Shameless is building to the season nine crescendo. The news of Emmy Rossum’s departure from the show spoiled some of the drama, but still, the suspense over her departure remains.

Fiona spent the better part of her twenty-something years raising her siblings. Sure she could be hard at times, but she was a source of stability in the Gallagher’s Southside home and on Shameless. She kept the family together, even though the parental obligations were sometimes too much to bare.

Fiona wanted her own life once the kids could fend for themselves, mostly. Liam is still running around somewhere, probably making a living as a translator. Debbie, Carl and Lip though, they were grown enough that Fiona could venture out. Her real estate dreams might even lead to Liam having a penthouse bedroom and access to downtown private schools.

So out Fiona ventured. She got a stable job managing a busy corner diner, Patsy’s Pies. She even found a way to have her own place, while having it pay for it’self. That apartment building investment should have been enough to satisfy Fiona’s independent wishes. Fiona dreamed bigger and ventured further from her comfort zone.

She gave up her freedom, money, and security all for a nebulous development project in the future. If the plan worked, and the property was developed, a good portion of the Southside as Fiona knew it would be erased. If the plan did not work, Fiona’s net worth and savings, along with her good credit, would disappear like a fifth of whiskey in Frank’s pocket. Or like some strangers Oxy if Fiona saw a chance to snatch and run.

So now Fiona is feeling bombed out from life and busted up emotionally and physically. Alcohol and actual car wrecks can take a toll on anybody. Fiona feel’s pathetic, but has been trying to create her own niche for so long she lost touch with those who could best help her now.

As it turned out, Fiona did not need Lip loudly pointing out she had become a slobby wreck. Fiona did not need to hear Debbie complain about bills to the point of locking Fiona out of the house. All Fiona needed to realize she was well far gone down the deep end was to hear Frank enter the house, repeating her same entrance.

In that quiet moment, after weeks of hints, Fiona knew she was heading to rehab or jail. If the assault on the racist white lady does not send her away for a six month stint, she will send herself to some treatment center far from the Southside. In order to really gain her independance, Fiona needs a space where she knows no one, has no prior connections.

Fiona does not know herself. She just knows who she had to be to help everyone else get by. Now she has to make that investment in herself. Living fast and loose, running from crashed out party to sketchy street transaction, is not how Fiona pictured her life. It is how she saw Frank. Now is the time for her to see the inside of some type of sober house, or the face of Jimmy-Steve, who is back to take her around the world.

Where do you think Shameless is going to take Fiona’s character? Be sure to tell us in the comment section below!