Shameless Recap: Mo White

The second episode of Season 9 of “Shameless” was called “Mo White,” actually a man’s name, but we’ll get to that later. This was mainly about setting up future storylines and nothing particularly funny or earthshaking happened.

Are you familiar with the saying “sins of the father”? ~ Anne Seery

Liam replied that he had heard it at home. Then he experienced it when he was kicked out of Hopkins Academy because of his degenerate father. Fiona undertook to get him in another private school because, as Liam put it, he’s too soft for public school now: he eats pâté. That isn’t looking any more promising than Kevin and V’s chances of getting Amy and Gemma into the Beaucoup daycare center were.

What are you doing with my wallet? ~ Reshma

Kevin and V left their twins in the care of 10-year-old Xan while they were scouting daycare centers. She took Amy and Gemma to the playground. Reshma showed up with her child, Zehra, who was afraid of the hyperactive twins. Reshma took Zehra to the slide and Xan saw an opportunity to snatch Reshma’s wallet from the open pocketbook left in the stroller. Reshma saw her do it so Xan took off with the wallet, leaving the twins in the playground. Reshma took the girls to the Alibi. Someone called Lip and he showed up and gave Reshma the $80 Xan had stolen. When he caught up with Xan, she hit him in the face hard, crying: “I’m not going back to DCFS.” Her explanation for her crime was that she needed to leave her mother some cash at a P.O. box where she gets her SNAP benefits. (Evidently, either Xan or Lip or both don’t know that SNAP benefits don’t arrive in the mail). Lip said he would leave some money for dear mom and then took Xan off to fish Reshma’s wallet out of the dumpster on Ellis.

I need a sponsor ~ Jason

Lip met Jason at an AA meeting he went to with Brad and Jason wanted Lip to be his sponsor because he needed someone who was born after 1990 and felt like he could talk to Lip. Brad encouraged, well, more like directed, Lip to do it, despite Lip feeling he had enough stress in his life. Brad reminded him that he had already been an unofficial sponsor when Lip helped Youens and when Brad fell off the wagon hard. It appears that Lip will take on the task. Good because Brad and his little lectures are annoying as hell!

I seek the honor of his recommendation for West Point. ~ Carl Gallagher

Carl showed up unannounced in his military school uniform at Congressman Ubberman’s office to get a recommendation for West Point and amply demonstrated that he is West Point material only in his dreams. His ignorance at this point is far more painful than funny. The one thing he could do until he got a proper appointment was volunteer work. His talents only lent themselves to helping an old retired vet put dogs down in a makeshift gas chamber. But Carl had a soft spot for his furry friends, especially a service dog named General Biscuit. Carl took him and a bunch of other dogs home to die with dignity and when General Biscuit passed on, Carl gave him a military funeral at 5:00 in the morning.

I’m in the lion’s den. I had to pull a Boys Don’t Cry. ~ Alex

Debbie took Franny to a construction site. They had matching hardhats and Debbie had a bullhorn. She rallied for all the female workers to stand up to patriarchy and demand equal pay, only there were no female employees at the job. Or so she was told by Alex, a foreman, who also told her to leave in a very vulgar manner. Later, the foreman came to the Gallagher chateau and told Debbie that she was really a she. Alex made a date with Debbie for around 9:00 p.m. to grab a beer and topple the patriarchy.

This is Fiona Gallagher. She’s very passionate about real estate. ~ Whitford

Fiona never did bail Ian out of jail and she now had her eye on investing in commercial real estate with the $50,000 that was burning a hole in her pocket. Ford tried to talk her out of it, especially when he learned it involved Whitford, a real estate agent he disliked. That was like waving a red flag in front of a bull and Fiona, of course, had to show everyone what a brilliant and savvy business woman she is. With “prodigy” Liam in tow, Fiona snagged a share in an LLC project involving senior citizen housing, although she is going to need another $50K according to Whitford.

Well, just emphasize your oppression as a gay man and the daily violence you endured. ~ Geneva

So how did Ian get out of jail? Well, he was in the midst of marrying several gay couples in the prison yard when two guards showed up and told him he made bail and hauled him off to freedom against his will. It didn’t really matter that Ian didn’t get to pronounce anyone man and wife since there is no power vested in him through the State of Illinois or anywhere else. Geneva, the red-headed girl, that was hanging on his every word last season, was there to greet him and inform him that they raised his bail through crowd-funding. They had donors now and were torching vans all over the country in his honor. After introducing their savior, “Gay Jesus,” to the crowd, Geneva handed Ian a prepared speech and a prison outfit for him to wear when he made his statement. It was going to make a great picture for their website but an overwhelmed Ian threw it in the trash in the bathroom and escaped out the window.

We need a candidate of our own, boys! ~ Frank Gallagher

Frank began the episode too broke to even buy a beer but a tip that he could make $5 a sign by stealing political signs sent him off in the direction of prosperity. Frank collected over $200 for about 20 Ruiz signs from the Wyman campaign. Then he went to the Ruiz campaign office and offered his services for $5 a sign to put them all back. He went to a political debate between Ruiz and Wyman and saw oodles of cash being donated. Frank saw a campaign manager job in his immediate future and went straight to the Alibi to rally the blue collar boys to support Mo White, a former Congressman who loosened the liquor license rules so that the Irish would have someplace to drink and helped stopped the Chris Columbus monument from being torn down. With Frank, it’s always a scam but still, it’s obvious where Fiona gets her entrepreneurial spirit from!

Finally, Kevin and Veronica: after rejecting another daycare that was more like a prison, they finally snagged a spot at a Catholic daycare– ONE spot. They went home and taught their 4-year old daughters how to make the sign of the cross and explained to them that they were going to have to pretend to be one person at the school and never be in the same room at the same time.