Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Shameless: The Complete Fifth Season Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 17, 2015

Reprehensible or at least questionably motivated parents have been a staple of the cable television landscape for some time, so it perhaps shouldn’t come as any surprise that Shameless shamelessly highlights one of the worst parents to ever “grace” the small screen, reprobate alcoholic Frank Gallagher (William H. Macy). But there’s a question of degree or at least context as evidenced by other shows that feature similarly dysfunctional supposed heads of families. Sure, maybe Weeds: The Complete Collection’s Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker) was a drug dealer, but at least she was doing so in an obviously misguided attempt to help her family. And Edie Falco’s Nurse Jackie’s own exploits with controlled substances often put her at odds with her (eventually ex-) husband and kids, though Jackie at least gave lip service to attempting to reform her “bad habits.” Even Mad Men: The Complete Collection’s Don and Betty Draper (Jon Hamm and January Jones), seemingly a picture perfect couple from an image standpoint and also seemingly unencumbered by any roiling substance abuse problems (aside from lots of cigarette smoking and equally abundant social drinking escapades) made a series of parenting mistakes as their marriage fell apart. But very few have come close to the jaw dropping idiocy of Frank Gallagher, a man who seems to think “parenting” ends at the moment of conception (if it even lasts that long). Interestingly, then, Shameless’s fifth season begins with at least the hint of some redemption for the character, if only because Gallagher’s recent liver transplant has made his alcoholism a life or death decision. Shameless is frankly not an easy show to really like (as evidenced by several comments by my colleague Ken Brown in his reviews of the series’ previous seasons), and this fifth season continues to push envelopes to a point that some viewers may find the whole thing simply too distasteful to invest much time or energy into. The show wants to be an ultra dark comedy at least some of the time, but it’s often so bleak that any humor seems pasted on.

For those wanting to catch up on the Gallagher clan and the other characters of Shameless, Ken's reviews of previous seasons can be found by clicking on the following links:

Shameless: The Complete First Season Blu-ray review

Shameless: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray review

Shameless: The Complete Third Season Blu-ray review

Shameless: The Complete Fourth Season Blu-ray review

Parts of Shameless seem to aim for the same sort of dysfunctional ambience that informs other familial cable outings like It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, though this series tends to wallow in a certain depressive environment that doesn’t exactly scream “laff riot” (to borrow a phrase from a certain show business bible). But to be fair, Shameless seems to be moving away more and more from anything other than a glancing attempt at pitch black humor, opting instead for a more dramatic, if occasionally weirdly whimsical, portrayal of the roiling Gallagher clan. That kind of "downer" ethos even spreads out into the Gallagher's Chicago neighborhood this season, as the dilapidated area gets a bit of an urban renewal jolt, much to the dismay of characters like Frank.

Still, there are glimmers of hope that occasionally poke through the overriding gloom and doom. Fiona (Emmy Rossum) manages to help make ends meet with her workaday life at Patsy’s Pies, though her perhaps incipient (and probably unwarranted) romanticism spills out at various times, including in moments that see her pining for her boss Sean (Dermot Mulroney). A perhaps more appropriate suitor shows up in the form of Davis (Axle Whitehead), a rock ‘n’ roll musician who is a regular at the diner. And despite some tensions between Kevin (Steve Howey) and Veronica (Shanola Hampton), Kevin actually turns out to be a surprisingly nurturing parent, with no one more surprised than the occasionally spurned Veronica herself.

Those ostensibly more hopeful proclivities are “balanced” with a sadder arc detailing the potential mental unraveling of Ian (Cameron Monaghan), a character whose various misadventures provide some of this season’s most potent emotional content. Perhaps surprisingly, Frank’s attempts to sober up in the wake of his liver transplant don’t really pay similar dividends, and instead the series tends to emphasize more wacky tendencies like the character’s “top secret” activites in the Gallagher home’s basement laboratory.

One of the issues with Shameless is that, while some of the characters are relatively accessible and at least likable, there are very few downright lovable people on display in the show, and after a while, some may be wondering why they’re spending time with such a motley crew of unhappy and ineffective souls. We’ve all been stuck with various objectionable members of our own families at various get togethers (something that some readers may in fact be experiencing right now due to the holidays), but there’s a somehow more masochistic element at play when approaching the decision to spend copious time with a series like Shameless. In other words, you can’t choose your family, but you can choose which dysfunctional television family warrants your attention.

Shameless: The Complete Fifth Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Shameless: The Complete Fifth Season is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Warner Brothers with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The fifth season continues with the series' largely winning ways in terms of video quality, but this digitally shot show has a somewhat gritty, even dank, quality which keeps it from popping at times. Fine detail tends to burst in terms of elements like Macy's scraggly beard or the threadbare fabric on some of the Gallagher furniture. The palette is decidedly tamped down throughout the series, with only brief bursts of hues offering relief from a kind of overarching (intentional) blandness. Sharpness and clarity are generally very commendable, while contrast and black levels are at least slightly variable at times. There are no issues with image instability and only very slight dustings of noise during some darker moments.

Shameless: The Complete Fifth Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Shameless: The Complete Fifth Season features a workmanlike DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which tends to come fully alive during some of the more cacophonous interchanges in and around the Gallagher household. Some of the recurring scenes detailing the gentrification of the "old stomping grounds" also provide occasional discrete channelization for isolated sound and/or ambient environmental effects. Dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly.

Shameless: The Complete Fifth Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc One

• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 4:59)

Disc Two

• Shameless Sex Love (1080p; 15:48) is an appealing set of interviews with various cast and crew members while looking at some of the interrelationships in the show.


• Gentrify This!!! (1080p; 4:45) addresses one of the subplots of this season.


• Tell Me You F***ing Need Me Commentary with Actor and Director Bill Macy, Actress Emmy Rossum and Executive Producer/Writer Nancy Pimental


• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 8:16)

Shameless: The Complete Fifth Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The writing is often very smart on Shameless, and the performances are largely beyond reproach, and yet there's still a kind of off putting ambience to a lot of the show simply due to the fact that virtually everyone is carting around some pretty major baggage. I kept wishing the show would just go for broke and indulge in truly shameless pitch black humor, but there seems to have been a decision made to emphasize the dramatic tendencies instead. Longtime fans will certainly find much here to warrant continued interest, while curious newcomers may want to visit the first couple seasons of the show instead. Recommended.