Shameless Fans Agree That This Couple Carried The Show
Across 11 seasons and a full decade on the air, the American remake of "Shameless" saw many couples come and go across its large, diverse cast. Many of us would likely immediately think of Fiona Gallagher (Emmy Rossum) and her best and worst boyfriends across her 9 seasons on the show, but so many more pairings won our hearts, and occasionally, broke hearts as well.
Nearly all of the Gallagher clan and their acquaintances experienced the highs, lows, and occasionally the toxic when it came to couplings. In Season 1 alone, Fiona/Tony, Fiona/Steve, Frank/Sheila, Lip/Karen, Kevin/V (Veronica) and Ian/Kash were more than enough to give viewers relationship whiplash, but as the show progressed, there were a few pairings that stood the test of time.
Similar to the way the series authentically explored substance abuse, the examination of addiction to toxic relationships was also handled with blunt honesty within the series. But Shameless fans agree that one healthy and dedicated relationship helped to carry the show across every season.
Kev and V had a dynamic and unique relationship
The pairing of Kevin Ball (Steve Howey) and Veronica Fisher (Shanola Hampton) memorably stands out. Redditor u/TheRealPastaz started a thought-provoking conversation by stating that "Kev and V were consistently carrying the show." Throughout the series, Kevin and Veronica were the witty, fun-loving, and equally shameless neighbors of the Gallagher family. Their union was strong and numerously tested and repaired. Redditor u/MaladaptiveGirly responded with "THEY ARE. It's because, despite everything, they are the one consistency in the show. No matter what those 2 go through, they ain't never gonna leave each other."
Kev and V's relationship manages to last the entire series, and we are treated to how an unbreakable bond can withstand all of life's turmoil and still remain intact. It also helps that the duo frequently had interesting, hilarious, and downright unique storylines each season, or as u/callierkap pointed out "their side stories were sometimes better than the main character ones."
Although Kev and V's gradual drifting apart from the Gallaghers in later seasons is still one of the biggest unanswered questions about the show, simply watching the two on their own made for dynamic television. In a 2018 interview with The Real, Steve Howey gushingly shared how his rapport with Shanola Hampton was due to her being a "phenomenal woman, and one of the reasons for the show's success." Their characters managed to win our hearts and appeal to our sense of humor while never falling into destructive territory.