When
Shameless first introduced us to Phillip Gallagher, he was a genius. If Fiona was working to escape her mother’s fate by providing for her siblings like Monica failed to, then Lip’s story posited that he could be what Frank—whip smart, charismatic—could have been if not for the drugs and alcohol that sent him down a darker path. And while Fiona’s position of responsibility made it difficult to imagine her ever being able to up and leave the South Side (funny story about that…), Lip was always the family’s best chance at someone achieving the class mobility that society tells people like the Gallaghers they should be striving for.