TV #83 of 2021: Shameless, season 11 This title has always been all over the map tonally, so perhaps it’s fitting that its closing run would be produced and set during the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although in practice, the only real impact on events seems to be that everyone is wearing masks and …
Tag Archives: Shameless
TV Review: Shameless, season 10
TV #34 of 2020: Shameless, season 10 And with that I’m all caught up on Shameless, after my wife and I watched all 122 episodes in roughly as many days. The show has passed through several different versions of itself in that time, from an interestingly flawed family drama to (briefly) a pretty compelling one, …
TV Review: Shameless, season 9
TV #32 of 2020: Shameless, season 9 My biggest issue with late-stage Shameless is that it has largely fallen out of touch with its own history. Sometimes that manifests as overt plot holes for observant viewers: How does Frank have a .27 BAC when his donated liver purportedly limits him to one drink a day? …
TV Review: Shameless, season 8
TV #29 of 2020: Shameless, season 8 What a messy and under-written year of an already shaky program. Shameless has been growing into more and more of a soap opera as it ages, and part of that transition unfortunately involves pruning back the long history that makes these characters so resonant at their best. Sometimes …
TV Review: Shameless, season 7
TV #27 of 2020: Shameless, season 7 Although still recognizable, this is a quieter and more thoughtful year of Shameless, with arcs that build gradually to a boil rather than the show’s typical frenetic style. It doesn’t always work with what we know of these characters — Fiona’s new focus on business and disinterest in …
TV Review: Shameless, season 6
TV #25 of 2020: Shameless, season 6 I generally wind up feeling more generous towards a year of Shameless as it approaches its endgame, and that’s definitely true again here. The beat-by-beat legwork of the plotting can be a tad shaky — it feels like we’re told Ian has his mental illness under control, for …
TV Review: Shameless, season 5
TV #23 of 2020: Shameless, season 5 After a season of unusual focus and compelling character drama, it is disappointing but I suppose not surprising to see Shameless crashing back into its usual brand of messiness. I don’t mind these characters being self-destructive, but I do mind the lazy writing that too often lets them …
TV Review: Shameless, season 4
TV #21 of 2020: Shameless, season 4 Well, it took a while to get here, but Shameless has finally grown into the sort of show I always wanted and sensed it could be. There are still a few of the characteristic over-the-top developments this season, but for the most part those more outrageous elements are …
TV Review: Shameless, season 3
TV #18 of 2020: Shameless, season 3 As always, I wish I could separate the parts of this series that I like from the ones I really don’t. There’s a compelling family drama here, but it’s generally couched amid so much tasteless shock humor and tedious subplotting that it’s hard for anything to ever land …
TV Review: Shameless, season 2
TV #15 of 2020: Shameless, season 2 I like how this show seems to be following the Friday Night Lights model of jumping forward a few months in between seasons, using the time skip to refresh and reorient the plot by dropping some threads, advancing others, and introducing still more. I also appreciate that this …
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