"Shameless" fans were left hanging during the Christmas holiday wondering just what in the world is going on with Ian Gallagher. While most were busy Christmas Eve spending time with their families and prepping for the big day, we were left without one important part of our Sunday night, our weekly hour spent catching up with the Gallagher family.

'Shameless' set to make a dramatic turn

All dedicated "Shameless" fans already know there have been some major changes brewing within the Gallagher clan in Season 8 of the popular Showtime hit comedy-drama.

As of Sunday, December 18, 2017, it appears as if Gallagher family patriarch Frank Gallagher's stunning Season 8 transformation is coming to an end.

It has been interesting this season watching Frank transform from a "Shameless" drunk, selfish neglectful father into a law-abiding, working-class upstanding citizen. However, it has been a popular opinion that this version of Frank is well, just down-right dull. We need some good-old Frank craziness.

Could we lose one of the Gallagher clan?

All is about to change on December 31 when we finally begin to see the old Frank return. But, what most fans are really concerned about is the upcoming storyline featuring Ian Gallagher. There is definitely something up with Ian and fans are very concerned about which turn the show is about to take with him.

As previously reported, a major storyline around Ian is about to unfold in the second half of the season.

In November, Shameless writer John Wells revealed during an interview with entertainment Voice that there is an upcoming storyline for Ian that is going to "pi** fans off," and they will be expecting truckloads of hate mail coming at them for it.

The question is: What is Ian going through? When we left off Ian was not looking very well. He has begun to take a bit of a dark turn since Monica's death and his risky and dangerous engagements have fans fearing for his mental and physical health.

Spoiler rumors have been circulating, across social media, that Ian is showing signs of a health crisis.

Could be that Ian is off his bi-polar meds again and the beginning of a manic episode is underway. He has been very blue since his split with Trevor, Mickey's departure, and Monica's death. We have seen, in the past, just how bad things can get for him when he is off his meds.

Another fear fans are concerned with is that Ian has been exposed to and or has been diagnosed with HIV or Aids. Are we going to see the family deal with the possibilities of losing one of the siblings? It is likely that a health crisis is what is behind Ian's sudden personality change, his aggressiveness with Fiona, and his sudden wreckless behaviors. There is going to be some huge drama for the show's fans to deal with.

Season 8 has been a bit slow moving when compared to past seasons. Fans are revealing on social media that they would like to see a few changes in the second half of the season that include Lip's sobriety story. We all know it has been tough on him, but, something needs to give here — the meetings, fidget spinner, and violent sex with his co-worker just is not working. Does Lip need real love, Mandy, or Sierra?

Fiona's story is also dragging. Let's shake things up. The girl needs to do something more than clean her apartment building and argue with Ian. Debs and her recent "Shameless" behavior and treatment of Neil and Franny are irritating viewers, one minute she is all about Franny, the next, she is high and risking her baby's safety — future custody case coming?

Carl is once again entertaining and creative this season. It would not come as a big surprise to see a big storyline for him in Season 9. Needless to say, it looks as if things are going to really get crazy over the next few weeks and with only four more episodes to go, it will be over before we are ready and we will all sit and anxiously await the arrival of Season 9 late in 2018.

Oh, the torture of it all we TV fanatics must endure between seasons of our favorite shows! What would you like to see take place in the final episodes of "Shameless" Season 8?
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