A big old ‘mo.” Mickey’s homophobic father, just released from prison hours prior, leaps over the bar, fists ablaze, to punch his son in the face. Ian gives Mickey the ultimatum of coming out or breaking up, and so Mickey announces “I’m fucking gay. Shortly after this moment of heart, the bar breaks out in a fight. Mickey, masked in his own masculinity, fearful of what kindness could indicate, asks him what that even means. “I’m just trying to put everything in the past, OK? I’m a ‘conscientious objector’ now.” Kevin says. Kev fills Mickey’s flimsy paper plate with corn beef - an act of kindness - and Mickey asks him why. At this moment, the venue hosts an after party for the baptism to the son of Mickey Milkovich, a juvenile delinquent and (secret) boyfriend to one of the show’s troubled leads, Ian Gallagher.
The bar is known to have housed undocumented Russian women upstairs, who pay rent through sex work. In a memorable scene in Shameless - Showtime's long-running dramedy about a dysfunctional family - bartender Kevin Ball (Steve Howey), or Kev, stands behind his bar, bulging muscle and bravado in South Side Chicago.