NSFW Recap: Shameless

In “NSFW”, the 6th episode of Season 6 of “Shameless” (2/14/2016), Fiona goes through with her abortion and also finds out the gender of Debbie’s baby; Lip is called before the school board over his affair with Helene Runyon; and Ian goes on a date. Carl gets a big shock and Chuckie is reunited with both his grandparents.

Fiona just couldn’t wait to have her abortion because she is so hormonal. She continued to cry on Sean’s shoulder about losing the Gallagher homestead. Sean pointed out that all her memories connected with the house aren’t good but he just doesn’t understand that the opening scene won’t work anymore unless the Gallagher live at 2119 North Wallace Street. Fiona goes back to the old homestead and breaks a window to get in, only to learn that the door was open. The inspector and the successful bidder are in there finishing up their inventory of the home’s defects. Since it is going to cost more than his bid to make the place livable, Fiona gets another bite at the apple with one little hitch: she is going to need Gus to sign off on some papers saying that he has no interest in the house.

We already knew that Gus was no longer Mr. Nice Guy after his Fiona song, but that wasn’t enough to heal his wounded pride. After giving Fiona the runaround on when to meet and standing her up the first time, he finally showed up and dumped coffee on her document with a nasty little speech about how he only does favors for friends. Now’s she just somebody that he used to know… lol, just kidding. Now she’s just somebody who wants a favor but isn’t offering anything in return. So unnecessary and if Gus happens to meet with some kind of accident that would render his consent moot, we wouldn’t feel bad at all.

That brings us to Lip, Helene Professor Youens and Amanda. We actually feel the most sorry for Helene. Amanda had to leave campus because the femi-Nazis were after her once they discovered that she was one who put the screws to Helene. Lip continued to behave like a fool and Professor Youens wasn’t much help at all. He’s good at offering philosophical insights and booze but totes short on practical advice. Helene was the only one carrying on in a professional manner in an effort to salvage what little dignity she can. They both had to appear before the school board and Lip just utterly refused to take a hint from Helene’s statements to these authorities that he and Helen are not “in love.” He pursued her outside and she told him to stay away from her, her home, her husband and son so that things don’t get any uglier than they already are

Proud grandpa-to-be Frank accompanied Debbie to her prenatal visit. The doctor put the baby’s gender results (a girl) on a paper that Frank saw before she sealed it in an envelope and gave it to Debbie. Frank counseled Debbie on the wisdom of going along with Erica’s “Melissa Etheridge” proclivities. Debbie told him that she was going to endear herself to the Wexler family without having sex with Tyler or Erica. We can probably call that the Pancake Route – she was making the Wexler kids a lot of those. Erica suggested that Debbie have a “gender reveal” party at her house and invite her family. Fiona turned down Debbie’s invitation.

Carl and Nick were going to the party but, on the way, Nick saw a kid riding his beloved bike. He proceeded to chase him in the car that Carl bought in an effort to help him get over the loss of the bike. After seeing where the boy lived, Carl reminded Nick of his dreams of living on a farm with animals and said it wasn’t worth it. As they were all going to cut into Debbie’s cake, Erica got a call from the doctor and left the room. Nick took off and Carl chased after him, acquiring a skateboard along the way. Carl was too late. Nick was sitting on the front stoop with a bloody hammer, while a woman inside the house screamed “my son, my son.” Nick warned a horrified Carl that the police were on the way and he better split. We saw that coming, but we don’t even know if the boy was the one who stole the bike!

Deeply shaken, Carl went to Sean’s to find Fiona. She wasn’t home yet and Sean agreed to let him spend the night. Fiona returned and Carl listened to her break down in tears over her inability to get the house back. He went out and dug up a duffel bag of cash out by the El and gave it to Fiona. Then he went back to the house and put a big sign on the front door that said “Carl’s Crib,” so our hope that he was scared straight was short-lived indeed.

Erica learned from her doctor that her cancer was in remission and was positively giddy with the prospect of a second lease on life. She went to Debbie’s room and lay down on the floor with a pillow to share her exultation. When she wished that Debbie didn’t have to leave, Debbie got out of bed and laid down next to her.

Ian and Caleb went out on their date and we are supposed to believe somehow that Ian is so ill-at-ease in this setting. Yo, scriptwriters – we have memories and know that Ian has been on a date with Jimmy/Steve’s father. After trying some get-to-know you conversation, Caleb got a message that he had to go on a call for the fire department. He allowed Ian to tag along. They answered a domestic violence situation. The husband appeared to be hurt by his wife, after he broke her arm. While Caleb tended to the man, Ian went over and put his jacket around the woman and looked at her arm. He used his army first-aid training to stabilize her. Caleb was at first alarmed but when he saw that Ian did it right, he calmed down.

Kevin came up with a unique solution to refilling the Alibi. He decided that hipster were not welcome there anymore. He would only allow locals and would give out free drinks to people who were unemployed or on food stamps and other such situations. When the hipsters found out about that, they couldn’t wait to get back in. Kev and V decided they would let them in for a $20 per hipster cover charge. They had to get a bouncer so they put the little Burmese girl outside with a sign saying she eats fingers.

Frank found Chuckie holed up under the Gallagher porch and shared a can of beans with him when Queenie, Sammi’s mother showed up. The grandparents reunited in a most shameless way right in front of poor little Chuckie. It remains to be seen what kind of living arrangements Queenie has for Chuckie, but she doesn’t look like much of an improvement over the kid’s mother, Sammi!