Ian is a cheater, period. It's been part of his characterization for a long time, even when he was with Mickey.

Ian and his siblings used to commit petty theft and other minor crimes in early seasons-the Gallaghers are very familiar with crossing the line to survive. And not for nothing, Ian was a sex worker and always had very loose morality, especially where his sex life was concerned. Even in this episode, he's the one who…

Macy only got award nominations after they decided to pretend they were a comedy, a much easier field for male actors where his name recognition was all that was required. He brought the show little prestige or critical attention for the first several seasons. In fact, most critics thought he was miscast or the worst…

It's really sad that they just totally dropped the ball with the Mickey/Yevgeny relationship. That was going somewhere before they abruptly decided they didn't care.

It's truly bizarre, this insistence on acting like they had some kind of violent, criminal relationship in the past. We saw it, dudes, and it was way more normal (for Shameless) than they're now pretending. Mickey had some shady dealings but so did Ian and all the Gallaghers.

It's like each episode writer has a totally different idea of why Ian does anything, so there's no consistency from week to week.

But that never really *was* Ian in the first place. He was a stable person who held down jobs before he got sick, and during his relationship with Mickey. If this was supposed to be making a contrast to when he was untreated, it was incredibly sloppy because this situation has nothing to do with his illness or any…

LOL the show likes to pretend that 5x12 breakup never happened, and who can blame them? It tracks with absolutely nothing else that ever happened.

When Ian said "this isn't me anymore" I honestly had no idea what he meant. This lifestyle? This relationship? Mickey himself? There was no context for it that made any sense, and Ian is basically a blank slate emotionally these days so there were few hints to be found.

He got that part months after he quit Shameless.

No one knows for sure, but the rumors indicate that he may have tried for more money, got denied, and thought he had a couple job opportunities so he walked away. The job opportunities disappeared, and he's been mostly unemployed since quitting. So really, if they wanted to get him back as a regular at this point,…

The emotional throughlines just aren't there for the Ian/Mickey story, because the writers couldn't seem to stick with a consistent idea of their relationship. This is basically a little two episode sideshow that can be lifted right out of the season without affecting anything-just as JimmySteve's return was. At least…

"Monica dying, however, is just smart storytelling: it takes something that the characters—and to some degree the show—has taken as a foregone conclusion and actually makes it a reality."

Right, "accidental" in the sense that he didn't intend for her to overdose. The drugging was definitely intentional, but that wouldn't lead to an attempted murder charge.

They totally dropped Mickey's relationship with his son midway through season 5 and never went back to it. I remember being quite frustrated at the time because it was such a great potential source of character development for him. Turns out they weren't interested in developing his character any further.

Totally agree. It made absolutely no sense that he would be convicted when 1) that's not even the crime he committed and 2) there was no evidence and 3) Sammi was the one caught trying to kill him.

The camera work backs up your theory. Side by side shots. http://southernfriedblondeb…

Yeah, I think they conveniently forgot that because it never made any sense. What did Ian do immediately after dumping Mickey for wanting him to get on meds and get well? He got on meds and got well.

I think I could buy that this is just Ian twisting things in his own mind to cope if any other character ever pushed back on the Mickey retcon, but they don't. They all seem to have disdain for him, mock and belittle him in his absence and even laugh at his past traumas. None of Ian's family seems to have any memory…

One of the reasons I hope this show will finally end is because some of the cast is so great and I would love to see them in other projects. There was a time when the writing of this show was worthy of their talents, but that time has long passed.