Be a Good Boy Recap: Shameless

After skipping a weekend due to the Academy Awards, we presume, Shameless was back on Sunday, March 6, 2016 with “Be a Good Boy. Come for Grandma” (S5 E8), an actual line in the episode uttered by Queenie. She wasn’t talking to her grandson, Chuckie, though. She was talking to Lip.

Queenie opted to stay at Chez Gallagher in the last episode and tonight’s installment opened with her making breakfast for “the tribe.” Carl, Ian and Debbie start to bail out and Queenie demands that they sit down and eat the quinoa pancakes and yucca fries whipped up by Frank and that they start showing their father some respect. She and Frank launch into a rendition of Joni Mitchell’s “Help Me” (“I think I’m falling in love again, When I get that crazy feeling I know I’m in trouble again…”), and Frank is still singing when he answers the door. It’s Lamar and he wants to see Carl.

Carl goes outside where Lamar informs him that G-Dogg has a shipment that Carl has to take care of the next day but Carl would rather sit that out. Not the right answer. Lamar cracks him in the head with the butt of a gun and tells him he’s in the game for life. Carl has to interrupt Frank and Queenie to get some advice. But Carl has literally been supporting Frank with the money he’s been raking in. Frank offers to do Carl’s rounds until he “gets his head on straight.”

Frank drops in at the black barbershop to get his own cornrows. His first shakedown attempt doesn’t go too well because he doesn’t have a “big scary black man” like Carl did. Frank returns to the barber shop where he makes an arrangement with the towering Gareth.

Over at Sean’s house, Will has come to visit and is not happy that Fiona has moved in with his father. Fiona decides to stay and try to convince Will that she’s not trying to take his mother’s place. Carl went to see V to get his head stitched up and would only tell her what happened to him if she promised not to tell Fiona. V got around that by telling Kev, who can’t keep a secret.

After she promises not to freak out, Carl tells Fiona what Nick did and how he saw the dead body and now wants out of that life. She offers her help, which turns out to be in the form of Sean accompanying Carl to a confrontation with G-Dogg. He is only willing to let Carl go in exchange for all of their clothes and Sean’s car. The two of them have to walk home, freezing their butts off, in just their undershorts and socks. This victory over crime is short-lived when Sean discovered little Will playing with a gun in his bedroom. He freaks out.

Frank went to see Lamar and got his hands on the package that was supposed to be delivered to Indiana. He went to Gareth for a ride and they had quite a party in the barbershop, replacing the cocaine with laxative. Lamar promised Frank that there would be some pretty gnarly consequences if he screwed up the delivery and by the end of the episode, Frank was running for the hills from Lamar and his thugs.

Debbie ran into a guy named Larry while out looking at baby stuff. He asked for her advice in picking out a baby shower present for his sister and took her to lunch. It looked like he was going to kiss her when he took her home, but he kissed her belly instead. When Debbie goes to Lamaze class, there he is with a pregnant woman named Scarlett. He tells Debbie that he has a thing for pregnant woman (he’s a maiesiophile). Debbie and Scarlett aren’t even the only ones he’s hitting on but Debbie is his only 7-monther. Scarlett cheerfully says she doesn’t mind sharing. Debbie tells them they are both effed up and leaves.

Ian made progress in his studies to be an EMT and became even more involved with Caleb. Their relationship became serious enough to share medical histories. At the same time that Ian revealed he is bipolar, Caleb blurted out that he is HIV-positive. Caleb is not an irresponsible type. A former lover lied to him. Now Caleb is on medication but has been told he can’t give it to anyone. He still feels better taking precautions and insists that Ian get himself tested.

Lip’s anger over his breakup with Helene has rendered him impotent. It was kind of funny because you might say he is practically living in a harem, even if he is just in the basement of the sorority house. Those hot girls are knocking on his door to no avail. He even sought help from Professor Youens who told him the real problem was whiskey-guzzling. That wasn’t it at all as he found out when he went home for a night and Queenie used her knowledge of reflexology to help Lip release his frustrations. If that’s the last we have to hear of Helen Runyon, we like Queenie a lot!