'Shameless' Season 10 Episode 1: Liam and Veronica's joint pursuit to reclaim his heritage might give Kevin the son he always wanted
This article contains spoilers for season 10, episode 1.
Not that Liam Gallagher needs mothering to get his way around Southside Chicago, but somewhere between the absence of older sister Fiona and his sudden urge to reconnect with his ethnicity, he seems to have found the most solid and grounded guardian in next-door neighbor, Veronica Ball.
When not going around flaunting his now mane-sized afro in all its majestic glory, Liam takes his meals only at the Ball residence with Veronica cooking every single one of them. Liam likes to call them 'slave' meals and the name speaks for itself as these, according to Veronica, are the only dishes that the African American community could afford to eat when slavery was actively practiced. Liam's process of reclaiming his heritage also includes dressing up as different black icons from the past and going to school in outfits pertaining to his ethnicity. Granted that gets him beaten up by his peers on his first day back at school, but Liam Gallagher is relentless and not even pizza nights can tempt him enough to deter him from his path.
The reason all of this is proving to be so wholesome is the timing. This whole adopt Liam as part of her cultural heritage comes for Veronica right after her and Kevin's stint with fostering the teenager from an ICE detention center which didn't go all that well. The couple already have their toddler twins and the only reason they took in the teenage boy was that Kevin wanted a kid he "could play ball with." But in the present time, while Kevin is too busy trying to reclaim his masculinity in the wake of his basketball buddies not considering him a player energetic enough, what he is overlooking is the fact that Veronica has already taken Liam under her wing. And with the kind of father poor little Liam has been cursed with, the kid could be the ideal fit for the Balls and Kevin would have his little dude too. Let's hope our big guy is able to see that soon!
'Shameless' season 10 airs on Sundays at 9 pm only on Showtime.