Shameless 5×01 recap “Milk of the Gods”

My heart feels complete for the first time in nine months. I present, the best thing on TV right now and twelve of the most emotional recaps, all the way to 5×12, exclusively on Films & Coke.¹ This post has nothing Shameless doesn’t, spoilers for 5×01 and is a bit rough, but I had to publish it now or all my opinions will be replaced with others’ — I saw the episode on Friday, after all.

The Unsung Brilliance of Ethan Cutkosky

First time I watched Shameless, I hated all the Carl scenes. I figured they were a waste of time, pulling focus from Lip and Fiona and all interesting characters. Well, fuck me, because Carl Gallagher, especially in seasons 3 and 4, is one of the most interesting characters.

On Happy Endings and Shameless

I usually skip trying to be funny because I am so much of a ridiculous person that my actions often speak for me.¹ I have left Late Night Spill behind to start fresh. I have two things I need to talk about this week. Happy endings and Shameless because they are important.

  

I. I always make it as obvious as I can: I do not watch bad films because I see so few of them each month. This rule does, apparently, not extend to bad TV. A season’s worth of bullshit is better than an hour and a half! Why, yes, I am talking about The Vampire Diaries. Vamp Diaries wrapped up season 5 on Thursday and after a few days of dodging it, I gave in. Glad that I did, too, because this episode was the strongest of the season. Admittedly, that isn’t saying much as it’s been 23 episodes of a train wreck, but it was truly great. What happened was:

• Ric is back! Matt Davis’s show got cancelled, so he’s coming back. I saw a headline that said “Elena and Alaric to hook up in season 6?”, so there is some fucked up stuff to come next year.
• Nina has switched up her crying and I love what she came up with! It was first-class sobbing, just like I do it, and it felt eerily real. I felt so sorry for Elena.
• Three years late and a Klaus short, it was still great to see Steroline come to life. Soon.
• Some people found peace, which was lovely, and death is now permanent on TVD! This was like having it taken off life support the show it beginning to breathe on its own.
• Damon was incredible with Bonnie, and as the ending whited out (nice touch!), I sat there, dumbfounded, not able to register I had just seen a good new episode of TVD.
• To top it all off, the episode was called Home. It felt like coming back home, too.

II. I haven’t watched an episode of Shameless the whole weekend. I am going cold turkey until I am convinced I won’t start and rewatch the whole show for a third time. Not because it doesn’t deserve to be watched, but because I cannot breathe properly anymore outside that world. I love everything in that world, every piece of furniture and crude word, every character and storyline. It’s a long time to January.

This doesn’t mean I can stay away from Shameless. Instead of the show, I am reading crack fanfiction now. For those of you unfamiliar, crack is pure fun and games, often uncharacteristically hilarious. I have dug up the tiny but tight Shameless fandom on Tumblr and I admire from afar. Mickey and Ian won my heart on that perfect show and so I read about them and have them as my backgrounds everywhere, and somehow feel more mature than when I obsessed over TVD a few years ago. I use the word homos here purely because of these crack!fics. I still have a picture painted in front of my eyelids of Mandy, Ian and Mickey on a road trip with Mandy taking a picture of them in front of Gays, Illinois. Please never take me seriously.¹

+ a breathtaking piece of writing about a film maker and his artistic muse 
+ on a vintage feud brought to life in cinema
+ Nicolas Cage in a bear suit
+ the fate of television

Promise, I’m not MIA.