Shameless (US): A Beautiful Mess Rewatch
January 31, 2015 10:27 AM - Season 2, Episode 4 - Subscribe
Sheila is literally making great strides in going outside. Frank is worried she’ll go back to working at her old job and realize she can do better than him. Lip’s good advice to Frank: “No one trades an MVP.” Frank understands: “Make myself valuable, untradeable.” But Frank has an ever better idea: convince the recovering agoraphobe that “the world out there is a scary place” — by making it “even scarier”!
After Frank makes various failed attempts to scare Sheila into staying indoors, his goal is met by accident: part of an airplane falls from the sky and just misses her. She runs back into her house. Suddenly, all her progress is undone.
Fiona is being chased by Craig’s wife, Lucy Jo. Then Craig himself shows up, asking for forgiveness from both of them for cheating with Fiona.
Debbie is stressed out taking care of kids, so Fiona makes her have a sleepover party, but Debbie struggles with the guest list. She invites Simon so that he can invite Holly, who’s older/cooler and only goes because she’s interested in Lip. Carl brings his friend Little Hank, and Debbie likes him. (And Fiona invites … Steve?!)
Lip goes to the bar with Jody to try to find some dirt on him. “I can’t find any dirt — I’ll just have to make some…”
On the night of Debbie’s sleepover, Lip and Mandy have “amazing” sex. Afterward, Lip sends Mandy over to Karen's house (while Karen is at work) to try to seduce Jody.
Meanwhile, Holly (who’s either 14 or 15) sneaks into Lip’s room, but he turns her away. Holly storms out of the house and ruins the sleepover. Lip tries to make it up to Debbie by offering to take her and Holly out to an R-rated movie — Debbie likes this idea as long as Little Hank can go too.
Kev & V’s foster daughter, Ethel, makes a new friend, Malik, who’s also about 14 years old with a baby. Malik to Ethel (while she’s holding her son, Jonah): “We should get our kids together for a play date or some shit like that!” This leads to a short but charming scene in which Kev teases V for being concerned about Ethel’s interest in Malik: “You’re turning into a mama bear with your little baby Ethel cub!” “Shut up!” “My mama bear…” “Shut it down.”
Karen beats Lip, telling him to "stay the f___ away" from Jody, her ... and “this baby.” That's how we find out that Karen — who’s been having a lot of sex with Lip while abstaining with Jody — is pregnant.
The title of this episode is Frank’s description of how Karen reminds him of Monica…
After Frank makes various failed attempts to scare Sheila into staying indoors, his goal is met by accident: part of an airplane falls from the sky and just misses her. She runs back into her house. Suddenly, all her progress is undone.
Fiona is being chased by Craig’s wife, Lucy Jo. Then Craig himself shows up, asking for forgiveness from both of them for cheating with Fiona.
Debbie is stressed out taking care of kids, so Fiona makes her have a sleepover party, but Debbie struggles with the guest list. She invites Simon so that he can invite Holly, who’s older/cooler and only goes because she’s interested in Lip. Carl brings his friend Little Hank, and Debbie likes him. (And Fiona invites … Steve?!)
Lip goes to the bar with Jody to try to find some dirt on him. “I can’t find any dirt — I’ll just have to make some…”
On the night of Debbie’s sleepover, Lip and Mandy have “amazing” sex. Afterward, Lip sends Mandy over to Karen's house (while Karen is at work) to try to seduce Jody.
Meanwhile, Holly (who’s either 14 or 15) sneaks into Lip’s room, but he turns her away. Holly storms out of the house and ruins the sleepover. Lip tries to make it up to Debbie by offering to take her and Holly out to an R-rated movie — Debbie likes this idea as long as Little Hank can go too.
Kev & V’s foster daughter, Ethel, makes a new friend, Malik, who’s also about 14 years old with a baby. Malik to Ethel (while she’s holding her son, Jonah): “We should get our kids together for a play date or some shit like that!” This leads to a short but charming scene in which Kev teases V for being concerned about Ethel’s interest in Malik: “You’re turning into a mama bear with your little baby Ethel cub!” “Shut up!” “My mama bear…” “Shut it down.”
Karen beats Lip, telling him to "stay the f___ away" from Jody, her ... and “this baby.” That's how we find out that Karen — who’s been having a lot of sex with Lip while abstaining with Jody — is pregnant.
The title of this episode is Frank’s description of how Karen reminds him of Monica…
Little Hank will get more screen time!
Yeah, I've wondered why they thought Little Hank was a character worth having on the show. He's one of the few characters on Shameless who seems miscast to me. He should be a troublemaker like Carl, and not actually good enough for Debbie — but with enough charm that you can see why Debbie would have a crush on him. And that last part seems to be missing. Ethan Cutkosky himself would have made a better Hank if he weren't already playing Carl.
Other than that, I'm mostly blown away by how brilliantly cast the show is — can you imagine anyone better to play Lip, Fiona, etc.?
posted by John Cohen at 6:48 PM on February 2, 2015
Yeah, I've wondered why they thought Little Hank was a character worth having on the show. He's one of the few characters on Shameless who seems miscast to me. He should be a troublemaker like Carl, and not actually good enough for Debbie — but with enough charm that you can see why Debbie would have a crush on him. And that last part seems to be missing. Ethan Cutkosky himself would have made a better Hank if he weren't already playing Carl.
Other than that, I'm mostly blown away by how brilliantly cast the show is — can you imagine anyone better to play Lip, Fiona, etc.?
posted by John Cohen at 6:48 PM on February 2, 2015
I love Jody, he just rolls around full frontal which I find hilarious. Frank half shoots himself in this episode, I think, which is funny. He is always scheming these Rube Goldberg style plans and they are always backfiring on him.
Agreed about Hank though, he isn't great. Also, the Ethel storyline is ok, but I feel frustrated by her character and how everyone just kind of accepts her.
posted by Literaryhero at 5:02 AM on February 4, 2015
Agreed about Hank though, he isn't great. Also, the Ethel storyline is ok, but I feel frustrated by her character and how everyone just kind of accepts her.
posted by Literaryhero at 5:02 AM on February 4, 2015
Debbie is just the saddest, and the best. Fiona dumping so much responsibility on her makes sense, character-wise, but the injustice still makes me more angry than is reasonable for a fictional show. I think she's only supposed to be a year older than Carl?
It's really just a way to make a Debbie a far more important character than Carl. If Carl were the one running a business from the home, you could say that's an injustice — "Why isn't Debbie just as capable of doing that?!"
posted by John Cohen at 6:06 PM on February 7, 2015
It's really just a way to make a Debbie a far more important character than Carl. If Carl were the one running a business from the home, you could say that's an injustice — "Why isn't Debbie just as capable of doing that?!"
posted by John Cohen at 6:06 PM on February 7, 2015
Finally, some full frontal male nudity! We froze the screen and had a long conversation about it.
posted by Alizaria at 5:34 AM on February 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Alizaria at 5:34 AM on February 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
Finally, some full frontal male nudity! We froze the screen and had a long conversation about it.
Kevin blatantly displayed his penis in the pilot!
posted by John Cohen at 9:08 PM on February 13, 2015
Kevin blatantly displayed his penis in the pilot!
posted by John Cohen at 9:08 PM on February 13, 2015
You say, "Finally, some full frontal male nudity," but they never show full frontal female nudity. They talk about this in a DVD extra on season 1.
posted by John Cohen at 9:10 PM on February 13, 2015
posted by John Cohen at 9:10 PM on February 13, 2015
Full frontal male nudity is more important, in my view, because: 1. They've showed women's breasts a lot and I don't think showing a man's ass (which they've also done a lot) is comparable to showing a woman's breasts (there's the same kind of competition and envy about the magnitude of the endowment), and 2. Jody's phallus leverages a lot of comedy and character development (as Frank and then Lip get a look), so it has narrative value in a way that seeing a woman's lower front parts would probably not.
As for Kevin's penis in the pilot — I like the phrase "penis in the pilot"! — I'd forgotten about that.
posted by Alizaria at 4:16 AM on February 14, 2015
As for Kevin's penis in the pilot — I like the phrase "penis in the pilot"! — I'd forgotten about that.
posted by Alizaria at 4:16 AM on February 14, 2015
As for Kevin's penis in the pilot — I like the phrase "penis in the pilot"! — I'd forgotten about that.
And it was the focus of the whole scene, which was all about how awkward it was for Ian to go over and light the cigarette of a nude man who didn't know Ian was gay.
posted by John Cohen at 9:59 AM on February 14, 2015
And it was the focus of the whole scene, which was all about how awkward it was for Ian to go over and light the cigarette of a nude man who didn't know Ian was gay.
posted by John Cohen at 9:59 AM on February 14, 2015
The show is about equal in showing nude chests and butts of men and women. They focus more on women's than men's chests, but they focus more on men's than women's butts. And they show only men's genitals, not women's. So, you could argue that the show emphasizes male nudity more than female nudity.
posted by John Cohen at 10:01 AM on February 14, 2015
posted by John Cohen at 10:01 AM on February 14, 2015
I don't know if the nudity and sex are intended to titillate viewers. I don't find any of it at all titillating. It's all awful and I find the sex painful to watch. I don't know who the other members of the audience are, other than my husband, because they're watching in other rooms. Maybe abusive, unpleasant sex is exciting for them. It's especially bad to be forced to watch teenagers having sex.
And how many times must we watch a man move a woman into the sink for sex? Fortunately, people other than my husband are not within earshot of me or they'd be stuck with my real-time commentary: Oh, no, here we go in the sink again.
posted by Alizaria at 10:32 AM on February 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
And how many times must we watch a man move a woman into the sink for sex? Fortunately, people other than my husband are not within earshot of me or they'd be stuck with my real-time commentary: Oh, no, here we go in the sink again.
posted by Alizaria at 10:32 AM on February 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
4 things about the landing gear that fell from the sky:
1. Reminded me of the plane debris that fell in the yard in "Breaking Bad."
2. The house would not protect Sheila if the landing gear fell on the house.
3. Great surreal special effect.
4. Huge gear resonates with Jody's big penis. A male anatomy metaphor. Sheila is terrified by male genitalia.
posted by Alizaria at 10:37 AM on February 14, 2015
1. Reminded me of the plane debris that fell in the yard in "Breaking Bad."
2. The house would not protect Sheila if the landing gear fell on the house.
3. Great surreal special effect.
4. Huge gear resonates with Jody's big penis. A male anatomy metaphor. Sheila is terrified by male genitalia.
posted by Alizaria at 10:37 AM on February 14, 2015
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
While I liked this episode itself, it's the start of some story lines that I just hate. Karen will soon become the worst character ever! Little Hank will get more screen time!
posted by twoporedomain at 10:15 AM on February 2, 2015