SHAMELESS “Face It, You’re Gorgeous.” (S9E6): Ian’s Swan Song

Ian Gallagher is the first of the family to leave the show. Was it a reasonable exit? A final farewell worthy of Shameless? Almost, but even with the gripes I might have for his departure, the fan-pleasing last image helps ease the pain. In fact, in “Face it, you’re gorgeous” one of the family has a relatively happy ending (all things considered), while another’s world seems to fall apart. It’s easily the best episode of the season so far, but for Ian’s last, it makes me wonder if we should be expecting more?

One More Time Around

It’s Ian’s (Cameron Monaghan) last day before he leaves for prison, so ultimately his siblings want to plan something special. Of course, he’s not interested, he just wants to relax and have a family dinner. Things don’t go exactly as planned when he ends up practicing krav maga with Carl (Ethan Cutkosky) and his new girlfriend Kelly (Jess Gabor). Their dinner eventually happens, filled with White castle and fries, but it’s a smaller group consisting of Ian, Carl, Kelly, Debbie (Emma Kenney) Lip and Jen.

Courteney Cox  plays Jen Wagner, a celebrity who Lip (Jeremy Allen White) gets paid to watch as her sober companion. The job requires him to watch and keep Jen from drinking, which is not an easy task. She’s quite feisty, giving Lip a lighter storyline than he’s had lately.

Meanwhile, Frank (William H. Macy) suckers Liam (Christian Isaiah) into helping him stake out Ingrid’s (Katey Sagal) release. Veronica (Shanola Hampton) and Kevin (Steve Howey) get brought into their Catholic daycare when one of their twins brings in a vibrator. An uncomfortable, but humorous cameo by Bob Saget fills out the remainder of the episode.

But, this time around, it’s really about Ian and Fiona (Emmy Rossum). These two have had their ups and downs, but ultimately find each other. Fiona plans to drive Ian in the morning to carry out his sentence, but first she has to get through the day. It starts with her and Ford (Richard Flood) looking at a beautiful and costly apartment together, finally taking that next step. Then, the other shoe drops.

First she faces challenges with the real estate deal she put a large chunk of money into, expecting more for unexpected expenses. Her panic has her considering a few options, some of which she might have taken years back, but ultimately she’s left drunk, unloading her problems to a co-worker who has it much worse, with nothing resolved. There’s also a huge step backwards between her and Ford by the end, and while I hate to see Fiona going through the ringer, I’m relieved. These two just didn’t have the chemistry to sustain.

Rossum does an exquisite job of playing out her slow moving disaster with a delicate sense of removal. It’s written right on her face that she knows she’s losing grip, but still, she tries to maintain her hold. Where will she go from here? Rock bottom is a lonely place to be, and at the end of the episode, Rossum doesn’t make it to pick up Ian.

More Drama, But We Needed It

Allison Liddi-Brown directs this season’s best. By the end I felt a bit vindicated by the lackluster start to season 9, which has slowly gotten better. Ian’s end wasn’t how I imagined it (though I was happy in the final moments- I don’t want to spoil) and it’s heartbreaking that not everything came together. Fiona is all about family, and I have a hard time believing that she wouldn’t break down walls to say goodbye to Ian.

Still, it was homey in that unmistakable Gallagher way.

Cameron Monaghan finishes Ian’s journey with an emotional goodbye to his family outside the prison gates. Especially tear-worthy is his and Lip’s exchange. Despite the large family, these two always had a unique bond. In a lot of ways this episode didn’t seem like a farewell, which could be taken as a positive or a negative. Ian is a fan-favorite, with good reason, as a stand out representative of the LGBTQ community.

Longtime fans of this show might be interested to know that Steve/Jimmy (Justin Chatwin) is in the cast for Fiona’s last two episodes. What will this mean? This is a longtime fan-fantasy, and it might just mean that creators John Wells and Paul Abbott are willing to satisfy.

“Face it, You’re Gorgeous.”: An Improvement, But Is It Worthy Of Ian?

After nine seasons, we say goodbye to one of the Gallaghers. This wasn’t a sob-fest, nor an over the top charade, instead, it was right in the middle. Maybe Cameron Monaghan and his tender and intelligent work on the series means he deserves more. Either way, this was a large step up, and it first time this season, it fully felt like… Shameless had arrived.

What did you think? Do you agree? Let us know in the comments below!

Shameless airs Sundays on Showtime