TV Review: Shameless (5×10) “South Side Rules”

What we have here is good television.

Shameless turns in what might be my favorite episode of the season (so far), with one it’s most meditative installments to date. The camerawork by John Wells lingers on his actors faces as they process information they’ve been given and deal with the fallout’s bound to occur. Steve Howey, Emmy Rossum, Cameron Monaghan, Noel Fisher, and Jeremy Allen White all get wonderful moments tonight that are highlighted by nothing more than stillness.

Quick note though before I rave about how much I loved this episode. I am not convinced by this Debbie storyline yet. She’s always been bright and I’ve loved Debbie since day one, in part because of how her sweetness and manipulation tactics interweave and partly because of what Emma Kenney brought to the role. I don’t like this idea that Debbie would purposefully try to get pregnant to create her own version of a family after she’s witnessed how tough it’s been for Fiona to parent kids when she was still technically a child herself. Maybe I’ll be proven wrong?

Debbie’s storyline aside “South Side Rules” is a cohesive episode that manages to tie everyones personal struggles together in true Shameless fashion. Lip and Fiona are both facing their own needs and self-destructive tendencies that have so often faced them against their worst selves. These two are consistently the most interesting characters to me because unlike someone like Ian whose problems are largely out of his control, Lip and Fiona’s hurdles are typically self-manifested and both of them are, yet again, testing their limitations this week.

Fiona is still dealing with the fallout from her tryst with Steve/Jimmy/Jack and Gus is holding back from her. Things begin to look up when they plan for a Skype date but Fiona jumps ship immediately when Sean seems in need of some help. His son and ex-wife are moving out of town and Fiona goes to his side, ignoring a call from Gus, to help him through. Dermot Mulroney has been doing some excellent work as Sean and he and Emmy Rossum have a magnetic onscreen chemistry, one that’s only ever been touched by Rossum and Justin Chatwin. Gus is a nice guy and likely the healthier option for Fiona. Sean and Fiona on the other hand make for a compelling relationship, one that could almost make me ignore how ludicrous it is that Fiona’s storylines almost always include men.

Almost.

Lip on the other hand is dealing with, on paper, easier life lessons when Kev’s pot ends up being a synthetic drug that leaves it’s users paranoid. Lip is forced to keep them all in his room until one jumps outside and breaks his leg. Lip scrambles and runs to his professor, who he believes is a Doctor only to receive a much needed reality check. He says he’s avoiding the hospital because he doesn’t want to get his friend in trouble, South Side rules, and she tells him to essentially grow the hell up. She says he protecting himself and needs to own up to his responsibilities and realize that he’s been rewarded a lot of opportunities so to stop trying to throw them all away.

It’s a great moment that nearly elicited a fist pump from this viewer. What’s even better is the following scenes where Lip asks Kev to leave and then goes to apologize to the kid hospitalized. The former is a great, understated moment by Howey and White, both of whom do a lot with the little dialogue they have. Lip is tired of trying to abide by two ways of living that consistently crash into him and Kev is tired of hiding from his family. Kev goes home and lies down with Veronica, in a small motion of patching things up and Lip goes to the hospital which is where the camera stills and we see his decision making plain on his face. He wants this life he could have mapped out for himself, but he won’t forget where he came from either.

Then there’s Ian and Mickey who break my heart. Kudos to Monaghan who has significantly stepped it up this season and man, if Sammi wasn’t detestable before she sure is now. After Ian and Mickey share a day together where they nearly lay their issues on the table and plan for a date night, their first ever date night, they walk in where Sammi has called the military police to come and take Ian away. Ian’s “why Sammi” is heartbreaking as well as he and Mickey’s dawning realization. It’s a heart stopping moment of television where we realize that one of our beloved characters may be facing some very real consequences.

I’ve hardly even touched on Frank who I once again enjoyed. He and Bianca make for a fascinating pair and William H. Macy getting to play things a bit more low key and underscored is a welcome change.

My one real concern is how little time the Gallagher clan has been spending together as a unit, increasingly growing more and more fractured. With the ending of this week’s it’s hard to see when this will change with yet another Gallagher facing time but if we could get more scenes with all of them under the same roof before the season’s done I’d be content.

The music, the cinematography, the acting were all beautiful this week in it’s confident simplicity. We know these characters and we don’t question their most recent decisions or escapades. This week the show trusted in it’s audience and allowed it to be more contemplative and assured which makes the last few minutes all the more haunting. We know what this means.

9/10