There’s not much more to say beyond the title of this post, but considering how much of my life I’ve given to slowly binging this series, I felt like I had to write something about it.
But god damn, I think Jeremy Allen White said it best, that shows really shouldn’t be meant to go as long as Shameless did. I’m not saying that I didn’t enjoy the show, I really did like it from start to finish, and as far as the older seasons go, I think it was cleverly done so that it didn’t age poorly, but there were multiple times throughout binging it, I’d stop and look at the list of seasons and how many episodes there was per season, and think, fuck, I still got so much to watch.
Because I’m the type that doesn’t like to start multiple shows and bounce around, I like to give all of my focus to one show at a time, and continue as long as it can hold my interest, and in the case of Shameless, despite the fact that it’s 11 seasons long, it accomplished in being entertaining enough throughout the series to keep soldering through.
Primarily due to the strength of the characters, namely Fiona and Lip Gallagher, whom at varying points throughout the series, I felt them so hard at times, despite the fact that I don’t have either of their addiction issues. But it’s the whole notion that throughout the series, the two of them especially, took on the role of being the patriarch of the family, shouldering heavy responsibilities and putting the family first, I felt it at a very personal level, and it makes it easy to relate and root for the characters as the series chugs along, and that personal connection to characters is what makes binging the series so easy to do.
But at the same time, I’m really relieved that I’m done with the series. I think I will have great reluctance again in the future the next time a series that’s more than like, five seasons, comes up on my radar, because it’s a tremendous commitment to decide to delve into a lengthy series, and considering the general dearth of available time I already have in my life, I want to make sure that the things I do, do when I have it, like binging television shows, are worth it to me.
Fare thee well, Shameless and the Gallagher clan, it was an entertaining ride from beginning to end, but I’m ready as fuck, to move onto some other things now.
