"Shameless," the popular show about a dysfunctional family from the South Side of Chicago, exploded in popularity as it concluded its seventh season. Of the show's nearly 10 main characters, Lip Gallagher, has become somewhat of an icon. Articles list the qualities that make him irresistible and popular twitter accounts declare their affection. I am here to tell you that no, you don't want to date a Lip Gallagher.
First of all, Lip is becoming his bum of a father, Frank. His luck is uncanny and allows him to get almost any situation to work in his favor. However, he tends to reject all the great opportunities that basically fall into his lap. Although he desperately tries to avoid it, Lip actions reflect his father's more and more as the seasons go on.
An example of this is Lip's increasing amount of alcohol consumption. In season six, Lip is fired from his job as sorority house boy for blacking out and acting lewdly, something he originally shrugs off due to how poorly his life was going at the time. He then gets expelled from his university after taking a crowbar to his professor's car. After getting expelled, he walks to the local bar The Alibi Room and sits in Frank's usual barstool.
Secondly, if there is one thing Lip does not do well it's relationships. Maybe his upbringing is to blame, but Lip tends to reject the healthy relationships in his life. He breaks up with both Mandy, who applied to college for him when he refused to, and Amanda, who helped take care of Lip's younger brother and who's father offered to help find Lip an internship. Yet he embraces the toxic ones, like his scandalous relationship with a professor.
Not to mention, the latter relationship ended because of Lip's decision to take a nonconsensual nude photo of the professor that ended up getting leaked to the whole school by his ex Amanda. Although this photo most likely ended the professor's career, Lip never acknowledged that taking it was wrong, never deleted it after it was leaked, and even continued to look at it long after the ordeal was over.
This is not to say that Lip has no redeeming qualities, he does deeply care about his family and will take care of them when he needs to. But, outside of his family, his relationships are extremely flawed. He is the bad boy that every girl wants to change, but you can't change people.
