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RSS'The Shield': It hits the fan
I didn't get to The Shield until early this morning, so apologies for the brevity of this post. But my goodness, that was one hell of a tense episode.
Spoilers straight ahead.
Shane remarked, after the failed hit on him a couple episodes back, that the worst thing was that Vic and Ronnie thought he was too stupid to realize what had just happened. He's not, but as has been the case throughout the series, he wasn't quite adept enough to pull off his own scheme to take out his partners.
Two-Man botches his end of the hit, missing Ronnie entirely and letting one of his neighbors ID his motorcycle. That in turn bollixes Shane's plan to lie in wait for Vic and sets everyone on a scramble to get to Two-Man, either to bring him down or, in Shane's case, cover everything up.
I don't know how many times we've seen Vic finesse a similar situation, when one of the various bad guys he's had dealings with ends up in the Barn and he manages to cover his tracks. Shane, though, can't get there, and thus we end the episode with him, Mara and their son on the run. But not before:
- Mara confronts Corinne about all the bad things Vic has done, including killing Terry Crowley and robbing the money train, and basically enlists her as an accessory to her new fugitive life.
- Corinne in turn takes her newfound knowledge to Vic, leading to one of the more remarkable scenes between the two of them in the history of the show. It wasn't a big blowout, but the very fact that Vic admitted he's done "a lot of things I shouldn't have done, for reasons that made sense at the time but are hard to defend now" to her, after years and years of vehemently denying to her that he was dirty, packed a huge punch.
- And, oh yeah, Vic turns in his badge to go after Shane on his own. Holy. Crap. I have to think this won't help his prospects for landing a job with ICE after he leaves the police force, to say nothing of the fact that it puts him directly in Claudette's crosshairs and will force Ronnie, Julien and everyone else at Farmington to choose sides.
We have five episodes and who knows how many more twists and turns before The Shield comes to an end, but it's looking more and more to me like Vic will end up paying for his sins by becoming completely isolated from his family and his job. For a man who's always thought of himself as the one person who can fix everything, that's got to be among the harshest punishments of all.
Share your thoughts on this week's episode and where The Shield is headed in its final five episodes.
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It was a storm of an episode. No other way to describe it. There's been numerous standout episodes throughout the years (I mean, last year when Vic confront Shane was money) but I think, at least as of right now, that this was it. This was the episode for fans. It was tight storytelling, fabulous acting (Shane simply closing his eyes when he knew he was caught was one of those moments I had to keep replaying). It spilled everything, with more to come.
And yet, what stood out in all this is that Vic knew what he was giving up. I like the fact that they waited until the near end to tie up the "Parricide" angle by getting the daughter/gramps/kid out of there. It left this feeling of who Vic is ... he might have a god complex, he might want to fix everything but fail, but he cares. He just let it manifest into poor judgment.
Wow. That was an episode. If there was such a thing as an "Episode of the Year for any TV Show award" this would be it. If they top this, wow. If they don't win gobs of awards for this season, wow.
Sorry, another post. You know what I really liked a lot about the episode? The quiet scene, when Vic's talking to Wagenbach, and they let the facial expressions and emotions tell the story. The quiet before the storm.
I liked the fact that from this point on the **** has hit the fan. And I hope the last episode has the entire Strike Team go down in a blaze of glory with the Mexican Mafia and JUSTICE will finally be SERVED.
Damn Good Episode!
I just hope the last episode doesn't cheat the viewers like The Sopranos did,In reflection after watching Sopranos all those years were a waste!
I think Vic comes through in the end for the ones he loves. But in the process, he loses everything. I don't think he dies. I could be way off on that, but this doesn't seem like the show that does something that cliched (and that would be a cliched anti-hero ending for me). That is, I think he finds a way to protect Lee, Corrine and her kids, and Ronnie, and I think he helps wrap up the Pezeula case.
While this show isn't like Soprano's, I think it would be nice if they could work in some philosophizing at the end, particularly on Vic. I'd like to see Farmington slowly fall apart, moreso than before. With Vic gone and Ronnie tied to a desk, I think they need to ask themselves the utility of individuals like Vic Mackey, because as bad as he has been, a valid case can be made that we need people like that. Not a lot, but some, particularly since (huge rationalization here) Vic gets in trouble because he cares ... because he wants to do something for everyone (the whole God complex - wanting to provide a legacy for his kids, pay for his kids medical bills, and so forth).
That said, Vic can't completely get away and we saw the breakdown signs tonight. That would seem rather fake in a show that tries to gird itself to reality as much as possible.
One thing I didnt get about the episode: Why did Shane even bother to set up that "we'll call everyday to get updates on the police looking for us" situation with Corinne? Did he think for one second that Vic wasnt coming after him no matter what?
And by calling Corinne from their location, it serves no purpose other than to possibly allow Vic to figure out where they are. OR set up Shane by feeding him false info on the police movements, and then to lay a trap.
Its a little odd that Shane has survived this long being so stupid. Its not like he doesnt have the inside track on how Vic & company deceive marks and trap them.
Threatening to expose their doings over the years should have made it clear to him by now does absolutely nothing but get the remaining strike team members to feel it necessary to finish him off.
Favorite Line? "Where you're going, all you're going to need is lips."
This final season has been amazing, can't wait to see how it plays out. Walt Goggins (Shane) deserves an emmy, just watching his facial expressions when they were interrogating Two-man as he realized his game was up. There was a little humor in the situation as he was trying to escape-FAST and was intercepted by the woman trying to get the softball team together "Shane do you want to be on the softball team this year? Okay, that will be $75. What number do you want?" He just wants to get out the hell out of there....
Vic will be left alone..... Corinne said she was taking the kids away, Danni has already left with Lee (no mention of this at all), Shane is on the run, by the end he will have alientated Ronnie and the rest of the force......
Does Ronnie know he killed Terry Crowley? Don't remember much about Ronnie in the early days, he mainly stayed in the background.
Ronnie found out about Crowley's murder last year while he sat in a car with Vic after Shane spilled the beans to Ronnie.
I think, the reason Dani wasn't mentioned was because the Captain gave her a day off. Parricide was only a couple days after *****es Brew in "real time", so no one probably suspects anything just yet.
SHANE has to go down for Lem
I think the box is the key, Vic has a copy, knowing him. Let us all hope all the "good guys" in the box, go down with Shane, and the barn
and Farmington burns, like the LA riots
Hope strike team, families all have lots of cash end up somewhere like Costa Rica and live happily ever after.Perhaps a differet show is made reuilding the area,police,etc