What I Watched:
Shameless (U.S.) - S2.E10: "A Great Cause"What I Saw:
The episode started off pretty standard for Shameless. Everyone is going about their lives with usually one of the characters being caught up in a ridiculously funny scenario; which in this case it was Steve/Jimmy trying to smuggle his wife's boyfriend into the country and losing his the shipping container he is in. In reality, this episode was all about Fiona's desire to grow up like a normal young woman her age.First off, I really like how the show portrayed someone with Bipolar disorder, who in this show is their mom Monica. She starts taking on all these projects with the squirrel fund but never finishes them, and everything is a great idea. People go along with it because she just seems supportive, and the real underlying cause of being manic goes on unnoticed for awhile. For Fiona, she starts to ease up on some of the responsibilities of running the family upon their mother's insistence during this manic episode. She agrees knowing it will be temporary, but tries to make plans to further her education and career to make the most of the few months before Monica gets bored.
I like how Fiona brought up the actual hard skills that come from raising a family. Instead of taking the criticism that she has no experience in management, she counters with the realities of managing a family. She tells her would be boss that she knows how to handle a stretched budget, she knows when to be firm with people or when she should use a lighter touch, and all the other real skills that being a mother requires which often get ignored. And to top it off, none of those are her kids!
The best scene comes at the end, when Lip tells Fiona that Monica and Frank spent the squirrel fund for the winter. Here's the scene:
The good thing about this show is that it is good at having the character's flaws feed into each other and carry on the story. Lip acts all high and mighty because he is smart, but forgets the fact that he left the family because Fiona is looking out for him and wanted him to graduate high school. Fiona takes the blame because that is her biggest strength and her biggest flaw. She takes responsibility when no one wants to, whether it's taking care of the family or taking the blame. The reality is their parents are to blame for the mess. Fiona was just acting like a girl her age and planning for her future which had never seemed possible before.
The actress for Fiona, Emmy Rossum, did such an amazing job in that scene. The way she screamed at her mom to get up while crying. Fiona was trying to cling on to one last bit of hope that her mom would get up so she could continue to live her own life for a change, but cries when she knows that is not going to happen. Then when she takes it out her anger and frustration of her lost future by hitting the washing machine. Then the look of resolve immediately after, setting down her blazer as if to say "this isn't my life" and then getting to work on cleaning up, reminding her "this is my life." It is by far the most powerful scene so far in the show.
The lesson for the episode is to remind you of reality, which is a really depressing place. It's not that Fiona doesn't deserve to pursue her dreams, or is incapable of achieving them. But given how important keeping her family together is, there is no room for that in her life. Now if her sense of morality were different, if she decided that raising those kids was not her job but her parent's job, then she could make her dreams into reality. But we all have to live by own moral code, and luckily for those kids, her code places family above all else.
That's my post for this week. Hopefully I'll start getting back into the flow of things again soon. So tell me though, do you guys think Lip was right in putting the blame on Fiona? Let me know in the comments below!
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