Simple Pleasures Recap: Shameless

Shameless kicked off Season 4 with Simple Pleasures on January 12, 2013. When we last left the Gallagher clan (Survival of the Fittest), Ian had run off to the Army, under Lip’s name. Lip got a college scholarship. Papa Frank escaped from the hospital in nothing more than his hospital gown and shoes and wandered off in the snow, and Fiona was accepting the fact that Steve was gone for good while taking up with her boss, Mike Pratt, at her new job at Worldwide Cup.

I’ve got a “F*ck Jay Cutler” tee shirt. It might have blood on it though. ~ Carl Gallagher

We pick up with Fiona and Debbie competing for the bathroom mirror while brushing their teeth, fixing their hair and applying mascara. They try on various looks and Debbie, you notice, is entering that adolescent phase of dressing older than she is. Fiona needs something to wear to the Bears game Mike is taking her too. Her brother Carl can’t help her out and he won’t listen to her admonitions to refrain from using the great outdoors as his toilet. Sheila Jackson arrives with her World Famous Artichoke Jalapeno dip that Eddie used to spread on his waffles. She is filling up her days by taking care of the Gallaghers.

‘First Date Fiona’ – the girl who puts out waiting in line at the Wendy’s drive-thru? ~ Kev

Fiona drops in on Kev and Veronica (aka V). They just dealt with V’s pregnant mom, Carol Fisher, who is carrying Kev’s baby, after agreeing to be their surrogate. Now she is hitting Kev up for more money than he can afford. Fiona just needs a Bears shirt but they want to know if Mike has gotten to first base yet. Fiona says Mike is a relative gentleman — they’re taking it slow. The topic of Frank comes up. His whereabouts are unknown but Kev says Frank is like a cockroach, no matter what you do, stomp on him, spray him, try to drown him — he’ll always come crawling back.

Frank, you’re filthy! You’re filthy! ~ Sheila Jackson

Well, not exactly. When the cops bust in on an abandoned house being occupied by druggies and assorted derelicts, no surprise that’s where Frank was. Officer Tony Markovich, who knows the Gallagher family and used to be sweet on Fiona, brings him back home. Only Carl and Sheila are there and they end up having to use a skateboard to get him in the tub and get him cleaned up and debugged.

“That’s like twelve bucks a wank” ~ Mickey Milkovich

Debbie pays a visit to the Milkovich house, where she asks Mandy if she has heard anything from Ian. Mandy slams the door in Debbie’s face after learning that Lip is doing well in college. She tells her brother Mickey about Lip and he asks about Ian, all the while complaining about how little money Svetlana made turning tricks. Mandy and Mickey are finding it hard to carry on without their Gallaghers.

Nobody’s had an original thought on Childe Harold since Queen Victoria was getting laid. ~ Lip Gallagher

At college, Lip isn’t exactly fitting in. He’s got a couple of roommates, a guy and his girlfriend and it’s clear the girl doesn’t like Lip. He’s got a job and it’s clear that he doesn’t like the job. He got a D on his paper on Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, and is told he should take another class if he can only manage to turn in crap like that.

Jumbo Johnson? Sounds like he could be scary. ~ Ellie

Hanging out with her friends, Debbie and Holly monitor their virginity auctions. Debbie’s price is a million dollars. “You can only sell it once,” she explains. Holly’s price is lower, but she’s not really a virgin thanks to her mother’s new boyfriend, Gary, and “a couple dozen dudes”. They decide to dress slutty and troll for high school boys at the local arcade. Thankfully, the guy, Matty, who takes a liking to Debbie is about as naive as she is and nothing horrible happens to her. She doesn’t even sprain an ankle trying to walk on those high heels.

The pistons just won’t fire right without it. ~ Frank Gallagher

Fiona is having a great time at the game, becoming acquainted with Mike’s family while Mike enjoys the dip that Sheila made, clueless that Carl had previously sampled it and spit his sample back in the bowl. When she gets home, she finds out about Frank and plans to get Kev to cart him off to the nearest park bench and leave him there. Carl insists that Frank stay. Fiona caves in and says Frank is now Carl’s puppy and he will have to take care of him. The next morning, Frank notices that Carl has had a “wet dream” and says it’s perfectly normal. He thinks his son is 10. When Carl says he’s 12, Frank calls him a “late bloomer” then wastes no time explaining he needs alcohol the way an old car needs oil. After a desperate Frank sprays his mouth with cooking spray to facilitate swallowing a bottle of beer. It doesn’t work and he spits up the beer and blood.

Mother Nature can be a tricky bitch sometimes. ~ Dr. Vega

At the bar, Mickey Milkovich continues to complain about Svetlana’s low rates. Kev gets a call that Stan, the owner of the bar, is seriously ill but when he goes to the nursing home to visit, Stan is dead, no telling how long. In the meantime, V has found out that she is pregnant from a home pregnancy test and confirms it with her doctor. She tells Fiona that she doesn’t want to tell Kev right away, and she doesn’t want the Kev-mom baby anymore either. But when Kev finds her babysitting the Gallagher kids and tells her about Stan, she blurts out the news. He is overjoyed.

What’s a 401K? ~ Fiona Gallagher

When Fiona goes back to work, there’s a bouquet of yellow roses on her desk and she is informed by her co-worker Hal that her kissing Mike at the Bear’s game made Instagram. Her supervisor Connie shows up to inform her that she has been at the company 90 days and needs to make a decision about her 401K participation. Later Mike wants to celebrate her 3-month anniversary and they go all the way.

The episode sets up a lot of future drama. It doesn’t look like Lip will last long at college. It doesn’t look like Fiona is really that hot for Mike and that relationship may not last very long. As for Frank, he sure as hell doesn’t look like he’s going to last at all.