Ever since I’ve gotten to college, I’ve made an effort to cut down on the amount of time that I spend watching Netflix so I can get out there and enjoy the city of Boston while I’m here. However, this past semester, after a bunch of recommendations and hearing people rave about the show, I decided to watch "Shameless."
Now let me preface this by saying that "Shameless" is not the typical TV show I would usually choose to watch. It seemed to be all about familial drama— an alcoholic father and a bipolar mother are completely absent in the lives of their six children. The oldest, Fiona, basically raises her siblings in a way a parent would. She gives everything up for them, while her biological parents float in and out of the house whenever it is convenient for them.
The issues that take place in the show are heavy— drugs, alcohol, mental illnesses, poverty, crime, etc. This is why I was hesitant when beginning to watch the show. I feel like I usually like my entertainment to be somewhat positive. Maybe that’s me being immature, but when I’m watching TV, I want to escape from the realities of my world— not be thrown into more.
What has pleasantly surprised me when it comes to "Shameless" is the amount of underlying positivity in every episode. Despite the endless troubles that these children seem to face, they give nothing but love to each other. Even in the worst times, they will put down everything to help each other out. A lot of TV shows today show love through relationships, but "Shameless" does it in a different way. Most families aren’t perfect, but they have each other’s backs.
