About five weeks after the devastating announcement of Emmy Rossum quitting Showtime's hit dramedy 'Shameless', you'd think fans and followers of the show would have grown conditioned to the news, but apparently not. The sadness and heartbreak of our beloved Fiona Gallagher not returning post season 9 of the show was amplified further, earlier this week, by yet another star announcing his departure from the show. That's right - there's going to be no more of Cameron Monaghan as Ian Gallagher on the show post the upcoming episode, and to say that it hasn't rested well with the fans, would be a massive understatement.
But at the same time, it has been interesting to see the show bosses and writers bring Fiona's plot to a wrap, as the season progresses, and the time of her final appearance on the show draws nearer. Especially, the last episode titled "Black Haired Ginger" was a perfect example of the show bosses detaching Fiona from the rest of the Gallaghers, and her fans in general, by the simple implications of her not being required around the Gallagher house anymore.
First things first, relationship-wise, there's something fizzling away when it comes to Fiona and her Irish hunk, Ford. While he still might not be actively trying to impose his views on Fiona, he's not completely letting her headstrong nature drive all of their decisions either. But sadly, as of now, he still hasn't figured out how to stand up for himself, and pretty much is the only person still taking the extra mile to allow Fiona to dictate their lives. So this nature of weaseling his way in to satiate Fiona's signature power-packed approach to problems could also mean that if in the upcoming episodes Fiona decides to get up and leave Chicago, he could very well follow - meaning nothing to hold her back romantically.
Next up are Fiona's ties with her family. We have already been shown Ian's total initial disregard for Fiona bending back and forwards to arrange his bail money and that was the first hint that show creators dropped for us. The Gallagher siblings are slowly digging their way out of her umbrella. Their decisions are free of Fiona's wishes and demands, or even whatever she thinks would be the best and whatever they are deciding to do, do not have a place for her criticism.
This was further elucidated by the moment Fiona learned that 'Going Fiona' is a thing. Her stormy nature of just barging in and taking over the family any time she wants at their original Gallagher residence has got to stop at some point or the other, and what better way to initiate that discourse than allow Fiona to realize that she simply is gone for far too long at times. As she zooms back into the family yet again, dressed in a sophisticated suit, probably for Ian's trial, her demeanor speaks volumes about how left out she feels.
She tries to make conversation to make them fill her in on what she has missed so far, but what she realizes instead is that this whole juggling act had to come crashing down sooner or later. That is, it is not a permanent arrangement that others are bound to feel comfortable with forever. But it's not a one-way process; the Gallagher siblings themselves are not to keen on burdening Fiona any more. They have their own share of problems, and as precocious as the teens might seem at tackling their own issues without adult supervision, this could be out of the sheer fact that Fiona has already done too much for them and this is just their way of paying her back with some peace devoid of their problems.
Lip (Jeremy Allen White) is probably the only one in the house who has some moiety of an idea of what Fiona is feeling, as being the second oldest sibling, he also feels the whole mother-hen-allowing-her-baby-birds-to-fly emotion.
This last episode was a clear indication of the oldest two Gallagher siblings realizing that they do not - or rather, need not have to be present at the household at all times out of a fear of things falling apart otherwise - and that's okay. That's how life goes on.
But still - no matter how intelligently the creators and writers of the show detach Fiona by tying her loose ends and freeing her from the ties simultaneously, one episode at a time - us fans are till not fully ready to say farewell to the Gallagher matriarch we have grown to love, adore, and admire for the last nine seasons. That will be harder than just saying goodbye.
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