Episode Title: “Where There’s a Will”
Writer: Davey Holmes
Director: Danny Cannon
Previously on “Shameless:”
Episode 3.07 “A Long Way From Home”
How do you “out Gallagher” a Gallagher? Well, for starters it involves faking a will and being heartless enough to force a family with young children out on the street, something Patrick Gallagher (Hey, it’s “Stan Larsen” from “The Killing,” Brent Sexton) doesn’t have a problem with.
It’s hard to say which is more disturbing: the horrible circumstances the Gallaghers find themselves in or the f***ed up ways they find to get out of them. It doesn’t really matter since Patrick can sleep at night knowing he forced his own blood out on the street as can Debbie (Emma Kenney), knowing she falsely accused a family member of a “bad touch.”
One person who doesn’t seem to be able to stomach what it takes to be a Gallagher is Jimmy (Justin Chatwin). Feeling like the not-so-odd man out for a while now, hanging in there with Fiona (Emmy Rossum) gets harder for Jimmy when she gets the two of them jobs cleaning up a cockroach-infested mess at the slaughterhouse. After quitting that gig, Jimmy is subjected to further humiliation when an old med school buddy finds him working as a barista at his favorite coffee shop. When’s he invited to dinner the next night, Jimmy wines and dines with his med school buddies and is reminded of the good life he used to have.
Back in the world where working with vermin is an acceptable way to the pay the bills, the Gallaghers try to come up with a plan to deal with Patrick. With no real options, Carl (Ethan Cutkosky) sticks to his suggested plan: killing him. Unfortunately, a rat poison sandwich isn’t enough to keep Patrick from pushing forward. But an eleventh hour accusation of child abuse from Debbie is enough to convince Tony (Tyler Jacob Moore) to arrest Patrick. Fiona strikes a deal with her cousin to rent the house on the cheap in exchange for dropping the charges and the Gallaghers narrowly escape homelessness, once again.
Even Frank (William H. Macy) makes out in this episode when he’s befriended by Christopher, a lonely man with a disturbing taxidermy habit posing as an alcoholic in hopes of finding a new roommate. It’s a sweet deal for Frank as Christopher will do just about anything to keep him there, yet swears he’s not a deranged serial killer. Of course, Frank will find some way to screw this one up to.
Over at Sheila’s, Karen (Laura Slade Wiggins) is starting to show her true colors, once again. She drops “napalm” on Lip’s relationship with Mandy by antagonizing her at school and Sheila (Joan Cusack) learns Karen told Mrs. Wong to take Hymie. Karen’s intentions in both cases aren’t so bad; she just wants the undivided attention of her ex-boyfriend and mother. But it’s the way she goes about getting what she wants that puts Karen in the same class as Frank. Never mind the fact that she screwed him.
And speaking of screwing, we’ve still got the cringe-worthy threesome of Vee, Kev and Vee’s mom, Carol going at it in hopes of making a sibling/child/grandchild. After repeated failed attempts, Carol (Vanessa Bell Calloway) decides it’s time to bring “some ambiance up in here” courtesy of D’Angelo, some candles and a bottle of Rose. This causes Vee (Shanola Hampton) to finally see just how messed up this whole “baby making with mom” situation is.
Unlike the past few episodes, “Where There’s a Will” was more about “Shameless’” characteristic black humor rather than its big heart. It was heartwarming to see how happy Fiona was to secure a home for her family, but we spent more time watching stuff like Sheila get caught up in a Down Syndrome advocacy group that insists on calling itself “Retard Nation.” Ian and Mickey’s relationship was put on hold so we could spend more time on the Lip/Karen/Mandy love triangle; which looks like it’s about to get even uglier than it already is.
And then there was Frank, sinking his claws into Christopher, another well-meaning and unwitting victim of his endless grifting. We’ve seen all this before, but “Where There’s a Will” tried to put a new spin on some old gags. It was successful enough to merit a few laughs, but hopefully “Shameless” serves up some fresh(er) hell in weeks to come.
