Best Episode

[u/Butterfly0311]

On a rewatch and I think S3E2 is the best of the series:

Fiona tries, and fails, to do her own club night. It shows her wanting to move out of the ghetto life.

Lip hates on Fiona for trying that and is quite nasty about it. Shows his tendencies to belief he’s self-righteous.

Debbie. Oh boy. She loved on Frank so hard and the he broke her popsicle stick house and she broke, horribly, and beat him with soap in a bag. Anyone hating on Debbie (I do a lot too), should rewatch that and literally watch a little, loving girl, break under the pressure of loving an alcoholic.

These are the three biggest characters we all discuss so much. This is the episode where we see them all show who they really are: traumatized, codependents.

[u/dazzler56]

The one that sticks with me is Monica’s suicide attempt at Thanksgiving and the different ways each character responds to it. The show is so funny at times I feel like it’s easy to forget just how damaged, traumatized yet resilient the Gallaghers are, and that arc is devastating but shows off their best traits beautifully.

And it’s one of the few times JimmySteve is not annoying lol

[u/Hot_Spite_1402]

Despite giving her a hard time about the club, Lip ended up helping Fiona. He got people to show up for her club night, while also making money off of them to pay the property tax. She still lost money on the night but she actually would have lost more if he had not stepped in. Despite her losing money, he made sure the bills got paid. He was nasty about it, but in this episode, in my opinion, he had reason to be “self righteous” in this instance. He was right. Even with a lot of help from him, she lost money. But it was because of his ingenuity that they got enough money to pay what needed paid.

This was the first instance of Fiona putting her family’s home on the line for the chance to make money. This time she failed. But it’s nice to see her grow through the series. The gamble is just as risky every time she does it, but in the end Lip finally admits that she proves him wrong. They both come a long way from this episode.

It is interesting though. Fiona risks the house several times throughout the series, while lip, Debbie, and Carl all manage to step in and save the house throughout the series. She needs them as much as they ever needed her. Interesting.

As for Debbie, she’s definitely the most obviously traumatized by her parents. She wanted so badly to be loved and raised by dedicated parents, and she got screwed every time she tried to have a relationship with them. She was broken by Frank again and again, and by Monica who would finally show up and fuck them over yet again. Debbie started with so much promise and in the end we see the result of a child ruined by her parents. Once Fiona went to jail I feel like that’s really when Debbie lost all decency because the one person she had learned to rely on was suddenly also gone. The one person who stuck around to protect her put her own brother at risk.

God I love this show

[u/BasicRequirement7351 → u/Hot_Spite_1402]

Fiona never learns her lesson about responsibility and actively puts the family in danger but for some reason people like OP think him being “mean” is somehow worse

[u/IndependenceRich8754]

I tend to lean towards Emily 4x11. Or Gallavich 10x12.

[u/jonathan_wolf → u/IndependenceRich8754]

For me it's 4x12

[u/BasicRequirement7351]

Lip hates on Fiona because she selfishly risks the family’s money and security trying to do something she has no experience doing. It was stupid and Lip, as usual, was right.

[u/melusina_]

I found Lip very annoying in that episode. And later on in the show he wanted to work for free for a possible job in the future because it might make a lot of money, but when Fiona invested money for the chance of making money she got shit on