#Shameless Season 11 Episode 8 Review: Cancelled

Saying goodbye to the Gallaghers is getting easier by the episode.

Shameless Season 11 Episode 8 was another woeful installment filled with bizarre storytelling, needless twists, and unfunny jokes.

We’ll start with Terry dying at the hands of a nun. If you watch Shameless online, you know he’s a hate-spewing drunk, but did we really need to see him after being suffocated?

He was truly horrible, but the death scene was too ridiculous to believe, and I’m not excited about how this development will shape Mickey’s final arc.

Despite his father trashing him every day of his life, Mickey has been surprisingly open about wanting him to have the best care.

That’s why he’s going to meltdown in the coming episodes as he reacts to the surprising nature of the death, and I bet it will drive another wedge between him and Ian.

Ian didn’t give a crap about Terry, and rightfully so. But Mickey is always going to remember that Ian brought the nun into the household, and that’s going to cause a whole host of problems in their marriage.

Then again, now that Frank needs 24/7 care, there will probably be divided feelings about how to care for someone who never cared for his kids.

Ian has never had a close bond with Frank, and I’m guessing he will be the one to refuse flat out to care for his father, which is consistent with the character.

The unfortunate part of this entire storyline is that it coincides with the family starting to realize there are greater things in life than the South Side.

My best guess is that the house will be fixed up, sold, and divided among the family, with some of it being used to put Frank into a treatment facility to live out the rest of his days.

Lip and Tami kidnapping Brad, because he was going to crack under the pressure of the interrogation was absurd.

The development for Tami has been so inconsistent, but I’m not buying her saying they need to deal with him.

It was obvious what she meant, but she failed to realize that Brad’s her brother-in-law and that she would be taking her sister’s husband and baby daddy away from him.

It was quite the heel turn for the character and pretty unforgivable in the grand scheme of things. More concerning is that Lip is not going to want Brad to go down for the crime.

There’s bound to be some ridiculous explanation that will get all of them off the hook, but for now, all we can do is hope it will be more believable than some of the recent events.

Carl miraculously managing to break protocol and tell Lip the police were headed to his house with a warrant was simply unbelievable.

Then again, Carl’s whole storyline was unbelievable. Working in vice should have been a good way to show him a different side of the law, but instead, it was even more stupidity.

Cruising around the streets in a Ferrari is not how that job works. The weed dispensary storyline was hindered by the terrible way everything surrounding it was set up.

It could have been believable if the style was scaled back to give it actual substance.

Kev going out of his way to be sketchy while he set up the impromptu wedding to V came out of the left field, and it would have probably been more exciting had this not been kept from the audience until the last-minute reveal.

It was a nice way to help V out of her funk, but it wasn’t handled well at all like everything else.

As we approach the final four episodes of the series, it’s never been clearer that there are no storylines left. The show runs on fumes, and the lack of payoff for any of the plots from earlier in the season is causing problems.

The show needs a kick in the right direction, and Frank’s diagnosis should have been the catalyst for that.

Unfortunately, nothing notable is happening. Terry wasn’t even a character who should have been a part of the final season, so his death is pretty much voided.

I hope that the final few episodes manage to tie the series together. At least we know we won’t end without answers because we already know everything there is to know about these characters.

Most of them are terrible, and the ones worth watching the show for seem to be getting the worst of the storylines.

It would also be nice to, you know, have some characters return. Veronica’s mother being a bigger presence is nice, and all, but other characters need to return before the final curtain call.

I know it’s tough during COVID-19, but even a mention or a Zoom call with one of the characters who had a big presence before would suffice at this stage.

What are your thoughts on Terry’s death? Did you care? Are you impressed with the way Lip and Tami turning to a life of crime has changed them?

Sound off in the comments below.

Catch new episodes of Shameless on Sundays at 9 p.m. only on Showtime.

Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.