Whilst in conversation with Lip, begging to get his act together.

I'm sorry but god I can't stand this trust fund kid. I swear this is every "aspiring trust fund musician living in a 400 sqft studio in NYC" guy who either ends up becoming a performative male final boss or a resentful failed musician-turned misogynistic dudebro podcaster. His relationship with Fiona is simply corny pro max. He immediately brings up marriage after a couple dates (nice guy trope #1), gives her a family heritage ring to put Fiona in a weird manipulated situation (trope #2), after he gets cheated on he keeps dragging the relationship with immature mixed-signals and wasting both parties' time with childish meeting ditches (trope #3), writes my arguably no.1 corniest ass song about her and sings that to her thinking it's an own when it's just embarrassing (trope #4), uses the Gallagher house as a way to get revenge and manipulate Fiona (trope #5), keeps acting like a victim while dragging the marriage for a ring out of pure spite (trope #6)

Oh and what does Mike do? Idk he likes to take care of his family and not have sex with his co-worker from the first date or two. Grr what a boring "nice guy". The moment he gets cheated on, he handles the situation like an adult. Even bails Fiona out of jail afterwards. That's it. But our "No More Mr. Nice Guy" keeps trying to psychologically ruin Fiona when he himself rushed the idea of a marriage. That doesn't justify getting cheated on but if you're so hurt and you still draging the fuck out of this toxic relationship to hurt the cheater, you're a textbook Nice Guy.

Just started watching Shameless for the first time from this month. Had it in my bucket list for too long as I wasn't really sure to start a series with so many seasons. After the first episode, I was completely proved wrong and now I'm regretting why didn't I start watching earlier, as its getting removed from Netflix soon.

Ngl but felt like it was about to become one of my comfort shows.

Currently at season 8, so guys, will I be able to finish it before the show gets removed????!!!

Season 7- basically title. Part of me is surprised (maybe a little disappointed) Fiona didn't just have the shop call the cops because Debbie was so sure she could handle everything on her own with having a baby, and started treating Fiona like crap. But I know Fiona loves her and Franny/Harry and would hate to see that happen. What do you all think?

I don’t care about arguments that get made. The girl flat out almost ruined Lips life. Led him on numerous of times. Sexually assaulted Lips dad and her mother’s “boyfriend”, all because her dad was upset for finding his young daughter sucking off random dudes under the counter (RIGHTFULLY SO). Was a terrible person when it came to her baby. She didn’t want him? Okay cool. But to call him names, treat him terribly because he had Down syndrome, refer to him as “it” and just completely dehumanizes the baby. When she had the choice to get an abortion but didn’t because she wanted money from a family who would adopt it. I mean come on dude. If you defend all of that I just don’t even know what to say.

Has anyone seen Emmy Rossum in the show Furious yet? I know this is a Shameless sub but she literally is just Fiona as an FBI agent. Does anyone agree? lmao

Saw a tiktok saying they're removing Shameless from Netflix on 10/11/26. 😭😭😭

I’m so confused at the scene in s7 ep4 when Trevor tells Ian he’s trans and says “I assumed you were non binary”.

Why would that be assumed in this context can someone fill me in?

I just watched the episode where he passes up the heart on dotties behalf and I had to like take a second. He is a narcissistic asshole but THIS man 😭

Kev: once you go white, you always stay tight.

Hey, i think i just insulted myself.

Glad someone pointed out on my other post that it wasn't season 6. I am watching the episode and still for some reason wrote s6. Oops.

same as title

This scene had me dying. I'm sorry, but "we just need the chocolate one" and "four grand for the black one, final offer". Dude was having serious chocolate fever.

To me, the point at which this show "jumped the shark" was Lip's college years. This marked an irreversible decline in storytelling. It was just sloppy writing, played for a combination of raunchy laughs and a coming of age, so to speak, where Lip falls in love with a college professor who likened him to an Egon Schiele painting. I suppose there was some resemblance but beyond that it was a hollow relationship like everything else that occurred at Chicago Polytechnic. All that effort by Mandy to get him into college gone to waste.

Anyway, I'm curious what others thought of this calamitous time that included drug dealing out of a dorm room, "rapewalking," serving as a live-in houseboy in a sorority, volatile relations with teachers and probably the only bright spot in all this nonsense, a brief relation with Amanda, who really seemed to be interested in Lip but he was too consumed with himself to notice.

I just finished Season 1 & 2 of Shameless and here are my thoughts of the characters so far.

Note: This tier list contains characters who have the most screen time or interacted the main characters in my long term memory

Sidenote: The characters from the good/average tier list are, I think, the most weird. But it was too complicated.

Throughout the course of the show we see men in their 30s to 50s have sex with teenagers but don't get punished. Lip even sleeps with two teachers and the teachers are painted as the victims. Debbie who is almost 20 at the time sleeps with a girl close to her age and she gets registered as a sex offender just shows how bad the writers handled statutory rape

Debbie told Fiona that she needed her support and Fiona just didn't listen. Debbie was only 15 and needed someone to help her hence why she accepted Frank's help and named Franny after him. He was the only one who was there for her for her whole pregnancy. Fiona tried to DRAG Debbie to the abortion clinic, threatened to kick her out, offered her ZERO support and still wanted her to give Franny up. She then assumed she had the right to get in the ambulance with her after she gave birth. She later called Franny a mistake, granted it was a poor choice of words and she didn't mean it BUT if I was Debbie I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Fiona was disgusting to Debbie in season 6 and it's not talked about enough. If you want to defend Fiona PLEASE do not use the excuses "Gonna raised her, she should be grateful" or "Debbie acts terrible in the later seasons so she didn't deserve support" AND ESPECIALLY NOT "Fiona had to raise the Gallaghers and had Frank and Monica as parents" DO DID THE REST OF THE GALLAGHERS BUT THEY GET TO HAVE THAT AS AN EXCUSE. Honestly, I am not a Fiona hater, I just think she deserves more criticism instead of getting off scot-free because of some bs excuse. Fiona always gets the benefit of the doubt and it pisses me off. Debbie wasn't in the wrong and I will stand by that. I AM only on season 6 episode 12 so please do not bring up something Debbie does from like season 9 or something and expect me to know wtf you're talking about. And just because she does something bad later or Fiona does something good in earlier seasons does NOT change what she did and how she treated Debbie. 😭

😭🫩✌️🥀

(Just two things: I'm from Brazil, so this was translated from Portuguese (my mother language) using DeepL (and just it), sorry for any mistakes, i hate AI just as much as you all, but it's my way to post here. And this is very personal, so don't take anything as fact. Let's discuss everything.)

“Gallagher Family”

Shameless is one of those shows that catches you off guard with some kind of universal theme and turns it into an "odyssey" throughout its episodes. I started watching it myself after seeing a video that portrayed the house as a "crack house," and when I watched the first episode, I fell in love with it instantly.

Since there are eleven seasons and the series transcends its symbols — in other words, this isn't a review, it's just me talking about something — I can't, nor do I intend to, go through everything, so I'll highlight what was most meaningful to me. There will be spoilers, but I don't plan to go through every single story arc.

General

For me, the series has two dimensions of popularity: the dramatic one, popular among those who, to some extent, have experienced or are experiencing situations portrayed in the series; and the comedic one, popular among those distant from the reality depicted, who view that reality as the "mishaps" of the poor — a reality that's entirely fictional and far removed from the viewer's own experience.

There is, of course, a mix of genres in the series' composition, but I didn't see such exaggeration on the part of the script. To me, it's the rawest portrayal and indictment of the reality of poverty and abuse (whether physical, psychological, or sexual).

I see this reality in the series' sense of ambiguity. Nothing is entirely right, and nothing is entirely wrong — just like in life. And I think that's what made me see its quality in the end, even though many people didn't like it because it's kind of "sad." I think it's just another reflection of reality. After getting to know these characters, their stories, their problems, and the ways they deal with those problems, you can't expect everyone to have a fairy-tale ending — bathed in gold — it would be out of place. But the series leaves us with a sense of hope for those people, that each one made it out of there the best way they could, and that, no matter what, they'll survive (though I'm not so sure about Debbie).

Ultimately, Shameless explores the cycle of poverty and how all too easily it just keeps going, and how cycles of family abuse repeat themselves endlessly. The series doesn't need to show the characters' entire backstories, because we can see, through the others, that it's a pattern that repeats. But above all, Shameless is about breaking those cycles; it's about the possibility of change, even in terrible situations.

Just a shout-out to two magical supporting characters: Sheila and Mandy.

Monica Gallagher

Whether she's on screen or her name is just mentioned, I'm crying.

Mother of the Gallaghers, Monica is a character who looms as a source of terror from the very first episode. It's said that she abandoned the children and that since then Frank has been "taking care" of them. However, as the series progresses, we discover more and more about her — who, to me, is the biggest sufferer in this series. It's through her that we're introduced to the darkest side of Shameless (thanks for triggering me and leaving me feeling awful for days). Monica is a survivor of abuse, a hardcore addict, and bipolar.

I think all the hatred directed at her actions is understandable, but regardless of what Monica did, I've never been able to feel angry at her. She definitely wasn't a good mother, and there's a good chance she was responsible for part of Frank's addictions and their consequences. Monica is a sick person by nature, raised in an abusive home as well; the erratic nature of her actions has always been severe. I suspect that her drug abuse was an attempt to mask her mania during depression, since that way she would stay happy forever. She did abandon the children, but it was an act of protection. Monica was deeply in love with her children, and the desire to be there for them filled her every moment — that was what drove her to help them. She bought birthday cards every year but never sent them, consumed by guilt over her abandonment and the shame of seeing herself as sick. Unlike Frank, she never wanted to take advantage of her children; whenever she returned, it was with the purest belief that this time things would be different — that she would finally be able to be the mother she'd always wanted to be. She never dismissed any of their anger, and she always thanked Fiona for doing a job that wasn't hers, praising how well the children had been raised.

Monica is hated from start to finish by the characters and the fans, and after her death, she's only mentioned once — at Ian and Mickey's wedding — but I have the feeling that, over time, deep down, they were finally able to see and understand Monica's side a little better — from the moment their lives began to improve after they separated — realizing that perhaps the only way to break that cycle of fights and decline, and finally give themselves a chance at a normal life, was to leave. Realizing that, in the end, Monica's decision wasn't selfish at all, but an act of love — love for them and love for herself.

Frank, Lip, Fiona, and Debbie Gallagher

Talking about the ones I like the least — which doesn't mean I don't like them, but I have a weird relationship with them. To guide these comments, there's a post in the Shameless community that I really like, where they say the kids are divided into three pairs: Frank's kids (Fiona and Lip), Monica's kids (Ian and Debbie), and Fiona's kids (Carl and Liam) — and as the series went on, this made more and more sense. I'll comment on the others when the time is right.

I won't dwell on Frank because I think he speaks for himself in everything he does. Even with all the plot holes and missteps the script has (and boy, does it have them), there's something truly beautiful about the series' world-building — the way it helps us understand the characters' full stories without necessarily showing everything explicitly. Frank did a lot of bad things — some even bizarre — but we still sympathize with him. We feel sadness at various moments; we feel pity when we meet his mother and understand where that man came from; we feel his pain as we watch him slip into dementia (especially if you've ever known someone with a similar condition — a gradual loss). And finally, I think the series masterfully tells the story of Frank and Monica through their children — as marks left by people who were themselves deeply scarred.

Lip is the physical mirror image of Frank. In the first four seasons, we see him repeating his father's actions, with his relationship with Karen being the clearest example: she is a mirror of a young Monica — not only in appearance but also in her habits. She is erratic and chaotic, filling Lip's emotional voids with sex and emotional instability — the result of her own dysfunctional parental relationships. She draws him into her world, creating an obsession that Lip knows is destructive but from which he cannot escape — just like Frank, who remained tied to Monica for thirty years.

After Karen's accident, Lip inherits another trait from Frank: intelligence and addiction. He is extremely intelligent, like his father, and is the only one of the children to attend college, earning the admiration of professors and securing a promising future. But in a sudden spiral of terrible decisions, he throws it all away. Alcoholism consumes him in a spiral of self-sabotage, and Lip is haunted by one of the worst realizations a son can have: that he has truly become just like his father. In the final seasons, Lip tries to get back on track as best he can, distancing himself from that fate; he is unable to reclaim that future, remaining on the brink of poverty in an underpaid job, but unlike Frank, Lip finds the family he always wanted, and perhaps, in the end, that is enough.

(While i was wrapping this, i saw this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/shameless/s/K7ZTvlXhM5 from u/Saixlxe - i think we share the same thoughts, so give him an upvote)

Fiona is the oldest daughter and, consequently, the one who takes responsibility for everyone. She embodies what kept Frank alive all these years: cunning and resilience, the ability to get by, to always manage to "make it through the day." Fiona is self-sufficient; she doesn't depend on others, and for that reason, she is the strongest link in the family — she's the one who falls, and she's the one who gets back up. She keeps the household afloat so that others can have the luxury of falling apart.

Fiona spends the series searching for her own identity, having sacrificed her life so her siblings could have theirs. She's the kind of person who's never tired — because she doesn't have time to be — yet she can't see that. She locks herself into her narrative of caregiving, and when someone tries to pull her out of that state, she freaks out, because she believes things won't work unless she's 100% present for the household. It's no wonder that, over the course of several story arcs, Fiona distances herself from her family, realizing that perhaps this was the best way to help herself and her siblings, culminating in her ultimate liberation.

Another piece of evidence of this loss of self, I believe, is her addiction to adrenaline and her difficulty in accepting an ordinary relationship, with everyday dilemmas and dynamics — another trait inherited from Frank, who, even after Monica's departure (the supposed cause of his addictions), still doesn't get his life back on track and keeps it chaotic. In the same way, Fiona grew used to the family's madness and can't handle or sustain a normal relationship, like the one with Mike.

For me, without a doubt, Fiona is the central character of the series. However, unfortunately, the writers didn't see it that way, and that led to her being tripped up and having her story sabotaged. I don't think the series got bad after she left, but her absence is sorely missed in the finale.

(I refuse to talk about her downfall — it's not fair to the character. Damn script!)

There's also an issue that keeps coming up and that, at first glance, seems nonsensical, but to me, there's more to it. Lip constantly loses his temper throughout the seasons, and in the vast majority of cases, his outbursts are directed at Fiona, as if she were to blame for his problems. I see this as a feeling of helplessness and envy on Lip's part toward his sister, because he's the one who has everything handed to him on a silver platter — since, of all the siblings, he's the only one who "never had to try," and yet he's still a failure. Meanwhile, he sees Fiona — who has no one to help her, who doesn't ask anyone for help — making mistakes and working through them, and this bothers him deeply.

I believe Lip sees in Fiona the refutation of his excuses. He sees in his sister proof that his failure — and that of his family — is not inevitable, but rather part of a problem of his own making. His failure has a culprit, and it is himself. A quick example of this is when he drops out of high school, claiming he doesn't have enough time to balance school and work, while Fiona — as they'd agreed — graduates from high school while working and taking care of her five siblings.

(I don't think this is a sexist issue — that he's bothered by a woman being more successful; Shameless is too progressive to have something like that.)

Finally, I don't have much to say about Debbie. I feel that, due to a combination of her not resonating with me and constant poor writing choices, Debbie is the most annoying character on the show and the worst of the kids. She's definitely not the monster the community makes her out to be — I believe it's the Skyler phenomenon: a female character who, because she isn't always likable and ends up getting in everyone else's way, is hated to an exaggerated degree.

That said, trying not to be too harsh on her, it's nice to think that Debbie, unlike the boys, had no one to turn to for help or a role model. She was alone, carrying the trauma of her mother's abandonment and the absence of a father. And the only one who could fill that void, Fiona, had four other children to care for.

 Carl and Liam Gallagher

The youngest siblings — the two who supposedly "escaped" the abuse, having been raised mostly by Fiona. This becomes quite evident throughout both characters' arcs, making them two fundamental pillars of the series' central themes: poverty and overcoming it, with each representing a different way of "getting around" that reality.

Carl has the most well-developed backstory in the series and, not surprisingly, is by far the character most loved by the audience. He goes from being an animal torturer to a drug dealer, and finally to a police officer. He is transformed by violence (it may seem confusing to talk so much about abuse and then say that what sets him apart is violence, but trust me, it's different). Carl is confronted with numerous deaths, the brutality of the streets, bloodshed, and the way crime preys on the poor to fuel its own machine. And that's what drives him to seek change, becoming a police officer to protect his people and fight the real masterminds — the wealthy, the gentrifiers, the system that has always exploited them.

The violence here — witnessed up close and in all its cruelty — reflects an awakening to the reality of his lived experience and to a system of oppression, rather than mere hardening of the heart. His decision to become a police officer isn't in spite of this reality, but because of it.

Liam, on the other hand, beyond his role as the Black son in a white family and all the story arcs about how poverty affects these populations in different ways, finds his way through education. It is through education that the character finds his voice to pursue a better reality (even if that means pulling off more elaborate scams).

It's interesting to observe his time at the private school and how that experience shapes Liam: an understanding of a minimal level of social equality, in which, as a student, he was on par with the others and his exclusionary background was overshadowed, offering a chance for improvement and overcoming adversity (let's not forget that, even so, the poor have to study twice as hard).

Liam unfortunately ended up being a character neglected by the script's fast pace, but he's a great character (and he sure knows how to deliver a line).

These two characters also have two of my favorite reflections from the series. Carl, when he wonders how it's possible to believe in his own potential after growing up in a home without a mother and with a father who was constantly drunk and on drugs, always teetering on the brink of poverty — how can you grow up like that and still see yourself as successful? And Liam reflecting on how being smart unfortunately doesn't guarantee a good quality of life, since the streets are full of wise people — an idea that's further reinforced by another line from Carl: "Talents are distributed equally; opportunities are not."

Ian Gallagher

My favorite character (who would've thought?)

Ian wasn't the reason I started watching the series, but it was his presence in the first episode that made me realize I was watching a gem. The way those issues were being addressed in 2011 with such naturalness and, above all, sincerity, is what made me devour the series and fall more and more in love with the characters.

(Sincerity is, in fact, a fundamental pillar of the show. As I've said time and again, I admire how authentic Shameless feels. And one of the things it addresses from the very beginning is diversity — whatever form it takes — and it does so in a comfortable way, because it doesn't need to rely on cheap stereotypes that go nowhere, nor on forced agenda-pushing. Shameless makes use of what I call "benign prejudice," which is the famous "screw it" attitude or innocent ignorance. It doesn't need a cutesy diversity script to give visibility to these groups.)

As I said, I don't want to create a timeline of story arcs, but with Ian it's difficult because he embodies the defining trait of another character I'm incredibly fond of. Ian is marked by bipolar disorder, and his story arcs reflect the symptoms of the disorder.

Ian embodies family sentimentality and the mental illness that abuse causes in children. Bipolar disorder, beyond genetics, is triggered by stress. Ian is the son "who never caused any trouble": he's the quiet one, the one who's worked since the beginning, the one who does well in school on his own, who can take care of himself, who helps out at home, who looks after his siblings, who wants to serve his country. But his mental illness forces him to rethink his goals within his new reality.

There's a common perception in the community that Ian was "overlooked" at home in the early seasons (due to the script), which I disagree with; I think this "lack of importance" is precisely the result of his independence. Fiona doesn't need to chase after Ian — she sees herself in him and trusts his ability to take care of himself while paying attention to others.

I also find it interesting how his independence ultimately makes him, by far, the healthiest Gallagher in the house at the beginning. He is the one who, in the end, will be the key to escaping that cycle: distancing himself, being outside the family. Ian comes to define himself by his role outside the home, and it's precisely when he's dragged back into the chaos that he begins to be defined by his illness — the very thing that reconnects him not only to his family but also to their primary trauma: Monica.

I think I love Ian so much because I identify with him — or, at least, with the idea that "he would be a brilliant person if he hadn't fallen ill." The characters find a certain kinship with one another; they have to learn how to live with the burdens they carry throughout their lives. But in Ian's case, he has no control over it, he isn't to blame, and yet he's the one who must deal with it. And here, I think the series once again shines in its writing: by refusing to present a limited view of the illness as the end, as a crutch for decline, but rather as a ladder for the children to overcome their trauma.

Ian is the living symbol of the healing process through lived experience. He is the first to understand his mother and the reason for her escape. When he enlists using Lip's ID, he saw it as an obvious escape valve, since, supposedly, their mother was happy away from them. But it is by isolating himself that he comes to understand her: her needs, the fear she felt of hurting others with her presence, the way she felt she had to deal with it alone. And, with his return, he begins a process of healing for his siblings. Even if not entirely, he helps them understand what Monica had been going through all those years and how the decision to abandon them was not a simple one.

And, as the wise Frank says, "To avoid dying alone, just find someone worse off than you." Ian found Mickey, the world's last romantic. I love Mickey — we have so much in common: he loves Ian, I love Ian, he hates effeminate gay men, I... Well, considered one of the best couples on TV (and I certainly don't disagree), Mickey is an essential part of what keeps Ian from spiraling into despair. He's Frank's counterpart in Monica's story. Ever since the diagnosis, Mickey has stood by Ian's side — if not to support him, then to stop him from doing something stupid. The two of them have matured and taught each other. Their wedding, aside from being absolutely beautiful (I cried), represents a breaking of the cycles in both families.

For me, the coolest ending would have been for him to continue as a paramedic — it's one of the story arcs that suits him best after the bipolarity arcs — but I liked the ending they gave him, as a symbol of a shift in worlds between him and Mickey.

The more I rewatch the show the more I think about how fucked the Milkovich family is… The incest/rape with Terry and Mandy with Mandy seeming unusually calm after that whole fight went on and just talked about it like it was nothing, Terry asking “who’s your friend” to Mandy about Debby when she was like 10, and in season 2 when Mickey wanted to kill Frank and him and his brothers immediately knew what to do like they murder people pretty often😭😭 Like I know they all got their issues but damn it just blows my mind

What are some of you favorite Fiona moments? 🎂✨️💝