Grade: C
The third season of Showtime’s “Shameless” started off a bit lackluster with nothing too absurd happening, considering it is the Gallagher household.
A Brazilian mobster, a drug smuggle across the Mexican border, a robot fight and a little girl who misses her father — yes, somehow this is somewhat normal for the Gallagher’s.
Sunday night’s new episode “El Gran Canon” picks up about 130 days after season two ended. It’s springtime and Debbie (Emma Kenney) has erected a shrine in despair for her missing dad Frank (William H. Macy).
Frank wakes up in Mexico after embarking on an extensive alcohol binge that landed him passed on in Mexico.
While the rest of the family does not seem to care or miss Frank, Debbie constantly asks when he will be coming home and has Fiona (Emmy Rossum) checking the hospitals to see if he lands in one over night.
It’s nothing new. Frank always goes missing and as Fiona reminds Debbie, he always comes back home eventually.
I almost feel bad for Frank because no one seems to care about him, but I am sure next week’s episode will remind me of why everyone, except Debbie, feel this way about him.
Fiona and Steve (Justin Chatwin) appear to be doing as good as ever. Steve has stepped in as a father figure for the Gallagher kids.
The most Fiona can complain about is Steve giving Carl (Ethan Cutkosky) a Popsicle or two for breakfast, and of course, she does. This really annoys me about Fiona. Steve is doing all he can for the Gallaghers and she still manages to find something wrong with him.
It can’t be that simple, though. Steve has a Brazilian mobster after him and it is obvious this will be a reoccurring problem throughout the season.
Fiona struggles with finding a job to pay the bills, but ends the episode with buying her way into an opportunity to show off her promotional skills. This should provide an interesting storyline that is a little different than her past endeavors at maintaining a job.
As for my favorite part of “Shameless,” Lip (Jeremy Allen White) is back in high school and still not willing to accept his fate as a genius college student. Instead, he finds it more important to represent the south side of Chicago in a robot competition. I guess it is a pretty popular event among high school kids in Chicago.
One of Lip’s teachers insisted that he build his resume during the summer so that he can get scholarships to pay for college. I am interested to see if Lip continues his battle against accepting his fate.
If so, I think it is going to get old and boring. But from the gleam in Lip’s eye, I think he might give in, and hopefully soon for viewers. I think we are all rooting for Lip.
Ian (Cameron Monaghan) is still having an affair with Steve’s father and from the previews for the season, it looks like that will be revealed fairly soon.
Overall, the season opener of “Shameless” did not start off on a strong note. We know the family struggles and all we were shown is how the Gallaghers have been coping over the past 100 days.
I never give up on “Shameless” after one episode, though, because it usually makes up for it in the next, and this season looks to be no different.
What did you think of the new episode of “Shameless”? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
