despite my previous misgivings about this, i saw it on netflix and decided to give it a try
so the actors who play the kids are adults, except the two youngest, but the way they have it cast and then what they have them do-namely, sex scenes which really do not have anything to do with the plot, it is just gratuitous, stinks of the way porno gets barely adult young, teenage, looking actors. dress up in kids clothes and have them act like kids and then get them to have sex
but wtf-ever
in s5. the whole whiny bitch attitude oft his family is hysterical (in a bad way) and only sometimes funny (in a ha ha way)
from where they live--i grew up in west orange nj, and the neighborhood we lived in..let's just say, the gallaghers home and hood would be lower middle class in jersey
they bitch about not enough money- yet i do not recall any of them talking about food stamps. how about reduced utility bills through budget plans or LIHEAP?
nope
and they have cable with porno channels--money problems, really? not to mention they have cell phones
there are so many examples of both the depiction of 'poor people' and just general hollywood lack of reality.
s5--carl, 15(?), while trying to get 11 lbs of heroin out of state, gets arrested after trying to pin it on his 13 yr old nephew. then when that kids mom turns carl in, the rest of the family gets pissed at her.
then they blame her for his being in juvie for a year--the kid made the choice to sell and transpo drugs. he made the choice to tape the shit to his intellectually delayed nephew, but yeah "its not his fault"
this is just one example, this attitude is running rampant through the whole series. the whole family. the point of telling stories about fu&ked people is to also show the punishment and redemtion
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then the one family member who is gay, is also bi-polar. wtf? a soft implication that homsexuality is a mental issue or that he is gay because he is bi-polar?
same brother joining the army:
ok, you going to know i am going to have something to say
but this shit is just really damned obvious and blatant; it ranges from mild to severe in its ignorance (which there is no excuse for! its not like TPTB's could not have done a web search and found out the real procedure!)
showing recruiters from all the branches in one office, desk to desk
showing that all that was needed to join was an id and hs transcrripts
that one can join today and leave tomorrow
then he goes awol after getting in trouble for hot wiring a helo
ffs! a basic trainee cannot get anywhere near a helo!
stole a rocket launcher?! nope, not happening
then they have mps looking for him. mp's do not have any authority outside a military base. but the biggest thing is the military no longer looks for awol's. they haven't for like over 40yrs!
the army base he goes to is 'great lakes' in chicago. great lakes is a navy base
the family is consulted about his 'court martial'. that will not happen,ever. and ppl do not get a court martial for going awol. the mps dont look for them and if you turn yourself in all the military will do is an admin discharge on you--especially a trainee. they do not have the time to go catching and court martial people.
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the show is a lot of BS. i think that real 'southsiders' would call it on that, i am sure that their lives, even for non criminal families, is not as nice as this one is
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on the positive side Joan Cusack is awesome in her role
