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The Jacksons
Sheila Jackson
Sheila Jackson
Portrayed By: Joan Cusack (Seasons 1-5)
Frank's on-and-off-again girlfriend, a bubbly but neurotic agoraphobic with a pegging fetish.
- Altar the Speed: Marries Frank on his deathbed in Season 4.
- Covert Pervert: Seems like a relatively buttoned-up woman, even though Eddie remarks casually that she does like sex a lot. Then the handcuffs and giant dildo come out...
- Genki Girl: Is bright and full of energy, especially when she first starts to take steps outside.
- Grew a Spine: She starts to develop a spine enough to run Eddie out of the house, and goes outside. By season 2 she finally has the courage to kick Frank out, and stand up to Peggy.
- Heroic BSoD: In Season 1 she was agoraphobic, but then Season 2 showed how much worse it can be with the stress of Eddie dying.
- Housewife: Her costuming even resembles that of 50's housewives. Especially combined with her home decor.
- Horrible Judge of Character: It takes her a long time to realize just how much of a bastard Frank is, and she still keeps giving him second chances once she does.
- Morality Pet: We mostly see Karen's positive side through her relationship with Sheila, who she is always quite understanding of, up until the later part of season 2.
- Nice Girl: Only Peggy makes her drop her friendly and helpful demeanor, and Sheila even starts being helpful to her when it's revealed that Peggy is dying of cancer.
- Put on a Bus: At the beginning of Season 4, but comes back a few episodes later. In Season 5, she leaves permanently after Frank blows up her house and (yet again) reveals how despicable he is, and so far is yet to reappear.
Karen Jackson
Karen Jackson
Portrayed By: Laura Slade Wiggins (Seasons 1-3)
Sheila's slutty and sociopathic daughter, and Lip's main love interest in the first few seasons.
- Asshole Victim: Well no one is going to pity her after all the horrible things she has done, even when Mandy almost killed her and gave her brain damage, she got what she deserved.
- Broken Bird: The events of season 1 clearly affect her badly, continuing through into later seasons.
- Bullying a Dragon: Really didn't think the whole antagonizing Mandy thing through.
- The Bus Came Back: She leaves after Season 2 and then comes back midway through Season 3.
- Characterization Marches On: She's initially much more of a Good Bad Girl type; she's promiscuous but sweet in her own way, and a talented student. Later on, she Took a Level in Jerkass, abandons her mother, manipulates Lip while playing Jody, drops out and runs away, loathes her own child, and is revealed to be a sociopath.
- Dramatic Irony: She is especially contemptuous that her son was born with Down Syndrome (mostly because it makes him undesirable for her to broker to rich families who would pay her), several times referring to Hymie as being "retarded". After being hit by Mandy, she is severely brain damaged and unable to form new memories.
- Empty Shell: After her accident, she is brain-damaged and states she can remember things that happened to her but has no feelings or emotions to associate with them.
- Extreme Libido: Has been having sex since she was 11 years old, and juggles multiple other lovers while being in a relationship with Lip. She meets Jody at a Sex Addicts Anonymous group (while continuing to have rampant sex) and, in season 3, Jody going down on her is enough to wake her up out of a coma.
- Fate Worse than Death: After being ran down by Mandy, she has no short term memory and is very brain damaged because of it.
- Good Girls Avoid Abortion: She first smacks Lip when he suggests she get one.
- It's All About Me: Gives her mother an ultimatum to choose between her and her own son/Sheila's grandson, a disabled newborn. She eventually returns, telling the father's family can have custody of the baby in hopes that things return to normal with her mom.
- Manipulative Bitch:
- Particularly with Lip, who continues going back to her well after its revealed what kind of person she is.
- Tries to make her mother pick between her and her son/Sheila's grandson.
- Laser-Guided Karma: After calling her son with Down Syndrome "retarded," she gets hit by Mandy's car and becomes brain-damaged because of it.
- Look Both Ways: Purposefully run over by Mandy towards the end of Season 3, though she doesn't die.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: She ruthlessly called her down syndrome son "retarded".
- Put on a Bus: She disappears at the end of Season 2, and again in the end of Season 3.
- Really Gets Around: She apparently started having oral sex when she was 13, and had vaginal sex in 8th grade.
- Teen Pregnancy: She gets pregnant at 16.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: In Season 1 she is mostly sympathetic, but she definitely takes a turn for the worse in season 3, hitting Lip, calling Hymie retarded, and riling up Mandy for no reason, amongst other issues.
- The Sociopath: Shows little-to-no empathy towards others (with the exception of her mother in the first two seasons), and generally appears concerned only with herself.
Eddie Jackson
Eddie Jackson
Portrayed By: Joel Murray (Season 1)
Sheila's ultra-religious husband, who leaves her at the start of Season 1 after a meltdown over Karen's sexual exploits.
- Driven to Suicide: Drowns himself in a frozen lake once he sees the porno starring Frank and Karen.
- Jerkass: He isn't a very likable man.
- Jerkass Realization: While he's initially extremely unlikable, seeing Frank and Karen's porno finally forces some introspection from him, since he starts wondering how bad he must be for her to go to such lengths to hurt him. That realization kickstarts his suicide.
- It's All About Me: After Karen confesses her many sexual experiences to the Promise Keepers meeting, he calls her a whore and his only concern is the embarrassment she's caused him.
Jody Silverman
Jody Silverman
Portrayed By: Zach McGowan (Seasons 2-3)
A recovering sex addict that Karen starts dating in Season 2 after they met in Sexaholics Anonymous, who he then eventually marries. They separate mid-season, after which Jody hooks up with Sheila, Karen's mother.
- Brainless Beauty: He's easy on the eyes, and is also pretty dim.
- Dumb Jock: He is not a smart man.
- Hidden Depths: Knows American Sign Language and is seen creating a metalwork sculpture.
- Likes Older Women: Has a relationship with Sheila, who is about twenty years older than him, and they raise Karen's baby together once she abandons it. Though he also had a relationship with the much younger Karen.
- Mr. Fanservice: It's easier to list the amount of times he wasn't naked.
- Nice Guy: One of the nicest guys in the series.
- Parental Substitute: With baby Hymie.
- Put on a Bus: Towards the end of Season 3, he leaves Chicago with Karen and Hymie to take Karen to a faith healer in Arizona to fix her brain damage.
- Really Gets Around: He is a recovering sex addict, and mentions having had sex 12 times per day in the past.
- The Rival: To Lip, for Karen's affection. Lip wins, though they both soon agree that Jody "dodged a bullet" once Karen reveals herself to be a total sociopath.
- Unknown Rival: Is more concerned with being a doting father and loving husband to Karen than Lip's manipulations.
Hymie Jackson
Hymie Jackson
Portrayed By: (Seasons 2-3)
Karen's baby son, who has Down syndrome.
- Chocolate Baby: It's readily obvious to everyone that he's not Lip's kid because of his Asian features.
- Put on a Bus: After Karen is left brain-damaged from being hit by Mandy's car, Jody takes her and Hymie across the country to faith healers that he believes can heal both of them.
The Milkoviches
In General
- Adaptational Nationality: Their UK counterparts, the Maguires, are of Irish origins. The Milkoviches are of Russian-American origins.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: They are the single identifying factor that the Gallaghers aren't the most fucked up family out there.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: A common Milkovich family trait, although Mandy and Mickey are both more attractive and sympathetic than their siblings. Due to age, Terry himself is an exception and is more of a case of White Hair, Black Heart.
- Right-Wing Militia Fanatic: Terry and his brood check all the boxes, including the violence, paranoia, racism, and swastika and Confederate flags. It's often Played for Laughs and the show's tendency to poke fun at every side of the American character.
Mandy Milkovich
Mandy Milkovich
"...the fuck are you looking at?"
Portrayed By: Jane Levy (Season 1), Emma Greenwell (Seasons 2-6)
- Abusive Parents: She was raped by Terry.
- Anguished Declaration of Love: Lip has sex with Mandy to try to convince her of her self-worth and leave her abusive boyfriend. She tearfully declares that she loves Lip. Lip does not respond.
- Bad Job, Worse Uniform: It has a stuffed squirrel on the hat.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: She begins to show a warming and loving side to Lip because he was the nicest guy she's ever been with, though it's thoroughly deconstructed.
- Broken Bird: Due to her horrible life, in particular being raped and impregnated by her inebriated father. Spends Season 4 and much of Season 5 with a very abusive boyfriend, and then becomes a prostitute in Season 6 after breaking up with him.
- Characterization Marches On: Possibly due to The Other Darrin, but compare Season 1 Mandy who runs out of the house crying and launches a dramatic scheme due to a perceived slight by Ian to Season 2 Mandy, who is completely stoic when she's molested by her father.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Having been a major character in Seasons 1-4, she guest stars in Season 5 and 6...and then she isn't mentioned, which is especially egregious when Ian and Mickey get married.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: To Lip when Karen returns, to the point that she antagonizes Karen in the school hallway and freaks out over an old photo on social media. Exaggerated when she runs down Karen with her car.
- Commuting on a Bus: Having been Put on a Bus in Season 4, she commutes on a bus between Season 5 and 6.
- Domestic Abuse: Mandy has been on the receiving end multiple times, which is implied, then she was raped by Terry and then her boyfriend Kenyatta is physically abusive to her.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: When Ian finds out who got her pregnant. Again when Kenyatta starts to abuse her and she refuses to let Mickey and Ian intervene.
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: In Season 6, it's revealed that she has become an escort.
- No Accounting for Taste: A justified example, as Mandy has such low self-esteem that she tends to pair off with cheaters, abusers, and criminals, thinking that she doesn't deserve any better. Lip's behavior towards her doesn't help her perception.
- No Sympathy: Unsympathetic toward Mickey about his rape by Svetlana and is angry at him for not going to be with her at the hospital when she gives birth. He points out that he doesn't even know if the baby is his.
- Perky Goth: When portrayed by Jane Levy, Mandy dresses in a lot of dark colours and goth-like styles but is also generally pretty upbeat.
- Power Trio: She, Lip and Ian hang around as a trio quite a bit from around the beginning of Season 2.
- Put on a Bus: She's Put on a Bus multiple times, returning several times, until her last appearance in season 6.
- Really Gets Around: To the point where she likes the idea of having gay Ian as a "boyfriend" because all she does with the other guys she "dates" is have sex.
- Romantic Runner-Up: Ultimately is this to whomever Lip is seeing.
- The Stoic: Notice how calm and collected she plays it when she's impregnated with her father's baby after being molested.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: How Emma Greenwell portrays her, though Jane Levy also had some hints of this going too.
- Tranquil Fury: Calmly tells Mickey about having run down Karen.
- Violently Protective Girlfriend: When she got a phone call from Karen about how Lip started sleeping with her again, Mandy ran her over with a car.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The show ends with no real closure on her character.
- When She Smiles: Her portrayal by Emma Greenwell doesn't smile nearly as often as her portrayal by Jane Levy, but when she does...
Mickey Milkovich
Mickey Milkovich
"I'm fuckin' gay!"
Portrayed By: Noel Fisher (Seasons 1-7, 9-11)
A violent street thug and petty criminal who is also very deep in the closet. Ian's main love interest for much of the series, with the Will They or Won't They? tension playing a big part of their storylines in the first four seasons.
- All Gays are Promiscuous: In season 11. He seems to be surprised, almost ignorant when Ian brings up the topic of monogamy in their marriage, and later on, they take part in an orgy.
- Alliterative Name
- Ambiguously Bi: A strange example- he openly identifies as gay, but voluntarily has sex with women when they're the most convenient option.
- Armored Closet Gay: At least until the end of Season 4. When Frank catches him and Ian in the act, his first response is to try and make a plan to kill him.
- Big Brother Instinct: Is very protective of Mandy, especially after she convinced him that Ian attacked her.
- Bridezilla: Or Groomzilla, rather. After he and Ian get engaged, he becomes consumed by wedding planning. He does extensive research, has some extravagant ideas, carries around a book with his notes wherever he goes, has some serious opinions about flowers, and ends up having a meltdown over chairs.
- Book Dumb: Considers finishing high school too much trouble since he would have to restart as a freshmen since he never passed any classes.
- Cannot Spit It Out: "Don't... just..."
- Character Development: And how. Goes from a violent, deeply closeted thug in the early seasons to a devoted boyfriend and eventually husband to Ian, even going mostly straight by the end of the show.
- Chubby Chaser: Seemingly Mickey's taste in women prior to coming out; according to Mandy "he usually bags fat chicks".
- Coming-Out Story: In the episode "Emily". With Terry out of jail, Svetlana relentlessly blackmails him by threatening to reveal his relationship with Ian to Terry, and Ian literally walking out on him because he's "tired of being a mistress", Mickey breaks down and comes out to everybody at the Christening party at The Alibi. This results in a brutal Bar Brawl involving Mickey, Terry, Ian, and Terry's brothers.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: An indicator of his relationships. With Svetlana, he doesn't care about her still working as a prostitute, even after they're married. But he reacts very badly to seeing other guys hit on Ian, especially in the course of Ian's work giving lap dances.
- Deadpan Snarker: He snarks at everyone. Probably the only way he can keep his sanity.
- Gayngst: Understandable enough, given the culture he lives in and his father's outright psychopathic homophobia.
- Gayngster: Originally more of a petty criminal, but due to a well-intentioned but foolish mistake he now finds himself to be a pimp.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: He is easily angered, usually lashing out with violence.
- Has a Type: Pale skinned redheads are his self-proclaimed type. Just because they remind him of Ian; during their breakup periods, he always goes after someone with auburn hair and a thin build. Even Svetlana notices and dyes her hair red.
- Heartbroken Badass: He was clearly very upset when Ian left at the end of Season 3.
- It Doesn't Mean Anything: Early on he insisted that this was the case with Ian.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: The list of people he genuinely cares about is really short, but when he does care, he cares deeply.
- Knight Templar Big Brother: In "Aunt Ginger", he attempted to beat up Ian, and successfully beat Lip up (who was only guilty by association), after Mandy accused Ian of attacking her. Though later on he does nothing against Mandy's abusive boyfriend Kenyatta.
- Manly Gay: Basically looks and acts no differently than any straight thug.
- Morality Chain: Ian. Probably the only reason that Mickey is not as bad as, if not worse than, his father Terry is because he loves Ian and is increasingly finding himself having to behave less selfishly for the sake of their relationship.
- N-Word Privileges: Subverted. Mickey actually is more than a little homophobic, largely due to his upbringing by Terry. But it's not unusual for him to speak this way even when talking to his boyfriend Ian.Mickey: Those fudge-packers got so much snow up your beak you're tweaking like a little bitch.
- Pintsized Powerhouse: He's not the biggest guy (Noel Fisher is only 5'6) but can and will beat the asses of people much bigger than himself.
- Promoted to Love Interest: To Ian, as their original UK counterparts never had any long-lasting interaction with each other.
- Put on a Bus: Is arrested for trying to kill Sammi at the end of Season 5, and by the start of Season 6 is serving a lengthy jail term for said crime.
- The Bus Came Back: In Season 7, he broke out of prison. He's right back on the bus after fleeing to Mexico. He comes back in Season 9 though he is immediately put back on the bus again, this time in jail with Ian, finally returning to the show for the last two seasons.
- Rape and Switch: Attempted by Terry, via Svetlana. It didn't stick (of course).
- Satisfied Street Rat: More so than the rest of the characters, who are often reasonably Street Smart, but not as adapted to the way of life as Mickey is thanks to his upbringing within an actively criminal family. He can also fake being a Cowboy Cop (and has a badge he got from somewhere) and does so in episode 4x07 when looking for Ian.
- Shotgun Wedding: He is made to marry Svetlana, whom he absolutely hates, after she gets pregnant.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Fed up with her blackmail, he delivers a blistering one to Svetlana, literally too:Mickey:"Five years from now you're going to be a used up, dried up old whore, sucking guys off on the sidewalk for $5 a pop."
- Tsundere: Big time with Ian: he swings between being somewhat affectionate and being angry and violent.
- Will They or Won't They?: With Ian. they do at the end of season ten, when they're finally married.
- Wouldn't Hit a Girl: He firmly believes one should never hit women. Though he doesn't have a problem with drugging and killing a woman.
- You Hate What You Are: Gay as springtime, and also a raging homophobe.
Svetlana Yevgenivna
Svetlana Yevgenivna
"Wifely duties include oral manipulation of penis."
Portrayed By: Isidora Goreshter (Seasons 3-8)
A Russian prostitute who Terry Milkovich hires to have sex with Mickey in an attempt to "fuck the faggot" out of him. She becomes pregnant soon after, and Mickey is forced to marry her. In Season 5, she starts working as a bartender at the Alibi Room, becomes a close friend of Kev and V.
- Ascended Extra: When introduced in Season 3, Svetlana was just a random prostitute who Mickey was forced to sleep with and then marry, and had barely any lines of her own. Her screen-time and popularity steadily increased in Seasons 4, 5 and 6, and by Season 7 she has become a regular cast member.
- The Baby Trap: The only reason Mickey is married to her is because she got pregnant, and she is constantly using it as a reason why he needs to break up with Ian and be a devoted husband to her.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Stole the Alibi from under V and Kevin's noses after lulling them into a false sense of security.
- Citizenship Marriage: Between her and V in Season 6, which is shown to be invalid a season later when it's revealed she was married before she even met Mickey, her alleged first husband.
- Closet Key: To V.
- Cure Your Gays: What Terry tries to use her for with Mickey. It doesn't work, and she becomes increasingly frustrated that she cannot seem to get Ian out of the picture.
- Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Although it was at Terry's direction, and she was just an available prostitute. But Mickey was not given a choice, a fact that is treated as having been less of a problem because she got pregnant and he had to marry her than the act itself.
- Fan Disservice: Dyeing her hair red like Ian's, and opening her robe to reveal her bare breasts and a rather large strap-on as part of her latest attempt to appeal to Mickey could be considered as Squick for the audience. It definitely was for Mickey, who literally flinched at the sight.
- Hidden Depths: Has savant-level skills when it comes to math, and she has a lot of smarts when it comes to personal finance.
- Hypocrite: Insists on a formal Russian Orthodox baptism for her baby and is quite pushy with the priest, which is ironic considering that she is a prostitute, and even if the baby is Mickey's, it was conceived in an incident of forced sex.
- Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: Given her profession, it is not really certain that Mickey is the father of Svetlana's baby. But due to his general shortage of money, a Daddy DNA Test is not something that would be as readily undertaken as would be the case with more affluent characters (even someone as broke as the Gallaghers, who got one for Liam), so the trope survives.
- Only Sane Man: Though she did steal it from Kevin and V, she's the only one running the Alibi who has any head for real business or financial wisdom.
- Opportunistic Bastard: Is totally improvising, but is trying to force Mickey to become a submissive husband, generally by threatening to reveal his ongoing relationship with Ian to Terry.
- As of season 7, she made Kevin and V sign away the Alibi to her under false adoption papers.
- Promoted to Opening Titles: As of Season 7 she is in the show's opening credits.
- Polyamory: She is part of a throuple with V and Kevin in seasons 6-7.
- Put on a Bus: At the end of Season 8, she leaves with the help of Kevin and Veronica by getting married to an old senile man.
- Sensual Slavs: A Russian prostitute, and a rather attractive one at that. Unfortunately for her, the one man she really wants to seduce is not interested at all.
Terry Milkovich
Terry Milkovich
"No son of mine is gonna be a goddamned AIDS monkey!"
Portrayed By: Dennis Cockrum (Seasons 1-4, 9-11)
Mickey and Mandy's abusive and deeply homophobic father, he spends most of his time on the show in and out of prison.
- Abusive Parents: Between his vicious rejection of Mickey's homosexuality, molesting Mandy, and general jerkassery, he's no doubt worse than Frank (who is utterly useless, but does have his own Pet the Dog moments throughout).
- Adaptational Villainy: Paddy Maguire may have been a violent local crime boss, but he had a soft spot for children and never sexually abused Mandy in the original UK series.
- Asshole Victim: Terry finally dies when his nurse kills him via asphyxiation with a plastic bag. It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.
- Berserk Button: Homosexuality in general, but especially his son Mickey's.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Dies rather abruptly in the final season, when a stray bullet falls out of the sky and hits him in the head. Subverted in that he survives, although he's quadriplegic afterwards. Then it's Double Subverted when his nurse kills him.
- Even Evil Can Be Loved: Very Downplayed. When Terry is murdered, Mickey is completely devastated and balling his eyes out. However, after going through Terry's things, Micky remembers just how awful he was and questions why he was even upset. Afterward, he is over it.Terry: If it weren't for the fudge packing, you would have been a good son.Mickey: Yeah, well if it weren't for the racism, homophobia, and beating the shit out of me, you would have been a good dad.
- Hate Sink: It's crystal clear that this guy is much terrible than Frank or any other domestic abusers.
- Heteronormative Crusader: In addition to beating Mickey for his relationship with Ian, he also forces Mickey to have sex with a prostitute (while Ian is made to watch at gunpoint) in order to "fuck the faggot out of him". He also boasts about beating up "queers" in prison.
- Hidden Depths: After Terry dies, Mickey and Ian discover a box for someone named Rachel. She turns out to have been an early girlfriend of Terry's... and he was willing to convert to Judaism for her when her father tried to force him to convert and learn Hebrew.
- Hypocrite: He's disgusted at the thought of a pedophile living in the neighborhood. Even though he's one himself.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: At the receiving end of one from Mickey and Ian during a Bar Brawl. To put the cherry on top, Terry is arrested again for getting in trouble not even four hours into parole.
- Offing the Offspring: Is more than willing to do this over Mickey's homosexuality.
- Parental Incest: He gets Mandy pregnant in Season 2. Not on purpose, but drunkenness is not much of an excuse.
- Rape by Proxy: His solution to catching Mickey and Ian together is to beat Mickey until he is helpless and then have Svetlana come in to "cure" him by having her rape him.
- Villainous Breakdown: Mickey coming out in front of everyone at The Alibi sends Terry into a murderous rage.
Yevgeny Milkovich
Yevgeny Milkovich
Portrayed By: (Seasons 4-8)
Svetlana and (allegedly) Mickey's son.
- The Cutie: Is generally a cheerful and normal little baby.
- Morality Pet: For his mother. Svetlana is, by her own admission, self-serving and cares little for who she uses and abuses to get her way. However, her son's birth got her to become more selfless (or at least keep his best interests in mind).
- Put on a Bus: Leaves the series in Season 8 along with his mother after she gets married to an older man.
- Who's Your Daddy?: Due to Svetlana being a prostitute, it's unclear whether Mickey is actually Yevgeny's father.
Sandy Milkovich
Sandy Milkovich
Portrayed By: Elise Eberle (Seasons 10-11)
Mickey's lesbian cousin who ends up having a relationship with Debbie for a while.
- Butch Lesbian: She has some definite butch vibes since she usually wears pants and a leather jacket, knows how to throw a punch and is rather rough around the edges.
- Dark and Troubled Past: It is revealed she is married to a man and became a mother as teenager, but felt that she unable to take care of her son, leaving him behind.
- Gayngster: Downplayed. She seems to be somewhat involved in the illegitimate business of the Milkovich clan but it is not shown to what degree, and it is not a relevant plot point.
- Remember the New Guy?: She hasn't been mentioned before her first appearance in season 10, but has seemingly been around all along since she has a close relationship with Mickey and both Ian and Lip know her.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Is very similar to Mandy, taking on her role as a female member of the Milkovich family that has a good relationship with Mickey. They even have almost the same name...
The Balls/Fishers
Veronica "Vee" Fisher
Veronica "Vee" Fisher
Portrayed By: Shanola Hampton (Seasons 1-11)
Fiona's best friend and Kev's wife.
- Berserk Button: Do not call Kev stupid.
- Beta Couple: With Kev.
- Buxom Beauty Standard: Kevin is attracted to how well-endowed she is.
- Happily Married: To Kev. They do go through a rough patch in Season 5 though.
- Hospital Hottie: Played a stereotypical sexy nurse in some of the pornos she and Kev made.
- It's All About Me: Briefly gets this way in Season 5, where she admits to Kev that she never considered the idea of putting her children's needs before her own.
- Jealous Parent: Gets frustrated in Season 5 when Kev's energy is focused on the twins, leaving little time for her.
- Mama Bear: Is even called so by Kevin when she starts acting protective of Ethel.
- Maternally Challenged: She faces this in Season 5, feeling overwhelmed with the twins. She does get better over time.
- The Medic: She is knowledgeable about many medical needs, and is usually the one to patch the main cast members up.
- Ms. Fanservice: Is either wearing skimpy clothes, topless, or nude in quite a lot of scenes. This applies In-Universe as well, due to starring in amateur porn with Kev to pay the bills sometimes.
- Polyamory: She is part of a throuple with Kevin and Svetlana in seasons 6-7.
- Race Lift: Her UK counterpart was white, but the US version is black.
- Sassy Black Woman: Though she and Fiona are quite equal when it comes to sass.
- We Used to Be Friends: She and Fiona drift apart in Season 7, though they more or less get back together by the end.
Kevin Ball
Kevin Ball
Portrayed By: Steve Howey (Seasons 1-11)
Veronica's husband, and the bartender/owner of the Alibi Room.
- Berserk Button: Don't call him stupid.
- Beta Couple: Him and Vee.
- The Big Guy: He's a very tall, physically imposing guy - but is so sweet that you hardly notice.
- Bigger Is Better in Bed: Veronica seems to think so.
- Book Dumb: He is very street smart and has displayed a deep understanding of life, but can barely read due to being dyslexic and didn't do well in school.
- Bumbling Dad: Averted; while he isn't the brightest, he takes to parenthood more easily than Vee does and she even admits to feeling disappointed that he isn't one of these because it makes her feel even more guilty about being Maternally Challenged.
- Catchphrase: "Fucking Gallaghers!"
- Early-Installment Weirdness: In the first few episodes, he tolerated the Gallaghers at best. Eventually, he became one of their closest friends. He's also seen creeping on Mandy and mentions a father in prison, which is seemingly Retconned.
- Faux Yay: After Svetlana takes over the Alibi, he's desperate enough for work that he not only dances at Ian's old club the White Tail, but also lets men give him handjobs for money.
- Foster Kid: He was in a few foster homes when he was younger, which encourages him to foster Ethel and her baby son.
- Gentle Giant: Kevin is a tall and imposing barkeeper, but he's actually one of the nicest people in the show. After all, he basically subsidizes the Gallaghers' living expenses by paying for TV and the phone and they also borrow his appliances.
- Girl on Girl Is Hot: When he finds out that Vee has been cheating on him with Svetlana, he's incredibly torn between feeling angry and aroused.
- Happily Married: To Veronica, even if their marriage is "technically" not legal because of an earlier marriage that was never annulled. However, come Season 5, they aren't so happily married. By season's end, they're working on it.
- House Husband: V mostly takes over bar duties during Season 5 while he tends to the children. Exaggerated when he becomes so fixated on the home that all he can talk about is his children.
- Innocent Fanservice Guy: He oftentimes walks around the house completely naked, though it's less innocent and more "too lazy to put on clothes".
- It's All My Fault: A brief arc in Season 6 has him racked with guilt for being responsible for his neighbor Yanis' paralysis when Kev cut the brakes instead of the throttle on Yanis' bike so that Yanis would stop revving it loudly to annoy the new lesbian neighbors.
- Mistaken for Cheating: V thinks he's cheating when he's really just learning how to read.
- Nice Guy: One of the most good-hearted people on the show.
- Papa Wolf: Gets extremely protective of his children to the point where he accidentally puts them at risk when he fails to match gun ownership with gun safety.
- He was also pretty protective of Debbie in the early seasons. Such as not letting her in the Alibi after six, and when he first met Matty, he was not pleased to learn how old he was.
- Polyamory: He is part of a throuple with Vee and Svetlana in seasons 6-7.
- Tangled Family Tree: When they're having trouble conceiving and are unable to afford in vitro fertilization, Vee and Kev convince Vee's mother to conceive the baby with Kevin. The resulting child would have been both Vee's adopted child and half-sibling, and Carol's own child and grandchild as well.
- True Companions: Veronica, Kevin, and the Gallaghers (well, the kids). He even says they're the closest thing he has to a family.
Ethel
Ethel
Portrayed By: Madison Davenport (Seasons 1-2)
A foster child taken in by Kev and V partway through Season 1, Ethel is a teenage mother who social services removed from a polygamous cult.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Partially from growing up in a polygamous cult, partially from hanging around the Gallaghers. She does not consider what was done to her in the cult sexual abuse, and cheerily does almost all of the housework for Kevin and Veronica, something Veronica is fine with but Kevin is distressed by. She also, despite frequently quoting and believing in the Bible, seems to have no problem assisting the Gallaghers or Kevin and Veronica with their criminal schemes.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Again, from growing up in a polygamous cult where she was married to a 65 year old man when she was 11, who had enough sex with her to give her a son.
- Foster Kid: Is being fostered by Kevin and Veronica, at first to get foster care money (and because Kevin himself was a foster kid and wants very much to be a parent), but later because they've become attached to her.
- Green Thumb: She is very good at growing things, helping Kevin to start a garden in his backyard and also helping him to grow a massive marijuana crop in the basement of the Alibi Room.
- Happiness in Slavery: She apparently did a lot of chores and housework in the cult, and is eager to help Veronica and Kevin out, something Kevin is rather disturbed by. She also sees nothing wrong with the essential state of sexual slavery she was in when she was in the cult.
- Happily Adopted: She's pretty happy being fostered to Veronica and Kevin, although when her husband is murdered in prison and her sister wives try to take her back, she is conflicted.
- Old Man Marrying a Child: She was married off to the elderly leader of the cult she was raised in at the tender age of 12.
- Poor Communication Kills: she mentions casually to Malik that she hopes there's someone in prison to "take care" of her septugenarian husband Clyde. She meant it literally, but Malik thinks she meant it more idiomatically, and asks his dad to shank Clyde in the showers.
- Put on a Bus: Literally, as she runs away with Malik and their two children, and is last seen boarding a bus with the money she made selling the pot Kev buried in his yard.
- Rape As Back Story : She's a 13-year-old girl removed from a polygamous cult where she was married to and raped by a 65-year-old man named Clyde.
Carol Fisher
Carol Fisher
Portrayed By: Vanessa Bell Calloway (Season 1)
Veronica's mother.
- Absurdly Youthful Mother: Still young enough to conceive and give birth to a healthy child, even though Veronica herself is in her twenties.
- Parental Sexuality Squick: Put to the test when she has to repeatedly have sex with Kevin in order to bear a child for him and Veronica. Ending in something of a threesome so that Kevin can stay aroused.
Amy and Gemma Ball
Amy and Gemma Ball
Portrayed By: (Seasons 4-11)
Kev and V's twin daughters. They are born at the end of Season 4.
- The Cuties: They generally spend their screentime being this.
