Emmy and Justin reflect on the Season 2 finale of “Shameless”

TVLINE | There was the big “I love you” scene after the very sad beginning of the finale. Fiona and Jimmy are seemingly finally happy — do you think that will last?
EMMY ROSSUM | I think that Jimmy has shown himself to be kind of reliable in kind of a backwards, unexpected way. I think that people say they love you, but then when she actually gives it to him, let’s see how he reacts. It will be interesting to see who he is when we come back next season, and what their relationship is.
JUSTIN CHATWIN | They’ve never fully been committed to each other — it’s always been one foot in, one foot out — so even if they do start communicating and having some sort of healthy relationship — which will never happen because then there would be no show [Laughs] — it will be interesting to see where their dynamic goes. I think a lot of their connection has been charged through the excitement and the sexual chemistry and the obstacles. I personally can’t even see what other obstacles you could come up with, but then again I didn’t see them coming up with the obstacle of a Brazillian wife, and you know, importing someone to the States in a crate.

TVLINE | Although the episodes leading into it were intense, the finale itself felt pretty mellow. Did you sense that when you were filming it, or was it like a typical Shameless episode?
CHATWIN | [Executive producer] John [Wells] took his time with the episode; he said to “breathe, walk, feel and discover” in all the scenes, which is different. The pace that we [typically] go is like a speedball — you don’t really have time to process anything, or sit or feel or think — so it was interesting. I like [the finale's] pace, but Shameless wouldn’t be Shameless if it wasn’t rocket-fast.
ROSSUM | A lot of the fireworks were in Episode 11, but I hope that Monica going back to her life as a lesbian and leaving Frank and the family was the last straw. I like the way that Steve — or I guess you now call him Jimmy — stepped up to the plate to deal with the crisis. The scene where she’s cleaning the blood up off of the floor, and for him to see her in her most vulnerable state, literally covered in her own mother’s blood, was very intense. I liked that he was so strong for her, and I felt like it was kind of like a rebirth for the family.

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