Why Ford Is Such A Polarizing Character For Shameless Fans

With its crass talk, rampant substance abuse, sexually explicit content, and random outbursts of violence, "Shameless" was often the very definition of "boundary-pushing drama" during its 11-season run on Showtime. Of course, many of those boundaries were pushed in the name of a sometimes hilarious, frequently disturbing, and often profoundly insightful exploration of life on the wrong side of the tracks.

In the case of "Shameless," Chicago's rapidly gentrifying South Side served as the proverbial "wrong side" of town. The show was centered on the Gallagher family who endured such dramatic highs and lows over the series' tenure, it's a minor miracle they didn't all end up the way their irascible father Frank (William H. Macy) did. As it was, quite a few of the Gallaghers' travails were centered around their various romantic entanglements, with elder sibling Fiona (Emmy Rossum) regularly playing the part of the poster child for failed relationships. 

While Fiona was hardly an innocent when it came to her many romantic failings, she also endured a steady stream of amorous malfeasance at the hands of the bad boy types she tended to gravitate towards. And it seems in the eyes of the "Shameless" fandom, her Season 9 beau Ford Kellog (Richard Flood) was one of the hardest to either completely love or loathe. Here's why "Shameless" fans find the character so polarizing. 

The virtue of Ford Kellog was recently addressed in a Reddit thread that surprisingly opened with a pro-Ford post reading, "Ford wasn't that bad of a person." While a few fans didn't entirely disagree — like u/topcoatsandhats who posted, "Ford in season 8 gave me manic pixie dream girl vibes after just finishing a rewatch tbh" — the comments section quickly filled up with unflattering takes about the character. And u/Bizmark_86 was the first to point out his treatment of Fiona as a thing that most bothers "Shameless" fans about the character, posting, "Hiding the fact that [you're] married and have a kid from your live-in girlfriend is a shady move however you look at it man."

That shocker of a twist, of course, pushed Fiona into a major downwards spiral. Seems u/Bizmark_86 had other issues with Ford too, continuing, "I didn't like Ford because I thought he was a poorly written character. He's boring... and then he's pretty much gone." User u/royallmilk clearly felt the same, offering, "Ford was literally a wall that Fiona talked to. Such a bland character."

According to u/writersblock86, Ford was one of Fiona's worst romantic partners because "he was a giant bore. The chemistry was not there. And not only did I not buy that they were in love, I got the impression that Ford didn't even really like Fiona." In the end, Ford's humiliating series' exit at the hands of Debbie Gallagher (Emma Kenney) proved cathartic for at least one "Shameless" fan who stated bluntly, "I fully endorse Debbie's revenge against him." And it seems said user is not at all alone in their satisfaction.