Shameless: 10 Things You Forgot From The First Episode

It’s been a long journey for Shameless. The hit Showtime series is currently in its 11th and final season. The first episode aired on January 9, 2011, making it a full decade of the dramedy being on air. That’s quite remarkable.

Since a lot of time has passed since the series premiere, events that occurred at the beginning might be hard to recall, even for the staunchest fans. The series began with a bang, making sure to pack in all the elements that fans have come to love.

10 Frank’s Ironical Description Of His Children

The pilot episode began with a voice-over by Frank Gallagher describing his children and neighborhood, However, his descriptions of his children were quite off. He described Lip as an intelligent student with a bright future but a short while later, Lip was seen being chased by cops.

Frank also confessed that he didn’t know much about his son Carl. He only knew that he loved animals. In contrast to this, Carl was seen torturing a cat.

9 Everyone Contributed To The Electricity Bill

A few minutes into the episode, it became clear that Frank wasn’t capable of supporting his family. During breakfast, Fiona picked up a box and passed it around for everyone to make contributions for the electricity bill.

It was also obvious that all the children had learned not to rely on Frank for anything. Ian needed Frank’s signature for a permission slip and Debbie forged it for him. Fiona also sent Debbie with Liam to school because Frank couldn’t do it. Fiona then reported for duty at a hot dog joint.

8 Lip Was The First Person To Find Out About Ian’s Sexuality

Ian’s character was a bit overblown in later seasons to the point where the writers decided he would be a cult-like figure who went by the name Gay Jesus. And Frank made sure to profit off that.

In the pilot episode, Ian was still secretive about his sexuality but Lip found out. On Ian’s side of the room, Lip came across a folder with pictures of naked women clipped on it. When he opened the folder, he found gay pornography inside. He didn’t mention it to anyone, except Ian.

7 Sheila Couldn’t Notice What Was Going On In Her House

Lip was Karen’s tutor in the pilot so he went to her house to bless her with new knowledge. But that’s not what happened. Karen’s mom, Sheila, who it turned out was agoraphobic, opened the door and focused on cooking.

While Liam and Karen worked in the dining area, they got bored quickly and began engaging in a game of footsie. Karen then sneaked under the table where she performed a sexual act on Lip. Despite the sounds and the open plan of the house, Sheila couldn’t notice that anything was wrong.

6 Fiona Had A Habit Or Returning Dresses

Since she couldn’t afford a variety of dresses, Fiona had come up with the perfect plan to make sure she always dressed differently whenever she went out to party, She would buy a new dress, wear it, then return it the next day, claiming the was something wrong with it. She’d then be given a new one.

When Fiona and Vee were preparing for a night out in the series premiere, Vee tried to remove the tag from Fiona’s dress. Fiona stopped her from doing so because she was planning on returning the dress the next day. Vee told her not to worry about it because she had a tag gun and could put it back on.

5 Frank Mentioned That He Had A Brief Job

Throughout the series, Frank never really works. He relies on scheming people (mostly his romantic partners) in order to survive. But he has had a few jobs.

In the first episode, he was seen signing a fraudulent disability check at the bar. He would mostly use the money to buy alcohol, Fiona also kept taking some out of his pockets to give to her siblings. In another scene, he lamented how the money wasn’t enough, even though he only worked for a week before quitting.

4 Sheila’s Husband Left

Lip went to Sheila’s house a second time to get naughty with Karen again. This time he went with Ian, he was discovered. Sheila still didn’t see them but her husband Eddie did.

He chased Ian and Lip out, forcing Lip to jump out of the window and injure his foot.  Angry at Karen for not adhering to his religious teachings, Eddie decided to abandon his family. Sheila was so devastated by Eddie’s actions that she began serving alcohol to her teenage daughter so that they could console each other

3 Fiona’s Secret Admirer Found Her With Another Man

At the club, Fiona met a man named Steve. He impressed her after trying to recover her stolen purse. Bonus point when he punched a bouncer. Hours later, Fiona took her to the Gallagher house with her.

The two proceeded to make love on the kitchen floor. But just as they were about to finish, they were interrupted by cops bringing home a drunk Frank. It turned out one of the cops named Tony had a huge crush on Fiona. He was clearly disappointed but luckily for him, he still ended up dating Fiona in future episodes.

2 Fiona Was Stressed

Despite the fact that Fiona took care of her siblings whole-heartedly, she was stressed about it. At some point in the episode, she broke down and yelled at Frank, who had passed out.

Frank still couldn’t wake up so Fiona grabbed his limp hand and patted herself with it on the back, implying that Frank was congratulating her for taking care of the children. She then left him alone before Debbie showed up and placed a pillow under his head before wishing him goodnight.

1 Ian Was Having An Affair With A Married Man

Since the Gallagher children had to provide for themselves, Ian got a job a Kash and Grab, a shop owned by the married couple, Kash and Linda. Lip would later bump into Ian and Kash having sex at the shop.

Later, Lip confronted Ian for having sex with a married man but Ian was unapologetic about it. Lip was angrier that Ian was receiving expensive gifts from the man, but Ian corrected him by letting him know that he was giving Kash gifts, too. Lip then promised to not tell anyone about the affair.

About The Author

Philip Etemesi
(1215 Articles Published)

Philip Etemesi is an author, journalist, screenwriter and film critic based in Nairobi. Kenya. As a child, he preferred watching movies like The Goodfellas instead of Home Alone. His girlfriend constantly has to pull him from the front of the TV but he just keeps returning. Stubborn dude! An animal lover, Philip also has a pet giraffe called Refu.

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