Frank Gallagher is an alcoholic absent father, but the real family drama belongs to his children—Fiona, Lip, Ian, Debbie, Carl, and Liam. Forced to raise themselves in a South Side Chicago ghetto, they oscillate between fierce, survivalist loyalty and vicious betrayal. The Complexity: Shameless offers a unique flavor of complexity: parentification . Fiona is not a sister; she is a mother forced into a child’s body. The drama arises when she tries to live her own life (abandoning the kids for a boyfriend) versus her duty (saving them from child protective services). This storyline asks a brutal question: If you raise your siblings, do you owe them your entire youth? The complex relationship between duty and resentment is the show’s engine.

Why do we consume these painful narratives? The answer is catharsis, but specifically .

Celeste Ng, Jonathan Franzen, This Is Us , The Crown .

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