Drugs Actually Recap: Shameless

The 11th episode of Season 5 of Shameless, “Drugs Actually (3/29/2015), continued to explore the “chemistry” between Frank and the E.R. doctor diagnosed with a form of cancer with a 2% survival rate. Bianca and Frank shopped for good whiskey. The shopkeeper said his best whiskey was a 30-year old Highland Park for $300 and change. “That’s the best?” Bianca asks. He also has a Macallan ’39, distilled while World War II was breaking out, for $10,100. The pricetag was no deterrent to Bianca. “Throw in a couple of those Dominican cigars over there,” Frank piped in, though he questioned Bianca’s decision when they were alone. She pointed out that it didn’t matter since she won’t be around to pay her credit card bill. Wow, ordinarily it would be great if it turned out she was misdiagnosed, but now it would suck, wouldn’t it?

Bianca’s behavior became more and more reckless, so reckless that she had sex with Frank which would be bad enough anywhere, but they did it on the railroad tracks and only managed to get out of the way of the oncoming train by seconds. The $10K whiskey didn’t make it, much to Frank’s dismay. Later, after they smoked crack against Frank’s better judgment, he texted her family letting them know where she was. She was horrified enough to be found at the Gallagher homestead, but Frank’s betrayal was almost too much. She decided to run off to Costa Rica without Frank but relented when he showed her his Diego Mustafa passport.

Fiona was stressing at the diner because she had to go to a preliminary hearing for Ian at the military prison. She filled Sean in on how they came to that point, blaming Sammi and leaving out, of course, that she didn’t do what most legal guardians would have when underage Ian ran off to join the Army using Lip’s identity: report him missing. But, as we know, Fiona is always too busy doing chasing after a different guy than the one she’s with to be a proper guardian to anyone.

At Ian’s preliminary hearing, Staff Sgt. Nathan Kipps informs the Gallaghers that Ian could face 5 years just on the AWOL charge. He will investigate and make a recommendation. They explain that Ian is clinically bipolar. In the meantime, Monica came to visit Ian and told him that he needs to be with people who will accept him the way he is. Kipps must have recommended release because that is exactly happened, only he was released to Monica before Fiona and company showed up.

Helene continued her affair with Lip, sneaking into his dorm room. She got him a ride home on her husband’s Vespa and even provided a suit to wear to the cocktail party she invited him to. Her husband, Theo, was a bit taken aback to see Lip wearing his tie. Sharing his wife is okay, but his tie is evidently off limits. Lip did offer to leave if his presence made Theo uncomfortable. The host made Lip uncomfortable by putting down the surrounding neighborhood and Lip felt compelled to point out that how gentrification project affected the lives of people he grew up with (as if the yuppies give a rat’s butt).

Kev and Veronica continued to bicker over their separation even through an emergency at the Alibi. A water pipe broke and Paco didn’t have the sense to turn off the main water valve. Neither did Kev and V but their infidelities all came to light, Svetlana included, while they waded around in all the water. They made up on the pool table, and later ran into Lip at his party, right after he had met Norbert, another one of Helene’s wonder boys. The question is will Lip still fit even with the homies even if he thumbs his nose at the upscale interlopers.

Fiona continued her flirting with Sean throughout the episode. Gus called to report that the tour was cancelled and he would be back in a couple of days. She didn’t look too thrilled about it or any of his text messages either. Sean professed that according to N.A. he was not supposed to lean on anyone he was deeply attracted to when Fiona suggested that they were good for each other. He also had some drugs on him that he took out when he went to the men’s room after Fiona fell asleep. Is he back on them already or will the Gallagher chaos drive him to it in the future anyway?

Supporting Cast of Drugs Actually

And what of Sammi? Fiona came around to Sean’s way of thinking that taking revenge on Sammi for turning Ian in would only create more problems. But this did not stop Debbie and Mickey who were planning to torture Sammi. Mickey slipped her some roofies but when they went to tie her up to get her ready for some shock treatment by car battery, they thought she was dead. They packed her body up in the portable storage unit that she had outside. Sammi is not dead and was last heard screaming for help as the truck drove down the road.