Ouroboros Recap: Shameless

An unlikely source of help arrived in the form of Hurricane Monica in Episode 9 of Season 7, at least in the matter of getting Debbie’s baby back. Monica also had some news that reduced Frank to tears. The episode opened up with her return. She quickly located Frank who turned his back on her because he did not want to mess up his new situation with Etta. Monica camped out on the Gallagher doorstep but Fiona gave her the cold shoulder in the cold light of morning.

All right, stand back, honey, ’cause it’s gonna get rude. ~ Monica Gallagher

Debbie was camping out on the Delgado’s lawn and Fiona stopped by to bring hot cocoa and take Franny’s breast milk to the door. Derek’s mother threatened to call the police if Debbie kept sleeping on their lawn. Fiona said they should be the ones calling the police after the Delgados kidnapped Franny. Mrs. Delgado retorted that she would see them at the DCFS meeting the next day and slammed the door. When Debbie returned home, Monica learned that she was now the grandmother of a kidnapped baby. She grabbed a baseball bat and took Debbie to the Delgado home. Monica broke their windows and wreaked havoc on their front porch all the while screaming about custody laws. Mrs. Delgado went to call the cops. Tanya showed up with little Franny in a stroller.

Still wielding the bat, Monica threatened to knock her cheap extensions off her head, if Tanya didn’t back off. Debbie grabbed the stroller and off they ran off, with Debbie pausing a second to flip Tanya the bird.

If anyone asks, I’m on a date with my radiant, captivating wife. ~ Frank Gallagher

Frank dropped Liam off at the Hopkins Academy, swiped a bag of food from the donations box and brought it back to Etta for lunch. It turned out to be vegetarian chili, a can of sardines and a jar of pickled baloney. Etta rightfully turned her nose up at all that. They went out to eat and while Frank stuffed his face on Etta’s dime, he went on at length about his true soulmate, Monica. Apparently, this monologue broke through the fog enveloping Emma’s brain. “I don’t know you,” she announced. Frank assured her that he was her “poopsie,” Wendell. “Wendell’s dead,” Emma replied and walked out. Lucky for Frank, she left her purse behind. By the time he paid the bill and returned with her stuff, Emma thought he was Wendell again. Monica found out where he was and threw bottles at the window that night, insisting that she needed him and he needed her. Frank wrestled with the truth of that.

“She’s gonna slither in and start plucking at that one nerve no one else on the planet can reach” ~ Lip Gallagher

Lip ran into Monica at the Alibi, where he got a call from Professor Youens who lined up an interview for another internship job for him. Lip initially declined but when he learned this one paid money, he asked Youens to text him the details. Lip angrily rejected Monica’s overtures and went home. Ian stormed in after his encounter with Monica ruined his night with Trevor. Fiona claimed that she was just going to ignore their mother, just like their mother had ignored them all their lives. Lip predicted that Monica would find the crack in her shell. He bet Fiona $20 that she would “lose her sh*t.” Lip was clearly losing his, sneaking drinks everywhere he went. He did not make it to the interview. When he learned that Sierra had to rent an apartment that was a total dump, he took it upon himself to go over there and play handyman. Sierra did not like the undertones of his efforts to make up with her. She already smelled alcohol on him even though he denied drinking, and it really ticked her off when Lip said that she was good for him. Sierra pointed out that she was not there to be his support staff, or “a function on his journey to personal enlightenment” and kicked him out.

Happy Kev time! ~ Kevin Ball

After going to “throuples” couseling with Svetlana and V, Kev decided to return home and work things out. The threesome were all set to celebrate their reunion, when the deliveryman arrived with 4 cases of Ouroboros Tequila. Yes, that’s where the title of the episode came from and it was a running gag throughout that Kevin did not know how to pronounce it. It wasn’t funny, however, when Kev and V learned that they were no longer the owners of the Alibi. Svetlana owns it now.

Wrapping up

Debbie took Monica to the DCFS meeting instead of Fiona. The social worker warned the Delgados to never take Franny again without permission, and warned Debbie to take proper care of the child and keep her home situation in check, which might not be that easy– Debbie let Monica move in with her and Neil.

Monica went by the laundromat looking for Frank and really pissed Fiona off, bragging about how well the kids are doing. Monica said she must’ve done something right. Realizing that this was Fiona she was talking to– the one that really did everything she didn’t do, Monica switched gears and gave Fiona props for being “amazing,” declaring “I’m so proud of you.” The thing is that Monica doesn’t have the right to be proud of anything her kids have done. After Debbie was officially given her baby back, she went to the laundromat and asked Fiona for a job, promising to take orders from her. The last straw for Fiona was when Debbie said she couldn’t wait to tell Monica. Lip won the $20 bet when Fiona took her rage out on Jesse, a young yuppie girl who left a bad review of the laundromat on Yelp!

Frank followed Monica to Neil’s house under the pretense of wanting to check on Franny. Monica had something to show him: medical reports that indicated she was dying. Frank dissolved into a tearful mess in her lap but she assured him that it was going to be all right because she has a plan. We can probably surmise that it has to do with leaving the Gallagher family a windfall because of her remarks to Lip that she was going to make things right for everyone.

As if all these dilemmas weren’t enough for one episode, a cop showed up at the Gallagher home and asked for Ian. They weren’t there to haul him in, although he did seem rather unsure about that. They were there to find out if he had heard from Mickey Milkovich. Mickey broke out of jail and is on the lam!