Shameless (US): Pilot Rewatch
June 17, 2014 3:51 PM - Season 1, Episode 1 - Subscribe
"Fiona's purse is stolen, but a handsome stranger named Steve helps her. Lip has suspicions about Ian's sexuality, and decides he should take him to Karen Jackson to confirm his suspicions." (Wikipedia's summary.)
Thus began my love/hate relationship with Fiona and Steve's love/hate relationship.
The first scene is narrated by Frank, played by the great William H. Macy, the alcoholic dad who isn't much of a dad. Doesn't Frank seem to be a different person in this first scene, where he introduces the main characters, than he ever is again in the series?
It's interesting to see how they introduced Kevin ("Kev") & Veronica ("V"), and I don't just mean in the BDSM scene narrated by Frank at the beginning.
This episode also marks the beginning of the sometimes playful but often tense relationship between the two oldest brothers, Lip and Ian.
Thus began my love/hate relationship with Fiona and Steve's love/hate relationship.
The first scene is narrated by Frank, played by the great William H. Macy, the alcoholic dad who isn't much of a dad. Doesn't Frank seem to be a different person in this first scene, where he introduces the main characters, than he ever is again in the series?
It's interesting to see how they introduced Kevin ("Kev") & Veronica ("V"), and I don't just mean in the BDSM scene narrated by Frank at the beginning.
This episode also marks the beginning of the sometimes playful but often tense relationship between the two oldest brothers, Lip and Ian.
John Cohen: "The first scene is narrated by Frank, played by the great William H. Macy, the alcoholic dad who isn't much of a dad. Doesn't Frank seem to be a different person in this first scene, where he introduces the main characters, than he ever is again in the series?"
He definitely does, and I remember when I watched this scene for the first time thinking that Frank was going to turn out to be more of a lovable drunk character, like a dad who clearly has some problems but ultimately does the best he can. On the other hand though, that whole portrayal of himself in the opening scene does sort of fit with his tendency to self-aggrandize.
posted by katyggls at 4:35 PM on June 17, 2014
He definitely does, and I remember when I watched this scene for the first time thinking that Frank was going to turn out to be more of a lovable drunk character, like a dad who clearly has some problems but ultimately does the best he can. On the other hand though, that whole portrayal of himself in the opening scene does sort of fit with his tendency to self-aggrandize.
posted by katyggls at 4:35 PM on June 17, 2014
Everything looks weird. This is the US remake, right? Is there any way to mark that in the title?
posted by Margalo Epps at 5:51 PM on June 17, 2014
posted by Margalo Epps at 5:51 PM on June 17, 2014
Yes, you can see this by clicking on the title or the Wikipedia link.
posted by John Cohen at 5:57 PM on June 17, 2014
posted by John Cohen at 5:57 PM on June 17, 2014
Kev & V are easily my favorite couple in television history. I would watch an entire show just about them having minor disagreements and then making up.
posted by shakespeherian at 6:26 PM on June 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by shakespeherian at 6:26 PM on June 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
It took me a while to see the point of Kev & V. From the beginning, they're both The Voice of Reason (mostly V talking to Fiona, and Kev talking to Frank at the bar). I wasn't a big fan of their "marriage" plotline in Season 1, which seemed anticlimactic. But once Ethel came along, I started to see Kev & V as complex characters in their own right, rather than just "here are some relatively sane/balanced/normal people for the Gallaghers interact with."
posted by John Cohen at 6:42 PM on June 17, 2014
posted by John Cohen at 6:42 PM on June 17, 2014
I remember when I watched this scene for the first time thinking that Frank was going to turn out to be more of a lovable drunk character, like a dad who clearly has some problems but ultimately does the best he can. On the other hand though, that whole portrayal of himself in the opening scene does sort of fit with his tendency to self-aggrandize.
This is a good point — we can see that in the first scene when we go back to rewatch it on DVD, but this takes a conscious effort on our part. Later in the show, Frank will often speak as if he's a remotely responsible person, and the show plays it up for laughs. In the first scene, they're writing on a blank slate — they don't have rich characters or multi-layered motivations to work with yet.
The first episode of a TV show is rarely the show at its best (as fans of Seinfeld know, for instance). I don't think this is the best episode of Shameless, but it's excellent by "pilot" standards.
posted by John Cohen at 6:49 PM on June 17, 2014
This is a good point — we can see that in the first scene when we go back to rewatch it on DVD, but this takes a conscious effort on our part. Later in the show, Frank will often speak as if he's a remotely responsible person, and the show plays it up for laughs. In the first scene, they're writing on a blank slate — they don't have rich characters or multi-layered motivations to work with yet.
The first episode of a TV show is rarely the show at its best (as fans of Seinfeld know, for instance). I don't think this is the best episode of Shameless, but it's excellent by "pilot" standards.
posted by John Cohen at 6:49 PM on June 17, 2014
Plus Kev is just the most sincerely big-hearted character I can think of, especially considering that he's not just written as 'really nice person' (he does a lot of dumb shit, gets angry and violent sometimes, etc.). But he has a genuine warmth and sweetness that is amazing.
posted by shakespeherian at 6:55 PM on June 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by shakespeherian at 6:55 PM on June 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
It's rare to see a TV character as positive as Kev casually using cocaine (in a later episode).
In the pilot, when he enters the Gallaghers' house to see V grooming a shirtless Steven, Kev starts out with a surly demeanor, and I think we're supposed to worry he'll react badly, maybe abusively (he has a very large frame). Then he breaks into levity once someone explains why Steve is there, and you feel a sense of relief as you become increasingly comfortable with how the various characters fit into the house.
posted by John Cohen at 7:12 PM on June 17, 2014
In the pilot, when he enters the Gallaghers' house to see V grooming a shirtless Steven, Kev starts out with a surly demeanor, and I think we're supposed to worry he'll react badly, maybe abusively (he has a very large frame). Then he breaks into levity once someone explains why Steve is there, and you feel a sense of relief as you become increasingly comfortable with how the various characters fit into the house.
posted by John Cohen at 7:12 PM on June 17, 2014
I contacted the mods and they've added "(US)" to clarify which "Shameless" we're talking about.
posted by John Cohen at 7:55 PM on June 17, 2014
posted by John Cohen at 7:55 PM on June 17, 2014
This is a good point — we can see that in the first scene when we go back to rewatch it on DVD, but this takes a conscious effort on our part. Later in the show, Frank will often speak as if he's a remotely responsible person, and the show plays it up for laughs. In the first scene, they're writing on a blank slate — they don't have rich characters or multi-layered motivations to work with yet.
True, but even by the end of the episode, hell, even during that little monologue, you can see he's full of shit when it comes to the descriptions of his kids. Lip is more likely (at this point anyways) to be headed for jail than college, Ian is most certainly not a "ladies man", Carl tortures stray animals rather than adopting them, etc. For the discerning viewer it's probably a clue that he's not as central to his family's welfare as he makes himself out to be.
posted by katyggls at 8:38 PM on June 17, 2014
True, but even by the end of the episode, hell, even during that little monologue, you can see he's full of shit when it comes to the descriptions of his kids. Lip is more likely (at this point anyways) to be headed for jail than college, Ian is most certainly not a "ladies man", Carl tortures stray animals rather than adopting them, etc. For the discerning viewer it's probably a clue that he's not as central to his family's welfare as he makes himself out to be.
posted by katyggls at 8:38 PM on June 17, 2014
I haven't watched the pilot since I first saw it (and I'm current with the show) but doesn't Frank spend the bulk of the episode post-Shakespearean intro monologue passed out on the kitchen floor?
posted by shakespeherian at 8:47 PM on June 17, 2014
posted by shakespeherian at 8:47 PM on June 17, 2014
Definitely, what we're seeing on the screen while he's talking in the intro contradicts some of what he's saying. Ian is a whole other story — almost no one knows he's gay yet. If you thought Frank was going to be, as katyggls said, "more of a lovable drunk character" — an archetype that's been around since the W.C. Fields movie "It's a Gift" — then this could all be chalked up to a dad who's oblivious to what's going on right under his nose because he had a few too many drinks on the way home. The truth ends up being that he's almost never home, and that he has no concern for anyone other than himself. And shakespeherian is right that he's revealed to be worse than useless later in the pilot.
I don't think they intended Frank's role in the first scene to have any larger significance about his character — I think they just needed someone narrating and introducing the show, so they used him because he's the only parent around and the most famous cast member. It could just as well have been Fiona or Lip or Debbie — the way they take turns doing the "Here's what happened last week" at the beginning of each episode.
posted by John Cohen at 8:58 PM on June 17, 2014
I don't think they intended Frank's role in the first scene to have any larger significance about his character — I think they just needed someone narrating and introducing the show, so they used him because he's the only parent around and the most famous cast member. It could just as well have been Fiona or Lip or Debbie — the way they take turns doing the "Here's what happened last week" at the beginning of each episode.
posted by John Cohen at 8:58 PM on June 17, 2014
I wasn't quite so taken with the first two episodes, which seemed to be trying to do scene by scene remakes of the UK show (more or less) -- the plotlines diverged shortly after and the characters changed to fit the new show.
(Also, yes, Kev & V forever.)
posted by jeather at 8:40 AM on June 18, 2014
(Also, yes, Kev & V forever.)
posted by jeather at 8:40 AM on June 18, 2014
I found rewatching the pilot much more enjoyable than watching it the first time. Example: at first, I was bored with the two scenes where Lip/Ian tutor Karen in her living room. It seemed like a gratuitous attempt to be risque. But now that I know where it's going, so many details seem full of significance. Sheila (Joan Cusack) is only slightly odd in her domesticity — you wouldn't know she'll turn out to be much more important than her husband, Eddie. A great moment that went over my head on first view: Sheila (in the kitchen) asks Eddie to guess what she made him for lunch; he gives a couple wrong guesses; she seductively says, "Kiss and I'll tell"; Eddie coldly says, "I'll find out when I open the damn box"; he knocks the "damn box" into a bowl of apples; one apple (a symbolic fruit) falls to the floor in slow motion; and Eddie sees what Karen is doing under the table when he starts picking up the apple. So, it was that moment when affection and enjoyment were lacking in two parallel plotlines — Eddie rejected his wife's come-on (knocking over the apple in the process), while Ian was failing to enjoy the heterosexual oral sex — which set up Eddie's downfall.
By the way, the Shameless Wiki on this episode has more info than Wikipedia.
posted by John Cohen at 9:28 AM on June 18, 2014 [1 favorite]
By the way, the Shameless Wiki on this episode has more info than Wikipedia.
posted by John Cohen at 9:28 AM on June 18, 2014 [1 favorite]
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posted by John Cohen at 4:28 PM on June 17, 2014