SHAMELESS Growing Up

Article first published as Blu-ray Review: 'Shameless - The Complete Seventh Season' on Blogcritics.

Love it or hate it, Showtime’s Shameless has been around for quite awhile at this point. The dramedy about a lower class family dealing with social, moral, and drug issues while scraping by on the South Side of Chicago recently released The Complete Seventh Season on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital. It’s an aging program that has grown along with its characters. As much as these twelve episodes continue the story, they also mark a new chapter in the life of the Gallaghers. The result is very satisfying.

Growing Up

Most of the characters are changing in The Complete Seventh Season. Fiona (Emmy Rossum) finally begins putting herself first, above family and men. To do this, she tries managing and running a few businesses. Lip (Jeremy Allen White), worried about turning into his father, struggles with sobriety. Ian (Cameron Monaghan) has things together as he works as an EMT and expands his sexual orientation. Debbie (Emma Kenney) finds out what it takes to be a mother to her infant. Carl (Ethan Cutkosky) ponders what it means to be a man. Frank (William H. Macy) realizes he hasn’t been the father he should be, and wants to do better, though he doesn’t quite know how to do it.

All of that might sound rather noble and wholesome, but those are two words that often don’t describe the Gallaghers. As they go along the journeys listed above, each at least consider illegal actions, many committing crimes. Past loves and bad relationships threaten to derail progress. Best friends Kev (Steve Howey) and V (Shanola Hampton) get into a thrupple with their employee, Svetlana (Isidora Goreshter). So there is still plenty of the mess fans are used to seeing from the clan and those around them.

Family

A theme this year is family. V and Kev redefine theirs, and aren’t sure they like it. Fiona, who has always been the rock, largely abandons hers in the pursuit of economic success. Debbie seeks to build a new family to help raise her child. When the kids he created reject him, Frank looks elsewhere to find the love he seeks. Carl leaves his home to improve himself.

Yet, while things get crazy, the Gallaghers have never seemed stronger. More of them are adults now, and so contribute financially and emotionally. They take care of one another in more meaningful ways, and their conflicts matter more. The show keeps the same spirit it has always had, but grows along with the cast. It’s a very satisfying run.

Extras

Of course, Shameless would not be Shameless without some great guest stars shaking things up. Zack Pearlman (Dragons: Race to the Edge), Ruby Modine (Central Park), and Elliot Fletcher (The Fosters) join the show as new love interests for various characters. June Squibb (Nebraska) and Sharon Lawrence (NYPD Blue) enter to interact with Fiona. Mickey (Noel Fisher) returns with typical craziness, and matriarch Monica (Chloe Webb) vastly changes things when she blows back into town late in the year.

The release also contains bonus material. One very good featurette centers on Ethan and Emma, two of the lead performers, and how they have grown up on set. Other cast members, crew, and the actors’ parents contribute their thoughts, and it’s a fascinating insight. A far less interesting short concerns the political leanings of Frank Gallagher. There are also deleted scenes for just about every episode in the set. It’s not a huge amount of extras, but the first featurette is great, and some of the deleted scenes are worthwhile, so it works.

Conclusion

Shameless is not getting old. I mean, yes, it’s been on for awhile. But it’s just as entertaining as ever, and if anything, more thought-provoking. If this is the kind of good stuff in The Complete Seventh Season, I look forward very much to year eight.

Shameless – The Complete Seventh Season is on sale now.

Presenting THE JACK AND TRIUMPH SHOW

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"New" GLEE Not Same as "Old"

Article first published as TV Review: 'Glee' - 'Old Dog, New Tricks' on Blogcritics.

FOX’s Glee feels different this week in “Old Dog, New Tricks.” It’s almost like a two-dimensional representation of what the series is, taking a snapshot of each character, but missing the deeper essence. It’s hard to pinpoint specific examples for this opinion, it’s more an overall feeling that comes about when watching it. This is likely due to series star Chris Colfer writing his first episode, not quite experienced and polished enough to really capture the show yet. But it’s hard to find fault in the series allowing one of its family to give this a shot, and in the brave way Colfer makes the effort.

Perhaps it’s easier to rip apart the unseen writers than it is to criticize the work of someone who has graced our screens week after week, and whom I am a fan of, but in the spirit of writing a legitimate review, it’s necessary to pick “Old Dog, New Tricks” apart a little. The story is trite and simplistic, predictable from the start. The resolution is equally easy to see coming, and while the overall effort isn’t bad, it’s also not one of the strongest, a decently enjoyable story that is out of place in the bigger picture. It just doesn’t fit the current state of Glee.

One thread finds Kurt (Colfer) searching for some meaning, feeling like he’s been left behind by his friends when he is snubbed for a benefit concert Rachel (Lea Michele) is throwing. He finds this purpose in a retirement home where a number of the residents are putting on a production of Peter Pan, a choice made for its young spirit. When their Pan drops dead, Maggie (Academy Award nominee June Squibb, Nebraska), who is Wendy, asks Colfer to fill the role. Her co-stars (including Star Wars‘ Billy Dee Williams and The Carol Burnett Show‘s Tim Conway, both supremely wasted in this hour) make Kurt audition, but having hearing his terrific “Memory,” in which Maggie joins in, Kurt gets the part.

As if making a bunch of old people smile isn’t enough, halfway through the episode Kurt also decides to try to repair the relationship between Maggie and her estranged daughter, Clara (Melinda McGraw, Men of a Certain Age). Clara is loathe to listen to Kurt’s pleading until the lad trots out the dead mom card, and then she softens and shows up. It’s a sappy, emotionally manipulative development that happens way too fast to feel authentic, but it’s also the ending that viewers would be supremely disappointed if it didn’t occur.

Rushing things is actually a recurrent issue in “Old Dog, New Tricks.” Rachel is in full-diva mode, dismissive of Kurt, until she suddenly isn’t, with only a tiny catalyst and no screen time spent agonizing over her misbehavior. Sam. (Chord Overstreet) and Mercedes (Amber Riley) fight over a dog, and what will happen quickly shifts back and forth. While I don’t think the plot justifies a second half, Glee could use another fifteen minutes to really make this story work. Either that, or cut one of the subplots to make room for the others.

In the end, Kurt, Maggie, and the rest show us their huge opening number, “Lucky Star,” which relies too heavily on Kurt, since this is more their show than his. This transitions into the retirees going to Rachel’s benefit and doing a full-cast “Take Me Home Tonight.” Both songs are good enough, but not particularly memorable, which fits this episode. I will say the best part of the latter is there is a Jayma Mays look-alike front and center at the beginning, making me miss Emma a bit.

Moving over to Rachel’s intersecting story, the Broadway story wants to work on her tarnished image after missing a performance, especially now that the tabloids have dug up the truth. A drastically different looking Santana (Naya Rivera with plastic surgery?) proves to be a surprisingly adept PR agent, possibly setting the stage for a new career in the final season, and gets Rachel involved in a dog charity. This gives us “I Melt With You,” a fluffy, weirdly staged performance, though like those songs in the rest of the episode, it isn’t bad. Of course, this all only works if Rachel can start acting real, not just throwing up a facade, and this take awhile to sink in for Rachel, just in time to be there for her friend Kurt.

While fixing an image problem is understandable, how does Rachel find time to start a charity? I understand she has dropped out of school, but she is overloaded even before that. Glee needs to start being a little more realistic in budgeting its characters’ time. This goes ditto for Kurt, who still has his education, his internship, and his relationship to worry about. Are days in New York thirty hours long? At least Colfer matches the rest of the installments in this element.

Lastly, Sam wants to adopt a dog, which Mercedes doesn’t think he’s ready for. Sam and Artie (Kevin McHale) train the pooch anyway, to “Werewolves of London,” of all things, despite it being a small dog. Yet, while Mercedes is moved by Sam’s efforts, and does listen to Sam when he reminds us he once took care of his family, a fact forgotten, she still makes him give up the pet due to their busy schedules. I like the development this couple gets, but the canine seems superfluous to the larger story of Mercedes not taking Sam as a joke any longer, which she is guilty of.

The entire hour of Glee feels like it’s a story being told by Kurt. Colfer’s essence is present in every scene. On one hand, that’s kind of cool because it shows a distinctive voice of a talented individual. On the other, that means the story just isn’t true to the other characters, a problem more obvious in Rachel’s part more than Sam and Mercedes’. Colfer has one character down (his own), but struggles to uncover what makes Glee, Glee. I’d actually really like it if he tried again next season because he likely learned a lot from this experience, and given a chance to develop his skills, he would probably get it down the line. But for now, “Old Dog, New Tricks” just isn’t quite up to snuff.

Glee‘s season finale airs next Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on FOX.