Effective Immediately: Your Illinois State Workers' Compensation Has Been Terminated

Shameless. I mentioned this show in my Midseason Replacements list. It's a great show - airs Sunday night on Showtime. The show follows Frank Gallagher.

Frank is a drunk on worker's comp, who neglects his family, has moved in with an agoraphobic woman and her sex-crazed daughter Karen, and who seems to have no direction in his life except to wait for his workers' comp check with which he buys booze. BUT, at the beginning of this week, Frank gets some bad news: his workers' comp has been terminated. So he sets out on a quest of sorts. Frank goes to find a job. "How noble!" you might say. But no, Frank doesn't want a job to work...he wants a job where he can get hurt and quickly back on benefits. So he and Debbie and Karl set out on the quest, going from work-site to work-site, to find the most dangerous job possible. The first one looks like a winner, but as Frank is filling out his application one of the other workers gets hurt. You can just see the dejection on his face knowing he just missed his chance. So...they move on. The second seems promising until they reach the actual workroom. There has been a safety overhaul and there hasn't been an accident in 93 days. They RUN out of there as fast as possible. Finally, at the third workplace, there are nails all over the place, there are powertools everywhere...Frank has hit the jackpot. He starts working, thinking he'll be out of there in a day, but he comes to realize that he has an overprotective coworker and they won't let him use any power-tools. It seems like it may take some finesse to get back on workers' comp...

Meanwhile, Steve (Jimmy) is still lying to Fiona about the fact that he is not from the South side, but actually from ---Lake Forest---!!! (I grew up in Lake Forest). Debbie knows, and he is buying her things to keep her quiet. Their relationship seems to be going well, but unbeknown to Steve, Tony (a cop and Fiona's ex) becomes wise to the fact that Steve steals cars for a living. He follows him and catches him red-handed, giving Steve an ultimatum: leave or go to prison. It's situations like these that give us moral choices as viewers. I LIKE Steve as a character. He's fun. I'm pulling for him in the

long run. Sure, he's a criminal with a hidden past (and maybe a wife?!), but he seems to genuinely like Fiona and vice versa. So, that makes me kinda dislike Tony and his obsession with Fiona. Tough to root for the bad guy here, but, well I do.

Lip and Ian are off trying to find Ian's father, this episode. They meet their grandmother who tells them Frank had 3 brothers (having found out last episode that their mom slept with one of them). When they finally find the one they think is Ian's real dad, it is pretty clear he is. Ian, however, freaks out a bit and decides to leave. Will he be back? Absolutely. This story line doesn't end here.

The episode ends with two unfortunate events. First, Tony, thinking that he has seen Steve again in stolen car, pulls it over and has the driver arrested. BUT, it's not Steve. It's Lip and Ian in the car that Steve lent to them for the day. Second, Frank, deciding he can take no more of the job grabs a nail gun and nails his hand to a piece of wood. This ought to get him his workers' comp he so desperately desires. But he goes home, drinks some Old Style (excellent) and pops a few pills when he hears something downstairs. It's Karen (the aforementioned sex crazed daughter of the woman Frank is living with). She's still mad at her father for the purity ball issues, has cut her hair off, dyed it black, tattooed whore on her arm and more or less gone off the deep end. She grabs the pills, downs a few and jumps on Frank as the episode ends with them caught on webcam "in flagrante." Both of these situations will certainly not go over well.

Next episode I expect to see Karen's dad coming after Frank, Steve somehow weaseling himself out of his situation, and Lip and Ian in some real trouble with Tony under the gun. I thought this episode was great, albeit somewhat setting up the events which took place at the end. I still think Steve and Fiona are a great match, regardless of Tony's meddling. Yes, they are not good role models - but no one on this show really is. It is a show that shows a reality that most of us don't deal with on a daily basis and the choices these people make. I also think that the show will either have Steve splitting or Fiona getting Tony to leave him alone. I highly doubt that Fiona is going anywhere, especially with the kids still around. It all depends on if the producers and story writers want a clean ending or a more dramatic one. If I were to guess, Steve will leave on his own and many further episodes will focus on the two of them dealing with the issues that arise from this.

Overall, this is a great show. Comedy, drama, awkwardness and awesomeness abound. And the acting is off the charts. Definitely worth checking out.

Until the next episode...
Chris