More of the same misadventures on the Chatsworth Estate, but the quality declines due to the departure of Steve (James McAvoy), presumably because the actor was moving on to better things in The Chronicles of Narnia and The Last King of Scotland. Kev's mother Carol (Marjorie Yates) and pyromaniac brother Marty (Jack Deam) move in and round out the cast of major characters, but it's no compensation. With the exception of the episode concentrating on Marty's difficulties finding love, they're mostly comic relief.
They help keep Shameless as one of the funniest programs on television, but without Steve it has no heart. His function in the first series was to show that the Gallaghers, even if half of them are thieves, pikeys, drunkards -- or just generally shameless -- are still lovable, warts and all. Series two suffers for the lack of that pathos.
There's drama and romance (love in all the wrong places), and, of course, hilarity. It's guilty laughter -- there's something terrible and ugly in laughing at the poor -- but there's plenty of it.
It's still worth a look.
Season One
Quite amusing.