MeinMMO author Dariusz Müller is a big fan of series and has seen quite a bit on various streaming services. His favorites include shows like Supernatural, Lucifer, Vikings, and Suits. Recently, a new series joined his favorites: Shameless
Shameless is a U.S. television series that tells the story of the Gallagher family. At the center is the alcoholic father Frank, who lives with six children in a small single-family home in the South Side of Chicago under impoverished conditions.
Throughout the series, each character experiences personal crises and pushes their limits. Each family member has their own burdens, ranging from reckless alcohol and drug use to ongoing relationship issues, addiction, irresponsible actions, petty crime, and physical violence against others.
The dramas experienced regularly escalate to the point that a catastrophe is bound to occur sooner or later. The family members then respond to these catastrophes in their own chaotic way and resolve them the Gallagher way.
The portrayed problems and catastrophes are often exaggerated, yet they reflect life in a social hotspot at their core. Many events are quite conceivable, while the sometimes extreme situations are primarily reduced to one family or one person – Frank Gallagher.
Characters Between Genius and Madness
Shameless has a total of 134 episodes across 11 seasons. In the series, filmed since 2021, we mainly see how the children of the family develop and grow. And this is not only related to the character of the different roles – most actors remain true to their roles throughout the series. Thus, actors we meet in Episode 1 as 10-11-year-old children are grown up by the end of the series.
Each Gallagher child brings their own strengths and character deficiencies. Both are often due to their dysfunctional parents. The particular father Frank, who regularly lets his children down and sometimes vanishes without a trace after his daily pub tours, embodies a mix of genius and madness.
In one moment he has a surprisingly clever plan to somehow get money, and in the next, he wakes up in a foreign country. Frank Gallagher’s portrayal is always so exaggerated that I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Even after a really bad situation at the end of a dramatic development, a scene follows that is so absurd that I had to laugh.
I regularly caught myself realizing that Shameless knows hardly any boundaries. I kept thinking, “Wow, I didn’t think they would show it like that.” Nevertheless, the series is not just funny. The more the family members grow, the more one hopes they can get their lives together. The more one hopes they can manage the current situation and fight their way out of a low point.
Rarely Have I Been So Entertained
In the end, I found Shameless really great. I watched the 11 seasons in just under six weeks and enjoyed every second of it. There are characters that you like or dislike and stories that captivate you.
With the tendency towards drama and the connection to the family members, Shameless remains exciting, while the curiosity of certain actions always lightens the mood. Drama and comedy not only alternate constantly but go hand in hand and managed to entertain me as well as hardly any series has been able to in recent years.
For my part, there is a clear recommendation for series fans.
