carlgallaghers

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SHAMELESS

1.06 — “Killer Carl”

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cannot stop thinking about carl and fiona’s relationship. they were always pretty close and trusted each other well.

“is it okay if i say im proud of you”

carl needed those words. especially from her.

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"I don't need to talk. Just stop stressing me. Damn."

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CARL GALLAGHER IN EVERY EPISODE

6x08 - "Be a Good Boy, Come For Grandma"

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Colorwheel Timestamp Roulette ⇆ 10x02: Sleep Well My Prince for Tomorrow You Shall Be King ↳Sage + 2 for @darlingian

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I'm back after a very busy year! currently giffing season 6 episode 7 but accepting carl/ethan related requests <3

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Ethan Cutkosky joins the cast of the new film 'Our Family Pride'

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Ethan

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bonus:

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Every Shameless Episode

Killer Carl

1.06

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i could go on and on about carl gallagher for hours, but i will keep it to just one post!

the thing that i love most about carl is that in the early seasons, he's always the one who the gallaghers (and everyone else) think will end up being the worst off. we see signs of potential in him, we see that inherent kindness in him (him running after lip when he leaves in 208, the god damn hospital scene in 312 w frank in particular comes to mind) that became a staple of his character later on, but he is held back by his environment and the "expectations" of him. he, like the rest of the gallagher family, is a product of his surroundings. he grew up with no money. grew up in an abusive household? becomes the school bully and learns how to punch first. quickest way to make money? get into the drug business.

even in the first five-mid six seasons, where we see carl try to become someone he isn't, we are still privy to how big his heart is. his aggression outside of his home is based upon his need to protect himself and those around him. boys being ableist to liam? get the shit beaten out of them. foster dads want to adopt liam and take him away from the gallaghers? fuck up their shit. patrick wants to take the house? option 3, kill patrick, why skip an option? carl is also just so non-judgemental in general, which is such a breath of fresh air on a show where these morally questionable people pass judgement on everyone. we see him have to be educated on gay people (in an albeit funny way), and he sees ian's love for mickey and reflects it in his own sweet relationship with bonnie. fiona gets arrested in s4, and carl is the one who gets mike to bail her out (more on the fiona/carl dynamic in a minute), despite lip being in his ear about how badly fiona fucked up. he's arguably the only gallagher who fully embraces his gallagher-ness. when he fucks up, it's on him. it's not on how he was raised.

we're not gonna get into the ~problematic nature of the wb carl story, but his connection with nick is truly heartbreaking. carl is incredibly loyal, it's one of his defining character traits. he and nick teamed up in juvie, and that was it. they were brothers for life. they were gonna be by each other's side forever. carl took nick into the gallagher home bc he needed somewhere to belong. the scene where nick tells carl that he's not good with people, but carl is different, because he's not twisty is sooooo important. nick knows that carl isn't a bad person. he's not meant for the streets. he is not meant for this life. it's what makes it all the more devastating when nick murders the kid. he tells carl to split, because he'd always known it would end this way. but carl didn't. carl is optimistic, he had hoped for a life where he and his best friend could make a lot of money and ~south side succeed. carl never saw a world where this would happen. carl has been acting like he's a man who runs the gallagher home all season, but what is the first thing he does after witnessing a murder?

he goes to sean's house. he asks for his big sister. he wants comfort. but when fiona gets back to sean's apartment, she is devastated by her failure to get the loan to keep the house. fiona is the one who needs comfort. this is where we really get to see how big his heart is. he is the one who literally just watched the brutal killing of a child, but instead of focusing on that, he gives fiona the money to buy the house back. he fixes things for her. this is where we really see carl begin to develop into the responsible center of the gallagher household. but we slowly see the ptsd eat at him as the season progresses. when ian was going through it in season 3, his instinct was to suffer in silence. carl is such a product of his role models (fiona, ian, frank and later, dominique's dad who we'll get to) and he has seen his older brothers hide their true emotions all of his life. but when it comes down to it and fiona lets him know that he can trust her (which he already knew, but needed to be reminded of), he unloads the truth onto her. ethan's voice break in this scene absolutely kills me and it's probably my favorite performance of his. fiona is patient with him, she doesn't judge him as he has never judged her. she tells him that she is proud of him. i truly think that hearing that was a gamechanger for carl. i don't think that's something he's heard much at all throughout his life and hearing it from the person he loves and respects the most is what lit the fire under him to improve his life.

we see carl get out of the game. he goes straight edge (gallagher straight edge anyway). he sticks to fiona like glue, and she encourages him every step of the way. this is where we start to see carl's relationship w dominique develop, as he'd had a crush on her for the whole season, but it was only when he let his demeanor down and showed her how sensitive and kind he is deep down. now the important thing about carl's relationship with dominique is that it actually changed his life because of the relationship he builds with her father. he has to work to earn his respect. he has to prove himself as a good man, someone who is not the south side. carl is not one to let the environment he's in determine where he's going to end up. even after he and dominique break up, he has found a role model in her father and is determined to keep it that way. determination. that's another huge quality of carl's. and his hard work pays off. he gets into military school, and gets on the path fully to getting out of chicago. fiona hugs him and tells him how proud she is of him again.

this deserves it's own mini paragraph but carl truly loved and respected fiona more than anyone else in that house. she was his mother, and he knew that. he appreciated everything that she did for him. please watch this video, i beg of you.

it's soooo interesting to see what happens w all the characters post s7 bc 712 was the intended finale (....and should've been....). i would've been beyond thrilled with carl's ending in s7, but i guess where we see carl land in the last 4 seasons is that the path to a happy ending isn't always perfect. i actually find carl's relationship with kassidi really interesting bc carl is trying so hard not to be frank or any boyfriend of fiona's or debbie's. he's seen his mom and his sisters be treated like garbage, and he lets kassidi always "win" because he can't fathom hurting a woman the way the people he loves most were hurt. he doesn't realize that he's being abused because in his mind (which we see again in season 11, so they continue w the trend!) men can't be abused. men have fucked his family up. he doesn't want to be like them, he can't be like them. so he allows it to happen. obviously they just totally erase kassidi from existence in s9 (....mess), but carl's chivalry and gentlemanly nature has been a theme in the show since day one ("they live in a van" "why is that my problem?" "it's the winter," "i lost the shiv carl made for me," "i don't like sex," buying all of his girlfriends flowers - lip could never) and we see it in his relationship with kelly, which was pretty boring lol, but it just further proved how good of a man carl was growing into

carl advances so greatly! making corporal rank at military school, taking care of the dogs and reading to them so they'll be at peace in the last stages of their life (comparing this to season one carl will actually make me SOB), taking in anne and her family (we were ROBBED i'm still upset about this to this day), comforting debbie for being heartbroken over HIS girlfriend that SHE tried to steal.....the list goes on and on. the show is FOUL and has carl witness another senseless murder, but as he does because this show is so adamant on carl's development remaining stable, he elicits change in the neighborhood by getting cameras installed in the area.

i'm gonna get into the cop sl later, so i'll talk ab the r word sl here. like i said w kassidi (and honestly even w dominique before her), we see carl's inability to ever see a woman as being in the wrong. carl meets a girl for sex, he tells her he'll only have sex w her w a condom, she says no they don't need one and does it with him anyway. carl is visibly distraught by this and debbie tells him that he didn't consent to that, so it's r*pe. obv it's shameless so they walk back on this later and have the girl give some bs explanation but it was SOOOOOO important for carl to be able to acknowledge that he's not always in the wrong with a woman and women can be wrong.

i know there's so much discourse ab the cop sl, and yeah acab, but this makes sense for someone like carl who doesn't excel in school and comes from a bad neighborhood as the ~logical option. my dream for carl would've been for him to work in social services or as a school counselor but his grades were just not there as we know, so this copaganda being pushed on him actually makes perfect sense. carl does not want to leave the south side. it's his home. what he does want to do is improve the neighborhood and make it a better, safer place. carl's former life as a drug dealer makes him more compassionate and willing to help kids than the rest of the fucked up cpd. after his shitty partner assaults, demeans and harasses a trans woman for selling cigarettes, carl regrets not doing enough and brings her her things back. he gives her advice on a safer place to make money. he calls out the anti-black agenda of the police. “i want to be the type of cop who stands up for those who don’t have a voice” he wants to make a change, and i think that's so beautiful for someone like carl who was told for most of his life that he was a sociopathic delinquent who would amount to nothing. it's implied he actually buys the alibi in the series finale, just further proving his success. his determination, his resiliency, and inner strength brought him to where he is.

despite the show pretending debbie was the "new fiona" in her absence (lmfao), carl really stepped up. he was a good role model to liam. we see him actively helping out with franny. he has a full time job and a steady income (at the age of 20!) carl didn't think he was better than the gallaghers or especially fiona, he didn't think he was better than the south side. he knew and accepted his past and his family and loved them for all that they were. he is a non-judgemental, accepting, loving, strong character who succeeded by persevering.

i just really really really love carl gallagher okay