#Has season 7 of shameless start series#

Still, this is only a mid-finale, so maybe itвЂ™s fitting he worries about his own stuff to do. For itвЂ™s Debbie who finds Fiona hungover and hung out to dry in her apartment with a black eye and nigh broken arm, and it is Debbie who rallies Lip to show at least passing concern for his sister.

This likewise follows traditional Shameless finale formulae where the Gallaghers band together (how we like them best), even if in this case it is primarily just the sisters. Maybe itвЂ™s the show indicating sheвЂ™s growing out of teenage stubbornness, or just Wells seeing dynamics need to shift without Ian around, but itвЂ™s a welcome change that Debbie inexplicably wants to help Fiona out. But several seasons back, beginning with her fixation of wanting to have a baby, Debbie has primarily been depicted as self-absorbed and oblivious to her siblingsвЂ™ own perspectives. Once upon a time, Debbie was quite invested in the trials and tribulations of the other Gallaghers. In and of itself, this should not be a surprise. Yep, what also marked this as a quasi-finale by Shameless standards is that Debs, of all Gallaghers, became genuinely concerned for FionaвЂ™s absence from IanвЂ™s sendoff last week. Her defeat, in essence, is the only thing that truly makes this feel like a finale, and therefore our last вЂњnormalвЂќ one with Fi-one in which she seems to be set on the path of Frank once more. She has lost her apartment building, her upward mobility, and frankly her sense of purpose. For this episode is very much about breaking Fi down in the most cynical, yet in many ways believable fashion. It is still somewhat ambiguous how long showrunner John Wells knew that departure was coming, but it was clearly not visibly on the horizon when this mid-finale was broken down.

#Has season 7 of shameless start series#

When season 9 finishes its run in early 2019, it will now inadvertently serve as the final farewell to Emmy Rossum as Fiona Gallagher (or at least so far as being a series regular). Presumably this helps with the ratings, but it rather serendipitously gave us a creative space that even the showвЂ™s producers may not have been aware of.

Indeed, Showtime has made the curious choice of expanding the normal order of Shameless episodes from 12 episodes to 14, and in so doing, they have also broken it up as a fall/winter series, much akin to AMCвЂ™s format for their most popular shows. Last week, we bid farewell to Ian Gallagher (my second favorite of the Gallagher clan for those counting), and tonight we have the first mid-season finale in the showвЂ™s entire run.