#important scene

Master Splinter: Leonardo, a true leader doesn't always impose his will but helps his followers flourish, grow.

Leonardo: Maybe I shouldn't be leading the team.

Master Splinter: My son, how can your brothers believe in you as leader if you do not believe in yourself?

First and foremost, i'm freaking out. 

I'm delighted that they originally did address him going with Mickey, and I want to break this down because I feel like Ian haters are probably going to have a field day with this. 

Video

Notice the way he's trying to be so dismissive about his experience. As though he's trying to convince himself that what he was doing was stupid, but when I look in his eyes I do not see that feeling there. I see an emotional wall that we see basically anytime something doesn’t work out. Both families in the show have a habit of dismissing what doesn't work out as stupid or unnecessary or otherwise undesirable so that they can put themselves above the hurt that disappointment inflicts. And I think that's what he is doing here. 

Ian has never really expressed how he feels about Mickey to Lip. Through the whole show, the only exception is when he talked about Mickey getting married and blurts everything he is thinking and feeling clearly without thinking about who he’s talking to... but look at what happened when he did that. Lip dismissed how Ian was feeling and dismissed any validity in Ian's feelings about Mickey. He told him to go fuck someone new, remember? He wasn't concerned about Mickey’s safety after Ian told Lip what happened with Terry, wasn't concerned about Ian’s feelings for Mickey... He just told him to get over it. Any time that Lip talks down about Mickey, Ian never defends him and I've maintained to this day that the reason is he doesn't want to start that argument because he knows it's going to get ugly if he ever does try to defend Mickey. I think Ian just always told himself that he knows the truth about Mickey and that’s all that matters. This situation is no different. 

When Lip asks why he didn't do it, Ian immediately looks hopeful that maybe Lip supports him for once. He looks hopeful that maybe someone will agree that he made a mistake in not going with him across the border. Of course that is way too much to hope for with Lip, and Ian quickly realizes that mistake when Lip says of course he shouldn’t have gone with him, that he was surprised he didn’t finish out the trip. But notice that Ian second guessed. He probably had been battling this since Mickey took off without him. I saw it when he was on the busride home, and was disappointed that it wasn’t addressed from there... But it was!

Now notice Ian’s smile as Lip is making fun of how pale he is and what he would have had to do to survive down there, and Ian almost looks fond at the thought. Like he would have been glad to do that because that was the last of his worries at that moment. I think that Ian also smiled fondly because Mickey teased him about burning up like a mother fucker (even though Mickey is kinda paler than Ian???), and also because he can see it. I think Lip being so descriptive about what he would have to do down there for his skin is putting an image in Ian’s head and to me he almost looks longing, like he would have been completely satisfied with doing all of that if it meant being there with him.

  I don’t think that I need to say anything about Lip’s line about Ian going “loco” with Mickey around... But I’ll say it anyway and I swear I’ll try to make it quick. We all know that the only reason it appears Ian went crazy when Mickey was around was because Ian was manic before anyone realized that he was manic. Of course I would love to remind Lip that Mickey wasn't the one shoving narcotics down his throat or up his nose, he wasn't the one who got Ian a job at gay gentlemen's club, and Mickey wasn't the one who told him to steal a helicopter. Mickey wasn't the one who told him to steal his baby, Mickey wasn't the one who told him to steal suitcases, he wasn't the one who told him to do basically any of the things that Ian did when he was manic. I don't blame him for those things and neither does Mickey, because he was unmedicated and out of control of his actions. It's just really damn annoying that everyone puts the blame on Mickey when Ian’s life goes wrong, as though Ian played absolutely no role in it (and might I add that nothing in Ian's life really went wrong before he was manic due to Mickey, either. Mickey didn't really affect his life except giving him someone his own age to hang out with and have sex with. He was punched by Terry, but I think that's pretty minor compared to everything that Mickey suffered Pre 3x666 indirectly due to Ian. Getting shot twice, going to Juvie twice, being outed twice...) I’d also like to add that of course it would look like Ian went crazy whenever Mickey was around because NO ONE ELSE WAS AROUND IAN WHEN HE WAS MANIC SO OF COURSE IT LOOKS LIKE THAT WHEN MICKEY IS THE ONLY ONE AROUND HIM!!!! *deep. breath* 

i'm going to go ahead and wrap up because I feel like this argument is obvious, and add it to the list of times that Lip tore Mickey down for absolutely no reason. 

At the very end of the deleted scene, after Ian very excitedly relayed that the sex with Mickey was "fucking fantastic" (of course we all knew that... ;) ), Lip says he's glad Ian came back, and as the scene ends, Ian doesn't look so sure. The clip I have looks minorly incomplete so I don’t know if that was definitely the end of the deleted scene, but that teeny glimpse we do get definitely doesn’t look like Ian is super happy to be home.

  My overall thoughts on the scene are that I am very resentful that they cut this, even moreso than the 5x01 deleted scene, but I think they did it because they knew the direction they were going to take with Ian chasing Trevor, at least in the beginning. And I think they included it on the DVD, i'm assuming that's where this person who uploaded the scene got it from, because they want to bait Gallavich fans into watching season 8. I think they want us to see that look on Ian's face, and hear the way that Ian loved his time with Mickey, and hold on. And I don't know if I'm delighted or disgusted, it depends on where they go with season 8, I guess.