William H. Macy’s last frames on “Shameless” show Frank perched on his familiar stool from The Alibi, floating high above Chicago’s South Side and observing his friends as they pile into the street to watch a Tesla burn, mocking the owner and singing Spoon’s “That’s the Way We Get By.”
As Frank’s spirit glides along sipping his beer, Macy delivers his final lines; a retrospective on Frank’s somewhat rough existence. After offering each of his gathered friends and family members his observations of their character and prospects, Frank refers to himself as “teacher, mentor, captain of our little ship” before offering a final bit of advice: “Time’s precious. Don’t f***ing waste it … Have a good time, I sure as hell did.”
That final line could just have easily been Macy himself talking to the viewers of “Shameless,” as the actor clearly enjoyed his time on the show and was sad to see it end, as he added in his Gold Derby interview. “It kills me now, but I had spent so much time with this guy and I loved him so much and with the family, and it was such a part of me it’s hard to remember what my life was before ‘Shameless,'” he told the outlet.