An Enraged Wife, A Faux Birthday Sleepover and a Stroke of Luck. Review: Shameless - "A Beautiful Mess"

Review: Shameless, S2, E4 – “A Beautiful Mess”

Air Date: Sunday, January 29, 2012, 9:00 pm ET/PT on Showtime

Rating: ★★★★★

Let’s count the number of ways the Gallaghers have gotten themselves into a mess this week. I’d say Fiona (Emily Rossum) sleeping with Craig (Taylor Kinney) last week qualifies now that his wife, Lucy Jo (Brit Morgan), knows about it. I also think Frank (William H. Macy) has a mess on his hands as Sheila (Joan Cusack) gets closer to discovering the truth about him and his so-called job at The Alibi Room. Then, there’s Lip (Jeremy Allen White) trying to split up Karen (Laura Wiggins) and her fiancé, Jody (Zach McGowan).

An Enraged Wife, A Faux Birthday Sleepover and a Stroke of Luck. Review: Shameless - "A Beautiful Mess" 1

Debbie wakes up Fiona to meet the new prospective client.

Lucy Jo is one crazy bitch! Of course, I’d be pretty pissed too if I found out my husband had slept with his high school crush. I understand her confronting Fiona, but throwing a rock through the Gallaghers’ window is just dangerous. I don’t mind the slushie thrown in Fiona’s face so much though; actually, it’s pretty funny. Craig has to know how crazy Lucy Jo is so my question is, why did he tell her he slept with Fiona in the first place?

Frank and Fiona hiding under Sheila’s table to avoid Lucy Jo presents a nice father/daughter moment as they laugh about the situation. Although, when it makes Fiona realize she’s more like her father than she’d like to be, she’s not so happy after all. Fiona is nowhere near as bad as Frank, but if she continues on the track she’s on this summer, who knows what will happen?

An Enraged Wife, A Faux Birthday Sleepover and a Stroke of Luck. Review: Shameless - "A Beautiful Mess" 2

Fiona and Frank enjoying a father/daughter moment.

Shameless has its fair share of nudity—which I’m totally comfortable with—but Jody being naked, hanging it all out for the world to see, is a little over the top. I’m all for male frontal nudity in the appropriate situation, but in the kitchen, while cooking breakfast? It seems to serve no purpose other than to show us his body, which I admit is rock hard. Did you check out those abs!? But it amounts to nothing more than gratuitous nudity. Since the kitchen scene isn’t the only time Jody flaunts himself, I have a question. If he and Karen are saving themselves for marriage, why is he always naked?

An Enraged Wife, A Faux Birthday Sleepover and a Stroke of Luck. Review: Shameless - "A Beautiful Mess" 3

Lip, Ian and Carl talking about Carl's new friend, Hank.

Meanwhile, Carl (Ethan Cutkosky) has a new friend, Little Hank (Nicky Korba), who Lip describes as “another knee-high delinquent.” I’d say, given the amount of airplane-sized liquor bottles Hank and Carl consume during Hank’s house sitting gig. Hank is quite the character and fits in perfectly with the Gallaghers. He always has another scheme cooking, and if Carl continues hanging around with him, I guarantee he’s going to end up in a world of trouble. So far, Cutkosky hasn’t had a whole lot to do this season so I anticipate his having this new, quite audacious friend may provide additional screen time for Cutkosky and some laughable antics for us along the way.

Veronica (Shanola Hampton) correctly diagnoses Debbie’s rash as stress-related. That’s not surprising considering how much responsibility Debbie has. Veronica also hits the nail on the head after Fiona confesses she called Steve (Justin Chatwin) the previous evening—“Might want to figure out why you want to talk to him first.” Good advice, Vi, because for some reason, Fiona keeps calling him! With the amount of random sex Fiona’s been having this summer, it’s obvious she’s using it to compensate for missing Steve. Could she actually have real feelings for him?

For an 11-year-old girl, Debbie is way too serious. Fiona recognizes this and tries to get Debbie to lighten up.

Fiona: “Maybe hang out at the park sometime.”

Debbie: “Loitering.”

Fiona: “How about you invite some friends over and relax in the pool?”

Debbie: “No lifeguard. Liability.”

An Enraged Wife, A Faux Birthday Sleepover and a Stroke of Luck. Review: Shameless - "A Beautiful Mess" 4

Veronica, Kev, Lip and Debbie having fun at Debbie's fake birthday party

But as serious and mature as Debbie is, I don’t think she knows anything about kids her own age. She doesn’t recognize that classmate Simon (Zane Emory) has a huge crush on her and uses him to get an introduction to her other classmate, Holly (Dove Cameron). Holly only agrees to come to the fake birthday/sleepover Fiona is throwing to meet Lip. Debbie is really missing the boat here and I feel sorry for her when she eventually learns the truth. It’s a hard pill for Debbie to swallow.

Poor Frank. He’s really worried about Sheila (Joan Cusack) throwing him out if she goes back to work at the beauty salon. “525 – I made it!” Cusack is wonderful as she counts off the number of steps it takes to make it to the beauty salon. Her physicality and exaggerated manner of walking—if you can call it that—is really funny. Yet, as serious as Sheila can be at times, she is also a little demented in the bedroom. I can’t believe she plays a sexual ‘Three Little Piggies’ game with Frank! Eww, gross!

Ethel (Madison Davenport), the Mormon girl who lives with Veronica and Kev (Steve Howey), has a crush on Malik (Justin Mitchell), a 14-year-old black kid Kev coaches. She and Malik seem to have a lot in common, including kids of their own. It’s a good thing Shameless is rated R; otherwise, young girls watching the show might think it’s ok to have babies at such an early age. Davenport is quite a talented young actress and makes her character easily believable. The smile on her face when Ethel initially sees Malik easily reaches her eyes, clearly making her look like a young girl in the throes of a crush.

As for Lip, he can’t wrap his head around Karen marrying Jody and pays Carl to keep an eye on her. Ian, although younger than Lip, has more knowledge in his little fingertip than Lip does when it comes to Karen. It’s obvious Lip is in love with Karen although he doesn’t want to admit it, nor does he listen to Ian’s advice on the matter. Lip should realize Ian is only looking out for him and acting not only like a brother, but his best friend as well.

Fun and memorable lines:

Frank: “Why do you think I need something?”

Mickey (Noel Fisher): “You’re breathing.”

***

Veronica to Kev: “Boys like Malik don’t have friends with vaginas.”

***

Carl: “I already had my first woody. In history class, talking about when Marie Antoinette’s head got chopped off.”

***

Bar patron to Frank: “You banged her kid. I’m telling!”

***

Whether you believe in a higher power or not, it appears someone or something is looking out for Frank when Sheila leaves the house to accompany him to “work” at The Alibi Room. Looks like Frank’s secret is safe for now.

“A Beautiful Mess” is another well-written, well-directed and well-acted episode of Shameless. Shame on you if you don’t watch this outrageously funny show.

Tune in to Shameless, Sunday nights at 9:00 pm ET/PT, only on Showtime.

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Linda

Love TV, movies, and books--mostly mysteries, with a good love story thrown in every now and then. I have four adopted dogs who I adore. I love trying new recipes, and enjoy eating what I make. English language perfectionist. Reading in bed, Italian food, warm weather, the beach, all types of games = favs!