“Life gets really complicated when you’re an adult. You can’t possibly understand these things right now.” – Steve
Fiona (Emmy Rossum) has been slowly but steadily unraveling for several episodes now. Mysterious text messages and overwhelming computer classes and dehumanizing waitress gigs have loosened her tenuous grasp on sanity. “Fiona takes care of everyone, but no one takes care of Fiona,” Deb (Emma Kenney) remarks early in this week’s episode. Her selflessness has left her vulnerable and by the end of “But At Last Came A Knock,” she seems to reach a breaking point.
In prior reviews, I worried that Shameless didn’t really have a season-long plan, that each episode was basically self-contained. While I still stick by this critique, this week and last week combine to create a bit of momentum going into the second half of the season. Most of the non-Frank-related stories from “Turtle” resurface in “Knock.” It doesn’t take long for Deb’s suspicions to get the best of her and lead her to the address from Steve’s (Justin Chatwin) phone. I had high hopes for the Steve’s secret-identity business, but his non-explanation explanation (“I was raised by a pack of wolves, just like you were. Except my wolves went to Harvard”) left me a bit disappointed.
I actually expected the whole Ethel (Madison Davenport) experiment to be over after a single episode. The look on Kev’s (Steve Howey) face when he found out about baby Jonah seemed to say, “Whoa, I’m getting this crazy chick the hell out my house as soon as possible!” However, I must have misinterpreted the expression because in “Knock”, not only is Ethel still there, but Kev is making a push to adopt her son as well. I’m not really sure how I feel about these additions to the Kev/Veronica household. I found them both to infinitely interesting and likable characters on their own and I worry that adding more kids to the mix will take time away from the show’s two most “responsible” adults.
The Ian/Kash/Mickey love triangle comes to a shocking if not entirely believable head this week as well. I don’t know if Ian (Cameron Monaghan) wanted Kash (Pej Vahdat) to find out his relationship (if you can call it that) with Mickey (Noel Fisher), but if he didn’t he sure didn’t do a great job hiding it from him. Does anyone else have a tough time buying Kash’s reaction? We have not had any evidence prior to this that Kash has a propensity for violence. I figure that a more likely reaction would be for Kash to break into tears and run out of the store like a little girl. But hey, I’m not complaining too much, who wasn’t secretly rooting for Mickey to take a hot one in thigh? (Not in a gay way, either).
Now that the stuff that carried over from last week has been touched upon, let’s dive into the major development from “Knock,” which is the return of Monica (Chloe Webb). Before this week, we didn’t even know Frank’s (William H. Macy) wife’s name, did we? I sort of feel like Monica was thrust upon the scene a tad hurriedly and I didn’t have time to really process what I was about to witness. The kid’s missing mother has been the elephant in the room since the very first episode and for her to be lured out hiding as little more than a pawn in one of Frank’s stupid capers feels a little cheap. But maybe that’s the point, maybe Frank’s BS is what caused her to leave, so it’s only fair that it would bring her back. I don’t really buy that though, it seems to me that she bailed because she didn’t want the responsibility of dealing with all of the kids.
I am actually sort of pissed on Fiona’s behalf when Monica has the nerve to try to take Liam home with her. And I’m really pissed when Frank okayed it. Of all of the awful things Frank has done, offering to split up his family for some quick cash is probably the worst. I don’t blame Fiona at all for being fed up and skedaddling. And even though it will change Shameless’ dynamic significantly, I actually hope for her sake that she takes Steve up on his offer to buy her a house. She deserves it.
Some stats and info about Shameless, “But At Last Came A Knock”
TV SHOW – Shameless
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – Showtime
GENRE – Drama, Relationship Shows
CREATED BY – Paul Abbott, John Wells
CAST – William H. Macy, Ethan Cutosky, Jeremy Allen White, Shanola Hampton, Steve Howey, Emma Kenney, Cameron Monaghan, Emmy Rossum, Michael Patrick McGill
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.