Shameless (season 5)


The fifth season of Shameless, an American comedy-drama television series based on the British series of the same name by Paul Abbott, premiered on January 11, 2015 on the Showtime television network. Executive producers are John Wells, Paul Abbott and Andrew Stearn, and producer Michael Hissrich. Like all previous seasons, the season consisted of 12 episodes.

Plot

The season picks up two to three months after the events of finding out Ian's bipolarity and Fiona's release from prison. Fiona juggles her job as a waitress at the renamed Patsy's Pies, which is under the new ownership of Sean Pierce, and Frank struggles with sobriety following his recent liver transplant. The South Side neighborhood is moving swiftly towards gentrification, to the family's dismay.
Officially off house arrest, Fiona attends a local concert for a band and falls for the band's bass player, Gus. After a whirlwind romance, Fiona and Gus wind up impulsively getting married on a whim. However, Fiona begins to regret her hasty decision, and things are made worse when, after being missing, Jimmy/Steve suddenly makes a return in Fiona's life. Attempting to reconcile their issues, Fiona sleeps with Jimmy, but Fiona recognizes the problems of their relationship and breaks up with Jimmy, who says his goodbyes and departs to Dubai. Fiona confesses her infidelity to Gus, straining their relationship. As Fiona and Gus' relationship fizzles, Fiona connects with her boss, Sean, a recovering heroin addict with a history of drugs; Fiona later realizes she has fallen in love with Sean. When she admits this, however, Sean rejects her because she is already married.
Meanwhile, Debbie begins dating Derek, a boy she bonds with during boxing lessons. Debbie decides to go on birth control and has unprotected sex with Derek that night, despite being advised against doing so. Debbie later tells Fiona she is pregnant with Derek's child. Lip and Amanda continue to see each other non-exclusively; however, Lip ends up getting romantically involved with Helené, a professor. Lip blatantly ditches Amanda, who gradually becomes more possessive for Lip. Upon learning of Helené, Amanda tearfully breaks up with Lip for making her "fall in love" with him. Veronica struggles with parental life, as Veronica misses Kevin's attention; the two go through a brief break-up period before eventually making amends. During the break-up period, Svetlana moves in to help out with housework and babysitting.
At home, Sammi moves in with the Gallagher and takes charge as their caretaker. When Sheila's house blows up, Frank is forced to move in; Sammi shows a complete disdain for Frank, her eyes opened to her father by her step siblings. Carl begins dealing drugs, and Frank convinces Carl to use Chuckie as a drug mule. After being shot in the arm by Sammi, Frank goes to the hospital and bonds with his doctor, Bianca, who is diagnosed with stage 3 pancreatic cancer. Encouraged to live life to the fullest, Bianca runs away with Frank and the two go on a grand adventure, going on drug and alcohol binges as Frank introduces her to the seedier side of life. In the process, they begin a romantic relationship. As Bianca's health deteriorates, the two take a trip to Costa Rica. There, Bianca leaves a thankful goodbye note for Frank while he is sleeping, and she walks into the ocean to presumably drown herself.
Mickey has been taking vigilant care of Ian, while also dealing with his and Svetlana's son, Yevgeny. Despite his concerning behavior, Ian remains in denial of his condition, but his manic episodes lead to him kidnapping Yevgeny and fleeing; Ian is later admitted at the psychological evaluation ward. Carl's drug business lands Chuckie in jail for heroin possession. Enraged from Chuckie's arrest, Sammi turns on the Gallagher clan and calls the cops on Carl. In court, Carl is sentenced to one year in juvenile prison. Sammi also vengefully turns Ian in to the military police for his military insubordination. Following Ian's arrest, Mickey and Debbie want revenge and impulsively drug Sammi until she passes out, but when they accidentally assume they may have killed her, Mickey packs Sammi's body into a moving storage container.
At the ward, Ian receives a visit from Monica, and the two briefly hitchhike out of the state after Ian is released following a disclosure of his condition. After meeting Monica's meth dealing boyfriend, Monica proclaims that Ian needs to find somebody who loves him back for who he is. Ian returns home and reunites with Mickey, but Ian unexpectedly breaks up with him, citing his bipolarity: "Too much is wrong with me, and you can't do anything about that. You can't change that." In the season's final scenes, Sammi suddenly shows up and angrily chases after Mickey with a gun, leading to both Mickey and Sammi's incarceration.

Cast and characters

Main

Development and production

On February 18, 2014, Showtime announced the series would be renewed for a fifth season. Production on the first episode began on July 3, 2014 with the first table read, with principal photography commencing on July 8, 2014.

Reception

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the fifth season a 92%, based on 12 reviews. The critics consensus reads, "Settling into its fifth year with a irascible sense of fun, Shameless hints that the Gallaghers won't become a functional family unit anytime soon - but audiences will adore them all the same."