As Shameless UK hurtles through its 11th & final season, I thought I’d reflect on those scenes/storylines that were the most funny, most emotional, most uplifting, or just imprinted on my brain for a variety of reasons. I continue to convince more friends to watch this show, and after two episodes most of them are hooked and agree UK > US version. I wonder if the US version has enough staying power for 11 seasons or 138 episodes. Here they are (warning – spoilers if you aren’t up-to-date through season 10):
- Fiona & Steve’s courtship & Frank waking up in France.
- Sheila: her agoraphobia, anxieties, love of Frank and willingness to help others (policeman).
- Marty’s battle with Carol’s dog.
- Mandy’s death in the explosion & Karen’s crushing guilt. The wake ending in a brawl at The Jockey to Dropkick Murphy’s “I’m Shipping Up To Boston”
- Karen’s brutal mental breakdown–ripping out the wall & almost falling through the window.
- Mickey reading his story to the copper trapped in a hole in the floor.
- Mickey and his new business – the pink limo.
- Frank’s grand-mother, Nin, killing her husband…tired of being a caregiver and preferring the comfort of prison in her old age.
- Paddy McGuire’s heroin storyline.
- Frank getting locked in the rabbi’s basement “don’t go all Austrian dad on me”.
- Kelly’s devastating miscarriage, her return to drugs, and her spinning while the floorboards gave way.
- The riots in Chatsworth Estate, to the Sex Pistols “Anarchy In the UK”
- Patty’s suicide, leaving us with an empty wheelchair facing Ireland.
- Frank’s opening monologues – every one of them.
My favorite characters have been Frank, Shane, Karen, Kelly, Mickey, and Fiona. I think that makes me more team MacGuire than Gallagher?
A Sortorian Trying to Figure It Out 