Season 7 was where I view the show comes to its natural conclusion. Debbie was able to find a steady career to help support her and her baby. Ian was able to get ahold of his bipolar and find a stable job that he truly cares about. Carl was able to evolve from a child with sociopathic tendencies to someone who has found a purpose in life with the military. Lip is truly working to get ahold of his alcoholism and try and go back to school when he is stable. And Fiona was able to find a potential way out of the neighborhood while still supporting her family. This here is my true ending of Shameless
@@1367DammanKOI truly don’t understand how Lip’s arc is the most disliked, it’s an absolutely perfect portrayal of wasted potential held back by himself and his past. That scene in the last episode when he’s a delivery driver and fixes somebody’s computer problem and then is immediately dismissed sums it up perfectly. I truly think a lot of the fanbase wanted the Gallaghers to end up filthy rich and happy and happily ever after the end, they’re just too embarrassed to admit that so they’ll talk about vague ‘bad writing’ as if they hadn’t praised the show for being ‘realistic’ for years
@@1367DammanKO This! Was it a perfect ending? No, but I did really enjoy it cause it made a really good job ar portraying that life is not static. Was Tami pregnant? Who knows. Will Lip ever find a job to fullfil is true potential? who knows. Will Ian a Mickey ever find the way to become parents? Who knows. Will Debbie find a healthy relationship? Who knows. We'll Carl become te new owner of the Alibi? Who knows. Every character had some unfinised bussines in the finale, they all had maybes and wants to resolve cause THAT'S life, it does not end once everyhing his neatly wrapped and has come to an agreable conclusion. Life keeps going and sometines what seemed to be already finished bussines can come undone and force you to figure yourlsef and you life up all again.
I gotta agree I just finished my first rewatch and I probably tweeted as if the show was ending three times and I meant it most in season 7 lol. Just wanted it to end but I knew i had four more seasons to drag through
I’m like the only one who actually likes Debbie aren’t I? In the earlier seasons, I related a lot to her because I grew up around kids, working in childcare with my mom, babysitting, taking care of my younger siblings, often being the older kid in charge of the younger ones When I was 12 or 13, I had a brief phase where I got obsessed with wanting to be a parent, and had I known what sex was at the time, I might’ve actually gone down that road, so it wasn’t a huge surprise to me when Debbie’s storyline went in that direction This isn’t to say that I condone her actions at all, in fact, a lot of the times I was mad because of how she behaved, but she was handed such a bad hand in life that I can totally see how she got to that point This isn’t an excuse, but it’s more of an explanation I also have a theory that Debbie inherited some sort of mental illness as well I see a lot of bipolar traits in her, as well as borderline personality disorder She’s got a lot of impulsivity, is able to switch her emotions and behavior on a dime, and gets super attached to people super quickly She’s crushed whenever she feels that someone she’s grown attached to screws her over, like Frank, Monica, Fiona, her many partners over the show, and she has a hard time keeping these relationships going because of her bursts of impulsivity and bad choices She’s a lot like Frank, and I think that’s something to note One of the kids was bound to end up like him, and it happened to be Debbie Given how attached she was to him as a child and teen, she absorbed a lot of his behavior and traits into herself (and my theory about her having a mental disorder also plays into this) She mimics Frank’s tactics of getting money and pity, like trying to marry Neil (the disabled man she was a caretaker for), running a baby supplies theft ring for a bit, panhandling with Franny, and seeking out ways to fulfill herself over the others She also mirrors Fiona a lot, especially her earlier behavior in the show Debbie, like Fiona, has a string of failed relationships, and usually, they were ruined because of her own self destruction She tries to run the house like Fiona used to, and I think her controlling tendencies were a mix of her own desires, and trying to “fix” where Fiona had flaws Granted, Debbie didn’t do a very good job at this and screwed over her family members She’s absolutely flawed, like the rest of them, and her flaws are more glaringly obvious because of the writing choices made, but I still really liked her character, even though I totally get why everyone hates her- She’s not the easiest character to like at all
Finally someone else sees it! Not saying I like her but her awful behavior didn’t come out of no where. I knew she got pregnant before I watched the show, and when she was left alone with Ethel and Svetlana and spent several days of her life babysitting it was pretty obvious what she was going to do when she felt like she fell in “love”
As a character i like her, as a person i hate her, shes a realistic potrayal of the worst person you can be under that environment. There's always a debbie in a poor households.
i completely agree with how they had Lip’s college experience play out bc it is so realistic. when youve lived in poverty all your life and you see all the wealth on a college campus…Class shock is real, and disorienting. I was blown away by the amount of money I saw on campus. Kids in Mercedes and Audi’s who had full meal plans to eat three times a day! but who opted for off campus food instead! they got an allowance from family to buy things and took unpaid internships bc they didn’t need the money… it was so humbling and also depressing
I relate to your comment and Lip's experience so much! I got a scholarship to a private university. I grew up very poor with neglectful parents. I got to college and was surrounded by pampered kids who had never known want or hunger. The very idea was unfathomable to them. The culture shock I experienced coming out of poverty was pretty stark. I resented so many of my peers. They had no idea how good and easy their lives were.
I relate to Lip a lot. I was pressured into going into college when I really didn't want to go. In the end, dropping out worked out for me. I have a full-time job with full benefits now. College doesn't always guarantee success.
Absolutely this. I’m heading into my sophomore year of college this fall and my freshman year was a total shock. I live in the inner city, I grew up poor, raised by immigrant parents, and by the time I’d graduated high school, my graduating class lost around 12 students due to gang violence. Now imagine the shock I felt when I went to the state university, was surrounded by wealthy peers who grew up higher-middle class suburbia driving their Jeeps, Audis, Mercedes, BMWs, and even the latest model of luxury Ram and Ford pickup trucks (that arguably probably have never seen a day of work in their lives besides driving to Top Golf); spending money like it’s nothing. Rushing a fraternity was also quite disorienting, it felt like every other guy rushing had connections and through those connections, was able to land a bid. I had to start from the bottom and work my way up. Not to mention, now that I’m in a fraternity, it’s insane how many guys’ parents pay their dues and give them allowances. Meanwhile, here I was sacrificing free time working to make ends meet. Don’t even get me started on the gentrification of the town adjacent to the university. Entire blocks where cheaper and affordable older houses and apartments once stood has now been bought up and torn down by developers to make room for massive apartment complexes with rent that only students with wealthy parents can afford (there’s no way anyone’s making rent working part time). Because entire blocks have been swallowed up by these giant blocky modern apartment buildings, the rent of older homes and apartments has gone up.
I grew up poor, and oldest daughter who took on a lot of responsibilities like Fiona but I was also the "smart one" like Lip. So when I got to college, it was a major shock. I went to a private Christian school and the wealth disparity was gross. I ended up rooming in a triple that year, one roommate from home, one who lived in state who got to go home every weekend. I knew a classmate who had their car shipped from HAWAII. It was insane. Like Lip, I flunked out, not because I couldn't do it, but because I didn't care anymore and became an addict. I'm 5 years sober now.
Lip was my favorite character in the first few seasons then carl in the later ones when he entered military school… Lip had the better chance to get out of their toxic lives … both had people who gave a positive influence and offered help for Carl it was dominique’s dad and Lip who had more than one ( his guidance counsellor in HS, the professor from the SATs, Professor youens and possibly amanda’s dad if he continued dating her) the difference between them is that carl listen to good advice and knows what he wants he more disciplined and focused in accomplishing is goals. If Lip had half of his IQ but was focused and disciplined, as carl he would had a better life.
Not that I’m saying anything unpopular, but I really love Ian and Mickey. Those actors just grew so well into those characters; their chemistry held up the final seasons and radiates through the screen.
There had to be one sibling with a consistent (if messy) relationship for us to root for. And for me, mickey made Ian way more likeable. I love cameron monaghan but Ian as a character always bored me by himself.
she was my favorite character but they handled the last part of her arch incredibly badly in my opinion. like I absolutely hated that she was turned into a compulsive cheater. yes, she was always a woman who liked to have sex, but there was nothing about her that would imply that once she has a great partner she would just throw it all away to hook up with his brother. it didn't make sense and it just seemed like they wanted to make her suffer again.
Except for season 7-8. Fiona was real cunty the whole time then. No reason for her to start acting all “fed up” with her damn siblings when she signed up to be their guardian and fought for custody. And she still fucked up. And then acted like everyone was out to get her and the world owes her shit because of taking care of the kids when yes it was dropped on her when she was you her but she had the opportunity to go be her own person when those kids went to foster homes. But no she won custody and then acted like she doesn’t have to worry about shit once Liam had coke and she fucked up her probation. She literally signed up for 50% of the bullshit she put up with after gaining custody, and 45% of it happened BECAUSE she decided to go on the most destructive path she could possibly go down and act like everyone owes her a favor. No one owed anything to anyone in this show. That’s what family is. You just do shit because your family. And I’m mainly talking about all the kids and Fiona. But she tried to play victim half the damn time when shit happened because of shit SHE did. The only thing I can argue had nothing to do with her or her choices, was frank telling her Shawn was still using and it ruined the wedding. THATS IT. Out of season 7-8 that is the only thing that happened where she couldn’t control the result because of her drinking or fucking around with the wrong people and making dumb choices.
This is the story of poverty. It's generational. It's extremely hard to escape. It's traumatizing, unregulated, untreated mental warfare. It's barely surviving your entire life and passing that to your children who quite literally have never known anything better.
Unpopular opinion, but Fiona was Frank’s favorite child. There’s two times where Frank is in a near death experience and it’s Fiona who he thinks of. The first instance is the one mentioned in the video where Frank thinks the little girl is Fiona, then at the end of series before Frank dies he is just wondering around Chicago and all the places he goes to are related to Fiona (Patsy’s restaurant, the apartment building she owned). In his most vulnerable moments it’s Fiona he thinks of. Not to mention the few times Frank has referred to Fiona as being beautiful.
That little girl gave up her last moments to comfort a piece of garbage that didn't deserve that beautiful angels time at all it was absolutely heartbreaking she was there in that situation without her father but frank didn't deserve that girls final moments it was hard to watch
I mean she was his first child. The memory he experienced with the girl in the hospital was him feeling guilty for leaving her at the park. He loved Monica and prolly was really excited the first time he heard she was pregnant, maybe thinking having Fiona would change him and Monica…but sadly she couldn’t
Personally, Ian and Monica were great representations of bipolar disorder, Debbie is insufferable and the one who became the most like Frank, and Mickey and Kev are the best characters. Terry is definitely the worst morally, but I find his scenes hilarious most of the time. 😂
Yeses they definitely leaned in too much into the "lip becomes his father kinda" and if they had just let go of that they would've seen that Debbie was truly like frank, even though frank says she is the most like Monica, like ironically she's the most like himself.
I can’t get over how unfair it is for there to be any Fiona hate… by the time we meet this family Fiona is the only reason they are still alive - she assumed responsibility for her siblings and she loves them, but they are absolutely not her responsibility. She gave up her entire youth and her parents sabotaged her along the way and she will never get those years back.
The only people that hate Fiona are Lip stans, and the majority of Lip stans are people who watched the Bear before watching Shameless, and those people first saw Jeremy Allen White in those Calvin Klein ads. That’s all I have to say about that
The only issue I have with Fiona is that she abandoned Liam. She is his legal guardian, and she just leaves him. The rest are grown, but he's only like 11 I think. I felt so bad for him when Lip wanted to sell the house, and he's trying to find a place to stay. I don't understand why people hate her, but I do understand why some people aren't a fan. I think the show fumbled her exit with not taking Liam with her to start a new life.
@@colehenry7166 that's because the actor for Liam wanted to stay, but Emmy (Fiona) left because they wouldn't pay her what she was asking for. As Macy (Frank) was being paid waay more than her. So, she dipped and said see ya!
@aliceinchainsburns08 that's totally fair for her to leave. My gripe isn't with the actor so much as the writers mishandling a characters exit. To clarify, I'm not a Fiona hater, I quite enjoy her character but I feel the show forgot about Fiona being legal guardian. It would have been very easy for Fiona to leave signed documents to transfer guardian ship over to lip. It's a plot hole I feel sours the character as she exits. I do agree that Fiona gets way to much hate for stupid reasons
@@shikara24my lord, was that a string of assumptions in a row 😂 there has been a Lip v Fiona debate in the fanbase from the beginning and years before The Bear was even thought of. It just sounds like youre projecting a bit. Calvin Klein ads? Youve lost the plot and it sounds like a personal thing
As much as it sucks to see all the characters “regress” or continue the cycle I think that’s what the show was ultimately trying to say. That childhood trauma and constant lack of any parents will permanently fuck someone up, most people don’t ever get over it or break the cycle even when the realize it. Lip consistently getting offers that would dirastically better his life but that his trauma and lack of any actual support and never being shone any ways to cope that are healthy lead him to messing up those life changing offers time after time which is hard to watch as a viewer because we see how smart he is and want him to succeed but reality is most people in his shoes would do the same thing especially with the pressure to “do the right thing and make it out the ghetto”. I always think it’s funny watching back when he gets told by the MIT guy about how he’s gonna end up knocking up some chick cuz he won’t wrap it and being stuck never realizing his true potential, because that happens. Same thing with Fiona people are always calling her a hoe etc but fail to realize she literally had to date and sleep with people as a teenager to pay bills or to get certain things in the house done. Plus between frank and Monica they haven’t seen a single little bit of what a healthy or stable relationship even looks like, leading to her constantly getting with men who are like them like jimmy/steve, Sean, her bosses brother, ford. On top of that she does above and beyond for all her siblings always gets shit on and the 2 times she messes up in the show she does take accountability (far more than the others are willing to do) and still gets ragged on and treated like she’s worse than frank. Debby ends up just like her mother and frank. She will pretty much do whatever and whoever to get what she wants and is the classic case of literally following in her parents foot steps. She lies and takes the money from all the other siblings spends it on herself and literally has frank say he’s never loved her so much as seeing her she shed. Ian is bipolar like monica and we see how that progresses till he ends up in jail, he also like lip,Fiona,and Debby is shown to have lots of sex with different people coming back into play with the lack of parental guidance and never seeing healthy relationships, as much as I love to watch them micky and Ian’s storyline has ALOT of toxic elements that really seem to mirror a lot of the toxic elements of frank and Monica’s. I mean the show even makes it seem like micky marrying svet is what actually triggers his bipolar disorder (granted they story spans the whole show) Carl is a good example of a kid who is left to their own devices and not having any coping skills or anything either turns to violence very young. He actually tries to learn a bit from his parents and siblings mistakes being the only one shown to use condoms, getting tested, even realizing he wasn’t okay with someone making him have sex without a condom and calling it assault (idk why they played that off cuz it straight up was what she was doing) and ends up with multiple children by the end that he doesn’t know about, 2 from Ingrid and then tishs. Even when he tries to break the cycle by going to the military school and becoming a cop he ends up being an absent father to his kids against his own will, once again repeating the cycle. Liam is the only one I’m not sure how to really explain because the series ends before we really get to see him grow up or really develop his own character. I can imagine he would probably turn out similarly to Fiona in that they had a good head on their shoulder and were smart kids but getting abandoned by everyone in his life, his mom died, frank dies, Fiona leaves, and at the end they are selling the house and it’s not really clear where Liam is even going or with who. It’s also shown he does have concern about this when he asks where he is gonna go and says everyone is leaving him in the show. I think the constant abandonment would lead him down the same road as Fiona that they will be unstable and have unstable relationships but later in life they will find their own place. Basically all this was me saying that as disappointed as I was watching them make bad choices or be bad people looking at it fully they are doing exactly what broken people with no parents that had to raise themselves would do and I think the show does a great job of showing that and the full extent of how that really does effect someone for the rest of their lives.
I agree. Lip being a genius, but “trapped” due to childhood trauma is very realistic. My father had genius level intelligence (IQ 147). He was born to immigrants, didn’t speak English until he was 7, was left in an orphanage at 4, was in foster care with amazing parents until 12, when his father took him back - he had the best intentions, but it blew up the first stability these kids had ever had. Today at 74, he is an alcoholic, with undiagnosed ADHD, and probably narcissistic personality disorder. His brother, only 18 months older than him, was even more intelligent and a talented artist, died of AIDS at 50 after 30 years on heroin. My father had no tertiary qualifications, but is a jack of all trades, he can rebuild any engine, build you a house or a car, plumber, electrician, engineer, carpenter. He spent 30 years at sea, can navigate by the stars, drive or sail any kind of water craft in wild conditions (been shipwrecked 4 different times from storms at sea, twice rescued by the navy). Like lip, his happily ever after is being married for 35 year and counting. He really has no concept of family, but has stuck it out as best he can. It’s not very glorious, but maintaining a middle class suburban life - like Lip in the end - is slaying a dragon. It’s an achievement that overcame insurmountable odds to achieve, even though it’s most people’s starting point. Doesn’t make for a very glamorous story, but it’s real. Lip keeping a job, maintaining a relationship, and being a present father to his kids is slaying a dragon.
I agree 100%! That's exactly how I see the show. And I think that's what makes it great. It's a different perspective and shows a reality for many people that others ignore. Narcissistic people don't change, bipolar disorder doesn't go away either. Psychological trauma affects people for the rest of their lives, and bad choices and decisions often have irreversible consequences. This is the reality for many people.
Hey, I love what you wrote and just wanted to add that Lip took Liam to his new home. There's a small part in the episode when they are selling the home. Liam is panicking and trying to figure out what he's gonna do and Lip says dude im so sorry If it wasn't obvious but you're def coming with me.
To be fair, if that was the point, the show could have ended in a high note instead of slowly becoming less and less interesting. If at the end of the day, the message is that this follows you the rest of your life, and hardly anyone gets out of it, then repeating it over and over serves no purpose other than milking the cash cow. We got it the first 20 times, another 30 wont make it better, in fact it makes it worse. Season 4 was a perfect place, plenty of characters had fallen in and out of the cycle, it was the dramatic peak, any point after that and it slowly becomes tedious to see the same thing over and over again.
My favorite thing about the original uk version compared to the us version is that the Gallagher kids grow and recognize how toxic the family is and they LEAVE and make something for themselves. After a time it got tedious watching the American Gallaghers fall into the same patterns of self sabotage
@gravityfalls1826 thank you. And an extra thank you for being kind and answering even if he did mention it later in the video. So double thanks for your kindness as well. I wish you a good day/evening :)
"We all knew Ian was going to end up with Mickey eventually after being absent" Oh boy. We did NOT. Cameron wanted to quit and for a moment he did but they decided to bring Mickey back last minute (hence the prison together) and the rest is history. Season 7 was supposed to be a glimpse into the past and then we move on forever but... Yeah. All in all we were in the TRENCHES for many, many dry years
Still can’t believe how dirty the writers did to both Fiona and Emmy, is like she never existed after her exit. I stopped watching after season 7, but did came back for Emmy’s last episode, the Gallavich wedding and the finale, the disservice of Fiona was hard to watch, is like the writers took really personally that Emmy decided to leave, all we got from her is that she joined a dating reality show, what a joke. Ian gets married and we do not hear from either Fiona or Mandy. Last episode did not feel like one either.
They should have made her run off with Jimmy/Steve/Jack. It would have made more sense to run off with her thief of a true love and not check in with family that much
Great video. And I also love Mickey so much because he is so effed up but caring & honest. He is trying to break cycles but they are hard to break. I like Ian & Mickey as characters because they aren’t the media go to gay caricature. And I like that they didn’t have Frank become sober or have atonement with the kids because he never but that work in. It shows how with addiction it pulls you back in & sometimes the people you hurt will walk away. I like that they gave the story of falling into alcoholism and working towards a sober life with Lip. Lip is that “Gifted” that falls down in adulthood. The show also portrays how you can’t force someone into treatment with Lip & Ian. And the people around you balancing out helping and not enabling.
I'm sure I'm not the first person to have this opinion, but I feel like Shameless ended when Fiona left, and the subsequent seasons were more like a spin-off series. The younger Gallagher kids were not made to be tragic characters in the same way the older ones were. As a result they didn't have that experience handling the heavier more grounded storylines like Ian or Fiona, and as a result their plots felt more bombastic and over the top. Oz had the same issue in their last two seasons, in which they said all the stories they needed to say up to that point and everything just felt like shock value after season 4
i'm so sorry but since i stopped watching after s8 so i had no idea frank died and when you said he up and died of covid of all things i choked on my food laughing 😭 was NOT expecting that
Love this show. I’ve binged it about 500 times. I love all the characters. You’re spot on about Lip. Lip is smart, but he has a superiority complex… especially when he got sober. He’s one of those recovering addicts who is suddenly on a high horse simply because he’s sober… lecturing and judging everyone else.
“I’m not sure if Emmy Rossum won any awards for this show” but with all due respect, a simple Google search would answer that question and improve your narration, but that’s the one note I have for you as you continue to grow in your content creation
Tbh I feel it’s actually quite a unique yet ironic position Fiona and Lip are in. Both had their respective positions in the house hold as the substitute mother due to being the eldest Fiona and the smart gonna be successful one day Lip actually wish they had each-others roles. Despite them being put in the roles they received due to their birth placement in the family I think they both actually are better and more suited for each-others roles. Like sure Lip threw away his “potential for success” but then actively became the parent the family needed the only imo really good parental figure that came out of that family beyond compare. He is so capable of handling and taking care of the family and kids which it’s not like Fiona didnt but she clearly struggled. Plus due to the trauma she received from it she naturally wanted out of that position and role (it no longer being suited for her) and in turn she strives for success. It’s a very ironic but imo quite fitting dynamic of the siblings having roles they try so desperately to stray away from and actively attempt to do the other ones role themselves without truly being self aware that is what they are attempting to do. ‘Mother’ Fiona eventually goes away cause she’s no longer needed and can’t strive for the role she WANTS and is suited for as a successful businesswoman if she sticks with her family and Lip actively doesn’t wish to be the success story to the point of always retreating back to his family/position as a Gallagher. But in doing so he is actually okay and fine with being in a guardian/parent esc role for the younger Gallaghers, his own child and the leader of the family unlike Fiona who eventually couldn’t cope and wanted to branch away. Like as if he’s content with his life having value through someone else’s success rather than him striving for it himself with all that pressure built on him to not fail. Whilst Fiona just truly could no longer live tied to her family nor live in a world where she felt like nothing more than fill in mum for a fucked up family, her constant retreat to them and her bad habits always ended up making her miserable in some way or another so she had to just break away from the excuse/influence of the Gallaghers. Sorry for the yapping but I just find it interesting how the two eldest really tried so hard to step away from their assigned roles in the family and ultimately choose the one the other had. Frankly makes you wonder if there would’ve been the same outcome for each-other just opposite IF Fiona was born second. Would she have been successful if the eldest become parent role didn’t apply to her initially? Or do you think she would’ve been very similar to Lip and try to actively step away from the expectations of being “the one to get away” by the family? Just food for thought. Also also side note, I see a direct parallel also with Debbie and Carl where Debbie was the goody golden child (always sweet and helping out) and Carl was the trouble maker for a good while but yet grown up Debbie acts the most like a fucked up Gallagher and Carl is a cop of all things/the best one to come out of the family imo. Another interesting coincidence yet I don’t really like using it as an example because I felt that was just bad writing for Debbie’s teenage/adult arc on their part rather than any accidental genius or ironically tasteful development.
Honestly I think it was awesome! Most expected Carl to become like his mom and dad and debbie to have it together but in the end Carl overcame his struggles and became a better person while debbie always used her struggles (teen mom and lack of parents) to excuse or downplay her choices so all in all she is continuing the cycle even her last girlfriend was the cycle her kid taking a backseat to sex and an afterthought going to Texas. Honestly from someone who comes from an addict family it shows all the outcomes! Lip is the one who is full of potential but his upbringing keeps him in held back. Fiona is the kid who becomes the parent to her siblings and her parents and in the end she raised her kids her whole life and now she can not be in their life or around because she will be put and put herself back in that Role so she had to leave. Ian was in the trenches but could have more of a childhood so he even tho he had issues he still could cope he was perfect for mickey he can take all of the curve balls. Debbie was fully parented by fiona and lip she did not have the worries and could just be the kid she saw her parents scew ups but the mess was cleaned up by lip and fiona so never saw how much it impacted the family while she did better is continuing the cycle of her parents, someone else can fix her screw ups. Carl is the dark horse he had the positive parenting from fiona and lip but he went down the wrong road for a bit and then corrected he is the only one with a stable job and a good head on his shoulders. Leium is the saddest story arch in the whole show. He lost his bio mother and father his sibling parents (while lip is there he is raising his bio kid so leium took a backseat) he had no where he could feel truly wanted just always a tag along. I really wish that Kevin and V would have stepped up and took him with them! Kevin would have his son and V has been there his whole life and when he recognized himself as a person of color took him under her wing. While most may have missed it in the end leium wasn't taking on frank (after dementia) because he had to he was seeking love of a parent. Even the little bit frank could give.
I really wished they killed off frank in the earlier seasons, like most of the times his hijinks were not related to the rest of the family and he was just annoying to watch,he’s not likeable at all and as a villain he’s boring and predictable, on a recent rewatch I skipped most all of the scenes with him
I hated him too and i think it was perfect to die because of liver failure. And the fact that he got a liver in the end was very unrealistic. The scenes whit the doctor I skip them all. Tnx to Netflix
This is definitely a realistic show. This is generational trauma. The uk version in my opinion is too optimistic. Coming from someone who’s been around multiple family’s that had drug issues and or mentally unhealthy parents. They can see how messed up it is but they find comfort together in the mess. Only Fiona found her way. Realistic in my opinion.
I know people hate Jimmy and his writing was really all over the place but I did feel bad for him when he was reeling from his dad being gay and everyone dumps on him for it, that’s not really my issue, my issue is he *was* going to apologize for bringing it up so much - when they were digging up Aunt Ginger - but Fiona - understandably I will admit - pushes him away when all he wanted was to feel like they were equal in the relationship. Also I can’t help but see Kev as an R rated Van from “Reba” as they’re not only played by the same guy but they’re both equally stupid.
Lips character is almost a perfect reflection of so many impoverished gifted ppl. After everything you go thru there is no good conclusion. Your just around
Lip telling V to let Fiona hit rock bottom will always bother me. Because she was hard on him when he was dealing with booze but she never stopped trying to help, typically if you let someone hit rock bottom it’s because all attempts at help have failed. But no one showed her any real support they berated her everytime and the moment someone (V) showed some real support lip shut it down. My headcannon is that Fiona didn’t leave just to start over but because she realized if she’s gonna be alone she may as well try and build a new support system.
my biggest issue with this show is the inability of the writers to handle all the serious topics they add into the show. if they didnt take a "lets throw X trauma into the show just to see if it sticks" approach the show wouldnt have fell apart so bad. like we literally have debbie take over as caretaker when shes a convicted pedophile, a date rapist and a worse mom than fiona ever was and the show writers just dont care? or like lips gf at the end of the show having a big reveal that she was groomed by a teacher that amounts to her going "wow i was an innocent girl and he took advantage of me" while lip kind of grins about it lmfao and like this all happens in a single 30 minute c plot in the 4th to last episode. they never try to touch ian being transphobic as a gay man after setting that up. like its literally the opening of the powerpuff girls where he adds CHEMICAL X but instead its a bunch of overpayed writers adding "pepper" from the wrong side of the dump opener on the can.
i didn't know what to feel about fiona around the middle seasons but by 11th season i really really wanted her back with them... i really wanted a happy family... i really wanted them to live near each other... man i want closure.. i really hope they all had better lives now...
One reason why S1 one was probably so great is because it already had some building blocks from Shameless UK to work off from. S1 in the US version practically has the same storylines as UK S1.
Once Fiona left I dont think I enjoyed any of the seasons after. Rossums portrayal of her, for me, was the show. The family's treatment of her made it impossible for me to root for any of them again
Just found this channel and lemme just say your channel is one of my favorites for commentary! Found you from your All American video and lemme tell you this channel is gonna blow up. Keep crushing it!
I can't speak on anyone else, but I know from my own personal experience that breaking the cycle of self sabotage is extremely difficult. I see a lot of myself in Lip and I'm currently at a point in my life where I feel I'm at my lowest. Digging yourself into that hole is easy when you've already been put into that hole. My only saving grace is my best friend. She's the one who takes the shovel from my hands. I'm stuck with my situation and my whole childhood I was told that I was smart, that I was gifted. I didn't have a goal in mind for a career, so I just threw myself into college after I graduated only to experience panic attacks every time I went to class, so I just stopped going. I feel like how Lip ended up in his way is just so hard-hitting realistic to me. Disappointing to watch but almost like a cautionary tale for someone like him, like me. I don't have any hope for humanity and it seems like I'm just looking through a tunnel with a dim light at the end. Maybe I can try to accomplish what Lip couldn't and get the hell out, it'll just take a lot of effort to reach that light. Edit side-note: Unpopular opinion, I ****ing hate Frank and I wanted to punch him every time I saw him, he made me physically sick. It's funny how people love and hate him just like they do in the show. I'm just a big hater, lmao
One of the best shows ever made! So real and dark but it balances out with a comedic and wholesome side. Also I love Gallavich so Ian and Mickeys storyline was perfect!
Loved the show but couple thoughts. I was ok with Fiona leaving but Liam was a toddler WTF? I was disappointed Lip didn’t do better in life. He could t get at least a half way decent job. Debbie was horrible I mean horrible. She was hard to watch. Ian and Mikey truly made the show. The last season with selling the house and how Lip messed that up but the thing that made me angry was no one thought to reassure Liam that he wasn’t going to be homeless. I also felt like it was an afterthought of Lip telling him “you can live with me.”
Lip had a lot of potential but I think that was the point. He is given a chance over and over again to be better and make a better choice, and he doesn't. I also grew up in a poor neighborhood and I know people that still live there, and not because of a lack of opportunities or connections, they still have the same job etc. they're just stuck.
What I hate about Lip's ending isn't that I expected him to become Steve Jobs or some billionaire, I know that's unrealistic and borderline stupid. I hate that they try to paint him as Frank Jr, when that isn't the case at all. If anything that's Debbie. Debbie, like Frank, is decently intelligent, but too lazy and self destructive to ever do anything meaningful with it except drop some drunk history lessons every once in a while. She's also unbelievably selfish to the point where it even harms herself and refuses to ever take accountability for her actions, like Frank. Debbie and Frank care about no one but themselves, which is absolutely not Lip. Firstly, Lip's far more intelligent than his dad ever was, and no where near as selfish. Going to college mostly because he was pushed into it by friends and family and acting like the second parent to the Gallagher family to help ease Fiona's burdens. Even his alcoholism isn't anything exclusive to Frank, if anything that was probably just a coping mechanism he developed. I hated Lip's ending because it felt insulting to the audience's intelligence, especially after we had watched him fail and push forward for the better part of a decade. Especially after they simply decided not to do anything with his rehab plotline in season 7 and keep him firmly in the ghetto. Which, if anything, was probably more to do with just keeping Jeremy Allen White in the show than any real commentary on the "cycle of poverty". Both Ian and Fiona managed to make it out of South Side, so if anything keeping Lip in the same place just felt like a slap in the face.
I think it’s fitting Frank died of Covid this whole show has always went over different issues going on in America from the gentrification of lower class neighborhoods (something that was actively happening in Chicago) Debbie not having health insurance, teenage pregnancy, drug problems, homeless problem etc etc. to summarize the last few season as getting “woke” is missing the underlying message of the show entirely.
I disagree i think the show was amazing form beginning to end except the ending was severely lacking and anti climactic. I dont really see lips seemingly sudden drop in intelligence as bad writing. It COULD be but i think it makes a little sense seeing as how he spent so much of show not sober and he had to forget about school all together and just work a regular 9 to 5. After he got kicked out of school there really wasn't anything stimulating his brain so he really had no reason to use academic smarts in the later seasons.
Can we talk about how Carl and lip are constantly done dirty with all his ships like some of these choices makes they make is weird Carl constantly getting cheated on is weird lip being self destructive makes sense but the milf relationship ain’t it bro and wait can we talk about the ship with the military girl man was seen as insecure for reason that were valid good gosh bro
No one ever mentions that the Gallagher kids and Frank, not Liam ,are sex addicts. Debbie believes that because her older siblings are sexually active she should be as well. Debbie, having daddy issues is the reason she appeared to be the ultimate dysfunctional sibling IMO. When Fiona took on the parental role she became the middle unseen child. EVERYTHING she did was a look at me, love me girl move. Her character is disgusting she raped Matty, tricked Derrick, and had an affair with her girlfriend’s underage daughter. She made an immature decision to have a baby and expected everyone to be happy to have to feed another Gallagher. She should have seen how hard the struggle of taking care of children without an education and good paying job was for Fiona and became allergic to sex.
I feel like the way Debbie ends up in her teenage years was actually built up and heavily foreshadowed in the first few seasons. I had part of her arch spoiled before I watched the show, and it made it easy to spot all the hints that her personality was going to take a downward spiral due to her environment and the lack of guidance and supervision she had. She was often left alone with bad influences(Ethel,Mandy,Svetlana,her frenemies,Frank), she was a very loving person who became desperate to be loved in return, and every time she did something wrong or got some bad advice(or even good advice with a bad interpretation) no one in her family stepped in to help her. Matt is a pretty good example because everyone lets her spend absurd amounts of time with him then does nothing when they find out he’s a lot older than her. When she assaults him Fiona doesn’t talk to her about it even though she desperately needs to and Lip denies it was assault. Keep in mind, Lip went out of his way to prove some random woman was a p*do preying on young boys, but when his actual siblings are being taken advantage of he does nothing, and tells Debbie men can’t be assaulted. There were plenty of other examples but being left alone with random people, or Frank, and picking up bad habits or ideas seemed to be the norm for Debbie.
Okay I don't like Debbie but I do think as a character she comes from a place where a lot of her shitty actions make sense. Why is she so desperate to sleep with someone at 13? Because that's all she's been told and known; Fiona lost it young and their entire family is open about that side of their lives likely making it feel like something she has to do. Similarly it's all her friends talk about and she has been self conscious about her looks since season 3 ish making it feel like there is a lot more personal weight to losing it before ready because of the product of her community and issues with how she sees herself as the "ugly duckling." We also know Debbie was literally playing mother in some ways for most of her childhood as during the summer she ran that daycare in the home, frankly it's really all she's ever known is that side childcare making her really susceptible to becoming a teen mom due to not understanding the realities of parenthood. She's frankly been surrounded by pregnancy and kids for so long I don't think what it means in reality of being a mother is something she was mature enough to understand and this shows when actually having a baby. Lastly the disabilities and house stuff is Debbie literally mimicking events she saw Frank doing in her childhood; find someone with a nice space and disabled in some way to make it your own. Very similar to what was going in with Sheila and Frank for a long time. And why does Debbie lack remorse, again it's what she's told over and over. Getting bullied, try to drown them. Have your 'boyfriend' get a new girlfriend, harass her. Hell one of her closest bonds when younger was turning to Mandy who hit someone with her car in jealousy and also often lacked remorse. You want to survive here you got to be strong in your convictions and make it work. Many people in these environments end up acting like Debbie; they do think they have things figured out and they do lack remorse in their view of living in constant without the hierarchy of needs not being met. Also some other things; regarding season 4 boyfriend Fiona is a serial cheater. Cheated on Jimmy with her boss-turned-friend when things were looking rough with Jimmy. She cheated on him when not knowing how to cope with a normal family-- but he turned around to blackmail her into continuing sleeping with him as he only tells his brother when Fiona doesn't want to do that. She also doesn't really take the drugs given he comes back and kinda just leaves the coke there when she chases him out with a baseball bat. This is all to say Fiona is often well aware when things are going wrong and she is self sabotaging but doesn't know how to stop it. She feels remorse for cheating but can't stop herself, she doesn't want Frank back in her life but can't let go because of her desire to have a family, and she often does things on her own terms before coming to the realization of how it impacts the family. Fiona wants a better life for her siblings but can't because she doesn't know what that actually looks like, and often that comes at the expense of her own self. edit; actually one plot line I think is interesting is how Mickey didn't want Ian to see a doctor for possibly being bipolar because that's just not how they do things there, family is family and that's all you need. Yet Mickey lives with Ian, and sees how it's not only destroying his relationship but ties with everyone else and comes to terms that getting help is the best things that could happen. Telling and get help for others is hard, and Mickey was shown to like parts of Ian's mania but other parts genuinely scared him and what was always more important was that Ian was safe unlike how Monica and Frank work.
As someone who has never watched the show, just mildly curious, and i thank you for this vid it answered a lot of questions I had. I must say, there is a lot more r*pe than I expected.
Lol after season 4 the realism was sacrificed for constant goofy comedy. Peak Shameless was the episode Just Like the Pilgrims Intended, Season 2 episode 11. Peak
@@mawreena- First she went lesbian, second unlike Ian who had a complete finding acceptance of himself being gay. Deb just out of the blue said she was gay after SAing her baby daddy then using the dude in the wheel chair for a meal and house ticket. Thats my point not the most smooth brain take of "Bi people exist".
JIMMY STEVE IS NOT A GOOD GUY! I will die in this hill he could not handle the life Fiona had (literally compares living in her house living to living in slum) and expects her to run everything through him when he entered her life maybe a year or so ago. I think he’s a rich kid who wanted the exciting life but couldn’t handle the people that come with that. He constantly lies and in my opinion only wants to be with Fiona to feel like he living that “crazy” life.
This was my first video of yours and I really enjoyed it! I love video essays and retrospectives and you did a good job of discussing and summarizing this show! One recommendation is to turn the background music down a bit, I found it a little distracting. But overall, GREAT JOB!!
@@MysticalFilmNerd literally. I wish they would’ve kept her sweet, seeing another one of franks kids being disappointed to find out her father is just another deadbeat would’ve been so inline with the story. Her going absolute bonkers just felt like a forced way to get her out.
tbh i prefer seasons 5-8 over seasons 2-3 its not that i hate them but 5-8 just have the more interesting plotlines to me and ngl season 2 is lowkey boing season 4 is easily the best closely followed by season 1
You have no idea as to how thrilled I am to FINALLY see an analysis video on my favorite comfort show of all time, Shameless. I binged watched all 11 seasons religiously, and it's honestly nothing else but a masterpiece. Even after finishing it, I still couldn't fathom over it being done. I watched endless playlists and clips and anything I could find on Shameless, old and new. My favorite character is honestly Mickey. A really consistent character whom rarely ever gets dull. Hell, him being gone every now and then sticks true to the nature of his character. A troubled young man going through alot with a shitty upbringing and difficulties with his own sexuality and others, but still manages to pull through every single time. I'm not gonna ramble on with my own personal analysis or summary on this show, but I'll say this. Each Gallagher, Milkovich, & other characters are still highly synonymous with Shameless. It's fascinating, to say the least and I'm in love with it in every step of the way. I still feel saddened by knowing I may never find another show such as Shameless again. I loved this show, the moment I seen the first episode and have been hooked ever since. The amount of times I laughed and felt impacted by this show is incredible. In my opinion, they should at least do a spinoff for Ian & Mickey. They're the only couple (& homosexual couple) that I actually liked. I used to hate gays (mainly because of not fully understanding as to how a male could be attracted to the same gender and usually stereotyping them as being all the same). However, when I watched Shameless, it gave me a realistic depiction of homosexuality and opened my mind to a new perspective on not only sexuality, but romance in general. I'd recommend Shameless to anyone who hasn't seen it yet. It's a MUST watch. If you have Netflix (where I watched the show from), then what are you waiting for? GET TO EXPERIENCING ONE OF THE BEST PIECES OF FICTIONAL MEDIA PUT ON TELEVISION.
Maybe I’m not getting the point but I don’t get why Fiona was just allowed to leave in season 9 with no repercussions (omitting the fact Emmy Rossum wanted to leave). I’m guessing ages here but Carl is 17ish and Liam is 10ish. Fiona is their legal guardian. She should not just be allowed to leave. It’s a dumb small detail but I would have liked a nod in season 10 to some legal stuff about Fiona’s custody. Idk. I love this show but that detail has always bothered me.
Something that never gets addressed is that if the Gallagher kids have it bad the Milkovichs have it worse. Gallaghers have each other for support, they love each other, and the father (as messed up as he is) will at least occasionally shows some love and support. But the Milkovichs are completely on their own and father is completely abusive in every way possible.
One really good Carl scene you didn't talk about was when he was being robbed at the fast food place and he just had enough and went crazy on the guy after his gun discharged lol. Nonetheless loved the video. Thank you for keeping me entertained this morning lol
Shameless is one of my favorite shows of all time. I watched it for the first time last year and I’ve never been so emotionally invested in a show before. It’s one of a kind and one of the best shows in television history. I love how all the characters are flawed as people, that neither are completely good or bad, they’re products of their environment and it causes them to be, as the name of the show is, shameless. At one point I ever completely loved or loathed the Gallagher kids because they have great and bad qualities that make them so compelling
Ian needed a toxic relationship to thrive. He and Mickey beat on each other constantly,committed crimes together and they call that love. Because they both grew up in muddy water they need muddy water to survive
I changed my mind about debbie. She is the counter characters of lip and fiona. Growing up with parents who are adicts lip and fiona want to do better because they both have to take care of their parents and siblings debbie turns out like the worst parts of the parents becase she always had lip and fiona to care for her she had parents just did not know it
i feel like binge watching vs watching in real time gave you a completely different experience. even tho it def got less interesting im glad they kept going.
Small remark to your otherwise poignant review: You say in the video that Jimmy was always sincere with Fiona. I'd say that he was *acting* sincere, but he was lying and cheating on her all the time. I think they brought him back not to contradict his character but to drive this point home. Everything Jimmy does is just smoke and mirrors and he's a con artist through and through. To me personally, it was actually a welcome catharsis to have the illusion completely shattered.
you did such a good job of conveying the depth of the show, the characters, and their arcs without getting too bogged down in detail. that must've been hard for million season show.
I tend to notice that people who come from and were raised in a similar background tend to love the mid seasons just as much as the early ones while the people who grew up privileged with healthy family dynamics like early seasons, especially 4, while just tolerating the mid to late ones and I think it’s because in seasons 5 through 7, the Gallaghers don’t go through as much trauma and tribulations as they did in seasons 2-4 so to those from better upbringings, it comes off as boring because seeing the struggles of the Gallaghers is merely entertainment to them while for those of us from a harsher background, those darker seasons/moments are an unfortunate part of our realities we don’t wanna see when watching television. To this day, I’ve only watched season 4 ONCE, it’s just too traumatising
I’ve re-watched this show about 6-7 times within the last 2 years and one scene that always stuck with me is when Frank and Debbie go to the hippie camp, and When Debbie is put into labor, she immediately runs to frank and asks him if they can go home, at first Frank simply hits her with the “just thug it out” response, but then Debbie pleads with him “please dad I just wanna go home” and he doesn’t fight her on it, he doesn’t say something to retaliate or even try to make an argument on why they should stay, he just looks at her with full compassion and care and immediately drives her back to the Gallagher house.
Boy seeing this doesn't give me any will to watch further than season 4 (when I stopped) Tbf later seasons only fun character seems to be Carl, I mean his later antics was kinda what got me to try the show (RUclips shorts) and I did enjoy the 1st 4 seasons, but when I watched season 5 epi 1 I felt off and i had it paused. Guess im done with it
They absolutely ruined that show by the end. I'm not one to really call out wokeness, but damn they made some unnecessary choices after like season 6. And killing frank with the coof? Wtf.
To me this show just felt like it was exploiting middle class people’s fantasies of what they pretentiously imagine the lives of poor people are like and there’s so many patronizing tropes utilized throughout the show that stem from its middle class presumptions about lower class life. Couldn’t get passed season two.
Idk but I just feel that I could relate to this show so much right when I first saw it. I was raised by my dad if you want to call it that. I got my first job at 15 to support myself. My dad was never around much. He would tell me to watch his friends kids while we were all upstairs in the apartment together. My mother never wanted to care for me and still doesn’t ever want to be in my life I would say due to mental health issues… I’d say because of all these things, it’s held me back in life and made me who I am today… always struggling. But I love my daughter and even though I only got my GED and work my butt off to not get very far, I’m happy there’s a lot of love in my life.
I'm just about to start S4 with my fiancee that has never seen the show. Watching the Frank S4 clips in this really hits hard, and idk if I'm ready to watch that again-even for the fourth or fifth time now. Gosh, she isn't going to see ANYTHING this season coming... Such a realistic and upsetting season, but such quality TV. The scene where Karen gets Mandy'd in S3 blew her mind 😂 I never watched the seasons after Fiona left, but we'll see how that goes this time, cause we finished all 7 seasons of True Blood and that show goes downhill a lot worse and sooner (but a lot differently).
Fiona left and I felt like the heart left, but I agree the first 4 are the best. Stopped watching after she left, I tried and it just wasnt the same. Lip is my fav, and I like Ian. I literally didn't finish it and I just listened to you say...Frank died of COVID? Really? What a cop out! I hate Debbie, I really do, I never liked her character. I was pissed when they turn on Fiona, I Iike her character and I love V and Kevin❤
Season 7 was where I view the show comes to its natural conclusion. Debbie was able to find a steady career to help support her and her baby. Ian was able to get ahold of his bipolar and find a stable job that he truly cares about. Carl was able to evolve from a child with sociopathic tendencies to someone who has found a purpose in life with the military. Lip is truly working to get ahold of his alcoholism and try and go back to school when he is stable. And Fiona was able to find a potential way out of the neighborhood while still supporting her family. This here is my true ending of Shameless
This is why people can't deal with the ending... ya'll wanted a real story with a fairytale ending and that's not the story being told.
@@1367DammanKOI truly don’t understand how Lip’s arc is the most disliked, it’s an absolutely perfect portrayal of wasted potential held back by himself and his past. That scene in the last episode when he’s a delivery driver and fixes somebody’s computer problem and then is immediately dismissed sums it up perfectly.
I truly think a lot of the fanbase wanted the Gallaghers to end up filthy rich and happy and happily ever after the end, they’re just too embarrassed to admit that so they’ll talk about vague ‘bad writing’ as if they hadn’t praised the show for being ‘realistic’ for years
I honestly kept going just to see gallavich come true they were so dear to my heart.
@@1367DammanKO This!
Was it a perfect ending? No, but I did really enjoy it cause it made a really good job ar portraying that life is not static.
Was Tami pregnant? Who knows. Will Lip ever find a job to fullfil is true potential? who knows. Will Ian a Mickey ever find the way to become parents? Who knows. Will Debbie find a healthy relationship? Who knows. We'll Carl become te new owner of the Alibi? Who knows.
Every character had some unfinised bussines in the finale, they all had maybes and wants to resolve cause THAT'S life, it does not end once everyhing his neatly wrapped and has come to an agreable conclusion. Life keeps going and sometines what seemed to be already finished bussines can come undone and force you to figure yourlsef and you life up all again.
I gotta agree I just finished my first rewatch and I probably tweeted as if the show was ending three times and I meant it most in season 7 lol. Just wanted it to end but I knew i had four more seasons to drag through
Eddie Jackson is the most relatable character on this show. May he rest in peace.
I’m like the only one who actually likes Debbie aren’t I?
In the earlier seasons, I related a lot to her because I grew up around kids, working in childcare with my mom, babysitting, taking care of my younger siblings, often being the older kid in charge of the younger ones
When I was 12 or 13, I had a brief phase where I got obsessed with wanting to be a parent, and had I known what sex was at the time, I might’ve actually gone down that road, so it wasn’t a huge surprise to me when Debbie’s storyline went in that direction
This isn’t to say that I condone her actions at all, in fact, a lot of the times I was mad because of how she behaved, but she was handed such a bad hand in life that I can totally see how she got to that point
This isn’t an excuse, but it’s more of an explanation
I also have a theory that Debbie inherited some sort of mental illness as well
I see a lot of bipolar traits in her, as well as borderline personality disorder
She’s got a lot of impulsivity, is able to switch her emotions and behavior on a dime, and gets super attached to people super quickly
She’s crushed whenever she feels that someone she’s grown attached to screws her over, like Frank, Monica, Fiona, her many partners over the show, and she has a hard time keeping these relationships going because of her bursts of impulsivity and bad choices
She’s a lot like Frank, and I think that’s something to note
One of the kids was bound to end up like him, and it happened to be Debbie
Given how attached she was to him as a child and teen, she absorbed a lot of his behavior and traits into herself (and my theory about her having a mental disorder also plays into this)
She mimics Frank’s tactics of getting money and pity, like trying to marry Neil (the disabled man she was a caretaker for), running a baby supplies theft ring for a bit, panhandling with Franny, and seeking out ways to fulfill herself over the others
She also mirrors Fiona a lot, especially her earlier behavior in the show
Debbie, like Fiona, has a string of failed relationships, and usually, they were ruined because of her own self destruction
She tries to run the house like Fiona used to, and I think her controlling tendencies were a mix of her own desires, and trying to “fix” where Fiona had flaws
Granted, Debbie didn’t do a very good job at this and screwed over her family members
She’s absolutely flawed, like the rest of them, and her flaws are more glaringly obvious because of the writing choices made, but I still really liked her character, even though I totally get why everyone hates her-
She’s not the easiest character to like at all
Finally someone else sees it! Not saying I like her but her awful behavior didn’t come out of no where. I knew she got pregnant before I watched the show, and when she was left alone with Ethel and Svetlana and spent several days of her life babysitting it was pretty obvious what she was going to do when she felt like she fell in “love”
As a character i like her, as a person i hate her, shes a realistic potrayal of the worst person you can be under that environment.
There's always a debbie in a poor households.
Tv shows are going on too long. Its a story and they come to an end, but now we go 10+ seasons for so many shows.
“idk if anyone remembers the jacksons” dw sheila is one of the most universally loved characters from the whole show
And you can't forget the mess of Karen, Lip, and Mandy.
Miss Sheila so much
i completely agree with how they had Lip’s college experience play out bc it is so realistic. when youve lived in poverty all your life and you see all the wealth on a college campus…Class shock is real, and disorienting.
I was blown away by the amount of money I saw on campus. Kids in Mercedes and Audi’s who had full meal plans to eat three times a day! but who opted for off campus food instead! they got an allowance from family to buy things and took unpaid internships bc they didn’t need the money… it was so humbling and also depressing
I relate to your comment and Lip's experience so much! I got a scholarship to a private university. I grew up very poor with neglectful parents. I got to college and was surrounded by pampered kids who had never known want or hunger. The very idea was unfathomable to them. The culture shock I experienced coming out of poverty was pretty stark. I resented so many of my peers. They had no idea how good and easy their lives were.
I relate to Lip a lot. I was pressured into going into college when I really didn't want to go. In the end, dropping out worked out for me. I have a full-time job with full benefits now. College doesn't always guarantee success.
Absolutely this.
I’m heading into my sophomore year of college this fall and my freshman year was a total shock.
I live in the inner city, I grew up poor, raised by immigrant parents, and by the time I’d graduated high school, my graduating class lost around 12 students due to gang violence.
Now imagine the shock I felt when I went to the state university, was surrounded by wealthy peers who grew up higher-middle class suburbia driving their Jeeps, Audis, Mercedes, BMWs, and even the latest model of luxury Ram and Ford pickup trucks (that arguably probably have never seen a day of work in their lives besides driving to Top Golf); spending money like it’s nothing.
Rushing a fraternity was also quite disorienting, it felt like every other guy rushing had connections and through those connections, was able to land a bid. I had to start from the bottom and work my way up.
Not to mention, now that I’m in a fraternity, it’s insane how many guys’ parents pay their dues and give them allowances. Meanwhile, here I was sacrificing free time working to make ends meet.
Don’t even get me started on the gentrification of the town adjacent to the university. Entire blocks where cheaper and affordable older houses and apartments once stood has now been bought up and torn down by developers to make room for massive apartment complexes with rent that only students with wealthy parents can afford (there’s no way anyone’s making rent working part time). Because entire blocks have been swallowed up by these giant blocky modern apartment buildings, the rent of older homes and apartments has gone up.
I grew up poor, and oldest daughter who took on a lot of responsibilities like Fiona but I was also the "smart one" like Lip. So when I got to college, it was a major shock. I went to a private Christian school and the wealth disparity was gross. I ended up rooming in a triple that year, one roommate from home, one who lived in state who got to go home every weekend.
I knew a classmate who had their car shipped from HAWAII. It was insane.
Like Lip, I flunked out, not because I couldn't do it, but because I didn't care anymore and became an addict. I'm 5 years sober now.
Lip was my favorite character in the first few seasons then carl in the later ones when he entered military school…
Lip had the better chance to get out of their toxic lives … both had people who gave a positive influence and offered help for Carl it was dominique’s dad and Lip who had more than one ( his guidance counsellor in HS, the professor from the SATs, Professor youens and possibly amanda’s dad if he continued dating her) the difference between them is that carl listen to good advice and knows what he wants he more disciplined and focused in accomplishing is goals.
If Lip had half of his IQ but was focused and disciplined, as carl he would had a better life.
Not that I’m saying anything unpopular, but I really love Ian and Mickey. Those actors just grew so well into those characters; their chemistry held up the final seasons and radiates through the screen.
There had to be one sibling with a consistent (if messy) relationship for us to root for. And for me, mickey made Ian way more likeable. I love cameron monaghan but Ian as a character always bored me by himself.
They ended up literally being the only reason for me to keep watching
How can people say Fiona is selfish ??? She litteraly sacrificed herself all her life since she was NINE for her siblings and even Frank.
I never thought she was selfish. I thought she should have ran away much earlier.
Everyone thought she was a whore in real life too lol.. I wonder why
Honestly i dont understand her hate ever
she was my favorite character but they handled the last part of her arch incredibly badly in my opinion.
like I absolutely hated that she was turned into a compulsive cheater. yes, she was always a woman who liked to have sex, but there was nothing about her that would imply that once she has a great partner she would just throw it all away to hook up with his brother. it didn't make sense and it just seemed like they wanted to make her suffer again.
@@jurgnobs1308 Yes the self sabotage was hard to watch but still believable and it clearly didn't make me love her less.
I loved Joan Cusack's character so much. After she left it was never the same.
Joan Cusack is so great in everything she's in.
Sheila was such an amazing character bc she was a great foil to the typical way most of the characters are
Fiona stan til the end. Emmy deserved an Emmy for her performance in the show.
Except for season 7-8. Fiona was real cunty the whole time then. No reason for her to start acting all “fed up” with her damn siblings when she signed up to be their guardian and fought for custody. And she still fucked up. And then acted like everyone was out to get her and the world owes her shit because of taking care of the kids when yes it was dropped on her when she was you her but she had the opportunity to go be her own person when those kids went to foster homes. But no she won custody and then acted like she doesn’t have to worry about shit once Liam had coke and she fucked up her probation. She literally signed up for 50% of the bullshit she put up with after gaining custody, and 45% of it happened BECAUSE she decided to go on the most destructive path she could possibly go down and act like everyone owes her a favor. No one owed anything to anyone in this show. That’s what family is. You just do shit because your family. And I’m mainly talking about all the kids and Fiona. But she tried to play victim half the damn time when shit happened because of shit SHE did. The only thing I can argue had nothing to do with her or her choices, was frank telling her Shawn was still using and it ruined the wedding. THATS IT. Out of season 7-8 that is the only thing that happened where she couldn’t control the result because of her drinking or fucking around with the wrong people and making dumb choices.
This is the story of poverty. It's generational. It's extremely hard to escape. It's traumatizing, unregulated, untreated mental warfare. It's barely surviving your entire life and passing that to your children who quite literally have never known anything better.
Unpopular opinion, but Fiona was Frank’s favorite child. There’s two times where Frank is in a near death experience and it’s Fiona who he thinks of.
The first instance is the one mentioned in the video where Frank thinks the little girl is Fiona, then at the end of series before Frank dies he is just wondering around Chicago and all the places he goes to are related to Fiona (Patsy’s restaurant, the apartment building she owned). In his most vulnerable moments it’s Fiona he thinks of. Not to mention the few times Frank has referred to Fiona as being beautiful.
That little girl gave up her last moments to comfort a piece of garbage that didn't deserve that beautiful angels time at all it was absolutely heartbreaking she was there in that situation without her father but frank didn't deserve that girls final moments it was hard to watch
I mean she was his first child. The memory he experienced with the girl in the hospital was him feeling guilty for leaving her at the park. He loved Monica and prolly was really excited the first time he heard she was pregnant, maybe thinking having Fiona would change him and Monica…but sadly she couldn’t
@@catherinenicole4322 none of them were Frank’s favourite. Lets stop this narrative
Frank was Frank’s favorite.
this isnt unpopular, this is so obvious thru out the show
Personally, Ian and Monica were great representations of bipolar disorder, Debbie is insufferable and the one who became the most like Frank, and Mickey and Kev are the best characters. Terry is definitely the worst morally, but I find his scenes hilarious most of the time. 😂
Yeses they definitely leaned in too much into the "lip becomes his father kinda" and if they had just let go of that they would've seen that Debbie was truly like frank, even though frank says she is the most like Monica, like ironically she's the most like himself.
Terry hoping on with the neighbors to kick the pedo’s ass (when we know he is a creep himself) is fking gold
I can’t get over how unfair it is for there to be any Fiona hate… by the time we meet this family Fiona is the only reason they are still alive - she assumed responsibility for her siblings and she loves them, but they are absolutely not her responsibility. She gave up her entire youth and her parents sabotaged her along the way and she will never get those years back.
The only people that hate Fiona are Lip stans, and the majority of Lip stans are people who watched the Bear before watching Shameless, and those people first saw Jeremy Allen White in those Calvin Klein ads. That’s all I have to say about that
The only issue I have with Fiona is that she abandoned Liam. She is his legal guardian, and she just leaves him. The rest are grown, but he's only like 11 I think. I felt so bad for him when Lip wanted to sell the house, and he's trying to find a place to stay. I don't understand why people hate her, but I do understand why some people aren't a fan. I think the show fumbled her exit with not taking Liam with her to start a new life.
@@colehenry7166 that's because the actor for Liam wanted to stay, but Emmy (Fiona) left because they wouldn't pay her what she was asking for. As Macy (Frank) was being paid waay more than her. So, she dipped and said see ya!
@aliceinchainsburns08 that's totally fair for her to leave. My gripe isn't with the actor so much as the writers mishandling a characters exit. To clarify, I'm not a Fiona hater, I quite enjoy her character but I feel the show forgot about Fiona being legal guardian. It would have been very easy for Fiona to leave signed documents to transfer guardian ship over to lip. It's a plot hole I feel sours the character as she exits. I do agree that Fiona gets way to much hate for stupid reasons
@@shikara24my lord, was that a string of assumptions in a row 😂 there has been a Lip v Fiona debate in the fanbase from the beginning and years before The Bear was even thought of. It just sounds like youre projecting a bit. Calvin Klein ads? Youve lost the plot and it sounds like a personal thing
As much as it sucks to see all the characters “regress” or continue the cycle I think that’s what the show was ultimately trying to say. That childhood trauma and constant lack of any parents will permanently fuck someone up, most people don’t ever get over it or break the cycle even when the realize it.
Lip consistently getting offers that would dirastically better his life but that his trauma and lack of any actual support and never being shone any ways to cope that are healthy lead him to messing up those life changing offers time after time which is hard to watch as a viewer because we see how smart he is and want him to succeed but reality is most people in his shoes would do the same thing especially with the pressure to “do the right thing and make it out the ghetto”. I always think it’s funny watching back when he gets told by the MIT guy about how he’s gonna end up knocking up some chick cuz he won’t wrap it and being stuck never realizing his true potential, because that happens.
Same thing with Fiona people are always calling her a hoe etc but fail to realize she literally had to date and sleep with people as a teenager to pay bills or to get certain things in the house done. Plus between frank and Monica they haven’t seen a single little bit of what a healthy or stable relationship even looks like, leading to her constantly getting with men who are like them like jimmy/steve, Sean, her bosses brother, ford. On top of that she does above and beyond for all her siblings always gets shit on and the 2 times she messes up in the show she does take accountability (far more than the others are willing to do) and still gets ragged on and treated like she’s worse than frank.
Debby ends up just like her mother and frank. She will pretty much do whatever and whoever to get what she wants and is the classic case of literally following in her parents foot steps. She lies and takes the money from all the other siblings spends it on herself and literally has frank say he’s never loved her so much as seeing her she shed.
Ian is bipolar like monica and we see how that progresses till he ends up in jail, he also like lip,Fiona,and Debby is shown to have lots of sex with different people coming back into play with the lack of parental guidance and never seeing healthy relationships, as much as I love to watch them micky and Ian’s storyline has ALOT of toxic elements that really seem to mirror a lot of the toxic elements of frank and Monica’s. I mean the show even makes it seem like micky marrying svet is what actually triggers his bipolar disorder (granted they story spans the whole show)
Carl is a good example of a kid who is left to their own devices and not having any coping skills or anything either turns to violence very young. He actually tries to learn a bit from his parents and siblings mistakes being the only one shown to use condoms, getting tested, even realizing he wasn’t okay with someone making him have sex without a condom and calling it assault (idk why they played that off cuz it straight up was what she was doing) and ends up with multiple children by the end that he doesn’t know about, 2 from Ingrid and then tishs. Even when he tries to break the cycle by going to the military school and becoming a cop he ends up being an absent father to his kids against his own will, once again repeating the cycle.
Liam is the only one I’m not sure how to really explain because the series ends before we really get to see him grow up or really develop his own character. I can imagine he would probably turn out similarly to Fiona in that they had a good head on their shoulder and were smart kids but getting abandoned by everyone in his life, his mom died, frank dies, Fiona leaves, and at the end they are selling the house and it’s not really clear where Liam is even going or with who. It’s also shown he does have concern about this when he asks where he is gonna go and says everyone is leaving him in the show. I think the constant abandonment would lead him down the same road as Fiona that they will be unstable and have unstable relationships but later in life they will find their own place.
Basically all this was me saying that as disappointed as I was watching them make bad choices or be bad people looking at it fully they are doing exactly what broken people with no parents that had to raise themselves would do and I think the show does a great job of showing that and the full extent of how that really does effect someone for the rest of their lives.
I agree. Lip being a genius, but “trapped” due to childhood trauma is very realistic.
My father had genius level intelligence (IQ 147). He was born to immigrants, didn’t speak English until he was 7, was left in an orphanage at 4, was in foster care with amazing parents until 12, when his father took him back - he had the best intentions, but it blew up the first stability these kids had ever had.
Today at 74, he is an alcoholic, with undiagnosed ADHD, and probably narcissistic personality disorder. His brother, only 18 months older than him, was even more intelligent and a talented artist, died of AIDS at 50 after 30 years on heroin.
My father had no tertiary qualifications, but is a jack of all trades, he can rebuild any engine, build you a house or a car, plumber, electrician, engineer, carpenter. He spent 30 years at sea, can navigate by the stars, drive or sail any kind of water craft in wild conditions (been shipwrecked 4 different times from storms at sea, twice rescued by the navy).
Like lip, his happily ever after is being married for 35 year and counting. He really has no concept of family, but has stuck it out as best he can. It’s not very glorious, but maintaining a middle class suburban life - like Lip in the end - is slaying a dragon. It’s an achievement that overcame insurmountable odds to achieve, even though it’s most people’s starting point.
Doesn’t make for a very glamorous story, but it’s real. Lip keeping a job, maintaining a relationship, and being a present father to his kids is slaying a dragon.
I agree 100%! That's exactly how I see the show. And I think that's what makes it great. It's a different perspective and shows a reality for many people that others ignore.
Narcissistic people don't change, bipolar disorder doesn't go away either. Psychological trauma affects people for the rest of their lives, and bad choices and decisions often have irreversible consequences.
This is the reality for many people.
Hey, I love what you wrote and just wanted to add that Lip took Liam to his new home.
There's a small part in the episode when they are selling the home. Liam is panicking and trying to figure out what he's gonna do and Lip says dude im so sorry If it wasn't obvious but you're def coming with me.
To be fair, if that was the point, the show could have ended in a high note instead of slowly becoming less and less interesting.
If at the end of the day, the message is that this follows you the rest of your life, and hardly anyone gets out of it, then repeating it over and over serves no purpose other than milking the cash cow.
We got it the first 20 times, another 30 wont make it better, in fact it makes it worse.
Season 4 was a perfect place, plenty of characters had fallen in and out of the cycle, it was the dramatic peak, any point after that and it slowly becomes tedious to see the same thing over and over again.
My favorite thing about the original uk version compared to the us version is that the Gallagher kids grow and recognize how toxic the family is and they LEAVE and make something for themselves. After a time it got tedious watching the American Gallaghers fall into the same patterns of self sabotage
What is the name of the UK version? Is it also called shameless or something else?
@Sam1D28 ya it's also called shameless, it's the og.
@gravityfalls1826 thank you.
And an extra thank you for being kind and answering even if he did mention it later in the video. So double thanks for your kindness as well.
I wish you a good day/evening :)
@@SammyLammy1D np, have a good day/evening/night too :)
I have to agree there.
"We all knew Ian was going to end up with Mickey eventually after being absent" Oh boy. We did NOT. Cameron wanted to quit and for a moment he did but they decided to bring Mickey back last minute (hence the prison together) and the rest is history. Season 7 was supposed to be a glimpse into the past and then we move on forever but... Yeah. All in all we were in the TRENCHES for many, many dry years
Still can’t believe how dirty the writers did to both Fiona and Emmy, is like she never existed after her exit. I stopped watching after season 7, but did came back for Emmy’s last episode, the Gallavich wedding and the finale, the disservice of Fiona was hard to watch, is like the writers took really personally that Emmy decided to leave, all we got from her is that she joined a dating reality show, what a joke. Ian gets married and we do not hear from either Fiona or Mandy. Last episode did not feel like one either.
idk about you but frank calling out for fiona on his deathbed seems like an acknowledgement to me? 😢
where did they mentioned about Fiona joining dating reality show? Did they mentioned in show?
They should have made her run off with Jimmy/Steve/Jack. It would have made more sense to run off with her thief of a true love and not check in with family that much
Great video. And I also love Mickey so much because he is so effed up but caring & honest. He is trying to break cycles but they are hard to break. I like Ian & Mickey as characters because they aren’t the media go to gay caricature.
And I like that they didn’t have Frank become sober or have atonement with the kids because he never but that work in. It shows how with addiction it pulls you back in & sometimes the people you hurt will walk away. I like that they gave the story of falling into alcoholism and working towards a sober life with Lip. Lip is that “Gifted” that falls down in adulthood. The show also portrays how you can’t force someone into treatment with Lip & Ian. And the people around you balancing out helping and not enabling.
I'm sure I'm not the first person to have this opinion, but I feel like Shameless ended when Fiona left, and the subsequent seasons were more like a spin-off series. The younger Gallagher kids were not made to be tragic characters in the same way the older ones were. As a result they didn't have that experience handling the heavier more grounded storylines like Ian or Fiona, and as a result their plots felt more bombastic and over the top. Oz had the same issue in their last two seasons, in which they said all the stories they needed to say up to that point and everything just felt like shock value after season 4
Don't forget they did the same to orange is the new black and they did some characters dirty
I agree. It wasn't unwatchable but Debbie is definitely not Fiona.
i'm so sorry but since i stopped watching after s8 so i had no idea frank died and when you said he up and died of covid of all things i choked on my food laughing 😭
was NOT expecting that
I can summarize this all with: They should’ve had some shame cuz wtf were they doing
Love this show. I’ve binged it about 500 times. I love all the characters.
You’re spot on about Lip. Lip is smart, but he has a superiority complex… especially when he got sober. He’s one of those recovering addicts who is suddenly on a high horse simply because he’s sober… lecturing and judging everyone else.
A-frickin'-men!
“I’m not sure if Emmy Rossum won any awards for this show” but with all due respect, a simple Google search would answer that question and improve your narration, but that’s the one note I have for you as you continue to grow in your content creation
Tbh I feel it’s actually quite a unique yet ironic position Fiona and Lip are in. Both had their respective positions in the house hold as the substitute mother due to being the eldest Fiona and the smart gonna be successful one day Lip actually wish they had each-others roles.
Despite them being put in the roles they received due to their birth placement in the family I think they both actually are better and more suited for each-others roles. Like sure Lip threw away his “potential for success” but then actively became the parent the family needed the only imo really good parental figure that came out of that family beyond compare. He is so capable of handling and taking care of the family and kids which it’s not like Fiona didnt but she clearly struggled. Plus due to the trauma she received from it she naturally wanted out of that position and role (it no longer being suited for her) and in turn she strives for success.
It’s a very ironic but imo quite fitting dynamic of the siblings having roles they try so desperately to stray away from and actively attempt to do the other ones role themselves without truly being self aware that is what they are attempting to do.
‘Mother’ Fiona eventually goes away cause she’s no longer needed and can’t strive for the role she WANTS and is suited for as a successful businesswoman if she sticks with her family and Lip actively doesn’t wish to be the success story to the point of always retreating back to his family/position as a Gallagher. But in doing so he is actually okay and fine with being in a guardian/parent esc role for the younger Gallaghers, his own child and the leader of the family unlike Fiona who eventually couldn’t cope and wanted to branch away. Like as if he’s content with his life having value through someone else’s success rather than him striving for it himself with all that pressure built on him to not fail. Whilst Fiona just truly could no longer live tied to her family nor live in a world where she felt like nothing more than fill in mum for a fucked up family, her constant retreat to them and her bad habits always ended up making her miserable in some way or another so she had to just break away from the excuse/influence of the Gallaghers.
Sorry for the yapping but I just find it interesting how the two eldest really tried so hard to step away from their assigned roles in the family and ultimately choose the one the other had. Frankly makes you wonder if there would’ve been the same outcome for each-other just opposite IF Fiona was born second. Would she have been successful if the eldest become parent role didn’t apply to her initially? Or do you think she would’ve been very similar to Lip and try to actively step away from the expectations of being “the one to get away” by the family?
Just food for thought.
Also also side note, I see a direct parallel also with Debbie and Carl where Debbie was the goody golden child (always sweet and helping out) and Carl was the trouble maker for a good while but yet grown up Debbie acts the most like a fucked up Gallagher and Carl is a cop of all things/the best one to come out of the family imo.
Another interesting coincidence yet I don’t really like using it as an example because I felt that was just bad writing for Debbie’s teenage/adult arc on their part rather than any accidental genius or ironically tasteful development.
That is going to feed my brainworms for a while... Wow
Me too @@Animely0
Honestly I think it was awesome! Most expected Carl to become like his mom and dad and debbie to have it together but in the end Carl overcame his struggles and became a better person while debbie always used her struggles (teen mom and lack of parents) to excuse or downplay her choices so all in all she is continuing the cycle even her last girlfriend was the cycle her kid taking a backseat to sex and an afterthought going to Texas. Honestly from someone who comes from an addict family it shows all the outcomes! Lip is the one who is full of potential but his upbringing keeps him in held back. Fiona is the kid who becomes the parent to her siblings and her parents and in the end she raised her kids her whole life and now she can not be in their life or around because she will be put and put herself back in that Role so she had to leave. Ian was in the trenches but could have more of a childhood so he even tho he had issues he still could cope he was perfect for mickey he can take all of the curve balls. Debbie was fully parented by fiona and lip she did not have the worries and could just be the kid she saw her parents scew ups but the mess was cleaned up by lip and fiona so never saw how much it impacted the family while she did better is continuing the cycle of her parents, someone else can fix her screw ups. Carl is the dark horse he had the positive parenting from fiona and lip but he went down the wrong road for a bit and then corrected he is the only one with a stable job and a good head on his shoulders. Leium is the saddest story arch in the whole show. He lost his bio mother and father his sibling parents (while lip is there he is raising his bio kid so leium took a backseat) he had no where he could feel truly wanted just always a tag along. I really wish that Kevin and V would have stepped up and took him with them! Kevin would have his son and V has been there his whole life and when he recognized himself as a person of color took him under her wing. While most may have missed it in the end leium wasn't taking on frank (after dementia) because he had to he was seeking love of a parent. Even the little bit frank could give.
I really wished they killed off frank in the earlier seasons, like most of the times his hijinks were not related to the rest of the family and he was just annoying to watch,he’s not likeable at all and as a villain he’s boring and predictable, on a recent rewatch I skipped most all of the scenes with him
I hated him too and i think it was perfect to die because of liver failure. And the fact that he got a liver in the end was very unrealistic. The scenes whit the doctor I skip them all. Tnx to Netflix
Emmy Rossum is a phenomenal actress for someone who started off as a Disney kid. Usually they peek on Disney and that's it.
What did she do on Disney?
@@JohnJacobSchmidtt She played and ice skater in this movie about a science geek who also plays hockey.
Not too long after she was in Songcatcher.
This is definitely a realistic show. This is generational trauma. The uk version in my opinion is too optimistic. Coming from someone who’s been around multiple family’s that had drug issues and or mentally unhealthy parents. They can see how messed up it is but they find comfort together in the mess. Only Fiona found her way. Realistic in my opinion.
When Lip screws up college it broke my heart. In a way that I didn't fully recover as a fan.
I agree with Frank dying in season 4. It would have been so much more interesting.
My misogyny litmus test is someone’s thoughts on Fiona
What?
Anyone who has a "misogyny litmus test" is a man hater.
I know people hate Jimmy and his writing was really all over the place but I did feel bad for him when he was reeling from his dad being gay and everyone dumps on him for it, that’s not really my issue, my issue is he *was* going to apologize for bringing it up so much - when they were digging up Aunt Ginger - but Fiona - understandably I will admit - pushes him away when all he wanted was to feel like they were equal in the relationship.
Also I can’t help but see Kev as an R rated Van from “Reba” as they’re not only played by the same guy but they’re both equally stupid.
Lips character is almost a perfect reflection of so many impoverished gifted ppl. After everything you go thru there is no good conclusion. Your just around
Lip telling V to let Fiona hit rock bottom will always bother me. Because she was hard on him when he was dealing with booze but she never stopped trying to help, typically if you let someone hit rock bottom it’s because all attempts at help have failed. But no one showed her any real support they berated her everytime and the moment someone (V) showed some real support lip shut it down. My headcannon is that Fiona didn’t leave just to start over but because she realized if she’s gonna be alone she may as well try and build a new support system.
my biggest issue with this show is the inability of the writers to handle all the serious topics they add into the show. if they didnt take a "lets throw X trauma into the show just to see if it sticks" approach the show wouldnt have fell apart so bad. like we literally have debbie take over as caretaker when shes a convicted pedophile, a date rapist and a worse mom than fiona ever was and the show writers just dont care? or like lips gf at the end of the show having a big reveal that she was groomed by a teacher that amounts to her going "wow i was an innocent girl and he took advantage of me" while lip kind of grins about it lmfao and like this all happens in a single 30 minute c plot in the 4th to last episode. they never try to touch ian being transphobic as a gay man after setting that up. like its literally the opening of the powerpuff girls where he adds CHEMICAL X but instead its a bunch of overpayed writers adding "pepper" from the wrong side of the dump opener on the can.
i didn't know what to feel about fiona around the middle seasons but by 11th season i really really wanted her back with them... i really wanted a happy family... i really wanted them to live near each other... man i want closure.. i really hope they all had better lives now...
One reason why S1 one was probably so great is because it already had some building blocks from Shameless UK to work off from. S1 in the US version practically has the same storylines as UK S1.
Once Fiona left I dont think I enjoyed any of the seasons after. Rossums portrayal of her, for me, was the show. The family's treatment of her made it impossible for me to root for any of them again
Just found this channel and lemme just say your channel is one of my favorites for commentary! Found you from your All American video and lemme tell you this channel is gonna blow up. Keep crushing it!
Thankyou so much for your kind words !
I can't speak on anyone else, but I know from my own personal experience that breaking the cycle of self sabotage is extremely difficult. I see a lot of myself in Lip and I'm currently at a point in my life where I feel I'm at my lowest. Digging yourself into that hole is easy when you've already been put into that hole. My only saving grace is my best friend. She's the one who takes the shovel from my hands. I'm stuck with my situation and my whole childhood I was told that I was smart, that I was gifted. I didn't have a goal in mind for a career, so I just threw myself into college after I graduated only to experience panic attacks every time I went to class, so I just stopped going. I feel like how Lip ended up in his way is just so hard-hitting realistic to me. Disappointing to watch but almost like a cautionary tale for someone like him, like me. I don't have any hope for humanity and it seems like I'm just looking through a tunnel with a dim light at the end. Maybe I can try to accomplish what Lip couldn't and get the hell out, it'll just take a lot of effort to reach that light.
Edit side-note: Unpopular opinion, I ****ing hate Frank and I wanted to punch him every time I saw him, he made me physically sick. It's funny how people love and hate him just like they do in the show. I'm just a big hater, lmao
I love finding a new video essay channel that's just starting up. Your video was entertaining, can't wait to see more.
Thankyou so much I appreciate that ! Glad you enjoyed !
7:27 how dare you refer to him as only Jimmy he is and forever will be Jimmy-Steve lmfao cuz that's all they ever called him after
One of the best shows ever made! So real and dark but it balances out with a comedic and wholesome side. Also I love Gallavich so Ian and Mickeys storyline was perfect!
Loved the show but couple thoughts. I was ok with Fiona leaving but Liam was a toddler WTF? I was disappointed Lip didn’t do better in life. He could t get at least a half way decent job. Debbie was horrible I mean horrible. She was hard to watch. Ian and Mikey truly made the show. The last season with selling the house and how Lip messed that up but the thing that made me angry was no one thought to reassure Liam that he wasn’t going to be homeless. I also felt like it was an afterthought of Lip telling him “you can live with me.”
Lip had a lot of potential but I think that was the point. He is given a chance over and over again to be better and make a better choice, and he doesn't. I also grew up in a poor neighborhood and I know people that still live there, and not because of a lack of opportunities or connections, they still have the same job etc. they're just stuck.
liam was 10 not a toddler. and frank was very active in his life. fiona and frank share custody of him
Debbie is Frank without any of the charm. She is legitimately the closest thing the show has to a villain.
What I hate about Lip's ending isn't that I expected him to become Steve Jobs or some billionaire, I know that's unrealistic and borderline stupid. I hate that they try to paint him as Frank Jr, when that isn't the case at all. If anything that's Debbie.
Debbie, like Frank, is decently intelligent, but too lazy and self destructive to ever do anything meaningful with it except drop some drunk history lessons every once in a while. She's also unbelievably selfish to the point where it even harms herself and refuses to ever take accountability for her actions, like Frank. Debbie and Frank care about no one but themselves, which is absolutely not Lip.
Firstly, Lip's far more intelligent than his dad ever was, and no where near as selfish. Going to college mostly because he was pushed into it by friends and family and acting like the second parent to the Gallagher family to help ease Fiona's burdens. Even his alcoholism isn't anything exclusive to Frank, if anything that was probably just a coping mechanism he developed.
I hated Lip's ending because it felt insulting to the audience's intelligence, especially after we had watched him fail and push forward for the better part of a decade. Especially after they simply decided not to do anything with his rehab plotline in season 7 and keep him firmly in the ghetto. Which, if anything, was probably more to do with just keeping Jeremy Allen White in the show than any real commentary on the "cycle of poverty".
Both Ian and Fiona managed to make it out of South Side, so if anything keeping Lip in the same place just felt like a slap in the face.
I think it’s fitting Frank died of Covid this whole show has always went over different issues going on in America from the gentrification of lower class neighborhoods (something that was actively happening in Chicago) Debbie not having health insurance, teenage pregnancy, drug problems, homeless problem etc etc. to summarize the last few season as getting “woke” is missing the underlying message of the show entirely.
I disagree i think the show was amazing form beginning to end except the ending was severely lacking and anti climactic.
I dont really see lips seemingly sudden drop in intelligence as bad writing. It COULD be but i think it makes a little sense seeing as how he spent so much of show not sober and he had to forget about school all together and just work a regular 9 to 5. After he got kicked out of school there really wasn't anything stimulating his brain so he really had no reason to use academic smarts in the later seasons.
And Carl....made something blow up in for science class!
Can we talk about how Carl and lip are constantly done dirty with all his ships like some of these choices makes they make is weird Carl constantly getting cheated on is weird lip being self destructive makes sense but the milf relationship ain’t it bro and wait can we talk about the ship with the military girl man was seen as insecure for reason that were valid good gosh bro
No one ever mentions that the Gallagher kids and Frank, not Liam ,are sex addicts. Debbie believes that because her older siblings are sexually active she should be as well. Debbie, having daddy issues is the reason she appeared to be the ultimate dysfunctional sibling IMO. When Fiona took on the parental role she became the middle unseen child. EVERYTHING she did was a look at me, love me girl move. Her character is disgusting she raped Matty, tricked Derrick, and had an affair with her girlfriend’s underage daughter. She made an immature decision to have a baby and expected everyone to be happy to have to feed another Gallagher. She should have seen how hard the struggle of taking care of children without an education and good paying job was for Fiona and became allergic to sex.
I feel like the way Debbie ends up in her teenage years was actually built up and heavily foreshadowed in the first few seasons. I had part of her arch spoiled before I watched the show, and it made it easy to spot all the hints that her personality was going to take a downward spiral due to her environment and the lack of guidance and supervision she had.
She was often left alone with bad influences(Ethel,Mandy,Svetlana,her frenemies,Frank), she was a very loving person who became desperate to be loved in return, and every time she did something wrong or got some bad advice(or even good advice with a bad interpretation) no one in her family stepped in to help her.
Matt is a pretty good example because everyone lets her spend absurd amounts of time with him then does nothing when they find out he’s a lot older than her. When she assaults him Fiona doesn’t talk to her about it even though she desperately needs to and Lip denies it was assault.
Keep in mind, Lip went out of his way to prove some random woman was a p*do preying on young boys, but when his actual siblings are being taken advantage of he does nothing, and tells Debbie men can’t be assaulted.
There were plenty of other examples but being left alone with random people, or Frank, and picking up bad habits or ideas seemed to be the norm for Debbie.
Pisses me off how dirty they do Fiona later on in the show after she’s gone
I feel like after professor yuens died lip should have tried to finish college somehow...i think it would have flowed better for his story
Okay I don't like Debbie but I do think as a character she comes from a place where a lot of her shitty actions make sense. Why is she so desperate to sleep with someone at 13? Because that's all she's been told and known; Fiona lost it young and their entire family is open about that side of their lives likely making it feel like something she has to do. Similarly it's all her friends talk about and she has been self conscious about her looks since season 3 ish making it feel like there is a lot more personal weight to losing it before ready because of the product of her community and issues with how she sees herself as the "ugly duckling." We also know Debbie was literally playing mother in some ways for most of her childhood as during the summer she ran that daycare in the home, frankly it's really all she's ever known is that side childcare making her really susceptible to becoming a teen mom due to not understanding the realities of parenthood. She's frankly been surrounded by pregnancy and kids for so long I don't think what it means in reality of being a mother is something she was mature enough to understand and this shows when actually having a baby. Lastly the disabilities and house stuff is Debbie literally mimicking events she saw Frank doing in her childhood; find someone with a nice space and disabled in some way to make it your own. Very similar to what was going in with Sheila and Frank for a long time. And why does Debbie lack remorse, again it's what she's told over and over. Getting bullied, try to drown them. Have your 'boyfriend' get a new girlfriend, harass her. Hell one of her closest bonds when younger was turning to Mandy who hit someone with her car in jealousy and also often lacked remorse. You want to survive here you got to be strong in your convictions and make it work. Many people in these environments end up acting like Debbie; they do think they have things figured out and they do lack remorse in their view of living in constant without the hierarchy of needs not being met.
Also some other things; regarding season 4 boyfriend Fiona is a serial cheater. Cheated on Jimmy with her boss-turned-friend when things were looking rough with Jimmy. She cheated on him when not knowing how to cope with a normal family-- but he turned around to blackmail her into continuing sleeping with him as he only tells his brother when Fiona doesn't want to do that. She also doesn't really take the drugs given he comes back and kinda just leaves the coke there when she chases him out with a baseball bat. This is all to say Fiona is often well aware when things are going wrong and she is self sabotaging but doesn't know how to stop it. She feels remorse for cheating but can't stop herself, she doesn't want Frank back in her life but can't let go because of her desire to have a family, and she often does things on her own terms before coming to the realization of how it impacts the family. Fiona wants a better life for her siblings but can't because she doesn't know what that actually looks like, and often that comes at the expense of her own self.
edit; actually one plot line I think is interesting is how Mickey didn't want Ian to see a doctor for possibly being bipolar because that's just not how they do things there, family is family and that's all you need. Yet Mickey lives with Ian, and sees how it's not only destroying his relationship but ties with everyone else and comes to terms that getting help is the best things that could happen. Telling and get help for others is hard, and Mickey was shown to like parts of Ian's mania but other parts genuinely scared him and what was always more important was that Ian was safe unlike how Monica and Frank work.
I was considering rewatching this show, but I had forgotten how much grape it has. So thanks for saving me from that and also great video!!!!
If I remember right the original UK show was.much more bleaker. The two shows go off in different directions after the first season.
As someone who has never watched the show, just mildly curious, and i thank you for this vid it answered a lot of questions I had. I must say, there is a lot more r*pe than I expected.
Chicago, poor, alcoholic parents, disfunctional family, everyone yells all the time?... Wasn't that The Bear?
Lol after season 4 the realism was sacrificed for constant goofy comedy.
Peak Shameless was the episode Just Like the Pilgrims Intended, Season 2 episode 11. Peak
Does everyone just ignore how Fiona literally abandons her responsibility as a guardian to Deb Carl and Liam since they werent 18 when she left.
you missed the part where Deb randomly turns gay for no reason.
@@aciidbeard1381Bi people exist
@@mawreena- First she went lesbian, second unlike Ian who had a complete finding acceptance of himself being gay. Deb just out of the blue said she was gay after SAing her baby daddy then using the dude in the wheel chair for a meal and house ticket. Thats my point not the most smooth brain take of "Bi people exist".
JIMMY STEVE IS NOT A GOOD GUY! I will die in this hill he could not handle the life Fiona had (literally compares living in her house living to living in slum) and expects her to run everything through him when he entered her life maybe a year or so ago. I think he’s a rich kid who wanted the exciting life but couldn’t handle the people that come with that. He constantly lies and in my opinion only wants to be with Fiona to feel like he living that “crazy” life.
They *do* live in a slum.
i don’t like what they did with liam’s character too much either tbh
I'm glad this was recommended to me. Thank you for your recap and perspective! I subscribed after the first few minutes
Awesome ! Thankyou !
This was my first video of yours and I really enjoyed it! I love video essays and retrospectives and you did a good job of discussing and summarizing this show! One recommendation is to turn the background music down a bit, I found it a little distracting. But overall, GREAT JOB!!
“Frank’s sweet relationship with his long lost daughter” Well that’s one way to put it.
@@crazybusta1 yeah Sammi got ruined after season 4
@@MysticalFilmNerd literally. I wish they would’ve kept her sweet, seeing another one of franks kids being disappointed to find out her father is just another deadbeat would’ve been so inline with the story. Her going absolute bonkers just felt like a forced way to get her out.
It was too real for some of us. Shows how hard it can be to break that cycle.
You forgot that they randomly made Debbie gay which was so unfitting and forced for her- she’s had like 5 gfs from seasons 7-11 💀
it's about family and that's what's so powerful about it.
tbh i prefer seasons 5-8 over seasons 2-3 its not that i hate them but 5-8 just have the more interesting plotlines to me and ngl season 2 is lowkey boing season 4 is easily the best closely followed by season 1
You have no idea as to how thrilled I am to FINALLY see an analysis video on my favorite comfort show of all time, Shameless. I binged watched all 11 seasons religiously, and it's honestly nothing else but a masterpiece. Even after finishing it, I still couldn't fathom over it being done. I watched endless playlists and clips and anything I could find on Shameless, old and new.
My favorite character is honestly Mickey. A really consistent character whom rarely ever gets dull. Hell, him being gone every now and then sticks true to the nature of his character. A troubled young man going through alot with a shitty upbringing and difficulties with his own sexuality and others, but still manages to pull through every single time.
I'm not gonna ramble on with my own personal analysis or summary on this show, but I'll say this. Each Gallagher, Milkovich, & other characters are still highly synonymous with Shameless.
It's fascinating, to say the least and I'm in love with it in every step of the way.
I still feel saddened by knowing I may never find another show such as Shameless again.
I loved this show, the moment I seen the first episode and have been hooked ever since.
The amount of times I laughed and felt impacted by this show is incredible.
In my opinion, they should at least do a spinoff for Ian & Mickey.
They're the only couple (& homosexual couple) that I actually liked.
I used to hate gays (mainly because of not fully understanding as to how a male could be attracted to the same gender and usually stereotyping them as being all the same).
However, when I watched Shameless, it gave me a realistic depiction of homosexuality and opened my mind to a new perspective on not only sexuality, but romance in general.
I'd recommend Shameless to anyone who hasn't seen it yet. It's a MUST watch.
If you have Netflix (where I watched the show from), then what are you waiting for?
GET TO EXPERIENCING ONE OF THE BEST PIECES OF FICTIONAL MEDIA PUT ON TELEVISION.
Maybe I’m not getting the point but I don’t get why Fiona was just allowed to leave in season 9 with no repercussions (omitting the fact Emmy Rossum wanted to leave). I’m guessing ages here but Carl is 17ish and Liam is 10ish. Fiona is their legal guardian. She should not just be allowed to leave. It’s a dumb small detail but I would have liked a nod in season 10 to some legal stuff about Fiona’s custody. Idk. I love this show but that detail has always bothered me.
Frank still has his parental rights ,so it made a bit sense until he died
Something that never gets addressed is that if the Gallagher kids have it bad the Milkovichs have it worse. Gallaghers have each other for support, they love each other, and the father (as messed up as he is) will at least occasionally shows some love and support. But the Milkovichs are completely on their own and father is completely abusive in every way possible.
One really good Carl scene you didn't talk about was when he was being robbed at the fast food place and he just had enough and went crazy on the guy after his gun discharged lol. Nonetheless loved the video. Thank you for keeping me entertained this morning lol
None of the show or the characters are "unique" because it's all a cheap rip off of the real OG shameless
@@KerrieOhanlon123 that is …….very true
40:50 “this is g*y.” “We are g*ay” “i don’t think im *this* gay” comedy
Shameless is one of my favorite shows of all time. I watched it for the first time last year and I’ve never been so emotionally invested in a show before. It’s one of a kind and one of the best shows in television history. I love how all the characters are flawed as people, that neither are completely good or bad, they’re products of their environment and it causes them to be, as the name of the show is, shameless. At one point I ever completely loved or loathed the Gallagher kids because they have great and bad qualities that make them so compelling
Ian needed a toxic relationship to thrive. He and Mickey beat on each other constantly,committed crimes together and they call that love. Because they both grew up in muddy water they need muddy water to survive
I changed my mind about debbie. She is the counter characters of lip and fiona. Growing up with parents who are adicts lip and fiona want to do better because they both have to take care of their parents and siblings debbie turns out like the worst parts of the parents becase she always had lip and fiona to care for her she had parents just did not know it
i feel like binge watching vs watching in real time gave you a completely different experience. even tho it def got less interesting im glad they kept going.
I never finished shameless but finding out carl became a COP is so disappointing 🤢
I will always, always call him Jimmy Jack Steve
no matter the quality I will always have a soft spot for Shameless, I started watching around season 3 and grew up with the characters
Small remark to your otherwise poignant review: You say in the video that Jimmy was always sincere with Fiona. I'd say that he was *acting* sincere, but he was lying and cheating on her all the time. I think they brought him back not to contradict his character but to drive this point home. Everything Jimmy does is just smoke and mirrors and he's a con artist through and through. To me personally, it was actually a welcome catharsis to have the illusion completely shattered.
you did such a good job of conveying the depth of the show, the characters, and their arcs without getting too bogged down in detail. that must've been hard for million season show.
They should remake this show but with black people
@@LLB911 lmaaoooo no way
Still not better than the UK version
@@adrixvicent I definitely have to check it out
I tend to notice that people who come from and were raised in a similar background tend to love the mid seasons just as much as the early ones while the people who grew up privileged with healthy family dynamics like early seasons, especially 4, while just tolerating the mid to late ones and I think it’s because in seasons 5 through 7, the Gallaghers don’t go through as much trauma and tribulations as they did in seasons 2-4 so to those from better upbringings, it comes off as boring because seeing the struggles of the Gallaghers is merely entertainment to them while for those of us from a harsher background, those darker seasons/moments are an unfortunate part of our realities we don’t wanna see when watching television. To this day, I’ve only watched season 4 ONCE, it’s just too traumatising
This is such an interesting take honestly.
The covid ending was such a cop out they should have just waited and ended the show properly
I’ve re-watched this show about 6-7 times within the last 2 years and one scene that always stuck with me is when Frank and Debbie go to the hippie camp, and When Debbie is put into labor, she immediately runs to frank and asks him if they can go home, at first Frank simply hits her with the “just thug it out” response, but then Debbie pleads with him “please dad I just wanna go home” and he doesn’t fight her on it, he doesn’t say something to retaliate or even try to make an argument on why they should stay, he just looks at her with full compassion and care and immediately drives her back to the Gallagher house.
Boy seeing this doesn't give me any will to watch further than season 4 (when I stopped)
Tbf later seasons only fun character seems to be Carl, I mean his later antics was kinda what got me to try the show (RUclips shorts) and I did enjoy the 1st 4 seasons, but when I watched season 5 epi 1 I felt off and i had it paused. Guess im done with it
Ian being bipolar and micky not being able to express his love towards his partner was so relateable.
They absolutely ruined that show by the end. I'm not one to really call out wokeness, but damn they made some unnecessary choices after like season 6. And killing frank with the coof? Wtf.
Compared to the first season and the last, they definitely did that to Kevin
To me this show just felt like it was exploiting middle class people’s fantasies of what they pretentiously imagine the lives of poor people are like and there’s so many patronizing tropes utilized throughout the show that stem from its middle class presumptions about lower class life. Couldn’t get passed season two.
i absolutely love ian and his story but the gay jesus arc was so painful to watch..
fiona should’ve taken liam with her then it’d be fine for her to go
Idk but I just feel that I could relate to this show so much right when I first saw it. I was raised by my dad if you want to call it that. I got my first job at 15 to support myself. My dad was never around much. He would tell me to watch his friends kids while we were all upstairs in the apartment together. My mother never wanted to care for me and still doesn’t ever want to be in my life I would say due to mental health issues… I’d say because of all these things, it’s held me back in life and made me who I am today… always struggling. But I love my daughter and even though I only got my GED and work my butt off to not get very far, I’m happy there’s a lot of love in my life.
Fiona was the best and then Mickey and Ian love story then lip, then Frank, then Carl. The most interesting and fun to watch.
I'm just about to start S4 with my fiancee that has never seen the show. Watching the Frank S4 clips in this really hits hard, and idk if I'm ready to watch that again-even for the fourth or fifth time now. Gosh, she isn't going to see ANYTHING this season coming... Such a realistic and upsetting season, but such quality TV.
The scene where Karen gets Mandy'd in S3 blew her mind 😂
I never watched the seasons after Fiona left, but we'll see how that goes this time, cause we finished all 7 seasons of True Blood and that show goes downhill a lot worse and sooner (but a lot differently).
The Gay Jesus story line was prior the 2020 “woke” stuff like you said in Ian’s breakdown
Fiona left and I felt like the heart left, but I agree the first 4 are the best. Stopped watching after she left, I tried and it just wasnt the same.
Lip is my fav, and I like Ian. I literally didn't finish it and I just listened to you say...Frank died of COVID? Really? What a cop out! I hate Debbie, I really do, I never liked her character. I was pissed when they turn on Fiona, I Iike her character and I love V and Kevin❤