*The following may contain spoilers, please be advised*
On Sunday night, the season premiere and final season of Shameless was on Showtime. As a big fan of this show, I had much anticipation to see the first episode. A few hours before watching, I read an article about how the writers of the show had to totally switch gears and rewrite the first few episodes as a way to connect more with the unprecedented times we are all living in with the coronavirus. It had mentioned it would hit upon important societal matters of today such as the controversy regarding the police, the closing of many small businesses, and mask wearing. The writers of the show wanted to provide viewers with something they could better connect with. Also, by writing in mask wearing, hand sanitizer, and other essential items of our time the whole cast and crew could more easily comply with coronavirus filming procedures while on set.
The opening of the episode began with Frank Gallagher walking down the streets of Chicago with his bandana “mask” off of his mouth while all others around him were wearing them properly. As he walks down the street, he talks to the camera about the historical events of Chicago and how at every one, Gallagher was there. In my opinion, I found this to be a very comedic and perfect opening for the show's season 11 plot line. In the background you see very common aspects of our life in the year 2020, such as Black Lives Matter murals and the closing of many businesses. As the show continues on, it continues to hit upon very familiar topics of the time regarding the pandemic, family gatherings, legalizing marijuana, and the police force. For instance, Tammy briefly mentions that she has had the virus herself and she “doesn’t wanna get it again” and Kevin and Veronica are secretly running the Alibi even though the mayor shut down all bars. In one part, Debbie explains to her daughter not to hug her friends at school, while Lip talks about how he has been cut down on hours at work. The writers seamlessly wrote the perfect story so far to better engage viewers and the cast and crew did a wonderful job creating the first episode.
Within the 50-minute time period, I was both amused and engaged at how well the cast and crew handled such hard topics of our time. Not only did they incorporate everything into the plot line of the first episode so well, but the comedy was still right there in plain sight and it still felt like an episode of Shameless. Needless to say, if you are already a fan of the show, you are going to absolutely love the season 11 premiere and if you aren’t watching it already, I highly recommend adding Shameless to the list of shows to watch in quarantine. If you want something to smile about, be sure to check out how the Gallaghers are adjusting to life in a pandemic and I can promise you that you won’t be let down.
Written By: Emma Williams