'Shameless' Season 10 Episode 3: Will Ian and Mickey's relationship survive the parole?
This article contains spoilers for season 10 episode 3: 'Which America?'
After two full weeks of bickering and snapping at each other like an old, married couple, looks like Mickey and Ian just might brave through the incoming crisis in their relationship.
In tonight's episode, we see Ian and Mickey cooped up in the prison cell, trying their hardest to ignore each other's annoying habits, while simultaneously trying to keep their nagging jabs to themselves. The cold war of grunts and sighs is interrupted when a prison guard brings a 'letter from Santa' for Ian, and the redhead finds out his parole hearing is in a few days. Already struggling with their relationship, this is a major blow that further asserts the possibility of their flame fizzling out, and their on-again-off-again relationship once again going back to dormant.
With the prospect of parole looming overhead, Ian and Mickey are separately informed by the other inmates of the importance of having 'the talk' - aka a code of conduct regarding their exclusivity and the like with one of them being out free, while the other continues to stay in prison. While the two of them are too into bickering than have a proper conversation for once, it also comes out in the open that Mickey got locked up purely because he knew Ian was going to get incarcerated for a term of three to five years at least. And now with Ian's parole hanging large, sweet old Mickey will obviously have to stay stuck inside. You'd think the latent jealousy and frustration would come out, but as Mickey admits to Ian - he doesn't want Ian to put off parole because 'that's the right thing to do for their relationship.' He wants Ian to do that because Ian wants to be with Mickey - as messed up a romance as that sounds.
Luckily, Ian is on the same page too. In that, sure he is going to get out on parole sometime this season, given the teasers for the season have already shown him in the Gallagher house in the middle of the living room, holding baby Freddie in what looks like a house party, but there's a high chance that even if Mickey doesn't get out soon, their relationship won't necessarily succumb to the distance. In fact, the end of episode 3 shows Mickey being able to get a guard to smuggle a phone inside their cell so Ian can Facetime Lip and catch up with the baby - a scene so emotionally enriching that it's difficult to see the Gallagher in the same shady light we are used to seeing them in most of the time. But at least there's hope for Gallavich now and there's nothing more that fans have been looking forward to this season.
'Shameless' season 10 airs on Sundays at 9pm only on Showtime.
