The season nine finale of the television show “Shameless” premiered on Sunday night. Although it’s not the series’ final season, it’s the last season to feature Emmy Rossum as the show’s central character, Fiona Gallagher, and Cameron Monaghan as Fiona’s brother, Ian.
“Shameless” revolves around a family of six siblings who live in the southside of Chicago, IL. Frank Gallagher is their single, alcoholic father who barely helps to take care of his six children, leaving all of the work to his daughter Fiona who’s in her mid-20s.
Throughout the series, Fiona puts her siblings first time and time again while also trying to make something of herself. Each of her siblings at one point or another have relied on Fiona for guidance and support, but season nine shows that her siblings have become self-sufficient, causing Fiona to wonder whether she needs to remain at home to take care of them anymore.
My favorite performance from this season came from her brother Lip, played by Jeremy Allen White, because he had some ups and downs but managed to handle them appropriately. Fiona is still my favorite character, but she derailed when her career went downhill and she turned to alcohol.
With help from her brother, Fiona began to take care of herself and that’s when I renewed my respect for her. Both Lip and Fiona had interesting storylines as they both went through ups and downs, but the show’s writers thoughtfully resolved them in the end.
While the storylines were interesting this season, it sometimes felt as though the series is running out of ideas. Storylines about Frank being involved with his crazy therapist did not seem properly fleshed out, but it felt like the series couldn’t come up with better storylines.
Fiona’s exit in her final season was great, but sad to watch. A small, but meaningful detail featured Fiona Gallagher wearing the same shirt she wore during the pilot on Sunday night’s season finale.
In Fiona and Ian’s final scene together, she visits him in prison to tell him what has been going on at the house and that she is thinking about leaving.
Fiona was scared to say it out loud and was hoping Ian would tell her don’t do it, but he said the complete opposite. This scene was done well and especially necessary because Ian has not been in this season and considering it’s his last as well, it’s like they concluded their storylines together.
In the show’s first season, Fiona faced the same dilemma where she was debating whether she would leave her family to be with her current boyfriend or stay to take care of them. As we all know, Fiona put her own family before her future and stayed in the Gallagher household for eight more seasons.
Although her departure is bittersweet, at least her story arc came full circle as she leaves independently in pursuit of her future on her own terms.
While the show can continue without Fiona and Ian, I feel as though the next season should be its last, as the show has been on for a long time and it’s time to end. I’m looking forward to the next season to see what happens with everyone’s future since the season ended with a lot of questions for Fiona’s other siblings.
jmendez9@ramapo.edu