The episode starts off with Kev asking Debbie to watch the twins right as she’s researching the gender pay gap. She flips out on Kev and refuses to watch the girls. She heads to work and begins protesting, trying to find other female welders to join her cause. Debs later meets a girl who is pretending to be a man just so she’ll get paid equally. Debbie is quickly learning this fight is not going to be easy.
Xan actually offers to watch the twins. When she takes them to the park, she steals a mom’s wallet and bails on the twins. Lip heads to an AA meeting and meets a new dad who is really struggling with his sobriety. The guy asks Lip to be his sponsor after the meeting. Brad tries to talk Lip into it, but Lip seems hesitant.
Just when he starts to ponder the idea, he gets a call. The mom Xan stole from is freaking out. Lip finds Xan and demands to know why she’s stealing. Xan says she’s doing it to leave money for her mom in a P.O. Box. As mad as Lip is at her, he can’t stay angry. He is SUCH. A. CUTE. DAD.
Brad continues to try and convince Lip to be the guy’s sponsor. “Gallaghers don’t sponsor, we get sponsored. It’s in our DNA,” Lip tells Brad, who replies, “Maybe you’re more than your DNA.” Lip is way more than his DNA. When he shows up at the next meeting and hears the baby crying, Lip agrees to sponsor the guy.
Meanwhile, Fiona wants to get into commercial real estate. Ford doesn’t think she’s ready for it, but Fiona is determined to have a seat at the table. Liam gets kicked out of private school because of Frank’s indiscretions. He teams up with Fiona for the day, and they prove to be quite the dynamic duo.
When the commercial real estate prick tells Fiona’s there’s no limited partnership positions available on this new Sunset Brook nursing home, Liam does some research. There’s actually 5 spots still available. Fiona heads over to where the guy is having drinks and refuses to leave until she has a deal. Because she’s Fiona Gallagher and doesn’t give up, she gets the partnership.
Carl is determined to get into West Point, but he has to have volunteer work on his resume. This leads him to Soothing Horizons, a place where terminally ill or old dogs are euthanized. Carl finds himself unable to let these pups be gassed to death, so he takes them all home and lets them die naturally. He even has a military funeral for a service dog. Carl is just one big ole softy! But… what about Cassidy?!
Ian is let out of prison and finds out the Gay Jesus movement is huge now. He quickly realizes that he’s in over his head. When he makes it home, no one’s around except Carl. Everyone has moved on with their lives without him.
Frank begins stealing signs for cash, so nothing new on the Frank front. Kev and V try to find the perfect preschool for the girls, and it proves to be quite the adventure. They find the perfect place, but there’s only one spot open. So they decide to send both girls in as Amy. And that’s what happened on this week’s Shameless!