Shameless Fans Agree That This Is The Show's Most Underrated Sad Moment
As Showtime's rollicking family dramedy Shameless barrels, ahem, shamelessly toward its series finale, fates remain decidedly uncertain for much of the Gallagher clan. Rest assured, Chicago's favorite band of South Side hustlers are very much going out with a bang, delivering all the high drama and hysterical humor Shameless fans have come to expect over the course of the show's decade-plus run in cable TV land.
And perhaps more than any other series on television over that period, Shameless has indeed delivered as much laugh-out-loud comedy as it has soul-shaking drama. Quite often the series has miraculously been able to deliver both in the space of a single scene. Still, once the finale lands on Showtime, Shameless will have aired a staggering 134 episodes over it's 11-season run — which naturally makes it a bit difficult for even the most devoted of fans to single out one comedic or dramatic moment as the series' finest.
Nonetheless, that's exactly what a band of Shameless-loving Redditors recently sought to do, with user lovedsammy using the platform to ask fans to choose the series' "Saddest/Wildest" underrated scene from the series' run. Nearly 200 users cast a vote in the Reddit poll. And of the six underrated dramatic moments lovedsammy selected from the Shameless archives, a very clear winner was eventually chosen, with Fiona (Emmy Rossum) and the Gallagher family's reaction to Monica's (the great Chloe Webb) BBD incident taking the top spot.
Just for point of reference, Monica is the matriarch of the Gallagher family, though she was historically so in absentee fashion. She also suffers from bipolar disorder, and the "incident" in question came in a season 2 episode that saw a deeply disturbed Monica attempt to take her own life.
Chloe Webb's entire Shameless run was tragedy incarnate
Monica's appetite for booze and drugs is even stronger than that of the family's infamously inebriated patriarch Frank (William H. Macy), by the way. Unfortunately, the one drug she showed no interest in taking was the one that might've helped control her bipolar issues. As such, it's hardly a surprise that Monica's Shameless existence was one of utter chaos. So much so that even when she did find her way back into her family's orbit, few but the chaos-loving Frank wanted much to do with her.
It should be noted that Frank's love for the woman is as fierce as it is absolute, however, and that in spite of her absentee status, Monica's love for her kids was never in doubt — both facts that helped make her on-again/off-again presence on Shameless the very definition of tragic.
As it was, the Gallagher kids didn't actually find out about Monica's bipolar problems until the series' second season. And yes, that news slightly softened their hearts toward the woman when she tried to play the part of matriarch in that season 2 run. Shameless fans can attest that the good times didn't last though with the medication-less Monica spiraling into bipolar-driven despair that ended with her slashing her wrists in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner.
That moment is one which caught the whole of Shameless fandom off guard, and rightfully ranks among the series' most unsettling dramatic turns. The harrowing site of Monica's suicide attempt is matched only by the heart-breaking reaction of Fiona and the Gallagher crew once the dust began to settle. Of those moments, we'll say they're the sort one really needs to see to fully comprehend. Just know they're more than worthy of the top spot in that "Saddest" Shameless scene poll.