It’s beer o’clock! This week’s Shameless Hall of Shame episode honed in on the messy life of the Gallagher family patriarch, Frank Gallagher — a character which the acclaimed William H. Macy has been playing for over a decade.
The episode began with Frank knocked out at the Alibi. Tommy and Kermit leave him to his own doings saying that it’s too cold to “dump his a** on the street.” That’s Chicago winters for you!
In this episode, Frank is visited by the ghost of his father, a man who was previously unidentified in the series.
His father claims that he was sent from the forces of Hell to help guide Frank in the “right” direction.
Much like all Hall of Shame episodes, this tribute featured multiple chopped-together montages of Frank’s most adventurous — and worst — moments throughout the past ten seasons.
Kindly put, this episode was rather painful to watch, much more than the others.
Frank’s future isn’t looking bright, by the way Season 11 is developing.
It’s all about Frank
Credit: Showtime
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The character was just diagnosed with alcohol-induced dementia, and prior to that, he didn’t treat his family and peers very well.
“Ghosts of Gallagher Past” quickly launched into a montage of all of the times Frank has been “nice” and none of them were conventional.
They were all just failed attempts at his regular shenanigans.
But throughout the episode, he selfishly defends his legacy, insisting on highlighting his niceness and other good behaviours.
However, these moments are very sparse.
As the new storyline plays out, Frank’s visited by more ghosts, trying to help him get a better outcome in his afterlife.
It was a rather demented storyline, much sadder than the ones that previously aired.
One ghost tells him, “there’s still time to redeem yourself, Frank” and encourages him to apologize to every single person he did wrong.
Well, if you’ve watched the last ten seasons of Shameless, you’d know that doing that would be impossible.
Quite literally as a handful of the people he’s scammed were cheated in their death— the sad reality of living a life of drug and alcohol abuse, and crime.
This episode of Shameless Hall Of Shame fell a bit flat
Credit: Showtime
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Disappointingly, the episode fell flat as Frank Gallagher is truly a messed-up person, and not even in an entertaining and memorable way.
In many seasons, he was a secondary character with storylines sprinkled in throughout the episodes.
And in most of those storylines, he was separate from the rest of the Gallaghers and hanging out with throwaway characters.
Therefore, a lot of the episode just felt like a whole lotta “who cares?”
One fan wrote, “It’s the way in which I’ve rewatched Shameless an unhealthy amount of times and I remember almost none of these Frank scenes.”
it’s the way in which i’ve rewatched shameless an unhealthy amount of times and i remember almost none of these frank scenes
— soph is sad (@lipstriangletat) February 28, 2021
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The most interesting part of the episode was when he was visited by the “Ghost of Gallagher Future” who ended up being the adult version of his youngest son, Liam.
He tells his father, “We all are [doing okay], no thanks to you.”
As one could predict, this launched into a montage of all of the occasions when Frank was a poor father, including the times when he was estranged from his children and when he was behaving in a physically abusive manner.
It was a poor contrast to what we’re seeing in Season 11 as Frank seems to be trying to right some of his wrongs— as seen most evidently in the episode where he spent the day bonding with his granddaughter Franny.
While I understand the quirk of these montage episodes (and the need for the filler amidst the rough Covid-19 filming schedule), this was the first one that truly took its viewers out of the ambience of the current season.
Towards the end, it is confirmed by adult Liam that Frank died a “horrible father” because he “never changed his ways.” Well, that beats Season 11!
At least one fan seemed to like it. They tweeted “Frank’s Hall of Shame episode was awesome!
I like how everyone else has actually had good character development and then there’s just Frank, he has very seldom “good moments” but at least he’s consistent!”
Frank’s hall of shame episode was awesome! I like how everyone else has actually had good character development and then there’s just frank, he has very seldom “good moments” but at least he’s consistent! #shameless
— Don Juan De La Nooch (@2CentsTanner) March 1, 2021
Read more: Shameless Hall of Shame Episode 4 Recap: They Grow Up So Fast
The next episode of Shameless Season 11 will be on March 7.
It is titled, “Two at a Biker Bar, One at a Lake” and it has an enticing description.
Showtime describes the episode as:
The Gallaghers disagree on the fate of their childhood home so a stranded Frank tries to get back to weigh in on the matter. Realizing that they have none, Ian and Mickey embark on a journey to find gay friends. Carl is upset after his night with Tish, and Debbie and Sandy have another visitor from Sandy’s past. Lip and Brad get ready to sell stolen bikes while Kevin has to think fast when he’s spotted riding a stolen chopper. Veronica hopes to pass the rent control bill with Liam’s help, but receives some unexpected news…
What do you make of this recap of Shameless Hall Of Shame Episode 6?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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