Shameless - S04E04 - Strangers on a Train

It was hard to top off the impact of last week's episode, but "Strangers on a Train" did quite well. If I have anything to say about this season, so far, is that it seems quite repetitive in its issues. Lip has a hard time in college, clearly not fitting in. Fiona is torn between the stability of her new job and relationship and her need for adventure (and self-destruction). Debby is DTF but her boy isn't, Frank and Carl try to get Frank a liver. But, even so, there was some story progression and the episode definitely had its moments.
To start with, the opening sequence. Fiona rides the L Train, which, unlike its New York hipster equivalente, seems to take everyone, everywhere in Chicago. Robbie comes in. Did he know she was going to be there? Coincidence? It doesn't matter. The fact is that he's sexy, he's dangerous, he fingers girls on the L!! The sequence was great and probably the strongest scene in the whole episode, even with the obvious cut to the train rushing from one point to another to show her orgasm in a not-very-subtle way.
I had a quick talk with a friend of mine on Shameless and Amorality x Immorality. Her point is quite interesting: pretty much all the characters in Shameless are amoral: they have no moral code whatsoever and don't think they're doing anything wrong. Not Fiona. Fiona, here, is immoral. She knows she shouldn't be sleeping with her boyfriend's brother, and yet, she does. Here's where Shameless shows its quality. We're right with her: we know it's wrong, it's trouble, and yet, we're there for the ride, and we almost cheer when she shows up at Robbie's house. Secretly, of course.
I've been really loving Kevin this season. I feel he's the only man in this show that "does the right thing". He's married, he's struggling to keep the bar open. And if he's willing to partner up with Mikey and open a brothel on the side, it's just because the man is about to have 4 kids! At once! I mean, can you blame him?
The Frank storyline is barely worth mentioning, although cudos for Carl for finally succeeding in breaking (shattering?) Frank's leg.

Something for me that worked will this episode were the connections between story lines. Deb is so eager to lose her virginity (DTF!) that, looking for more experienced feedback, she goes to Mandy, who later is visited by Lip, who is looking for an excuse to drop out of college even if it means a little baby running around. Lip, then, goes for a beer and complains about how difficult life is to Kevin, of all people, who, as mentioned, is probably going to become a pimp to survive.  Kev has no patience for this, and finally knocks some sense into the kid.

In A World...

          In a time of heated debates over the role of women in the entertainment business, it's easy to get caught up in abstract yet heated debates on gender politics, with a lot of so-called feminists yelling for things that should be done (by men) to open up more space for women in the field. That notion gives me goosebumps. Women don't need men to step politely to the side so that they can reach their level, they just plow through and get where they want to be. How? By writing, directing and/or starring great movies. If those movies happen to be about independent, talented and driven women, even better. Yes, the road might be harder, but people in the entertainment business are rarely in it because they don't like challenges.
            Lake Bell does all those things - writes, directs, stars - in this little comedy gem about a struggling voice-over coach that, almost by accident, gets involved in a battle to be the new voice of a Hunger Games-esque quadrilogy, facing foes that include her own father. In the meantime she has fun and finds love, while quietly and surely succeeding in a male-dominated business. THANK YOU, Lake Bell. That's the kind of message women in the biz need to hear - even if she spells it out for us way too directly by the end of this enjoyable ride.
        The movie, however, is not a chick-flick. My husband arrived late in the game then quietly settled next to me on the couch and watched the last third of the movie, asking to watch it again (which I will, with pleasure). It's a feel-good movie with punch, another "late twenties coming of age" story with a fresh new spin on it.