Shameless - Review: Season 9

The Gallaghers return for a ninth season as the loyal Chicago family from the south side. This time they are all working on their separate lives as they are growing older. Fiona is continuing her business of remodeling and reopening. Lip is still a recovering alcoholic, working at the bike shop. While Ian is in jail for his "Gay Jesus" antics, Carl is trying to get into WestPoint. Debbie is still a working mom trying to support her little girl. Liam is attending school and growing up. And Frank is still the alcoholic father he always as been.

As this was not my favorite season, it is still quite enjoyable. I love the story of this group of siblings who practically raised themselves and are trying to survive in the real world. I loved the beginning seasons as they are some of my favorites. They introduce these characters and they go through so much with their father being absent. In the most recent seasons, the children are all grown up and going down their own separate paths in life. This is still fun to watch but they do not cause as much mayhem as they used to and have to try to get out of trouble. This season was a lot more real and dramatic as the consequences from Frank being absent is having an effect on them.

There were somethings from the last season, such as the whole gay Jesus thing, that they fixed right off the bat with this season. I am glad they did. I did not like the route Ian was heading towards. As his actions do have consequences, I am glad they fixed that for him.

My favorite thing about this show is the cast. Every single character in this show has something to them and the actors portray it all to a tee. There is a moment in this season where they all point out their flaws because of how they grew up. I think that is what makes this series so special. This season especially, shows how much of an impact their uprising was in the south side with Frank being the way he is. Like I mentioned, this season hits home on the drama. Every character seems to be dealing with an identity crisis in their life.

My favorite character, without a doubt, is Lip. Now I am gonna bring up some moments from previous seasons, so if you have not seen them... SPOILER ALERT! Lip is the character that had the most potential to make something out of himself. He is introduced as this trouble maker, however he turns out to be really smart. When the professor helps him out to get into college, he could have gotten away from the south side. I rooted for him so much during this time of the series. However, he follows down the wrong path and becomes an alcoholic. Then we watched him struggle through this time of his life. He seems to always have hardships and must work through them. In this season we see how he may have another chance to make something out of himself, and I love that. He must deal with the child that he began taking care of at the end of Season 8, and how he is not the real father. However, he gets a chance to actually be a father. I love that this character has screwed up so much but still has those redeeming qualities to him.

There were some moments in this season between Frank and Fiona that I found very moving. Fiona hits rock bottom here and Frank sees that she could be heading down the same path as he is, and there is one moment in particular that I thought Frank has a heart. I appreciated that because as I do find Frank very amusing, he is a terrible father. So, I did like that they gave him that heart felt moment.

The big problem I had with this season was it did not have any stand out moments to me. The previous seasons included Lip being an alcoholic, Monica's return and eventual death, Mickey and Ian's love, or Debbie getting pregnant. As it did have Fiona's fall and Lip becoming a soon-to-be father, none of it felt as impactful as the previous mentions.

It also felt off because they are all down their separate journeys now. So they are not all together all the time. Frank does not come around as much and it is not as crazy as it used to be. I don't know if it is just me or what, but this season just felt different.

I also did not like the woman Frank meets. She is introduced towards the beginning of the season and does not stay long. She did not have an impact on me and is pretty forgettable. When Monica came back into Frank's life and messed with his head, that had an impact. I felt something there. For this character for Frank, however, I did not feel anything.

The new love interest for Lip was also really annoying as well. I understand where she came from with her decisions, but she came off as a hag. It may be the woman's right movement stuff, but she doesn't let Lip have a say with their child at all. That just irritates me because it is also Lip's kid. Towards the end of the season she loosens up, but there in the middle, I could not stand her.

In the end, I enjoyed this season. I enjoy every season. I love this show. There is not a season I have not liked yet. As this is not the best one, it still has something to enjoy within it. There are a lot of heartfelt moments between the characters that make for a good view. If you enjoy this show and what it is all about, you will continue to enjoy it with Season 9.