“Emily”
** Spoiler Alert**
Three quarters of older patients develop memory loss after surgery, but only a small percentage experience devastating cognitive decline. No one knows why for sure, but it seems to be related to both age and time spent under anesthesia. And Frank Gallagher is no exception. Sure he isn’t in his sixties yet, but he’s put so many miles on his body he may as well be.
Frank’s lost all of his recent memories and then some. As far as he knows, Sheila is his mom, Fiona is the little girl, Emily (his hospital roommate) and Monica is still a big part of his life. I’m guessing Frank and his mom had a very inappropriate relationship and here’s why: Frank reaches up for a boob grab as Sheila gets frisky with him and tells “mom” to wait until they get home. Eew. Yet for all of his issues, Frank is still one loveable screw up. It bothers him that he ditched Fiona and Lip in a cold park while he got high with Monica. It wasn’t malicious, he just forgot. Seeing little Fiona next to him stirs up some emotionally charged memories.
That little Fiona is in fact Emily, a fragile dark haired little girl waiting for a heart. She doesn’t have a daddy, he left because he couldn’t handle it. So Emily happily stands in for Frank’s Fiona, she even gets to call him Daddy before she dies. It’s heartbreaking to watch.
Meanwhile Fiona is on her way to the Department of Corrections for her 90 day stint. This time she has the support of her family to see her through. I find it interesting that as we near the end of Season Four, two of our main characters are out of commission. Frank is spending his days in a hospital bed and Fiona went from house arrest to being incarcerated. With these two leads dampened down, it’s given other characters a chance to grow. Particularly Kevin and Carl.
Carl has come into his own. He’s a kid no longer. He’s experienced a lot of firsts recently, committed his first robbery, obtained his first girlfriend and now even tried to take on his girlfriend’s family. That’s a huge step. Carl’s a deviant with a good heart. After finding out Bonnie’s family lives in a van, he cordially invited all of her siblings to come live at his place. Not sure how he’s going to work that out with Lip.
Kevin’s learned his lesson with firearms and is now taking a kinder gentler approach with Mickey. Mostly he’s just sucking up and hoping there are no repercussions for last week’s actions. The old Mickey would never let Kev slide, but this new (much improved) version might.
Up until this point Mickey has been a rather selfish character, but something has changed. He selflessly went to his baby’s baptism, he asked his red headed lover to leave so his wife would be more comfortable, and finally, he announced his sexuality in front of his dad and a bar full of people. What a way to come out! Mickey’s announcement predictably parlayed into a number of bar fights, but the one between he and his dad was the best. They beat the piss out of each other. And for once Mickey was fighting for something respectable. What made Mickey change, is it his new baby or his love for Ian? I suspect the latter.
Lip has been careening along, acting as head of the Gallagher household while simultaneously keeping his grades up. All thanks to his girlfriend, whom he seems to be genuinely falling for. She wanted him to scare her parents, and he went above and beyond with very little effort. She’s definitely rebelling, and couldn’t have picked a better guy to help torture her parents. The question is does she actually care about Lip, or is she toying with him? I wonder who will get burned in the end.
Can’t wait for next week’s season finale!
Aurora Snow Says
Episode Rating:
[Rating:4/5]
I can’t wait to see what happens, but I HATE that the season will be over! It’s too long until next season starts! I will have to re-watch all 4 seasons again!
It’s an addictive show. I wish there were more episodes in a season.