Previewing Shameless: Season Five

It seems like every season of Shameless I think to myself, they cannot possibly get any more, well, shameless, but they always seem to out do themselves each season. In season three, they gave Frank cancer and followed that up by having his liver shut down the following season. The rest of the Gallagher clan did not fair any better. Fiona lost her cushy cup job by sleeping with her boss/boyfriend’s brother and celebrated by leaving out her cocaine for Liam to get into, landing her in jail. Lip struggled as the small fish in the big pond of college by survived by finding a sugar momma. Ian went AWOL and started to show symptoms of bi-polar like his mother. Carl found the female version of him and was left brokenhearted while Debbie started hanging out with an older boy who was the one rare gentleman on the show. Granted he mostly kept his hands to himself to stay out of jail. Oh yeah, and Jimmy, who we were lead to believe was going to Davy Jones Locker, popped up at the end of the season out front of the Gallagher homestead with a new lady friend.

After a season of agony, Frank finally got a new liver, a new wife, and a new daughter while Fiona got out of jail and found a new job as a waitress. Spring is in the air as the fifth season starts. Sammi (who has been promoted to the opening credits; Mandy Milkovich gets demoted to recurring while another regular looks like they will not be around much this season either) has moved next to Sheila’s house. Despite still healing, Frank quickly goes back on his grind working on something in the basement, yes you will learn what it is by the end of the episode (the episode “Milk of the Gods” will give you a hint) but you will definitely want to stick around to the end of episode three to see just how successful the enterprise is.

Meanwhile Fiona has assimilated herself well into her new job by the time we catch up with her. Though we know Jimmy is still alive and around (I believe Fiona just thinks he abandoned her at the end of season three) she has some new prospects, neither of them seem very healthy for her. Lip is on his first summer break from college and finds himself caught between his old life on the South Side and one with his sugar momma while Ian is in marital bliss living with Micky and his Russian bride.

The younger Gallagher kids Carl and Debbie are in a battle to see who can lose their virginity first. Next door, Kev and V are adjusting to their new lives as parents of twin girls. But then again, all they have to do is to keep them out of their cocaine stash to do a better job than Fiona.


But this is Shameless and the reason to tune in is to see how they top themselves and this season there are some major haircuts, lots of breastfeeding, Frank spends Father’s Day with the father of his former liver’s owner, date rape, a marriage, someone loses their home, lesbian have moved in to gentrify the area, and much more. As for the most shameless moment of the first couple episodes features Frank and an child amputee. But I no longer think that the writers will find something even more shameless later in the season.

Shameless airs Sundays at 9:00 on Showtime.