Most of those are short term effects from the looks of it. So while legal consequences and lingering guilt and recrimination are certainly called for, Liam surviving and basically being normal (plus or minus some liver damage) is hardly unimaginable.

As far as the characters on the show, even there (as in life) there is a Gordion Knot of reaping what you sew and luck. If you read my comments you'll see that I in no way let Fiona off the hook for her destructive behavior, but did she "deserve" to have Frank and Monica as parents, or responsibility for five children…

Rather than the characters on Shameless (although I do think lumping ALL of them in this category is problematic) I was responding to his third sentence: "In the end you get what you deserve…"
If you agree with this, you are not only not as liberal as you think, but hopelessly blinkered. Did Job "deserve" what he got?…

I understand the complaints about Shiela's arc, but I thought it lead to an honest to God resonant moment last night. When the kid tells her his name is One Eyed Snake and his brother is Smelly Wind, the latter asks after his reason for fucking with her, to which the former replies "She's crazy." The latter replies…

Make that an A-. Sheesh.

I guess it's fair since Batman (the other World's Greatest Detective) has taken much from Sherlock Holmes over the years, but this show's version of Moriarty is a total Batman villain—to my eyes, a mixture of The Joker, The Riddler and the Crime Doctor. I don't mean this as a criticism; I love it. I have some issues…

Spoken like a true Republican.

Regarding Mike, what interests me is that he is in the main cast (I think) and hence we haven't even near about seen the last of him. I'm curious what part he plays the rest of the season.

I hardly think drug problems and bipolar issues are mutually exclusive…look at Monica. I know from personal experience (not my own, fortunately) that they sometimes go hand in hand, and I believe this is what is happening here.

Actually, Cindy, I said it was unfortunately IN character. Go back and watch old episodes…there is constantly completely inappropriate shit going on around the kids. A prepubescent Carl chugs a beer in the opening credits, and apparently she lets him drink—with their parents as warning signs, mind you. I adore Fiona…

Oh indeed.

Agreed. As I wrote elsewhere, these almost seem like final season arcs, but hasn't it already been renewed? That worries me, but last season showed Wells isn't afraid to fuck with the status quo, so that makes me hopeful he'll follow through honestly. I guess we'll see…

X was my first read too, but when some one at hitfix brought up Monica's issues it felt so in keeping with the season's themes that, combined with his pre-X behavior (I think you give him way too much credit—creepy relations with much older men and a violent thug, melting down when the latter relationship fell…

Maybe I'm a sicko but Fiona was never sexier than when kicking that creep's ass.

Fiona likes to get trashed. She just had a horrible breakup on her birthday and was told she was having a birthday party whether she wanted to or not. Her self esteem, never very high, was in the gutter. Cocaine does wonders for your self esteem (until you run out, when it plummets to new lows.) given this combination…

While he's far from the most rounded character on the show, I do find it significant that he had flings with both Kash and Ned. He's clearly been deeply affected by Frank's unreliability and is in search of a father figure.

They've been placed in foster care more than once since she became defacto guardian, and she has been very casual about alcohol and other drugs in the house since the pilot. Fiona is insanely lovable and generally does a good job with the kids under the circumstances, but unfortunately this was in character, and not…

Yeah Lip is furious and justifiably so, but he's hardly innocent of acting like their parents: last years finale showed how he is basically Frank 30 years younger, or at least has the potential (funny as it sounds to use that word re:Frank) to be. If you listen to Frank ramble, it's obvious he's very bright, and Lip's…

I'm not sure a violent pimp is what Ian needs, but I know what you mean.

Now THATS more like it. Wonderful episode. Still not completely sold on the writing, but Fukunaga's directing was fantastic. Between this and Shameless, this was the most killer night of TV since Boardwalk and BrBa were both on last fall.