I don't really see how criticizing the use of nudity on the show is disrespectful to the actors. In fact, a couple of the actresses mentioned above have spoken about being caught off guard by requests to be nude in their scenes when that wasn't the original intention, and didn't feel necessary to the story. In any…

I don't think the OP intended to dismiss Emmy's talent or role on the show, just to point out that seeing her (and other actresses') nudity is why some people tune in-which is unfortunately true. I've encountered several instances of anecdotal evidence on this point in recent times. And Fiona has been topless in many…

Trying to track the character ages on this show is a pointless endeavor. They're whatever age the plot needs them to be. And Shameless has a long history of showing underage characters drinking in public places and with adults.

The actor who plays Mickey left the show. Which IMO doesn't excuse the abominable way they chose to write him off, or how they've treated his character since.

If that was actually the point of Caleb, this story would've been tolerable and maybe even felt respectful of the story that came before it. Unfortunately, as always with Shameless these days, it's not that deep. Just another thoughtless act of destruction against their own characters.

You're definitely not the only one. I'm kind of amazed by the continued insistence that Caleb is a great guy who's so heathy for Ian-he fully used Ian in this episode to get at his family, and gave Ian no warning about what he was walking into. Douche move.

It's the same way every time they do these self-contained college plots for Lip. Some nonsensical problem arises out of nowhere and then gets solved for him by an outside force. This one was particularly ridiculous, especially in the solution of him randomly becoming a "house boy" for a sorority. To my knowledge, that…

I think the commentary here about the use of the reset button is exactly the problem that's been plaguing the show. They don't build to stories anymore-problems just arise and get solved within episodes, never getting the chance to matter before becoming moot. And nothing has any lasting consequences, for the…

Another confounding episode. Most of the stories were boring or nonsensical or superfluous. And I really didn't appreciate Ian using the story of Mickey's traumatic rape and forced marriage as a hilarious anecdote for him and Caleb to have a laugh over. What the fuck are they doing with all this Mickey stuff?

Oh for sure, I'm not trying to say she behaved well. But I understood why she was acting that way-she so clearly felt insecure and unwelcome, and she lashed out. Whereas with Gus, I didn't really get why he was being so standoffish, at least not initially. From the moment she arrived, he was off with her and being…

I came out of this episode feeling a lot of sympathy for Mickey, and almost none for Gus. Yes, she made a little dig about his party being dumb, and he doesn't know her well enough yet to know not to take it to heart. But his behavior was just so unnecessarily cold to me. He had sex with her the previous night, but he…

I was reassured in reading that interview to know that they have some level of awareness about Gus, but I think they miscalculated a bit, at least for me. Yes, they intend for him to be flawed and its not a Mickey=bad/Gus=good dichotomy, but I don't think they meant for Gus to come off quite as badly as he did. I…

Definitely agree with the reviewer's assessment of the date, and Gus in general. I've finished the season, and I pretty much hated him by the end, whereas I felt a lot more empathy for Mickey.

An unfortunate necessity. I remember the days when school shootings were such a big deal that any remotely violent TV content would be held back for weeks out of respect (two episodes in season 3 of Buffy were held until summer due to the Columbine shootings). Now they're so commonplace that it would be logistically…

The tendency for Shameless to turn every love interest into a villain as soon as they're done with them is one of the worst features of the show. It's unfair to those characters, and it allows the Gallaghers to escape all culpability for their own behavior and mistakes.

Not since Mandy was written off the show and never mentioned again.

Amen. Engaging storytelling, this is not.

Agreed (both the Kash and Ned relationships were inappropriate), but that's not really the issue on the table. The show is portraying Ian as having no idea how to act on a date or in a romantic social situation, despite years of evidence that he has experience with those things. His relationship trajectory with Mickey…

Yeah, Ian clearly said that to get at Mickey and make him jealous. And as you say, we saw them on a date, and Ian looked perfectly comfortable.

"Little vignettes" is such an apt description of this season. Nothing seems to carry forward or have any lasting consequences, and the characters change from episode to episode to service the plot.