-Lip's AA involvement, the shit with his sponsor, his professor, the sponsor(s), his unconventional new "relationship".

Everything about that is interesting to me, though I don't care for Sierra. I like the subtle, yet glaring sexual tension between him and Cammy.

His unexpected loss, and the coldness with whoch he was greeted in the aftermath.

This is by far the most interesting he has ever been. His arc is among the very best executed of any character, in any season of the show.

He's worth watching this season, all by himself.

-Deb's clearly in development hell, but not as a character. As a person. She's having a hard time in her role as a mother trying to navigate adult whose emotional and intellectual development has clearly stalled out. This definitely isn't her season the way it is Lip's or Ian's, but she's fine.

-Ian actually has a solid arc that doesn't deal with him being bipolar. The religion angle makes perfect sense, and being faced with having to serve multiple masters with incident with that preist was, IMO, a highlight. His dude is whatever. They'll never be able to return to the highs of his relationship with Mickey, but giving him an actual purpose has been refreshing IMO.

He could have easily been turned into a caricature, but I'd say they treated him with a rather deft hand.

-Fiona has her own life, is still scraping by, but doing so with much more responsibility. She's not really developing any nuances and her relationships have become trite. Ford is an absolute bore.

Also, her new friends are entirely uninteresting to me. Her business ventures took an unfortunate back seat.

-Carl has a Carl arc, not in a great way, not really in a horrible way, but in a way that definitely teeters interesting and just plain annoying. He's provided some good moments of levity. I've known and, unfortunately, had real experience with Cassidy, and she makes my stomach churn.

-Kev, Vee and Svetlana have had a decently entertaining arc with some emotional weight. I look forward to every scene they're in.

Everything isn't a home run, but i can't recall any season that is. JimmySteve was a pretty bad element of the entire show IMO.

There are certain things that are missing, like the warmth of Shiela's entire character, particularly when she'd interact with Liam.

Frank was actually interesting in his newfound uprightness, and it was, IMO, a lowlight to so quickly return him to his baser self.

Liam hasn't been given nearly enough to do, and that's disappointing. His initial story had a promising direction, but they allowed Frank to overshadow him.

All in all, most of the characters showcased real character growth. Lip and Ian are fantastic anchors. Lip in particular is as interesting as he's ever been.

I would like a bit more of that quintessentially Shameless brand sardonic humor. Aside from Carl's brief impersonation of Eric Cartman and the Kev & Vee show, that well had been a tad too dry.

Im on ep 10, but honestly, I think there's plenty of story left to tell with these characters.