#and Mickey is once again propped up as the center of that conversation if the gif representation and last night’s reaction are anything to

[dramaticviolincrescendo]

Being a spouse and being a brother are not mutually exclusive.

This cannot be emphasized enough.

Ian being married to Mickey doesn’t suddenly elevate that relationship to being of greater importance than what he has with his family. Lip being committed to Tami doesn’t suddenly elevate that relationship to being of greater importance than what he has with his family. I feel that the show has been exceedingly clear about what happens when we ignore the other relationships in our lives to focus on a romantic one, and it never turns out well. It was a huge part of Fiona’s story at times; she isn’t the only one.

The scene on the steps is so important for this very reason. The entire season, Lip has been in a very selfish position. He wants to have his cake and eat it too, to feel like he’s got control over things while taking care of his new and original families. He hasn’t forsaken his family for Tami and Fred, though it appears as such earlier in the season. It’s for his pride. It’s for his own sense of self. It’s to preserve the bit of power over his life that all the Gallaghers, Kev, and V are clearly feeling the loss of as the area gentrifies. He’s been a bad partner, a bad father, and a bad sibling for much of the last few episodes since things turned sour and he realized that he’s not as in control as he thinks—that he can’t be in a neighborhood where they have the Mercedes Rule these days. (It’s always been there, but it was never relevant to the South Side until now.)

This has put a strain on his relationship with Ian in particular, one that we have only seen hints of because Ian tends to minimize his feelings by nature if there are other priorities to focus on. He knew Lip was having a hard time, so he went along with selling while visibly not enthused. He was accused of living in Lip’s shadow again, so he didn’t go along anymore to prove a point. He found the healthy medium where he can have an opinion without tying it to what Lip wants despite it having the same outcome, so he could mostly look the other way on the sledgehammer and the inconvenience of renovations.

The conversation on the stairs wasn’t about Mickey. That was addressed, but it wasn’t the purpose. It wasn’t even Ian’s first priority, nor do I think it should have been at that time. Mickey is a grown man who can take care of himself, and he wasn’t guiltless in the escalation of that fight, whether due to the frustrations he definitely has with Lip or the ones that Ian sparked by even wanting to move into that apartment let alone signing the lease.

That conversation was about being a brother first and foremost and a husband second, because getting married doesn’t erase his status in his family. It adds another position in his family and another set of roles for him to perform. But Lip, for as awful as he’s been this season, has also been going it alone. Yes, that’s been his choice. Yes, he’s brought a large part of this on himself. But no matter what I do, no matter how much difficulty I land myself in or how much hardship I cause my older sister in the process, I know for a fact that she will be there when I need her like Ian was for Lip in that moment.

It doesn’t matter that he was pissed off about the fight, which was very obvious in how he approached Lip with the pliers and frozen vegetables and his body language and tone for most of the scene. It doesn’t matter that he probably already got another bag for his husband and isn’t pleased with him for hitting Lip either. None of that matters, because getting married doesn’t negate the relationship he has with his family and that they’ll need him too. It doesn’t make him suddenly have to choose between the two and have competing notions of where his loyalties need to lie.

The conversation on the steps was so very important because Ian went there to be Lip’s brother, first and foremost. He listened when Lip needed to get out what’s been stewing inside him and, if past events have been any indication, what he rarely ever talks about as openly with anyone but Ian. He offered comfort in the form of pointing out where he’s got a problem and where he needs to realize that he’s in a dark place in a remarkable parallel to their conversation outside the courthouse about Ian going to the clinic and getting better. And, most importantly, he encouraged Lip to get help from someone better equipped to do that than Ian, who has been where Liam is now with Frank to a lesser extent at the height of Lip’s alcoholism and who has the impact on his own mental health to consider before helping anyone else with theirs. Once that was accomplished—once all of that had been communicated—he switched hats and told Lip where Lip needed to stand with his husband. It wasn’t much, just an acknowledgement of what happened and a warning to never let it happen again. But it wasn’t his focus. It wasn’t his priority.

Because being a spouse and being a brother are not mutually exclusive, and thank goodness for that.