"Shameless": Mickey Finds His Purpose ... and a Three-way

Things may have seemed like they were going to get a lot less gay in Chatsworth Estate now that Ian has left to try to figure out if he wants something different out of life. But fear not as Mickey steps up to the plate and brings the gay.

But before I get to that, one observation about Ian's new venture: as Carl puts it, Ian's off helping needy children. Um, not to nitpick, but I suspect most people would describe what he's doing as "attending a foam party." Or maybe that's a version of a carwash for kids who can't afford baths of their own?

I'm starting to worry if Ian comes back to Chatsworth if this is what he's up to.

Back to Mickey: over the years, the poor guy has really struggled to find an area where he does well, but whenever his father gives him a job to do, things usually go quite badly. There’s the time he was sent to kidnap a priest and came home with the priest’s rentboy; the time he lost the explosives that were on loan from another family; or the time he started a limo service but picked a pink — excuse me, fuchsia — car that people weren't interested in renting. 

But our Mickey is no quitter!

Mickey’s now got the idea that maybe he’ll find something he’s good at by going to college and taking a course on film. He’s rightfully sheepish in breaking the news to his parents and and at first it looks as if he's going to come out to them as he's carrying on about their not rejecting him or kicking him out for revealing his secret. But, no, Mickey's still far too closeted for that. 

After much hemming and hawing, he finally reveals his secret (and it's rather funny satire that he has to "come out" about wanting an education). Paddy angrily demands to know what this means for the family business and I’m curious about why Paddy would ask that question. After all, it’s not like business would suffer without Mickey. Considering all his screw-ups, I’d expect things to go better without him around, actually. 

That being said, we've seen that the family business is more about keeping everyone together and toeing the line while maintaining Paddy as the boss rather than making a fortune. So I have to wonder if Paddy isn'tmore concerned about the possibility of Mickey becoming independent of the family and/or finding a path that leaves him less of an obedient son. After all, they've already gone through that with Jamie.

“To think we fought our whole lives to bring you up right,” Paddy yells at his wayward son. "To think you’d turn your back on it by turning to education!”

Nice try, Paddy, now I'm pretty sure it's a matter of maintaining control over your son. 

Unfortunately, it doesn’t take long for Mickey’s enthusiasm for study to wane. Indeed, all it takes is his first homework assignment which seems to be more of a mental strain than Mickey was prepared for. It doesn’t help, either, that along with his homework, he’s found an erotic story that leaves him thinking about sex more than film.