I know that so so many characters in shameless don't deserve the hate they get and as a fandom there's a lot of time spent defending them, but what about the characters that need MORE hate, the ones that aren't getting enough hate????
Because Robbie and Jody make my skin fucking crawl I hate them so much and sure I see some Jody hate but honestly I need to see more. I think the reason why I hate them so much is because of how the writers treat them like at least with Terry he does suffer (even though imo he should've suffered so much more) but both Robbie and Jody have such nice happy endings like maybe I'll write a kandy fic where Mandy runs over Jody with her car and then then kandy make out right after or maybe I'll right a fic where s10 gallavich see Robbie in prison alone and miserable bcus his family's generosity and patience finally ran out. Maybe I'll write both who knows.
Things really start to get going this episode as all the stories find their momentum! And after having a couple of episodes of "was I over hyping this to myself?" I'm now in "oh yeah, here we go!" mode.
So! We have Lip struggling to balance work study and class work. Frank makes contact with Sammi and applies his usual con man tactics to scam a liver. In the process, he orders Carl to buy him hard drugs so Carl tries to get creative with ransoming dogs. Mickey makes an appearance to be depressed. Sheila gets a date. Debbie tries to seduce Matty. And Fiona! Fiona makes terrible decisions regarding Mike's brother.
It's all so juicy and delicious.
Let's start with Lip, just because he's still quite removed from the Gallagher household.
The main thrust of this episode seems to be that Lip has figured out he can't wing college, and now he's struggling to balance everything. He's pulling all-nighters to write essays, and struggling to keep up with everything. On top of academic work, he also has to do the 'work study' thing in the kitchens. I don't get how his scholarship works... He doesn't get paid, so it's free labour in return for... What? I don't know. I'm gonna take on faith that this is something that someone who went to a US uni would understand vaguely because I went to uni with a student loan, before top-up fees made that completely unaffordable for poor and middle-income families. I didn't have to have a job, and I still found keeping up with my course load tricky, especially in first year.
I really like the scene where he rushes back from work to grab some stuff before running off to a lecture... It's just a nice little slice of life. Him being a teeny bit obnoxious stealing Amanda's deodorant because he doesn't have time to shower. ("Mmm, lavender, nice!" And her affronted expression. I love it. Hey, Amanda, at least it was a spray, cos he'd totally have stolen a roll-on too.) He then steals a bike to get to class, in a lovely call back to season 1.
I love Lip's plot this season so much, and watching him claw and struggle here is amazing. Jeremy Allen White really draws every ounce of drama out of a really simple set of scenes.
There's the interaction with his work study kitchen boss, where he tells Lip to learn "Time. Management." And it's one of those things where... He's not wrong but he is a bit of a dick about it. I get it though. And it makes a great point. Because if Lip was just lazy or disorganised, I would agree with the boss that making an exception would not help him long term... As viewers we have this whole different context where we see that Lip is starting to really try and he's disadvantaged. We've seen his high school, the fact that his home environment wasn't preparing him at all for the academic life he's now living. So as viewers I want the boss to have more sympathy for him.
Lip does need to get more organised, but I also want the boss to give him a little slack while he figures it all out. Plus the fact that he's a semester behind most of his peers in terms of college experience.
Another lovely moment was him asking to borrow his roommate's laptop because the library ones will be in use. And his roommate is like "why not just buy a Chromebook" because to him $200 isn't that bad and outlay. Lip's reply is perfect... To him $200 seems just as out of reach as a luxury car. 😩
Lip's uni is fictional so it's hard for me to gauge what sort of crowd he's working with. Even if it wasn't I might struggle... If it was UK unis I'd have an idea of the "hierarchy" but I don't really know much about US unis other than Harvard and Yale and MIT being top tier. Like, from some reading I know that UIC is a more accessible college than university of Chicago or Northwestern, but in Lip's fictional college is he mostly with rich kids? How big is the contingent of bright people from disadvantaged backgrounds? It would be nice to have a slightly better feel for that, in order to gauge what Lip is fighting against, but overall I think it does a good enough job of showing the fight so it doesn't matter too much.
Then there's his moment calling home. Which is beautiful from both Fiona and Lip. I love that conversation. The "things are looking up, who even are we anymore" of it all kind of hits me in the feels... More so this time around knowing exactly what's about to go down. And Lip's little face when Fiona hears partying noises and hangs up on him and he... Turns around and gets to work on his paper. Sweetie darling. 🥺
My one hitch with the performance in this episode is the last scene where he gets his philosophy paper back... There's significant eye contact with the lecturer, and the impression that it's a big improvement on the D we saw in the previous episode. But his face is muted and it's unclear to me whether Lip is pleased with the result. It seems to be a face of "I worked really hard and got a 'much better' on it" but... I didn't get a good sense of whether Lip is pleased that it's much better, or a bit disappointed that he worked so hard and it wasn't top notch.
I guess that's okay... It's allowed to be ambiguous. I know if it were me I'd probably still be disappointed at anything other than a "perfect" so that's where I lean.
Next I'm gonna go to Frank, with a detour into Carl's very minor input this episode.
We open their story with them watching Sammi's trailer from afar and getting their first view of Sammi and Chuckie. Carl's an uncle! To a boy who may well be older than him? Or at the least a similar age. This is amusing to me (I know it happens... it's still amusing).
This moment between Frank and Carl is another of those "oh Frank you are a disgusting human being, Carl you are a sweetheart" moment. Because Frank says he's run out of drugs. He takes the grocery money Sheila gave Carl and tells Carl to score him hard drugs. Ugh. The taking of the grocery money made me want to yell at the TV. Carl going "what are we supposed to eat" until Frank relents and gives him a couple of dollars "for bread and TP". Like, I know he's probably in a not-inconsiderable amount of pain, but prioritising weed over your kids eating is... Fuck you, Frank!
Anyway, sticking with Carl... Carl is delightful. Gross, but delightful. He tries to steal drugs off V but is thwarted by V's locked cabinet. Then he buys a couple of things in the store, and robs a whole bunch more, aided by a giant puffy coat (I like the touch of it being oversized probably because it's a hand me down). He avoids scrutiny from the cashier by hitting on her in the most obnoxious way possible. I... Don't remember what he actually says. It's weird how they make baby Carl really gross towards girls, but when he actually starts dating, he's the actual sweetest... Good weird, I guess, but weird nonetheless.
Finally, Carl steals a dog hoping its owner will pay a ransom. It's not a terrible plan, but maybe he needed to think a bit more about the execution because he ends up feeding the dogs and getting no reward/ransom and lets them go at the end of the episode. Given the animal cruelty we've seen from Carl in earlier seasons I guess this is a step up? But it's a meh and nothing storyline except for the fact that Carl is doing this to help his dad. And his dad shouldn't have asked and is an asshole for manipulating Carl, but Carl isn't an asshole for doing it (other than maybe don't steal people's dogs and then release them on the street on their own). Plus the Gallagher scam spirit is there! Even if his execution lacks the finesse of his siblings.
Anyway, back to asshole Frank.
The scene in the weed dispensary is entirely pointless and I don't understand why it's there. "Look at all this high grade weed you can't afford." Okay?! Did you consider giving a few more screen minutes to a character I give a shit about instead?!
Then Frank gives one of his hard-won joints to a kid to beat up his own grandkid. And... I am always in awe of how well they manage to get across that Frank is really fucking good at this. Ruthless and despicable, and... He picks something that will get him an 'in' with Sammi. Instantly make her grateful and feel indebted in a small way. Just enough to give him a foot in the door. He doesn't walk up to her and ask for her liver... He is an A grade con man.
So he swoops in as hero to save Chuckie (from the boy he paid to punch him) and it gets him a conversation. An idle comment about having skipped lunch gets him fish and chips and a chat. If he was a genuine saviour, it would be sweet... But it's so manipulative. Evil genius.
At this point, I can't remember my first impressions of Sammi, from first time around. I think I actually kinda liked her at first, and certainly felt sorry for her. She's a solid character, for sure... Lonely and desperate but not without charm.
The comment about Chuckie being "quiet, an old soul" when Frank asks if he's autistic is... Weird. I don't know what to make of that. I guess she's talking to a virtual stranger so isn't going to be completely honest about her kid's struggles all at once, but it just makes her sound kind of deluded about it instead? I'm kind of sad about Chuckie because he's being used as the butt of a joke throughout this episode, both here and in the dodgeball game that Sammi later invites Frank to. It's a little like Hymie again, with learning disabilities being used for humour. Which is gross and I wish they didn't do it. Chuckie could have been an interesting addition if the show had a little more sensitivity about it... I feel like the show did have some interesting moments with him, but overall I just get the "could you just not" cringe.
The interaction between Frank and Sammi is well played but cringe too, in a very intentional way... Because she's clearly flirting, and it's unclear if Frank realises that at first. Like, he's obviously working her and he's not going to dissuade anything that gets him what he wants, but I'm not sure if he intends it from the start or if he just uses it when he sees it's happening, because he won't sleep with his daughter but he'll definitely lead her on for his own gain. If he intended it, he's even grosser. But I don't think he does. I think he thinks she'll be more platonic friendly towards him because he's old enough to be her dad (funnily enough).
Either way, they have an easy conversation. She's obviously sweet towards him, and he is turning on the Frank Gallagher charm. He lights up a joint in the school gym, which seems bad manners in any circumstances... And Sammi makes a comment about not being able to get involved with someone with substance abuse problems (ha. Haha. Oh dear). But Frank turns it towards telling her about his liver condition. And the art of the conman again, because he does it as a sharing. With no expectation! How could a random stranger expect a random stranger to do anything about this?!
They go back to her trailer, he has a sweet moment with Chuckie, and then... Sammi offers him her liver.
I think my only problem with this is that Frank doesn't have to play the long con at all. It takes, what, two days? Two meetings, for Sammi to offer her liver. It's... A lot. And I get that she might feel the time pressure, and it's a TV compressed time scale anyway. So I get past it. But it is quick. That said, I like that he lets her come up with the idea. Spends some time "trying" to talk her out of it.
And then he escapes her sexual advances by pretending to be in pain. The perfect crime. Ugh.
Frank has two other little moments in the Gallagher house. ln the first, he doesn't eat the fish and chips Sammi buys him, but he takes it home and blends it, to Sheila's intense horror. "No, Frank... No. No Frank. No!" I enjoyed that tiny interaction. But given that she did hospice care and had to blend a cake in as previous season I'm not sure where her disgust comes from.
In the second he tells Carl he might have scored a liver from Sammi. Ugh. I don't think I have anything else to say about that. "Fuck you, Frank" etc etc.
Onwards, to, sigh, Debbie I guess.
Always sigh Debbie. First... Props to Emma Kenney for doing a very accurate and realistic portrayal of cringey teenager in love. It's awful and it makes my whole body want to curl up in a ball. But that do be what it's like. It hurts because I remember being that kid (though I was 14 falling for a 15yo, so... It was more age appropriate). Watching her wax lyrical to all her friends and be a total dweeb would be kinda sweet if a) Matty wasn't FRICKIN TWENTY. and b) the show had done just a touch more work establishing Debbie's friendship with these two girls. On second watch I'm finding it more jarring than I did first time, I think. Because Holly was a semi-established character. But she wasn't actually friends with Debbie. She tolerated Debbie as a means to getting with Lip. As I've said before it's weird that they flipped that into a very much genuine-seeming friendship. They had Debbie's "mean girls that to copy my work but not sit with me at lunch" in season 3, and now she's hanging out with them?! It is an odd choice. Because even though Debbie has gained some height and is growing into her looks, she's still got the gawky uncool kid vibes (said with affection and sympathy). So why are the mean girls playing with her? I want it to have a little more meat and motivation, rather than just giving Debbie someone to talk to who have Fiona or Sheila without any background. And I get that she needs that... Her plot requires conversation that isn't with an adult who'll (hopefully!!!) go "baby, he's 20. Maybe just don't. He's a creep." But you can't introduce a character for plot purposes without a reason for them to join the story. And Holly and other friends whose name I consistently miss, if she's even got one, are just under-motivated plot devices. The TV show equivalent of a rubber duck to talk to. And egg her on a bit, which Fiona and Sheila definitely wouldn't.
Sigh.
Anyway, Holly lends Debbie a sexy satin nightdress (which totally fits her as if she isn't a very different shape to Holly but whatever).
Next, Debbie slips past Sheila on pretext of a sleepover that Fiona forgot to tell her about. As a setup, this makes me incredibly sad. Because it demonstrates Sheila's trust in Debbie (which she's abusing) and Fiona's lack of presence (that she is firstly not available for Sheila to check with, and that Sheila will not or will not be able to check after the fact to find out about it). And I guess it'd be too late in that case, but a late intervention is better than none. So it's all just so sad. And means that Debbie's cutting "I didn't even notice you were gone" to Fiona later has a bigger punch. It's intended to hurt, because Debbie is at that awkward teenage stage where she wants to do stuff and "get away" with behaviour that her guardian would/should not be okay with, but she also wants to be found out because that would mean someone cares what she does.
I see you Debbie. I care!! Poor baby.
Then we have her sleepover date with Matty. Sigh. And, again, it's one of those things that would be almost sweet if he was 15... But he is a grown man and it's not sweet. I mean, he turns down her attempt to seduce him, and he's awkward about it and gives weird excuses (to try and spare her feelings, I guess?). Which means he's at least not just after underage sex... But their relationship is weird and awkward and icky. And... Again, he is under-motivated. Given that Shameless can sometimes do really well at getting across complexities, it's a bit unclear to me what they gain from having all of Debbie's supporting cast be comparatively two-dimensional. Like... What are they trying to do with Matty? Are they trying to make it about him being predatory, or that he's sad and lonely and thus lets things go on with this underage girl. My impression is it's the latter... And that could be an interesting angle. Another "yes it's wrong but it happens and here's why" which Shameless occasionally does really well, giving a nuanced view on situations, even where there's a clear right and wrong. Because Shameless is about people doing wrong things and why. But here all the focus is on why Debbie is doing this, and... We know that. But what is Matty getting from it?
Of all the season 4 plot lines for the main characters, I feel like this is the most underplayed.
We finish out with them sleeping, clothed, together and spooning. Another "would be sweet, but..." Moment.
I love you Debbie. I'm sorry this is happening Debbie. Poor Debbie.
Next.
I'm gonna go through the supporting character plots and then finish with Fiona, because Fiona has a great episode (in terms of drama and emotional effect, not in terms of life choices).
So Kev and V have almost nothing, except that they are trying to find ways to make more money out of the Alibi. They're charging for the toilets and selling drugs. Yay? It's a throwaway scene, almost. But they do play it very well... I like the movement of the scene and the way it segues around. V sells Tommy some pills then "I need to puke" and "why doesn't she need to pay?" "Employees puke for free".
And then from absolutely nowhere we get Mickey's "I like fucking carrot tops".
Now... Everything else aside, I like this scene as a neat way to touch base with three of our beloved supporting characters who don't have anything else to do in this episode. We get the state of Kev and V (worried about money) and the state of Mickey (drunk, depressed, missing Ian) in one package.
Do I wish Frank's weed dispensary scene was cut in favour of Mickey? Yes and no... Yes because more scenes with Mickey is always appreciated. But no because what we see here doesn't really need more than it gets. Another scene with Mickey elsewhere would be appreciated instead.
Anyway. Kev's face at this interjection is priceless. The "what the fuck man where did that come from?" of it. But then the way that he just shrugs it off and points out the redhead who happens to be frequenting the bar.
I hate that Mickey feels the need to sleep with women as much as the next person, but as per a post that went around a few days ago, the "why don't you buy her a beverage" "don't need to" is excellent. And I'm reminded of a gifset entitled "Mickey and his immaculate game" in his approach to the woman. "Hey, wanna bang?" "Do I look busy?" Excellent. Yes, Shameless please acknowledge that Mickey is hot and for all his many many problems, getting laid is not an issue for him. Poor baby.
Sigh. And then there's the awkward sex scene in the bar bathrooms. Which I hate. Both for the scene itself (even as it demonstrates his much he misses Ian and hates himself) and for the fact that Mickey straight sex scenes get more screen minutes than Gallavich get happy moments, let alone sex scenes. Just... Ugh. Home of phobia indeed.
Finally, on the supporting cast, we have Sheila.
After three seasons having Sheila be very much "over there" it is kinda odd having her in the Gallagher house. Fiona is kind of abusing her good nature to go spend time with her boyfriend. It works because it fits their characters so well. Sheila's desire to care and feeling the emptiness of her own house, and Fiona balancing a full time job and a new-ish relationship.
Sheila is having her own attempt at finding companionship here, by going through a Christian dating site. It's kind of adorable in a Sheila-ish way... Debbie gives her the disastrous advice to say she's "DTF" which Debbie doesn't understand. And... It could have been made funnier, but it's a throwaway line that leads to a throwaway joke about being sent pictures of underwear bulges... I dunno. It felt a bit pointless. Like they wanted the joke but didn't want to commit to it. I guess it's a difficult balance to strike, but it missed the mark for me.
Anyway, she eventually invites Roger Runningtree around for dinner, after discovering she has some small % Menominee Indian blood. Ugh at that, another stupid throwaway line. And a Thing that they reuse with Carl in the military school plotline... Sometimes with Shameless it's not just telling what jokes they put in offhandedly, but also in the stuff that they reuse.
Roger Runningtree seems like a decent enough fella. He wants to sing she play guitar with Sheila. It's kind of cute. There's not much to it. I don't have thoughts or feelings about it, really.
Which leaves us with Fiona!!
My darling Fiona.
I think first time I watched this, the stuff with Robbie felt left-field. Not that I thought she was content with Mike, exactly, but I think I wanted her to want Mike more than she actually did or showed herself to. I still like Mike. Poor Mike 😩. But I'm a bit more clear-headed about it second time around now I'm not so deep in the hyperfixation stage. It's partly that I know it's coming so I can appreciate the way it's built up, but also just... I realise that Fiona isn't someone for whom "this is the person I should choose" will ever be a valid argument. We see that with the Jimmy Steve versus Tony plot in season 1. This is just that writ large.
It starts with a discussion between Fiona and Mike where she seems to refuse to even leave a few items of clothing and toiletries at his place. This is an interesting canary in the coal mine, because it's indicative of Fiona's inability to see this as long term, despite how lovely Mike is. Mike's "gangsta rap" comment notwithstanding.
She does give him a little more information about her home life, and her alcoholic dad with liver failure. It's hard won from Mike. He just wants an explanation why he can't stay at hers. And I get it from Fiona. She's gun shy after Jimmy Steve. He was a part of that side of her life and Mike is also a different prospect. Steve saw her life before she knew he was a rich boy, and he accepted it from the off. Mike is a cleaner guy in every way... So there's probably some internalised shame in there (even if she outwardly projects being unapologetic about her background). And there's also just... Not wanting to let Mike in. Not wanting him to be part of the chaos or part of her family, either to protect herself or because she knows on some level she doesn't like him enough for it to last, or because it's the start of the self-destruction that fuels everything else.
It's effective, in other words. It feels real and true, and even though we don't know which of those options is "truest" it doesn't matter because it could be any or all of them.
Mike, however, is persistent. He gives her information about Al-Anon because his family did support groups together, and Fiona is dismissive because "she'll deal with it her way by not dealing with it". Respect to Mike, he does not push even though Al-Anon or something like it probably would be helpful for Fiona... But it also feels realistic that she doesn't go for it. She's always been too busy to look after herself and her mindset isn't going to change after a couple of months with a steady income.
It does effectively get her to "cave" to leaving a few clothes at Mike's, because this is preferable to her to having him stay at hers. Oh Fiona darling. Sigh.
I don't know how I feel about Mike in this. Like... He seems oblivious to the amber warnings, if not active red flags of it all. But he's had one dodgy relationship, so maybe he's attracted to chaos he's unable to tame. And I can't decide if him pushing is on the okay level of "trying to move the relationship forward against minor resistance, because otherwise it should stop" or whether it pushes over into mild coercion... And with Shameless it's not that I mind either way, because it's about real people not perfect paragons, it's just sometimes useful for me to think through where everyone sits on the scale of problematic behaviours. I think overall he's doing okay. Fiona's resistance is weird and he's trying to understand as much as overcome it.
Fiona is very absent from the Gallagher house this episode, and it kind of speed runs her having feelings about the disconnect she gets with her siblings. She calls Sheila to check in, but other than Sheila making a big deal about how much she doesn't mind sleeping over with the kids, gets very little information on the kids, including the fact that they didn't have any food for breakfast!! Like, that is relevant information Sheila! Fiona is slacking on her household duties... And much as I don't begrudge her dates and time with her man, she does have LEGAL RESPONSIBILITIES TO THESE CHILDREN. Ahem. Sorry.
We have the scene where she comes home between work and the family dinner at Mike's. Carl isn't talking to her because she's "hoarding her liver". I like that interaction, because Carl's reaction is just as understandable as Fiona's. He's 12 and does not get the nuances and doesn't have the same relationship with Frank. He doesn't get it, on a fundamental level. He can't. And so I feel his anger and upset. And I totally also side with Fiona. A+ tiny moment.
And then she tries to talk to Debbie. Gets the name of her boyfriend, but not his real age. Debbie's lie here is very believable... It's hard to know what Fiona would do if she knew the truth. Because she has a history of tabling things when she's busy and then not coming back to them.
The whole thing has "absent parent guilty about not spending time with kids" vibes. Which is fair, and I get it. Like with so many little plot lines, though, it is a speed run. Because she's only been sleeping at Mike's for a couple of weeks at this point, judging from other show cues, so the guilt is fast onset. It's fine. Most things in TV shows have to speed run some stuff. Shameless does generally handle it okay (not always). And if we want more space, there is always fanfiction.
The dinner with Mike's family is another slight speed run of happy family dinner turns awkward. And it works if you assume that Robbie is like Frank but worse at being a conman. Everyone is happy to see him out of rehab. He doesn't hide the rehab thing from newbie Fiona. And then he asks for keys to a cabin... Which his parents try to politely refuse. Because trust is hard won, easily lost, and there's a lot of history played out in a very short interaction. I think that's done really well. I like the way Robbie is played; the charismatic older brother with a problematic history, impatient to win back trust (or else he's actually trying to play them and is upset when it doesn't work). The family argument turns sour as family arguments are wont to do, because everyone there knows exactly what buttons to press. And Robbie storms out.
Mike feels bad about it, though and decides that to make it up to him he should invite Robbie out for dinner with him and Fiona.
Now... Plot wise I get why this had to happen. But, Fiona already said she doesn't like to be away from the kids for more than one night and it's been two, and Mike signs her up for a third without asking. That bothered me. Both that he did it and that she didn't push back. And also, why does Fiona being there help him reconcile with his brother? Maybe they should have a dinner together and then introduce him to Fiona later. But in the spirit of speed running I will accept that it happens, begrudgingly.
The conversation in which Mike explains it to Fiona is very sweet. Robbie coming to bat for tiny baby Mike and now he gets to be the protector. Adorable. Let's set Mike up to be as much of a paragon as anyone on Shameless is allowed to be. Just to make it all the worse when shit goes down.
Fiona in the family dinner scene is hard to read. It's clear she feels the awkwardness. Perhaps she feels a bit more solidarity with them as a family knowing that they have experience with addiction, even if in a different context to her own. It's not clear what her first impressions of Robbie are. She seems initially content to let the family interaction wash over her. Not her business, not getting involved.
Then the dinner with Mike and Robbie is... Something.
I'm having a weird thing where I was really into this story while I was watching but now looking back at it I keep seeing flaws. I dunno, maybe it's the mood I'm in... But the dinner was weird. I don't know at what point Robbie clocked Fiona as like him.... Maybe when she described how she and Mike got together. The "I can get a little wild" and the little looks between the three of them. Robbie definitely sets out to get Mike wasted. From the outset. The reasons for it? Maybe he's after Fiona from the beginning. Not sure.
I do know he's an asshole and asshole is Fiona's type.
So he encourages Mike to get drunk... Which i can see happening if Mike has a history of getting drunk around/with Robbie... The first time I got blackout drunk was when my brother visited me at uni for the first time... Something about the safety of knowing someone's there who will have your back and carry you home makes it different. On a personal level 'getting wasted around the alcoholic' bothers me. But Robbie's asshole behaviour is not limited to his alcoholism. Fiona also gets tipsy. Which probably contributes to what happens next.
Mike drunk is... Sort of adorable. I can't remember the song, but he's singing in the car because he's feeling earnest and he passes out for a bit. And Robbie and Fiona have a moment. Where he says aloud that he sees what she's like. He's talking about himself very frankly. He's honest about who he is, which kind of only makes it more despicable. He wants the chaos and the excitement. Can't live a boring 'normal' life. Can see that she's the same but doesn't say that as such, just says everything in a way that gets to Fiona. And you see it happen in real time, the way she realises that he's talking about her as well as him.
If she wasn't already attracted to him, she starts to be there.
They help Mike to the loo and then go into the kitchen and it's a normal conversation until he's kissing her. It's out of nowhere and it isn't. Dramatically it's beautiful because it's an inevitable surprise. And the way she is shocked and then instantly rips open her fishnets. It's... Powerful. You almost hear her thinking "this is what good sex feels like" and her knowledge that Mike was nice but didn't give her the thrill she wanted/needed. It's sad and heartbreaking and ugh. It's Fiona. Man, so many feelings.
They're interrupted by Mike crawling out of the bathroom and stumbling to bed, and Robbie withdraws and leaves. Leaving her with the fallout like the asshole he is.
I get the appeal, especially for Fiona, but fuck what a grade A dickweed.
The shot of her crawling in to bed, fully clothed, next to Mike and just looking... Shell shocked. The what-have-i-done of it all is equally powerful. Her face is very raw.
Next morning Mike thinks he gave her that Hickey. He did not. She goes home on the L, and there's a contrast from the pencil skirt commuter Fiona on the L, and the ripped-fishnets walk of shame Fiona we see here. That, too, makes a point neatly. Especially the way she looks self-conscious and pulls her coat down over the tear but then sort of fingers at the gap like she's remembering what caused it. Ooof. Fiona 😩😩😩.
And it's all game over for her now... There's no way it ends well, it's just a question of how badly. When Robbie answers Mike's phone, it's horrifically tense and Fiona's reaction is visceral and understandable. And he's such a dick about it! Like... I would have more sympathy if he went to Mike straight away because at least that would seem honest. This version is just cruel and playing with her. And I hate that it works, that she lets it. Self-destructive Fiona go boom.
Fucking great story though.
The Fiona plot here is so compelling, that it makes up for the odd shortfall in other areas. As I said, I picked more holes in it while writing this than while watching... I think there's a few things they did as a "get them from point A to point B as quickly as possible" without really setting things up properly. But once the ride starts properly I'm on board. I feel horrible for Fiona and Mike, and I hate Robbie but his dickishness is very compelling. I guess in the same way Frank is often compelling despite being a horrific human being.
Crunchy.
Final word that I like the fact that "like father like daughter" in the title could apply to Fiona's thrill seeking, Debbie's lying, and Sammi's common ground with Frank equally well. Often I don't vibe with the titles but this one I like more when I think about it.
