Shameless Season 4 Retrospective - "Lazarus." You Can't Keep a Gallagher Down

Shameless Season 4 Finale Retrospective – “Lazarus.” You Can’t Keep a Gallagher Down!

Season 4, Episode 12

Air Date: Sunday, April 6, 2014, 9:00 pm ET/PT on Showtime

Rating: ★★★★★

[warning]Major Spoilers Ahead[/warning]

“It was me, Lip. Not Frank, not Monica, not nature, not nurture. – Fiona

In one of this season’s best episodes, many questions are answered, storylines wrapped up, and a major plot point for season five is unexpectedly revealed as the credits roll. Before I explain further, let’s go back and take a look at each of our characters over the season.

Frank the Survivor

Frank is suddenly awakened by a typical Carl (unseen) move.

In my advance review of this season’s premiere, I referred to some questions I asked in my review of the season three finale: “Can Frank change? Does he want to change?” All season long, we have watched Frank (William H. Macy) go steadily downhill while being cared for by his daughter Sammi (Emily Bergl) with her son Chuck (Kellen Michael) in tow. Frank did the most heinous of things trying to get the forbidden alcohol and drugs into his system, no matter how many times the doctors warned him not to. And it never bothered him which kid he asked to do these shameless things. Not for one minute, though, did I think Frank would end up dead, although he did come pretty damn close. Macy is just too good of an actor to write out of any show, let alone Shameless. Frank Gallagher seems like the role Macy was born to play. So, Frank’s getting a liver implant at the very last moment came as no surprise to me. And for those who thought the new liver would be the impetus for a major change in Frank’s personality…well, I’ve got a bridge I’d like to sell you. Poor Carl (Ethan Cutkosky)—while he is a Gallagher through and through, I never thought he’d turn into an alcoholic like his father. Or should I say, I hope he doesn’t despite Frank’s best efforts in “Lazarus’” last scene standing next to a frozen Lake Michigan.

Carl Grows Up

Carl with his new girlfriend, Bonnie.

Speaking of Carl, he entered puberty in this season’s premiere and learned from Frank how to take care of things—sexually speaking—by himself. He’s always been prone to committing some very reprehensible crimes and has shown himself to be quite the psychotic little kid. Little by little, though, Carl grew up over the season, even to the point of having a soul mate girlfriend Bonnie (guest star Morgan Lily). I love the way they met this season, in episode 9, “The Legend of Bonnie and Carl.” With her willing to steal just about anything, Carl couldn’t help being attracted to her. Besides, she has the cutest, most innocent looking face a budding criminal can have! Bonnie seemed even more psychotic than Carl even though her criminal activities help support her and her siblings who live in a trailer. Too bad the trailer is gone when Carl goes to find her in “Lazarus.” I hope Bonnie returns in season five; she’s the perfect Bonnie to Carl’s so-called Clyde.

Fiona – Going from Bad to Worse and Back Again

Fiona tells Lip everything is her fault. Nothing made me happier this season than Lip forgiving Fiona, and this is another scene where you can see how close the two have become.

Fiona seemed on top of the world in this season’s premiere, “Simple Pleasures.” She was working for World Wide Cup and on the verge of leaving poverty behind. She had a nice, albeit boring, boyfriend Mike (Jake McDorman) who was also her boss. Then one day, everything came crashing down when Fiona started making one bad decision after another. Thanks to Mike’s fucked up brother Robbie (Nick Gehlfuss), who Fiona sleeps with, little Liam (Brandon and Brenden Sims) almost dies when Fiona leaves the cocaine out Robbie gifted her for her birthday. She lands in jail and we spend the entire season watching Fiona act just like Frank, someone she always strived not to be like, screwing up time and again. The low point for Fiona this season is when she gets out on probation and comes home to a very angry Lip (Jeremy Allen White) in episode 7, “A Jailbird, Invalid, Martyr, Cutter, Retard, and a Parasitic Twin.” Poor Lip, he’s trying to keep the family together while struggling in college and Fiona can’t keep herself together. Fiona’s saving grace is her probation officer Gail, beautifully played by the very talented Regina King, recently of Southland fame. Not only does she get Fiona out of a jail for a second time, she gets her a job waitressing at a restaurant run by Charlie Peters (guest star Jeffrey Dean Morgan), an ex-addict himself. It will be interesting to see what role Charlie will play in Fiona’s life in season five. Will she end up sleeping with him, like she did with Mike, or will she finally straighten up and get her life back on track? The biggest development in Fiona’s character, though, is her accepting her role for everything that has happened to her this season. Let’s hope Fiona is in a better place next season.

Lip the College Student

It’s obvious how much Lip cares for Mandy but will she let him back in her life once she realizes how much Amanda can do for him?

Lip has spent the season in college, struggling to maintain his grades and be the father figure for the Gallagher clan once Fiona goes away to prison. It’s not an easy job but somehow, Lip pulls it off. Thanks in no small part to his college roommate Ron’s (Adam Cagley) girlfriend Amanda (Nichole Bloom), who not surprisingly gives Lip a blow job while he’s sleeping. I’m not sure I agree with the way the writers portray college students these days by having Ron accept Amanda straying to the other side of the room but hey, this is Shameless after all. It’s not surprising when Lip becomes Amanda’s “boy toy,” given all the things she buys for him. But how can you not feel for Mandy (Emma Greenwell), the ex-girlfriend responsible for getting Lip into college in the first place? Especially when she is the waitress where Lip and Amanda go to eat following Amanda’s high society sorority affair. I love the similarity in the two girls’ names—Amanda and Mandy—and the way the Shameless writers leave Lip in “Lazarus.” It’s obvious he still has feelings for Mandy but with rich Amanda providing all manner of things he isn’t used to having, you can’t help wondering which girl he’ll choose to be with in season five. Me—I’m rooting for Mandy. She’s always been there for him; she’s even there in “Lazarus” to help deal with Ian (more on that later); and she’s such a tragic character, she deserves something good in her life—if she’ll allow it.

Debbie the Little Sister

Debbie tries hard to fill Fiona’s shoes, especially when it comes to Liam.

It’s been fun watching Debbie (Emma Kenney) grow up this season, going from friends who are a bad influence on her, to her first boyfriend, learning the true meaning of being in love, and trying to step into Fiona’s shoes as surrogate mother to the Gallagher clan. One of the best additions to the cast this season is James Allen McClune, who plays Debbie’s love interest Matty. Well, he’s her love interest until he finds out her real age. Kudos to the Shameless writers for making Matty a decent guy who doesn’t take advantage of Debbie. Kenney deserves an Emmy® for the way in which she plays a troubled adolescent on the verge of womanhood. There’s so much to cope with. And “Lazarus” shows us just how much Debbie’s character has grown, especially in the scene where she and Carl run into Fiona’s arms when she unexpectedly returns home from jail. Kenney’s tears seem genuine and gut-wrenching; I’d love to know what dark place in her young life she went to in order to play that scene as realistically and convincingly as she does.

Ian and Mickey

Mickey comes over to check on Ian.

Ian (Cameron Monaghan) didn’t return to Shameless until almost midway through the season. And when he returned, he did so with a bang. Complete with exaggerated makeup and tiny metallic shorts, Ian was a ”twink” dancing at a gay bar and ripping off rich Johns. Mickey (Noel Fisher), on the other hand, was still hiding in the closet, and married to Svetlana (Isadora Goreshter), a pregnant Russian whore who can’t stand “orange boy,” aka Ian. After partying hard with Ian on numerous occasions, Mickey finally accepts who he is, and he and Ian withstand one of the worst beatings of their lives at the hands of Mickey’s homophobic father Terry (Dennis Cockrum). I particularly love how Kevin (Steve Howey) and the regulars at the Alibi accept Mickey after he announces, “I’m gay.” We knew all along Mickey had real feelings for Ian and they are on perfect display in “Lazarus,” especially when Fiona tells him what’s wrong with Ian when he refuses to get out of bed. People who are familiar with the signs realized Ian has been falling into a deep depression á la Monica (Chloe Webb). It wasn’t unreasonable to expect one of the Gallagher kids to become bi-polar like their mother, and Ian fits the bill perfectly. With their romance just taking off for real, one can’t help but wonder whether Mickey will stay with Ian next season, or go home with Svetlana to care for their baby.

Special Shout-Out

Sheila and Sammi practically come to blows in the hospital.

Emily Bergl deserves special recognition this season for her turn as Sammi. By far, she is the best addition to the cast in a long time. Sammi is the daughter Frank finds in his effort to scam her into helping him get a new liver. But no matter what Frank does, Sammi hangs in there because now, she has the father she so deeply wanted all her life. Bergl plays the loving, dutiful daughter to perfection. Sammi does the most disgusting things to help Frank, and even goes so far as stupidly paying a stranger in order to get a new liver for Frank in a shoddy warehouse. Even if you didn’t see that episode, surely you can imagine how that ended, can’t you? Perhaps the funniest scene in “Lazarus” is the Sammi/Sheila (Joan Cusack) showdown as they fight over Sammi visiting Frank at the same moment Carl is squirreling Frank out of the hospital. With the look on Frank’s face, in that moment you know the Frank of seasons past is back. I’m not sure what Sheila hopes to gain by keeping Sammi away from Frank but she should know that despite being Frank’s wife, she can’t keep his daughter from seeing him.

Lazarus

From our biblical teachings, we know Lazarus rose from the dead. But in “Lazarus,” the title could relate to two different people. Frank has been all but dead almost all season and finally regains his memory after his successful surgery. So, Frank is like Lazarus, rising from the dead. Who is the other person, you might ask? It is perhaps one of television’s best kept secrets, right alongside the death of Will Gardner (Josh Charles) on The Good Wife, and is revealed when the credits roll. Suddenly, a car pulls up outside the Gallagher household and inside is an unknown woman talking to a man she calls “Jack.” Now, if you remember, “Lazarus” opens with a broad shot of a frozen Lake Michigan, where supposedly Steve/Jimmy (Justin Chatwin) was left for dead. But, as the mysterious man in the car turns around, we see Steve/Jimmy/Jack. Now, if that isn’t a fantastic cliffhanger, I don’t know what is. Where has he been all this time? And why has he come back?

Frank is back, bottle in hand.

Speaking of Lake Michigan, don’t you just love that “Lazarus” ends as it begins—in front of the frozen lake as Frank rails at God, and laughs at beating Him? “Is that all you got? You see me standing here? You lost, asshole! I’m alive, you motherfucker.” Yes, Frank, the lovable, not so lovable, neighborhood drunk, is here to stay. Did you have any doubts whatsoever? I didn’t.

Tell me what you thought about “Lazarus.” I’d especially like to know where you think Shameless is going next season, and what you’d like to see. Are you happy Steve/Jimmy/Jack is back? Leave me a comment below or tweet me @SeasideTV.

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Greg Staffa

I provide testosterone to the site. You won’t be reading about how nice a actress looks in a dress or how much of a hunk Matt Bomer is in my reviews. I describe colors using words like brown, not taupe. My twitter name is @staffaroadtrip because I love road trips and have done two different 48-state road trips since 2008. My favorite show is White Collar.