"Shameless" 2.02 Recap: "Ready to Go Again, Firecrotch?"

Love was in the air this week on Shameless, with all of the elder Gallaghers forging ahead on romantic pursuits and the younger ones either suffering from the fallout or doing their best to ignore the underage compulsive masturbator in the room. More on that later.

Joan Cusack as Sheila Jackson

We kick things off by meeting newly-empowered Sheila (Joan Cusack) on her daily stroll - not only have her walks clearly done some good for her in terms of physical fitness (like many of the castmembers, Cusack is showing off some serious "Second Season Lift"), but her New-Agey interpretive dance at the corner demonstrates that the walks are doing wonders for her mental state, as well.

That is, until she spots an eggplant the size of that thing from the last scene of Requiem for a Dream at a vegetable stand and gets that familiar sparkle in her eye:

Run, Frank!

Sure enough, when she returns home with the edible intruder in hand, Frank (William H. Macy) nearly jumps onto the roof, barking, "Not with all the King's Vaseline!" Sheila tries to assure him that this is all a part of her rehabilitation, but Frank's service entrance clearly is in need of some rehab of its own. (By the way, I believe "The King's Vaseline" was the name of an all-anal porn parody of The King's Speech starring Colin Girth and Helena Bonemycornhole.)

Sure enough, Frank goes straight to the Alibi Room, where he tells Kevin (Steve Howey), "It's over." The regulars ask him why he doesn't just live at his own house with his own family, but Frank points out that he doesn't like them. Well! Takes care of that, then. One of the barmaids points out that she had to give herself crabs to get Frank to move out of her place, which gets me wondering just how one gives oneself crabs just long enough to need a shot of whatever Frank's having.

A Meals on Wheels guy stops in for a drink, remarking that he has one more delivery, to a woman known locally as "Butterface" (she's got a great body, butterface....). Frank is dismissive at first, remarking that Butterface's chronic indigestion must result from her "steady diet of bourbon and dick", but when he hears mention of a heart condition and a pension, he steals the keys to the Meals on Wheels van in order to check things out.

Emma Kenney as Debs

Back at home, Debbie (Emma Kenney), Carl (Ethan Cutosky) and Ethel (Madison Davenport) are enjoying popsicles and trying to stop wee Liam from sticking his hand down the front of his diaper ("Liam, hands off your package or no treat!"). Actually, Carl is more just lending moral support as he plays with a homemade blowtorch. Kids! Fiona (Emmy Rossum) breezes through and Debbie tells her that she has to move budding pervert Liam out of her room, suggesting that they take over Frank's empty bedroom.