As Ian regains his senses, he's upset to find himself in the psych ward. Sammi is forced to take more drastic measures to teach Frank a valuable lesson. Fiona must make tough decisions regarding her romantic future with Jimmy or Gus. Lip learns he is short on his tuition.
JimmySteveJack is a physical representative of Fiona's past. He was her romantic interest for the first three seasons and she was honestly and genuinely in love with him. He vanished without a word of goodbye and so much has happened in her life since. The Fiona of the past is no longer the Fiona of the present. She is trying to build himself up following the utter devastation she created for herself and her family last season. She's still making mistakes, but she does so in the hopes of creating a better life for herself. The return of JimmySteveJack was always going to be a bomb to her life during this season. It's so easy for her to fall back into old patterns with him. She may hate him and his guts but there is still a part of her that loves him.And yet, JimmySteveJack is not good for the person Fiona is trying to become. Her focus needs to be on her family and making sure that they are okay and he's proposing a trip to Dubai. Sure, it would massively change her life but at the cost of her identity as a Gallagher. The Gallaghers are a family who have each others' backs. That's a quality that JimmySteveJack has never really understood and thusly was never presented as the perfect guy for Fiona. He's simply a fun distraction for her to have. But now, she has so much to lose if she falls under his spell again. She wants to be honest about her mistakes to Gus and her family. She wants her marriage and her future to be different than the way she has been living her life. JimmySteveJack is an anchor that is her dragging her back down. And yet, he's also a person she needs to deal with in order to move on in life.
Fiona doesn't know if her marriage with Gus will be the perfect relationship for her. They were living in this bubble and now the reality check has appeared in the form of JimmySteveJack. She wants to be honest but she also tells Gus the truth for herself. All of this only hurts Gus. Neither one of them knows how to react in this situation. He thinks the admirable thing is to talk with JimmySteveJack and make sure this "unfinished business" gets finished. However, within 2 seconds of meeting JimmySteveJack, Gus needs to punch him to wipe that smug look off of his face. This has been an excellent season for wailing on JimmySteveJack. He deserves every single punch he gets. But letting out their physical anger on his face isn't the solution to this problem. He gets punched multiple times but he's still pursuing Fiona and a life with her. She needs to be the bigger person and recognize that he simply isn't healthy for her. At one point in time, JimmySteveJack was exciting to be with. He presented a sense of danger and mystery. That unknown quality is captivating to a young woman such as Fiona. But that uncertainty is also reckless and unhealthy for a lasting relationship. JimmySteveJack wants to build a life with Fiona, but it's almost all based on lies and fantasies. That isn't healthy for either one of them. I say bravo to Fiona for realizing that. A life with JimmySteveJack was never going to be serious. Right now, she has bigger problems to deal with and the illusion of happiness with him is just not a quality she needs in her life - right now or ever again.
However, JimmySteveJack needs to give her the opportunity to move on as well. There's always going to be that small part of her pining for him and the life he could give her. It's a form of wish fulfillment that she knows better than to believe it's real. But she also wants it to be real. She wants her life to be easier. This opportunity may be easier for her. It's just not for her. Her final speech with him is closure in their relationship. It's rough for both of them and she has no idea what the fallout will be with Gus. And yet, she's gets instant clarity that she made the right call when Angela pulls up in her car and reveals even more lies that JimmySteveJack was telling her. Fiona is isolated but empowered by episode's end. She is all alone yet again. But she's happy to know that she made the right decision. Now, her life has clarity on the possibility of getting better. She doesn't know what the future holds but she will be there for the people she loves when they need her.
And sometimes it feels really good knowing that people are around when you need them. Fiona and Mickey are trying to do that for Ian. However, he's upset that he's locked away in a psych ward for something he believes is just one big misunderstanding. He doesn't belong there. He needs to be with Mickey and Yevgeny. They need him and the people keeping him away from them are wrong. That's a twisted tragedy. Fiona and Mickey are helping Ian. They recognize the disease that he has and know that he's in the right place to finally get some help. But there's very little they can actually do besides visit him - and he's too sedated to fully understand what they are trying to do for him. He has a long road ahead of him. He has the emotional support of his family. However, he feels alone right now. He doesn't see himself as crazy. Mickey does see it though. He sees it and doesn't know how to handle it. So he ends up drunk and alone on the floor of his empty house. They love each other but there's this huge thing in between their relationship right now which is making both of them feel more alone than ever before.
Meanwhile, Sammi is becoming more and more crazy the deeper into this season we go. She has taken over the Gallagher house. On one hand, it's nice seeing someone taking care of Debbie, Carl and Liam while Fiona is either off dealing with Ian or enjoying the bubble of marriage. However, Sammi is creating one very destructive environment for these kids. She needs to know that the people around her need her in their lives. It too is a very isolating quality. She's just acting out in a way that forces the people around her to react. They are merely pretending to have happiness and a relationship with her. They all recognize that she's crazy. She points a gun and eventually shoots Frank because he continues to walk around with no sense of consequences or responsibility. She has to torture a confession of love out of him. He doesn't actually mean it when he says it but she is so desperate to hear those words she doesn't care in what context they are being said. It's a hostile environment for the kids. After she takes him to the hospital, they all stand dumbfounded in the living room. This power clash is going to have collateral damage soon and it could potentially be devastating to this family.
Some more thoughts:
- "Tell Me You F--king Need Me" was written by Nancy M. Pimental and directed by William H. Macy.
- Vee moves out of her house and into the apartment above the Alibi. Her relationship with Kev is only getting more fractured. Both want to be together but there's still the issue of intimacy between them. And now, both are starting to look elsewhere for their sexual needs. Svetlana moves in with Kev and performs "wifely duties" while Vee starts sexting with her high school boyfriend.
- Debbie worries that she's being put in the friend zone with Derek. Fortunately though, she confronts him about it in front of the Gallagher house and he pulls her in for a kiss. This feels like an innocent relationship - and a much healthier one than Matty.
- Carl is pumped to be starting the sixth grade for the third time under the belief that he'll be the person in charge of the classroom and the school. He even gets Chuckie to act as his slave for a little bit. In a serious episode, this story brought some levity.
- Lip learns that his tuition is short because he never received the paperwork to re-apply for his grant. Now, he's $12,000 dollars short and has created bad credit for himself to try and pay it off. He loves his family but this is a devastating blow to his future. He'll have to find a way to pull the rest of the money together soon. Until then though, he makes sure something like this never happens again by going to get his own mail box.
- I'm totally fine with this being the last we ever see of SteveJimmyJack.
