#metatextual spoon

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

are you a big spoon or a little spoon?

The middle spoon, the mediocre spoon, the lukewarm spoon, the spoon cooked just right

[madhogthymaster]

Master Recs: Webcomics (Vol. 1)

I enjoy webcomics. I like being exposed to accessible art, to witness the evolution of artists and storytellers who bring their individual viewpoints to the table, expressing themselves through the medium of free comic books! I spend an inordinate amount of leisure time perusing the old sequential literature. As a result, I follow a ton of people that would give it to me. Now, I wish to recommend a few of these works from my constantly expanding list. I shall begin with a small taster of five, currently ongoing projects to wet your appetite. Let us go.

Preeny Has to Repeat 6th Grade by Jasmine Coté

Preeny is a brush-tailed kitty, fluffy both in appearance and personality, and she might just be the Chosen One to save the world from Darkness – as it is often the case. This comic vaunts a peculiar shtick: the setting is populated by adoptable furry OCs the artist has bought from DeviantArt kids, effectively creating a Kingdom Hearts style fictional universe for the Mid-2000's Sparkledog subculture. This works both as a unique selling point and as a clever metatextual conceit that informs the themes of the story, which is an earnest celebration of creativity, childhood and self-expression, untainted by the cynicism of "You Posted Cringe." It's funny, cute, sincere and it hits you right in the feelings.

HELLO FROM HALO HEAD by Batshaped

The author describes it as "An exploration of the multitudes a person experiences as a response to trauma. Also cartoon animal adventures. I promise it's mostly funny. it's a trauma comedy! a TRAUMEDY!!!!" Indeed, I would say it's an apt summary. The strip began life as a series of Animal Crossing fan comics which would eventually spin into a darkly humorous, twisted yet oddly wholesome deconstruction of kinks and emotional repression. Soon enough, it was rebooted and morphed into the understated, original masterpiece that it is today. Every page oozes with ethereal colours, a delicate yet decisive trait and subtle foreshadowing as a yet unclear narrative starts taking shape behind the surface of "cartoon animal adventures." A rewarding read for those who enjoy to obsess over every detail and pick apart allegories. It's the Thinking Man's TRAUMEDY, if you will.

Haus of Decline: Gay Comics by Haus of Decline

Sometimes, all you need to create a widely appealing classic is a good set-up, a punchline and impeccable comedic timing, all of which encapsulated into the confines of a traditional 4-panel strip. Actually, now that I have typed it, that is one of the most difficult crafts to master. Haus of Decline is a ubiquitous work that has managed to achieve the coveted "Meme Status", swimming in the immediate periphery of your Internet experience. You might be aware of it thanks to that one Steven Universe joke that stands tall as the most succinct and accurate parody of that show. As of right now, I am yet to encounter a single strip that isn't a comedic slam dunk or at least chuckle worthy. If you enjoy a spoonful of irreverent, queer, scatological, sometimes personal humour in your breakfast bowl than this is the cereal box for you!

Molly's Future Mishaps by Peyton Partyhorn

It's the year 2000, the Earth has blown up. Right before that, humans managed to send a rocket full of sea slugs to Europa, one of Jupiter's satellites. It is now the year 3000 on Europa. Molly the slug meets Jo, a sea bunny time traveller from the year 4000. After a soda-related debacle, they both wind up at the end of Time itself. The titular mishaps ensue. Molly's Future Mishaps presents an overly complex amalgamation of premises, each more outlandish than the last, that lays the foundation for what is, in essence, a straightforward character-driven piece. It explores a group of people attempting to finagle their way across Life, their feelings, anxieties, societal pressure, self-worth, many "What If's" and "What Could Have Been's", with timey wimey shenanigans serving as the backdrop for their reasonably scoped adventures. Their personal and interpersonal journeys keep the bizarre, somewhat nonsensical nature of the Universe grounded in a familiar space - in a manner not too dissimilar to that of a Douglas Adams' novel. In truth, the initial run of the comic mostly focuses on comedic high jinks, which tend to be hit or miss, but the writing improves dramatically when it starts exploring the characters' psychology and emotional hang ups. For me, personally, the turning point was the (inevitable) Time Loop arc, which I enjoyed for reasons that will become obvious if you know about my feelings for In Stars and Time. In short: this comic has a high-stakes Absurdist/Existential Sci-Fi premise that belies a refreshingly "Down-to-Europa" story about a bunch of 20-something cartoon slugs. It's relatable!

Dolmistaska by AngusBurgers

In many ways, this one defies description. You should just go read it. Seriously, go read it! It's great! Exceptionally well-drawn too! It looks like an underground Punk comic from thirty years ago. It lures you in with the understated intrigue of its unclear premise, its oppressing atmosphere, environmental storytelling, savvy use of lighting and shading, before dropping everything on you all at once. The protagonist is a non-binary cat person with gremlin energy and a knack for vehicle-related heists. Read it. You'll thank me later.

---

That would be all for now. There might be more webcomic recommendations in the future, whenever inspiration shall strike - or I get in a writing mood. Thanks for reading... and happy further reading!

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[VOLUME 2] [VOLUME 3]

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[notmuchtoconceal]

i liked shattered memories on the wii a lot when it came out.

the other western silent games didn't look interesting, cause they seemed to be trying to fill in lore details to appease a rational, linear sensibility, and i feel the intrigues upon intrigues and deep immersion in the esoteric which marks the storytelling of the original four is far more interesting for the ways it forces you to study and think for yourself.

i never liked things that spoon-fed me easy answers, like it was a cute lil bedtime story to make me stop asking questions and go to sleep.

the other western silent hill games looked like they only had a superficial understanding of what silent hill was about, y'know -- rust, grime, busty nurse monsters, adversarial platonic solids, and akira yamaoka oscillating between bouncy seductive vocal rock tracks and hard dissonant industrial soundscapes of infinitely unfurling pain.

shattered memories came out in a time before the reboot cycle had fully cemented itself as the norm and the phrase "reimagining" did not yet have to be sectioned off by the latent treachery of a scary airquote.

think at the time i still predominately assessed the worth of a story by how well it was fully explicable to the conscious.

i'm not sure why i arbitrarily decided this is what made for a good story. think young men just know they need to set standards for themselves to trick themselves into upholding their own values, but then wise young men become unwise by lacking understanding of their own motives and thinking their games need to extend to other people.

since that's how i felt about stories, and silent hill's story was about capturing the emotional experience of being a traumatized girl with a split psyche extensively gaslit and tortured by her overbearing witchcraft-practicing religious mother -- but like... you're experiencing it from her adopted dad's perspective who is a rational writer who very heartfeltly and passionately wanders around in a fog of obscurity being confused and lied-to and strung along ... it was too deep, bro.

there is a narrative here, and because it is fundamentally about the occult, you cannot engage with its mechanics directly, and so there are layers and layers of subjective emotional entanglement piled on-top, and to parse the structure you must parse the character, for the whole will only be revealed in the simultaneous mastery of its component parts.

so, at the time, the idea of telling a different story using the original silent hill's setting and characters, but with a different gameplay style and aesthetic ... something more in-keeping with the rational, conscious, therapeutic. that seemed more interesting to begin with, for it would seem to almost promise something more original, and ultimately it does.

truth is, i don't care what -- if any -- relation shattered memories might have to the original. metatextually, it makes perfect sense. cheryl is a woman now on her third life, her father is dead.

throw her in another backwards world. "the real world".

why is her therapist the kauffman character? why is the sleezy doc who got alessa's nurse hooked on dope now her shrink? why is he browbeating her so hard to listen to him at the end? throwing his drink and insisting she listen, insisting her mother isn't a monster?

is this capturing something of how cheryl's past medical experiences were all marked by manipulation and deceit to keep her shackled to her abuser? is this another man in another time who only shares a name earnestly pleading with a self-destructive girl to come out of her cocoon?

if the two share no relation whatsoever, what is implied, and what do we suggest, by the incidental feature of them sharing a name and face? we read forward into this, but should we also read this backward?

how can we not, when it posits itself as an "official" entry?

You know for yourself the world of a narrative is an imprinting of the mind of its maker. If there's a reality beyond the template which pressed it, those are secrets which inform what has been made and are mere tendrils of probability. When you are in the world of the narrative, you are bringing things to it, making it more real to you as you imprint on it.

What a corporation says doesn't mean anything.

It'll effect things like house style, how they regularize flavor text, what details they prioritize going forward -- until they find something better.

Why would a current property holder know more than the original maker? Why do you think it makes sense to normalize living in an alternate world where the foundational work of inspiration is now merely pseudo-canonical. To whom are you pledging your loyalty?

Does it please you to think of the status-quo as some splendid garden?

A decapitation there, an uprooting here.

We're all invested in the fun little violence of keeping things the same.

Sit there and think about how you can do violence ~

simply by choosing to do nothing at all!

[blueiight]

claudia for the character meme

First impression

i really found her arc to be one of the most compelling + my favorite in the original chronicles. the girl forever preserved in both lestat and louis's memory as a child, as a beloved, as something that she never wanted to be, her monstrosity denied by such old immortals who needed her to be a symbol for their divorce. ironically the person whod be her #1 homie in monsterdom ended taking her out tho. show wise my ears were bleeding at bailey's foghorn leghorn accent but her acting made up for 70% of my ear pain.

Impression now

my impression of her largely remains the same tho im waiting eagerly to see how her relationship with louis will be completed in its depiction show wise

Favorite moment

The father of lies.. the fool of fathers... what did making love feel like? I hate and love you for being so beautiful [and aged. and everything ill never be]. show wise its her getting drunk, crashing out. who's my lestat? who's my louis? her date with charlie when shes scraping the corners of the spoon bc the ice cream tastes like soap and shit to a vampire. writing lestat's words in his own blood... magnus could be a sous chef in switzaland for all we know [so terrible and so so amazing at it.]

Idea for a story

i actually have a really fluffy AU in mind a sort of natsume book of friends AU but its syncretic spirituality + not ayakashi/yokai instead. claudia-centric prompts r a dearth in no small part bc so much of her character in universe and metatextually is wrapped around how lestat and louis perceive her.

Unpopular opinion

I dont know why everytime i speak about her people gleefully misread my words but its weird

Favorite relationship

her weird dads, brothers, the maker and her brother in the blood, the two guys down on rue royale who got a weird kid, and others tbd.

Favorite headcanon

she'd love fledgling by octavia butler thats her ideal mode of a relationship. mutually dependent parasites living under eachother

[hell-heron]

It's interesting that to be made to work this apparently splits one event of Lavinia's life into two events of Theon's life (hostage-taking c. 289, Ramsay 299-300) but actually what I think is happening is Lavinia's rape = Theon's hostage-taking and Lavinia's mutilation = Theon's... Also mutilation but everything else.

Which makes sense actually because Lavinia's rape is treated intertextually/metatextually in such a weird way in which basically her mutilation briefly allows her to escape the narrative of beautiful victim needing to virtuously die. It's said for her but not by her that chastity was dearer to her than hands and tongue. Lavinia who's been mutilated is embraced, spoon-fed, Titus expresses a desire to learn to speak to her in gestures etc but once she's officially Lavinia-who's-been-raped she needs to virtuously and beautifully die. Titus sees himself in her, chooses her for his kindred-spirit, the weeping welkin to his sea, his partner in revenge until she's confirmed-raped and then she becomes the sacrifice. Except actually this last sentence might be false because the technically terrible writing of this play makes it so its kind of ambiguous when Titus finds out about the rape, makes it ambiguous whether this process is actually happening or whether he's playacting it for the benefit of his enemies because he's obviously taking refuge in classical models of what a vengeance is by that time, and he needs an excuse to end his daughter's suffering as he's projecting his suicidality on her...

None of this actually has a lot of mirroring/relevance to Theon (who does not particularly have this dycotomy in the text as his possible rape is very much mixed in the rest of the mutilation-event and not made a special thing in the text, though it is in the fandom) I just think about what happens when you write a terrible play about raw and beautiful concepts a lot

So as I attempt to express in this webweaving that sadly does not really work bc these quotes are so rooted in their context: Theon 's Archetype of Suffering being Lavinia from Titus Andronicus

Characterised by cruel humor, specifically at some point cruelly mocks someone who will later enable their son to do unspeakable things to them

Collateral sacrifice in their father's revenge, an ill-advised plan that can't succeed but only be "a device of further misery" and cause external observers to wonder 'christ, what is this guy doing'. This revenge, however is also to some extent conceived on their behalf, they are arguably the person most cruelly hurt by the original tragedy that the revenge is sought for, and it would be very possible for them to want to be part of it. Still nobody ever asked if they were willing to die for it (because they have been labeled as being already dead and in need of avenging, not saving).

"Map of woe", extremely drawn out iconic picture of extreme mutilation and suffering of every kind, pitied/disgusting, everyone vocally wishes they could just die, it's assumed only physical impossibility of killing themselves is what stops them from dying. Nobody ever asked if it's what they want.

Their "stronger" sibling meeting them after their mutilation can't stand to look at them.

Staking their salvation on the hope that an enemy's son will choose to not be their parent's child enough to take pity of them, that this one special person will be different. Are extremely disappointed in that.

[dragynkeep]

honestly why did RT feel the need to whitewash the SEW??? to connect her to ruby and summer?? boooring. we've already seen other SEWs not connected to the roses (maria, the hound) so trying to imply that "ooooh ruby is special because she's a descendant of this very ancient SEW" feels like they're trying to make her more special than she actually is. and like, it's not because they can't animate textured hair in their art style, just look at the hunter's children. like, there was absolutely no reason for them to whitewash her?? actually, there SHOULDN'T be ANY reason for a character to be whitewashed EVER, but this one is lacking in even a reason that racists in the fandom can exploit. i'm so confused

it's very confusing because like you said, we've had silver eyed warriors not connected to ruby / summer & they do have the ability to animate textured hair in the show so ??

this just felt so unnecessary & like a very ham-fisted way of connecting the warrior in the story to summer for the girls when we didn't need the writers to hand hold like that. we know that ruby & yang are probably connecting the warrior in the story to summer, we know that there are metatextual layers of this story that don't have to be spoon fed to us because of the context of the story.

it does however raise the question for me in that; we know through either taiyang, summer, qrow or ozpin that ruby doesn't know what her silver eyes mean, more than likely to keep her safe from what they know is taking out the silver eyed warriors. so then ... why is taiyang reading her a bedtime story about silver eyed warriors when they're trying to keep this from ruby? is ruby just meant to think it's some kind of major coincidence that superpowered humans in remnant have silver eyes & she also has silver eyes but they can't possibly be connected?

[bardofv0id]

Meat vs. Candy: Meat

Here’s the thing.

I’m hearing two main arguments online... a lot of people saying the epilogues are Terrible, for various reasons, and a few people saying they're Good, with a smaller but vocal subset of those people arguing that if you don’t like them then you’re obviously just expecting to be spoon-fed a fluff ending in which the Character You Like gets a wish-fulfillment storybook epilogue.

There are probably some people who are mad about not getting that. However, I think misrepresenting the range of anger various parts of the fandom are experiencing as being purely some kind of childish knee-jerk tantrum at not getting the toy they wanted is disingenuous, at best, and parallels some of the mistakes of the epilogues themselves.  Note that this in no way excuses or justifies people sending the writers or anyone else death-threats or whatever the hell else has been going on.

Honestly... the Meat ending was pretty good writing, in my opinion.  It wasn’t comfortable or happy or flattering in any way to a number of characters who I recognize people care deeply about, but it was nothing really worse than I expected from Earth C, based on the fundamental narrative of Lord English’s giant closed-loop system.  The loop had to close, in order for Homestuck proper to occur at all.  That means that Earth C is where Calliope and Caliborn hatch and grow up, far, far in the future. And that means that universe, like the others, will be destroyed by a SBURB session one day. Sorry, folks.  It was never meant to be a 'happy ending'.

Meat was deeply metatextual. It was gristly and greasy and discomfiting.  It raised questions about what it means to have a narrator, and whose biases are implicitly included--and I think those are very interesting questions to raise, whether or not they are particularly satisfying to someone who is also reading for the characters.

Spoilers beyond the read-more, for obvious reasons.

That said, there were elements that did surprise me.  The removal of the other kids from different points in different doomed timelines, to fight with John against LE, rather than being his teammates from Earth C--but from John’s perspective, it doesn’t seem like there’s much difference.  Either way, they’re not fully ‘real’ to him (and barely feel real to us, as quickly as they appear and then die). He’s from the Game Over timeline, he’s battling depression, and nobody in the retcon timeline is really quite authentic to him, either--just as to many fans, they didn’t feel quite authentic, when the retcon happened and we had to suddenly let go of the characters we'd watched grow and change, replaced by funhouse mirror reflections and could-have-beens.

I’ve also seen some reasonably interesting arguments that a lot of Dirk’s narration, in the Meat route, either sounds eerily like Vriska talking or flips back and forth between Vriska-mode and Dirk-mode, well before alt!Calliope ever gets involved.  I’m prepared to believe some Serket element (whether that is potentially Vriska, or the Aranea who was abruptly displaced from her attempt at wresting control of the narrative by John) was involved there, and Dirk was not acting entirely of his own accord.  I’m also prepared to shrug and say “okay, maybe it was just a narrative parallel--Homestuck does that a lot”.  Some narration, especially when Terezi is involved, doesn't sound at all how I would expect a Serket-influenced narrator to sound with regards to her, in particular.  It doesn’t particularly grind my gears to think some version of Dirk, in the right environment, might make a series of choices that leads him to behaving like this, entirely on his own.  I recognize that it’s upsetting to DirkJake fans in particular to see their favorite pairing written like this, but it doesn’t feel wholly out of character to me for either of them to develop in these directions, given the right (or wrong) pressures and external situations. This Dirk is the culmination of a very wide multiplicity of Dirks, including at least one if not more who ended up directly subsumed in Lord English and/or under his explicit influence.

I’ve heard that some people were attacking the Meat route on the grounds of transphobia, which... I think is a rather weak argument, given that it’s recognized in the text itself, as pronoun changes are handled respectfully by one narrator-character and inconsistently by a second, who is being set up as the villain of the story. That seems like a pretty solid metatextual rejection of the action, no?  Like, if a villain does a bad thing, in a story, while the hero is fighting them, do you argue that the story itself advocates for that thing? There has to be some kind of distinction between ‘character does X’ and ‘author of story advocates X is Morally Correct’, or we would never have any villains at all. Dirk's dismissiveness toward Roxy's agency grows, the further toward 'villain' he slides.

Were there some things I liked, in Meat?  I guess.  From a sociopolitical and cultural standpoint, the shitty repercussions of the way the retcon gang set up a planet, dumped a bunch of chess people and clone grubs, then left them to do all the work of creating its society and waiting for their eventual 'godly' return... were pretty logical. I'm actually happy that it was acknowledged, instead of just brushed off as inconsequential.  It was interesting, too, to see some of the kids playing with notions of gender identity as they grew, and how their companions adjusted. It was telling (in terms of Dirk's character development) how he thought of Roxy and Calliope's gender explorations as something he could choose to 'allow' or not. Also, with how truncated most of the gang's personal development (and plot development) was in Homestuck proper ('thanks', retcon!Vriska), I think it kinda made sense how stunted and incapable of like... dealing with regular life in a functional way a lot of them seemed. Jumping straight to teenage 'godhood' didn't make them experienced or smart. It's sad that all of them just kind of... stagnate there, but Earth C has always felt incredibly stagnant to me.

Retcon!Vriska getting swallowed by the black hole was at least thematically fitting, though I'm wondering why she is using such Seer-themed language, suddenly. I also like that the wallet is finally back in play. Rose and Dirk's philosophical debate about individuation and free will is delightfully creepy, given the themes of the story. There are moments, within the story, that the turns of phrase and the humor just hit me full in the teeth and remind me this is Homestuck, and I do love those moments.  And of course, my xenobiological worldbuilding interests enjoyed that apparently, earth onions are quite toxic to trolls.

Were there things I didn’t like in Meat?  Yeah, of course. I don't particularly like that John, an Heir of Breath--one who is innately positioned to awaken Breath, freedom and motivation in the people around him--callously shoves an unresisting teenager he's barely met into a refrigerator and just leaves him there, apparently convinced he deserves it.

Did some of the things I disliked relate to the storytelling itself, rather than just how characters were characterized, or what actions they took?  Yeah. Why are we still out here queer-baiting with Dave and Karkat?  Years have passed.  They have spent literal years sitting 1.5 feet apart so it's 'not gay'? I sincerely don't think this pairing is actually healthy or beneficial to either of them, the way it developed in canon, but come on. Then, they still balk and drag their feet unless it's being narratively pushed on them by someone else. It's just painful to watch.

I also take a certain level of personal offense as a Tavros fan when the narrative goes out of its way to repeatedly harp on Tavros being useless and no one giving a shit what he's doing.  Ghost Tavros was awesome, okay, and was personally responsible for gathering the ghost army, so fuck you, Vriska-coded narrator. You have bad judgment. But that is not a crime of writing, if it is an intentionally biased perspective and not just writers taking cheap shots at a character they don't happen to like. I'm just incredibly tired of it being done habitually and collectively, as a fandom, to that character in particular. Furthermore, I'm really discomfited by the way Tavros's development (am I the only one who remembers him dancing and telling Vriska to suck it?) is completely ignored and de-legitimized by having him immediately fawning on her, trailing around after her, hiding against her shoulder, etc.  Tavros was a victim of emotional and physical abuse, at Vriska's hands.  Can we just agree to stop narratively forcing victims back into contact with their abusers, period? It's not a good look.

Moreover, there's the whole misogyny angle.  When does a story about misogynistic characters (and narrators) doing misogynistic things while misogynistic shit narratively happens start being a critique of misogynistic tropes rather than a tired old rehash?  Every step Jane (allegedly a strong, independent woman, though also stepping into her dictatorial role as 'Heiress') takes is either dictated by Dirk, sent into a complete tailspin that upends her confidence by Jake, or verbally decried as factually wrong and/or stupid by Dave and/or Karkat.  Rose and Kanaya both have their agency overwritten and end up separated from each other through the actions of Dirk, and Rose becomes an extension of Dirk, losing her very selfhood.  Jade is treated as an accessory to the DaveKat trainwreck, simultaneously discounted as actually emotionally relevant and blamed for its ludicrous problems.  She, of course, also ends up having her agency overwritten as she's plunged into a coma and possessed, prevented from actually having reactions to the things that are going on, or taking action for herself. Borrowed!Rose and Jade are KO'd almost instantly in the fight against Lord English, and become either literally erased, or dead weight for a male character to drag around until it's no longer convenient. Terezi admits to wasting a huge amount of time trailing around after Vriska--who was an emotionally abusive gaslighter to her, on the retcon!meteor. (And we're back to victims being constantly evaluated according to their proximity to their abusers again.) Then, she's on to redirecting herself into some quest on John's behalf, instead. She's still not living for herself. Finally, you show me an Aradia who would ever, ever be concerned about 'saying more embarrassing stuff' around Dave, or thinking of him as an ‘outrageously cool dude’, and I'll show you a bridge I'd like to sell you.  That ain't any Aradia I've ever seen. So who’s narrating there, Dirk again? A third party?

Other weird things: apparently Jane's kidnapping in the snapchats just... never gets explained or referenced again? I went back to reread those, and they connected to Meat even more than I realized at first.   I guess Jane grew up to be... exactly what she was raised/groomed to be, which is *uncomfortable* but not particularly shocking.  I feel bad for people who were hoping for happier endings for the human kids, but I don't think I ever really expected Homestuck to serve up happy endings.  I don't buy that things in the snapchat were just thrown in at random, though.  Those elements were there for a reason, and arguing that everything in the snapchats were connected to the epilogues EXCEPT that one major extended plotline doesn't make sense.  Especially when it visually and narratively seems to be a direct link to the events of the Meat storyline. 

Also, where the fuck are the sprites?  We never see or hear from Jasprosesprite, Gcatavrosprite, or the Nannasprite(s?) again. I’m not sure anyone cares, but. Uh. Yeah.

I have other thoughts regarding the classpect-coded language that crops up pretty frequently in the epilogues, but I think I will devote a separate post to that, if I get around to it, given that this *is* at heart a classpecting blog.

So anyway, Meat ends, it's depressing and futile and grim, I get it. I don't like every element, but it hangs together as a story with a narrative, overall.

Then we get to Candy.

Hoo boy.

I’ll tackle that one next, but as it was considerably more upsetting for me to read, rereading it for fact-checks and commentary is going to be a lot harder for me.  I’ll get through it here sooner or later, though.

[aion-rsa]

Shameless Series Finale Review: Father Frank, Full of Grace

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This Shameless review contains spoilers.

Shameless Season 11 Episode 12

“We’re still here. We’re surviving, right?” 

Most people would likely not argue that Shameless’s best years are behind it. Showtime, its cable network, even briefly had a reputation for bleeding series dry long after they should have ended. However, even the most egregious examples of this like Weeds, Californication, and Dexter still pale in comparison to Shameless‘s episode count and none of them ever lost their series’ lead. It’s fair to say that Shameless is not as good as when it started or even how it was a few seasons back, but it’s always remained true to itself. It hasn’t resorted to radical time jumps or a revolving door of new premises and locations as a way to inject steroids into a withering corpse. 

Shameless set out to depict the flawed lives of a lower-class family and it’s done that for 11 seasons and allowed a full generation of characters to grow up before the audience’s eyes. Shameless might not have always been a top tier television program, but it’s emblematic of Showtime’s early ideology and the growth that they’ve experienced over the past decade. Shameless is their longest running program and with it gone there’s a substantial piece of Showtime’s past that leaves with it. The final lingering brick from the old guard is finally dislodged. 

In a way, “Father Frank, Full of Grace” becomes an even more poetic finale because the Gallaghers’ loss of Frank also functions as a metaphor for Showtime’s loss of Shameless. “Father Frank, Full of Grace” is a celebratory finale that’s emotional, beautiful, crude, and chaotic more than it’s a metatextual conversation about Showtime’s legacy. However, it all contributes to an overwhelming sense of closure and fresh beginnings, which is exactly what Shameless’ series finale needed to deliver.

Frank’s nagging mortality is a major catalyst for this series finale, but it’s also remarkable to see how most of the Gallaghers have already moved on. Frank may not technically be dead at the start of the episode, but he’s metaphorically been a ghost for decades. Any love is lost at this point and Frank’s belabored transition to the other side is treated like a temporary nuisance, as if it’s a toilet that needs to be unclogged. 

Frank lets out a surprised, “Well, fuck,” upon the realization that he’s not dead and that was also pretty much my reaction to this news. Frank’s death feels like a foregone conclusion and the cyclical nature of his story in this finale steps on the toes of the past few episodes. It’s an emotional moment when Frank does pass on, but it also turns this finale into a prolonged waiting game whereas last week’s conclusion came as a legitimate shock.

Frank’s detached actions as his ailing body moves on autopilot are a frustrating component from this finale. The material feels sloppy and like it’s just another opportunity to get more of a morose, haunting performance from out of Macy. I’m still not convinced that it’s the best decision for this last episode, but Frank’s out of body experience and his flashbacks contain some of the finale’s most touching moments. 

Frank’s thoughts on his family and these glimpses of the cast back in season one aren’t overused and their impact is felt. Even the brief return to a shut down Patsy’s Pies connects as Frank takes in the South Side with fresh eyes for one last time. It’s a messy storyline, but thematically it’s sound. It’s no coincidence that Frank is there, but he isn’t, through most of this episode. It’s the perfect distillation of his involvement as a father for his kids. Frank’s spirit is ever present, but he spends this final episode in a cathartic form of isolation. 

Frank spends this installment lost in the past while everyone else braces for the future. There’s still residual Gallagher drama, but “Father Frank, Full of Grace” largely waves a magic wand to either fix all of these problems or at least provide a solid roadplan for what lies ahead. This finale makes a very conscious decision to be about celebration and unity rather than stress and conflict. All of the Gallaghers’ dilemmas aren’t solved, but they never will be, and the acceptance of this allows this finale to confidently conclude and not get lost in the weeds. A lot of ground gets covered, some of which doesn’t necessarily feel like the best use of time in a series finale, but”Father Frank, Full of Grace” never feels rushed and it allows each Gallagher–even an unconscious Frank–several opportunities to shine.

Lip enters this finale with the most stress and arguably exits with the most support and prospects for the future. It’s genuinely nice to see Tami and Lip reach a place where they’re able to healthily communicate, listen to each other, and work as a team. Tami is almost a little too understanding considering how much recent instability has entered their lives. It’s a little convenient that several of Lip’s delivery runs are also situations where technologically impaired people benefit from Lip’s knowledge in the area. It’s left unresolved if this is enough to kickstart Lip into some tech-based job where he heads down a different direction in his life, but it offers a sliver of hope in the area.

This finale offers teases, not answers, for what’s to come for Lip and this open-ended attitude carries over to the rest of the Gallaghers. Debbie’s accelerating relationship with Heidi sticks out the most here and it feels strange to spend so much time on a completely new character in the series finale. The red flags from Debbie’s relationship get balanced out with how enjoyable everything is with Mickey and Ian. They engage in several real, vulnerable conversations here that reflect how functional they’ve become. The baby talk is really pleasant, but the surprise wedding anniversary is even better and not made super obvious.

This season of Shameless, more than any other, has pulled from reality for a lot of its material regarding Chicago’s social climate. This is typically strong material for the series’ satirical perspective and it’s naturally integrated into the story.  However, the injection of current politics and conspiracy theories that Mickey and Ian are briefly exposed to feels less subtle and like the show just wants to fit in some “Sleepy Joe” commentary before it’s over. Similarly, it seems kind of unnecessarily loaded that after a lifetime of recklessness it’s ultimately COVID-19 complications that takes out Frank and not his rampant alcoholism or drug use. These moments are brushed past quickly and don’t derail the narrative, but they feel awkward in the moment.

“Father Frank, Full of Grace” is a rather safe finale that doesn’t have any major surprises. Those that were expecting a Fiona cameo may be irritated over the finale’s direction, but it should have been pretty obvious that Shameless wasn’t interested in this type of finish. Fiona wouldn’t have radically changed this finale, but I’m genuinely curious if John Wells reached out and did attempt a brief return or if they’ve both fully moved on by now.

I’m also a huge Spoon fan, but even I thought it was jarring that the Gallaghers and the Alibi patrons just happen to know all of the words to “The Way We Get By.” I understand that it’s meant to offer some connection with the pilot episode’s ending, but diegetically the Gallaghers have never had a connection to the song. It seems like there would be plenty of more appropriate songs, with Chicago origins, that would actually have significance to these people. It’s still a very sweet moment for Shameless to end on, even if the logistics are slightly flawed.

All of this is to say that “Father Frank, Full of Grace” is a convoluted episode, but its final ten minutes where the Gallaghers are deep in the throes of celebration is exactly how this series needed to go out. All of these characters bask in each other’s company, demonstrate their appreciation for each other, and reflect on how much they’ve matured. Lip and Ian’s brief heart-to-hearts have been a highlight from this season and their final chat here where the gratitude for Lip’s role as a surrogate father figure for the family is conveyed becomes even more powerful considering the nature of the episode.

This series finale features Frank’s death and significant life changes for characters, but “Father Frank, Full of Grace” still has a very lowkey energy that makes it feel like many of its other finales. This is the end, but it’s not difficult to picture another season of the show that picks up these loose threads and everything reverts back to “normal” after a few episodes. Sometimes finales that check every box and go out of their way for endless closure can feel manufactured and contrived. It’s appreciated that Shameless doesn’t take this route. 

Hopefully these new decisions will stick, but the problem with Shameless is that it’s conditioned its audience to frequent changes and a return to the status quo. “Father Frank, Full of Grace” works hard to buck that trend, and it’s largely successful, but it’s also easy to picture these characters consumed with stress and doubt on the day after the events of this finale. This final season builds new futures for all of the Gallaghers and they all still have a lot to learn, but “Father Frank, Full of Grace” leaves most of the characters in empowered positions where lasting change feels achievable and not just a pipe dream.

Shameless’s final season has functioned as a showcase for Frank and it’s always been “his” show, even though he hasn’t always been the series’ focal point. “Father Frank, Full of Grace” underscores this and becomes a lowkey tribute to Frank with how it paints a bright and happy future for his family. The opening minutes of Shameless begin with Frank Gallagher’s voice over as he dotes over his family, all of which have become wonderful despite Frank. Shameless’ series finale concludes in the same manner of reflection and the Gallaghers are even united around another communal fire this time around.

The major lesson that Frank pushes in his parting words are to appreciate the time that you have, even if it’s stupid, and to not waste your life. Shameless’ final season didn’t always use its time in the most effective manner, but they clearly had fun every step of the way. Shameless’ final season is a shell of the poignant and challenging family drama that emerged in season one, but they’ve always appreciated their time and the stories that they’ve gotten to tell. Shameless, much like the Gallaghers themselves, was messy, but never lacking in love. That sentiment has never been more true than with “Father Frank, Full of Grace,” which goes out on its own imperfect terms.

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See you later, Shameless. Love you too, asshole.

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