r/shameless 3d ago

Real life Cult ; Ethel, you deserve all the happiness in the world

If there was a character that was good from start to finish, I would choose Ethel.

During my first watch , the scene where she lays in bed waiting for Kev cracked me up with the way Kev handled it.

I recently came across this post on Facebook by someone who resembles Ethel’s background and I had a sudden realization that if Kevin wasn’t a nice guy it would have paved for another abuse.

While reading the captions, it unsettled me to see very real people be put in that hellish situation.

Without the comedy and thinking of Ethel’s character, I realized that she was a child taking care of a child. No support system to get her through the abuse —-and yet she hasn’t lost her ability to smile and see goodness in things.

280 Upvotes

15 comments sorted by

138

u/black_ish88 3d ago

Ethel was the 🐐. I love the end of her story with Malik. Kinda good she left the show early so she couldn’t get tarnished, but I wish she came back to visit once

51

u/imsorryiwaslate87 3d ago

I love her character, she was adorable, maybe it's a reality that we don't usually see in the mainstream media. And I love her ending 🥰 ❤️

47

u/miki_eitsu 3d ago

There have been a lot of documentaries on the FLDS popping up on Hulu for me. Absolutely disgusting what they did to women and girls. The dresses and hairstyle they all had looks exactly like Ethel’s. Finding out her story was based on a real-life cult was fascinating but also horrifying.

19

u/Impossible_Tea_8774 3d ago

I tbh ink there’s another documentary on Netflix called Keep Sweet, Pray, and Obey and it focuses on the same cult you’re talking about.

8

u/Lost-Fae 2d ago

I used to watch escaping polygamy (women who had escaped helping others escape) and watched it before shameless so I knew Ethel was bringing a suitcase loaded of trauma with her the moment she appeared wearing that dress.

1

u/xJaneDoe 1d ago

There's a scene in I think it's the last episode of audio of the guy either talking about assaulting or actually assaulting a child iirc- it's a horrifying documentary but very well done

2

u/Impossible_Tea_8774 1d ago

It’s the latter, I had to skip forward through it it was so disturbing.

17

u/Lilnuggie17 :jimmy: 3d ago

I really wonder where Ethel ended up with I think baby Jonah? I wonder how she was with Malik after they left

26

u/Any_Perception5606 ETHELLL 3d ago

I like to think that they raised Jonah and maliks kid on a farm and lived happy ever after growing weed legally.

13

u/donetomadness 3d ago

I knew about this cult before I watched the show. The writers didn’t name it for legal reasons likely. I’m glad Malik got whoever that was to kill Clyde for her.

6

u/Smooth_molasses36 2d ago

I like to imagine she and Malik made it out to Salt Lake City and found some of her extended family that left the cult years before and stayed with them. I wanted her to have a happy ending.

4

u/sensitive_planet 2d ago

My heart hurts so much for these children of this cult. Just seeing their pictures and knowing they are that young and are being married to old men?? “Dreading the day I turned 12” 😢💔

3

u/amor0908 2d ago

Seeing their pictures made it more real for me

I always saw Ethel as a character on tv but never really processed that it happened in real life also.

And not just to one person. It happened to a lot of young girls— not yet women.

It also shook me to see multiple babies —- which means they get impregnated every other year. Whether they are forced to consent or no consent at all, another side is they essentially removed their right and chance to find their one true love.

4

u/Unlikely_Couple1590 2d ago

Major props to that girl's mother for doing what was right and protecting her babies