If you're new to Shameless, the first thing you need to know is that the Gallaghers [1] always look out for each other. After all, the family that schemes together, stays together. And while the Chicago clan often tries (and fails) to shed its dysfunctional roots, the eighth season proves nobody does bad better than our South Side heroes. Who can forget Frank submerging himself in a portable toilet to escape authorities? Or, the night Frank amputates three of Debbie's toes with a pair of pliers? Or better yet, Ian's turn as "Gay Jesus"? If we've lost you, don't worry.
The ninth season of Shameless is set to air on Showtime this Fall [2], and it sounds like it'll be Emmy Rossum's last as Fiona [3], so this is the perfect time to reexamine all of the juicy Season 8 details.
The Gallaghers Get Into a Lot of Trouble at the Beginning of the Season
The eighth season opens with the Gallaghers still mourning the death of Monica . . . well, sort of. Frank is the only person heartbroken over her death. The rest of the family finds solace in the money earned from the crystal meth she left behind. Carl buys a hot tub, Ian gets a tattoo, and Debbie buys new welding tools, but Fiona warns them all about the danger of ill-gotten goods. Unable to resist the lure of easy money, Carl returns to Monica's storage unit to salvage more items and runs into Eric, a ruthless gangster who claims partial ownership of Monica's drugs.
With only $9,000 left between them, the Gallaghers can't match the $70,000 Eric demands. Fiona initially refuses to help her siblings with a solution, but finally proposes the unthinkable — dig up Monica's casket to retrieve the packet of unwanted meth Fiona stuffed underneath the body. But even after the grave robbery, the Gallaghers are $37,000 short and still very much in danger, that is until Frank has a moment of clarity. When Eric draws his gun, Frank steps in front of the barrel and declares that if half the stash belonged to Monica, they should be even. This act of patriarchal protection marks the beginning of a renaissance for Frank who vows to become a real grown up.
Frank Can't Stay in the Straight and Narrow
Initially, Frank succeeds at his reform efforts — accepting a job at a home supply store, lecturing others on the importance of workplace safety, earning employee of the month, and buying a car on which he makes regular payments until he gets laid off. Disillusioned, Frank decides to collect social security benefits using stolen IDs he's acquired over the years, but he has no luck until he uses his own information. According to his six-week work history, he's entitled to $3.42 per month. The injustice of what Frank describes as a broken American system sends him crawling back to the Alibi where he witnesses the deportation of an undocumented immigrant, attempting to flee the US to Canada. This inspires Frank to use his new car to shuttle cheap pharmaceuticals and people across the northern border. Of course, Frank almost immediately gets caught in the woods by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and returns home defeated.
Meanwhile, the one person Frank has successfully helped is Liam. Not only has Frank gotten the young Gallagher into a private school, but he's also given his son permission to go to the Caribbean with Dylan, one of the school's rich kids. But now that Frank has failed at all of his other endeavours, he takes advantage of Liam and suggests they conspire to rob Dylan. "We have a moral duty to rip this a–hole off," argues Frank, who considers himself Robin Hood, even though he's the only poor person in this equation. All Liam has to do is supply the alarm code. Naturally, Liam has second thoughts about betraying his friend and leaves his father high and not so dry when Frank is forced to hide in a portable toilet to avoid the police.
Fiona Finds a New Love Interest in Ford
Most of Season 8 finds Fiona separated from her family as she copes with a series of unruly tenants at her newly renovated apartment building. The unruliest of the bunch being a single mother who writes Fiona a check for one cent and then barricades her apartment with a steel door. Luckily, Debbie stops by with her welding tools and saves the day. However, Fiona's troubles continue when an elderly tenant dies alone in her apartment. Convinced she's caught the woman rent dodging, Fiona enters the apartment to find a miniature poodle nibbling the woman's face.
Things come to a major head when a maintenance man falls off the roof and attempts to sue Fiona for $3 million, the title to the building, and the little flesh-eating dog. Fiona does her best to make amends offering a settlement and temporary use of an apartment. However, the man and his family remain unsatisfied and barricade themselves inside of the unit. Fiona snaps and goes full Gallagher, flushing the family out with a smoke bomb and the temptation of cold hard cash.
With her tenant troubles behind her, Fiona learns that Sean, her drug addict ex-fiancé played by Dermot Mulroney, is back. He apologises for lying about his addiction prior to their wedding. He's one year sober and looking to make amends. Fiona is resistant at first but softens a bit only to find Sean is married. Not that she needs him when she can continue to hook up with Ford, the mysterious woodworker who inspires and challenges her rebellious spirit.
Carl Gets Married
Carl loses his scholarship to military school and spends most of the season taking odd jobs to earn quick cash. As luck would have it, a doped-up rich kid attempts to break into the Gallagher home and Carl holds him hostage in the basement until he sobers up. Grateful for the detox, the druggie returns with $5,000 cash and a new patient for Carl's tough-love program. That's how our favourite young Gallagher meets Kassidi, an overprivileged heiress looking to escape her elitist trappings for a taste of normal life.
After arguing with Kassidi, Carl is determined to buck Gallagher tradition and stick with the relationship despite things getting rough. So he buys her a ring as an apology gift, which she interprets a marriage proposal. Carl flips out because he has plans to return to military school, an idea Kassidi finds insulting. The two eventually get married, but Carl hatches an escape plan. When Kassidi discovers his intentions, she handcuffs him to the bed. But we all know you can't keep a good Gallagher down.
Lip Has Quite the Emotional Journey
Lip's Season 8 journey focuses on the struggles surrounding his sobriety. He seeks safe harbor in the arms of Sierra, who has chosen to reconcile with her son's father, Charlie. Lip takes umbrage with this idea and attempts to sabotage the relationship by sending Charlie a pizza with a packet of cocaine on top. The men run into each other at an AA meeting a few hours later, and Lip immediately feels guilty when he hears how Charlie struggled to avoid the temptation. So Lip tries to reverse the damage by breaking into Charlie's apartment to steal back the coke — only problem is he gets attacked by Charlie's dog and drops his fidget spinner on the way out. Charlie, however, thinks Lip heard the story and broke in to help him out.
Convinced that Charlie is sincere in his efforts with Sierra, Lip focuses his energy on helping Professor Youens get sober after his fifth DUI — yes, this is the one where his teacher crashes a car through a family's living room — but Lip isn't very successful as the professor seems determined to let the alcoholism take its toll. At Youens' funeral, Lip learns that he wasn't the only special student in the professor's life. Hurt by the realisation, Lip returns to the teacher's apartment to find a letter that outlines exactly how much Lip meant to the man.
Feeling alone and in need of love, Lip ends the season by taking on the brave responsibility of caring for the niece of a former coworker.
Debbie Has a Wild Accident
Debbie breaks up with Neal when he falls for his nurse, and she quits her job at the parking garage after welding an unruly patron's car door to a dumpster. From there, her plot line focuses on her desire to find work as a welder, which proves difficult for a young female. So she accepts scab work, forfeiting the protection of union benefits, for easy money under the table. A few jobs later, her foot gets crushed under a metal pipe during a work site raid. Without a legitimate job, Debbie is unable to obtain affordable medical care and decides to amputate her toes rather than undergo expensive surgery that would keep her out of work for months.
Kev Finds His Birth Family
The always amusing Kev and V are mostly on their own in Season 8. Their highs and lows include a cancer scare for Kev and a showdown with Svetlana for V. Our favourite South Side couple also rekindles their magic when Kev learns the subtle art of domination and becomes the badass boss V craves.
But the most pivotal aspect of their storyline comes when Kev discovers his birth family in Kentucky. While he always considered the abandonment a betrayal, he learns they gave him up with the hope he'd create a better life for himself which, thanks to V, is exactly what he's done.
Svetlana Gets Married
Isidora Goreshter, who plays Svetlana, confirmed in 2017 that the eighth season finale was her last episode. Thankfully, fans bear witness to the wedding of her dreams as she successfully thwarts her Russian nemesis and dupes an elderly millionaire into marrying her.
Is Ian off his meds? Will the Gallagher family step in to help?
The bulk of Ian's Season 8 arc deals with his transformation into "Gay Jesus." The journey begins when one of the shelter kids tries to kill himself after his parents insist on conversion therapy.
Armed with Bible scriptures that promote equality, Ian disrupts the service and engages the pastor in a showdown. "You want to fight?" Ian says. "I'll fight you, but you're going to get your ass kicked by a homosexual." Someone in the crowd records the dispute, and the video goes viral. Several of the youth rally behind Ian and encourage him to take his show on the road. At the next confrontation, the priest has a heart attack, and Ian uses his medical training to revive the man. Once again, someone films the event, and the Church of Gay Jesus continues to grow.
The movement comes to a head when Ian blows up a van to thwart the kidnapping attempt of a young gay boy whose parents are concerned his homelessness and homosexuality will lead to prostitution and drug use. Trevor encourages Ian to tone down his antics because the explosion, though non-fatal, attracts the attention of the police who are rounding up kids from the centre.
Instead of backing down, Ian plans a protest. When the police arrive, the kids attempt to cover for Ian by each declaring to be his namesake. The police react by arresting everyone, and we end the season with his fate in the balance.
