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.