The Two Lisas

In its original American broadcast, "The Two Lisas" was seen by an estimated 1.96 million household viewers with a 0.9 in the 18–49 demographics. This means that 0.9 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode.^[2] This was a 11 percent increase in viewership from the previous episode, which was seen by an estimated 1.76 million household viewers with a 0.8 in the 18–49 demographics.^[3]

"The Two Lisas" received generally positive reviews from critics. Joshua Alston of The A.V. Club gave the episode a "B+" grade and commended the decision to write off Sheila, writing "Shameless has so many characters that even those you care about most have moments when they feel superfluous. I was shocked last year when Ian's absence early in the season went over so smoothly. And when the most prominent characters can disappear for episodes at a time, the less essential characters feel especially unnecessary. 'The Two Lisas' works towards pruning the Shameless family tree, which is a good move for the show's overall health." Alston was polarized over Debbie's storyline in the episode, stating "It was a story I think I'll be processing for a few weeks before I have a firm grasp on how I feel about it. It's bold, that much is certain."^[4]

David Crow of Den of Geek gave the episode a 3 star rating out of 5. Crow was also polarized over the Debbie storyline, arguing that the plot made sense in the context of Debbie's character, but questioning the writers' handling on the subject of sexual assault: "I view Debbie taking matters into her own hands with a very intoxicated Matty as par for the course with the character. With all that said, Shameless did just turn rape—with the knotty addition of self-statutory rape, as the show helpfully points out—into one hell of an intended joke."^[5] Allyson Johnson of The Young Folks was also critical of the writers' handling of the subject matter, writing "Plot lines that involve sexual assault aren’t inherently bad as long as the creative team behind it knows how to handle it with a deft hand and it would seem that Shameless has followed suit of so many other shows that just shouldn’t have taken on the storyline in the first place. It all reads a bit too much like a shock value tactic than anything more poignant."^[6]

Alan Sepinwall's review for HitFix was more positive regarding Debbie's storyline, praising the tonal shift between the dark and emotional elements: "Yes, Debbie unwittingly rapes Matty [...] but then it leads to a sincere and honest discussion between Debbie and Fiona about sex, and how little Debbie really knows about it, and it doesn't feel like a cheat or an attempt to back away from the implications of what happened earlier. That's a hard tonal shift to pull off without seeming jarring, yet the show does it often – albeit usually not starting with something quite as extreme as this."^[7] Whitney Evans of TV Fanatic gave the episode a 4.5 star rating out of 5 and praised the episode's dramatic content, writing "People like to lump this show into the dramedy category, but I've always considered it to be much more of a drama than comedy. And 'The Two Lisas,' while providing some earnest laughs, was heavy on the drama. Personally that's how I like my Shameless. Things are always elevated to another level when the characters get to go beyond the jokes and show different sides of themselves."^[8]

• "The Two Lisas" at IMDb