‘Shameless’: Did Fiona Gallagher Make the Wrong Decision by Not Taking Liam With Her?
Fiona became Liam’s legal guardian at the age of 16 out of necessity but chose to leave him in the Gallagher house when she left town. Did she make the wrong decision by not taking him with her?
The Reddit users from the Shameless sub weighed in on this complicated situation.
Fiona Gallagher left after ‘Shameless’ Season 9
In Season 9, Fiona began a romance with an Irish carpenter, Ford. She also helped her youngest brother, Liam, when his private school expelled him for their drug-addicted father’s behavior by enrolling him in another school.
The youngest Gallagher also assisted Fiona with marketing for her business ventures. However, the matriarch of the family made a $100,000 investment she could not back out of, which affected her relationship with Ford.
Additionally, she found out her boyfriend lived with his wife and children, even though the Irish carpenter insisted they were in the process of divorcing. Drunk and devastated, Fiona left and crashed her car. She then took off and didn’t show up to drive Ian to prison for his two-year sentence.
After a couple of weeks, Fiona hit her all-time low as she lost her building, her job, punched a racist woman in the face, and almost got kicked out of the Gallagher house.
The oldest sibling moped around the house drinking constantly but decided to turn her life around after realizing she’s becoming the same person as her father.
Fiona began attending AA meetings with Lip, got a job as a cashier, and learned her assault charge would be dropped. While working, she ran into investor Max Whitford who offered to buy her out of her $100,000 investment.
The eldest Gallagher happily accepted and informed her family she was leaving town but left half of the money to Debbie for the family.
Everyone forgets about Liam Gallagher
The youngest Gallagher has a good relationship with his siblings and is the only one who gives Frank the time of day as his father did more for the youngest Gallagher than the rest of his children.
Now, at 10-years-old, Liam is a brilliant and outspoken kid who gives advice to his siblings and manages his friend’s basketball career but has inherited Frank’s manipulation skills.
From the time Liam was a baby, everyone always forgot about him, which almost resulted in him overdosing when he got into Fiona’s stash. Debbie was the main one taking care of the youngest sibling until she had her own baby at the age of 15.
When Debbie took over the house, she threatened to kick Liam out, he was seven at the time, because he couldn’t pay rent. Finally, Child Protective Services nearly took Liam away because they needed proof of address from his father.
Carl is busy trying to save the city, Ian just got married, Debbie has a lot going on, to say the least, Lip recently had a baby and moved out of the house, and Frank is Frank.
Unless Ian and Mickey adopt the youngest Gallagher, they did mention they want kids, no one has the time to care for Liam properly.
Should Fiona Gallagher have taken Liam with her when she left?
Some Shameless viewers believe Fiona was not wrong for leaving Liam because their siblings are all adults and old enough to help out, which wasn’t the case when Fiona had to raise every one.
Additionally, Frank still has parental rights over Liam, so he might be able to get his son back if he wanted to, which could mean legal ramifications for Fiona.
Others believe she is legally wrong for leaving Liam because she is his guardian and knows he doesn’t have a reliable parent. One user argued that Fiona stepped up as the matriarch of the family.
Therefore, it’s her responsibility to transfer guardianship when leaving because anything can happen to the 10-year-old, and the authorities probably won’t be able to find Frank.
Finally, Fiona raised Liam for the majority of his life, and he sees her as a parent figure over anyone else. The answer to this question isn’t black or white, but one user pointed out they’re glad Fiona didn’t take Liam because they enjoy watching his character on the show.
