It's not the same thing as if they were her kids by birth. She went to court and fought for the right to provide food and housing for Debbie and Carl until they're 18. She signed paperwork to that effect. She legally cannot kick them out.

No, we get it. Just because we don't love something doesn't mean we don't understand it. We're saying that the process of learning about this world isn't actually all that fun. The ability to suss out a storytelling gimmick doesn't automatically make it good.

The writers had a fundamental lack of insight into the college experience so I don't expect them to tap into the realities of intern life either. Lip is no longer in school; he can't legally do an internship anyway, and the idea that a professor would slide him into an illegal internship doesn't track from word one.…

We just need some consistency going forward. Fiona got fired from the cup job because she punked out for a few days, but Ian keeps the EMT job after his behavior in this episode? If they want to give us "Fiona at work" they need to commit to depicting a more realistic workplace.

It was definitely played up for comic effect, but those frat guys were sleeping with minors so I don't think it was wholly unwarranted.

Game of Thrones also benefits from having puppet strings that are easier to parse. We know that Brienne isn't a major player in the larger plotlines, but the acting is so good and her scenes are so well-written that we're willing to spend that time with her. Plus it's obvious that any "road trip" plots are really…

The baby isn't Fiona's problem, but Debbie definitely is. Fiona can't kick a minor dependent out of her home, nor can she demand rent payment.

I wouldn't be sticking to this point if the show hadn't prolonged the drama of Fiona going to court and signing paperwork pledging to be responsible for the kids until they turned 18. "They grew up fast" doesn't cut it when the show made a point of establishing the details of Fiona's legal responsibility. She…

yes and no. Lip played his "I actually HAVE career prospects" assery in a conversation where Ian and Fiona were ribbing him for participating in the tony system of internships leading to cushy jobs (basically insulting him for kowtowing to "the man"). The show has never figured out how to present Lip's imminent upward…

Fiona signed up to be everyone's legal guardian. She's justified in charging Ian and Lip rent, but IMO she shouldn't be charging Carl and Debbie, nor should she tell them she's not their emergency contact anymore. She's balking on the job of parenthood because she's putting herself first, which is an interesting angle…

The Man in Black isn't a robot. The comparison's the Yul's film character don't extend that far.

I feel like Shameless' plots are somewhat dictated by the acting abilities of the stars. Cameron and Emma were cast as adorable kids whose expanded adult roles couldn't have been predicted. I never thought that Cameron played the bipolar plot all that well, though he had the luck to remain charismatic and to grow up…

I'd venture to guess that the American West holds the same allure for Americans (in fantasy) that Medieval England does for Brits. I don't quite understand why people see the West setting as random. Fantasy tends to be set in an era that mines the mythos of a given country.

These recent episodes (maybe all of last season too, when she was in it) underscore that Zooey isn't a very good actress. I enjoy her presence, and I often feel that charisma can make up for a lack of major talent (the Joshua Jackson school of charm and naturally smooth speaking, ya know?) but I kinda "resent" having…

It's an interesting idea that's hard to play for drama but it's also realistic. I've been part of government investigations into corporate stuff, and you'd be surprised at how much information they have about anyone who was ever remotely connected to some of these situations. They're usually only after the bigger…

I'm ready to clip cuppons with this season!

Leon's gonna watch Friends next.

I think the point of the flashback was to show what their real relationship was like before everything really went to hell. Like the dude shoved Elliot out a window a few years later…we might be seeing the setup of a trajectory leading from this very warm, tender dynamic (when Elliot was asked to keep the secret -…

Damn, I love Darlene as Clarissa.

Are we heading toward a revelation that Dom and the fsociety kids know each other, or that she has links to the parent deaths? The Teaneck stuff seemed to be spoken in italics.