided to return and make everybody’s life miserable. Frank prefers to avoid the whole situation and stay in Sheila’s house. It’s none too surprising that he has to leave there, as Sheila has put up the house for sale. Now he has to move back in with his kids, his not-so-estranged wife and her bird Norma. Debbie tries to wedge herself between Frank and Monica – to the point her mother pushes her to find a lad and get laid. Carl rather wants his family back together and will do anything to get rid of Norma. For her part, Monica plays Frank against Norma. Her bird takes it a wee bit too far, tying Frank up and taking him to the police station on account of attempted rape. “Have you seen her?” Frank exclaims, “yourself?” After Debbie’s had a good word with her, Norma drops the charges on the condition that Franks stays away from Monica until they’re back together – and she even throws in a grand to sweeten the deal! “How much do you love her now, eh, Frank?” The deals falls through, though, when Monica pleads Norma to drop the charges or else she won’t ever forgive her. So, Monica is here to stay, alas.

At the end of the season Lip, the smart one of the family, gets offered three scholarships to choose from so he can go to the university. But where does that leave Mandy and their baby? We will have to wait and see. This leads me to one aspect of the show I find myself struggling with: the loss of my favorite characters. First we saw Fiona and Steve leave, then Kev and Veronica, and Sheila soon after. I adored them, and miss them on the show. Now Lip is leaving for college. That leaves Frank and Debbie (oh, yes, and Karen, too, for obvious reasons). I care much less for the remaining characters. I don’t know where Marty and Sue went. The Maguires are too much of caricatures, and next season we’ll have to deal with Yvonne and her kids. Still, Shameless is one of the most heart-wrenching, delightful, endearing shows you’ll ever see, full of humor and human emotions. You may have heard that HBO is preparing an adaptation for American TV, which is quite a shame. Why can’t Americans get used to the accents, throw in subtitles, and enjoy the original? I would urge you to do yourself a favor and check out the U.K. version before they start airing the rip off, no matter it will feature William H. Macy in the role of Frank Gallagher.