The Shield

Man, what a season. Can't the final season just start next week? Or can't we just fast-forward to March 2008 right now? (Leave Christmas in just for the heck of it.)

Again, The Shield threw me for a loop. I was expecting either Shane or a member of the Mackey family to bite the big one and none of them did. I was expecting Vic to get his job back, but not by exposing the Mexican mob, and I certainly didn't expect him to walk out of his hearing. As I've said before, the twists and turns are what make this show so great.

We start off with a bang, right where last week left off, with Vic and Aceveda doing a dance. I loved what happened between the two of them in this episode. Vic tries to blackmail Aceveda by showing him the picture. Then David turns around and sends a lawyer to tell Vic he's being sued and will lose everything. Then Vic goes back to Pazuela and gets the memory card, which forces Aceveda's hand. But instead of just trying to get his job back, Vic teams up with Aceveda this time. David looked truly stunned when Vic told him the memory card came from his buddy Pazuela. But you have to wonder how much Aceveda really knows. I mean, he knows something is going on. Pazuela is trying to change the district lines to manipulate votes and is clearly shady. But who knows if Aceveda's blind eye is because he's truly blind to the majority of what's happening? It certainly seems like that though, because he looked shocked again when Vic started pointing out where Pazuela's real estate was and how he's helping the Mexican mob basically take over the whole area.

Then there's Shane, who's in even deeper than ever now. First he tried convincing Diro to not kill Vic, but she's got to take care of her business. Then Rezian tells Shane that she won't kill Vic — yet. Instead Kazakian will kill Vic's family first and then down the road Vic will die. So when Shane can't get hold of Vic to warn him, he goes and kidnaps Corinne and Cassidy and locks them in a truck somewhere where the Armenians can't find them. Then he waits at Vic's house for the guy who's supposed to kill them all. In the ensuing scuffle Shane's gun goes off and the Armenian guy gets popped, which is the source of the blood we saw in the previews last week. Then Shane goes back to Rezian and attempts to negotiate. Shane gives up the location of Diro and her father so that Rezian can take them out and can head up the crew when he gets out of jail. In exchange Rezian says he'll avoid killing Vic and his family. Now, of course, he can't let someone come in and kill Diro and her father, so Shane goes back to the hospital and warns her. This means, though, that she has no option but to pull the plug on dear old dad and leave the area. Better to have him go in peace than get killed. And she's more than happy to leave Shane at the hospital to be there when the hitmen come by. Heck, Shane's in more trouble now than ever. He's played both Diro and Rezian multiple times now and the Armenians are not happy with him. What's he to do now? If the guy doesn't disappear soon, will he make it through next season?

Before I get back to Vic, let's go through all the crazy little side stories.

Miracle Joe was actually kind of touching. The guy survived everything known to man and in the end his heart gives out. All the vets at the barn knew about him and were sad to see him go.

I was surprised the whole Dutch/Billings/Tina/Hiatt thing didn't force someone to come to blows. A very downtrodden Dutch says he knows that Billings pulled the prank off but can't prove it. But in the end everything is civil after he talks to Tina and sets the record straight. And he doesn't have to worry about Billings anymore, because not only is Steve leaving, but he's suing the department for millions. Claims he has back pain from breaking up the big barn fight from last season and even got a "doctor" to validate his claim. So where's the comic relief going to come from next season? On top of that, it looks like Dutch won't have to worry about any awkwardness between him and Hiatt either. Claudette wasn't thrilled with Hiatt coming clean about her going behind Vic's back to start with, but then Hiatt blew an arrest and had sex with an officer and she boots him. Vic's clever enough to cover up his wrong doings. Apparently, Hiatt is not. And as soon as Hiatt is let go, you know that Vic's keeping his job.

So, we go back to the man of the hour now, who through all that's going on is still looking into Pazuela to try to figure out his connection to the San Marcos murders. Following the money that was found on the one-armed Mexican official is what led to the most answers. It was cool the way this story tied into his review hearing. Vic's family shows up to support him and he walks out before it even starts. Between Claudette, the Controller and Aceveda telling Vic flat out that he's a goner, Vic knows there's nothing he can say to keep his job and the only way of doing that is by exposing Pazuela. So he tracks down the man with the money, pulls him over, then wrestles him out of the car and lays a smackdown on him. But no one could have prepared Vic for what was in the trunk. A box full of evidence that Pazuela was blackmailing everyone in the government down to the secretaries, to get the people he wanted in office, so the Mexican mob could eventually take over the entire area. Now Aceveda knows, Vic knows and everyone in the government owes Vic a big favor. Job saved! I know there's been a lot of debate on what types of feelings we should have for Vic, but now I couldn't help but root for him after he showed that Farmington is better off with him than without. Although I think he would have made a heck of a copier salesman.

And I know I should end on that because that was the big shocker, but I'm not going to. Instead I'm going to end with this:

Danny and Dutch, yeah baby!!!

Until next season, friends.

I know it's probably bad to start off a blog about this week's episode by saying I can't wait for next week's. But it's true. The last time I remember anticipating a finale as much as this one it was the final episode of Cheers. And this is just a season finale. I mean, jeez, my heart. My poor, tired heart. I know my heart can't wait until 11:05 pm/ET next week for it to be over. It gets a workout each week and I'm sure the ticker is a little exhausted at this point. Then again, we get to wait nine months for more, so it's bittersweet.

Anyway, where were we? Right, we had another heck of an episode leading up to the finale. Everything looked kind of calm at the beginning, but in true Shield fashion, it all hit the fan by the end of the hour.

Let's talk San Marcos first. We finally have some closure on the whole situation. Vic's goal was to solve the murder case before he got pushed out, so he had five days to figure it out... which, of course, he did in one. That contractor guy gave them a nice tip, leading Vic to killer No. 1. But when Hiatt foiled Vic's first attempt at getting the other two, Vic went to Plan B. Vic talked to a guy to tell him he'll get out if he gives up the other two guys, which happened. But then when the whole team searched for them, they were nowhere to be found. Vic and Ronnie got to them first, dumped them off to Santi just as promised, and the war was over. Meanwhile, the first guy in the cage still went to jail because he was supposed to deliver two live guys, not dead ones. Brilliant. Oh, and how about this: the hit was ordered by Guardo. Some of you ask me why I have sympathy for Vic Mackey and you are right, I probably shouldn't. But frankly, the guy is a great cop. He's a dirty, dirty, dirty man. But when he's even semi-straight he puts other cops to shame. He can play 100 different sides and still get the desired results from all hundred.

Well, OK, maybe only 99 of those 100, since the controller couldn't do anything to help Vic. Seems like despite Vic helping him out, the controller really tried and found too much crap to sift through to help Vic save his job.

Actually, let's drop that number down one more to 98 of 100. The whole Shane thing just had its doors blown off. Shane got himself into places he shouldn't have been and now it's backfiring. He was training Diro to lead the Armenians. Then he shut down Rezian and his port shipments supposedly to help her out so people know who's in charge. At the same time, he was up to something with Rezian, because as he arrested him at the dock, he told him to not mention anything about the help he gave with the gas-station murder. So at this point it seems like he's attempting to play both of them, but Diro seems a little too smart for all of this. But then, this is where it goes wrong yet again. So Shane stuck his nose in here, then Vic stuck his nose in trying to "warn" Diro about Shane. This led her to confront Shane, when he opened up about the money train but of course denied all involvement in it. And now Diro wants to finish business by getting Vic. Shane knows this is bad. He wants to make Vic's life a living hell and protect himself, but the look on his face said, "Holy crap, what have I done now?" As we saw in the preview, the Armenians are now going after Vic and who knows how this will goes down, but either Shane or a Mackey family member will probably bite the big one next week. If Corinne, Matthew or Cassidy get taken out next week, you can be 100 percent certain that Shane won't live too much longer.

Then, as if saving his family isn't enough, Vic is going to have to save his job next week. And he finally has the means to do this. In exchange for Vic quitting his investigation of the San Marcos murders — in which he knows that shady contractor has some involvement in — this contractor gave him the leverage he needs to keep his job. Vic now has in his possession the picture of Aceveda being forced to have sex at gunpoint. If I remember correctly, the guy with the gun took a picture on his cell phone. Was he working for this contractor guy? Has he had the picture the entire time, just in case he needed to blackmail Aceveda for something? I have to admit, I didn't see this one coming. I'm excited to see where this leads.

And of course, we had our lighter moment of the night with Dutch and Billings. However, this was the Billings revenge episode. Dutch was still holding the vending machines over Billings' head and apparently Billings had enough. Steve started telling all these lies about Hiatt wanting Tina and Danny wanting Hiatt and Dutch wanting Tina (although they aren't very far ofrom the truth, they just didn't quite happen the way Billings said), and it got to the point where Tina came into the barn all sexy and invited Hiatt over to her place. Billings staked the place out and then texted Dutch to come over to her place, at which point he found Tina having sex with Hiatt. (You mean to say Tina was so involved here that she didn't realize her cell phone was missing?) Hiatt saw Dutch looking in, so does Hiatt go after Dutch now? And you have to feel for Dutch here. He's so clearly out of his element; he thought he finally struck gold, only to have his world shattered. If nothing else, I hope Dutch figures this all out and puts Billings through one of those vending machines. Wouldn't it be great to see Dutch go off?

One more to go and some great stories to finish up with. Like me, I bet you can't wait.

Until next week, friends.

Don't forget to check out our online video guide for more on The Shield.

With only three episodes left in this season, this week we get our setup episode for the final two. Dialogue-heavy and bloodshed-light, we get some more insight into Shane and the Armenians and find out that Hernan is not dead after all.

Shane’s in the middle of this gas-station murder and is talking to the daughter of the Armenian mob boss. Shane’s talking to her like she doesn’t know anything, but clearly she’s more on her game than he thinks. And soon she might be in charge herself, since Pop is on his deathbed. Meanwhile she’s paying Shane to look into some apartment robberies and he finds a nice hooker who’s able to give him a little bit of intel on the people who broke into her place. He gives it to her and she takes care of the problem herself. She seems to have Shane wrapped around her finger now. Man, Shane just can’t lay low for one minute and stay out of trouble, can he?

After all this time, we finally see Ronnie’s reaction to Shane in this one. Vic tells him about the documents Shane drew up and that he burnt them all. But then later Shane tells Ronnie about the very first paragraph, which talks about Vic murdering Terry while Shane stood there. Ronnie was certainly a little more rational than Vic when talking to Shane, but it seems like he’s mostly worried about getting caught in the crossfire and taken down as well. Ronnie’s in trouble now, too. There’s just no way this is going to end well. In the end, Ronnie wants to know from Vic when they can put everything behind them, but you have to hope he realizes that’s just never going to happen.

Speaking of trouble, the San Marcos murderer hunt is not going very well, is it? Hernan sends a girl to meet Vic and tip him off about a gun-store robbery. The strike team sets up surveillance and everything works smoothly right up to the point where the robbers hijack Shane’s truck. Except now, Hernan doesn’t show up at Vic’s checkpoint meeting and everything they did was for naught. Hernan has been leading them down a dead-end path. Vic seems to think that Hernan is in so deep that he’s truly in the gang now, and that does make sense. Part of Vic’s rationale is that Hernan probably killed the supposed snitch earlier in the day and dumped his hacked-up body to cover his own butt. Ronnie’s then very quick to point out that killing Terry was the exact same thing. How right he is.

Then there’s the side story, with three guys stabbing a socialite shopping for knock-off purses in a bad neighborhood. This story led to some great moments with the ladies of the show, including some rare bonding time. Dutch and Billings just can’t understand why this woman with money wants to travel to a bad neighborhood to save a few bucks, so Tina has to explain the pleasure the lady takes from knowing that she spent less than her friends every time she can pass a fake purse off as real. I for one, completely understand this. My wife and I have a knock0off store down the street in the local farmers' market. We call the purses “Prudu.” They look, feel and smell like Prada, but for $20 you certainly know you’re getting a Prudu instead. And this is always the busiest store in the market. Anyway, trying to explain it to the guys led Danny to say what could go down as the funniest line of the season: “It’s like trying to explain why you guys love your balls so much that you have to play pocket pool all the time.” In the end, the girls get a little time together as Tina takes Corinne to the store to get the purse she wants and Danny is already there: right before they are going to get raided. Nice.

Our other lady, Claudette, had some good moments in this one, too. When the agent tells her that if Hernan is dead he’s holding the Barn responsible, she says, “10:42 am, in case you need a time stamp for your ass-cover memo.” I also love the scenes where Claudette shows she’s in charge. The scene with her and Hiatt was great. Hiatt went against her orders with the gun-store robberies and she ripped him a new one for essentially being just like Vic. This also leads to Hiatt telling Vic that he’s out and being played by Claudette. Guess it’s a bit of Hiatt getting on Claudette’s bad side but also a sign that maybe Hiatt doesn’t quite think that Vic is that bad of a cop and is on his side. Obviously Vic isn’t happy but seems to respect Kevin for telling him straight up.

And that’s where we are as we head into the last two. Now that Vic knows he’s a goner, I can’t wait to see what mischief he gets himself into. No reason to hold back now, right? Brace yourself, folks.

Until next week, friends.

Don't forget to check out our online video guide for more on The Shield .

All talk and no action. That's usually not our buddy Vic Mackey. But last week, I clearly heard him say to Shane: "If I see you again, I will kill you." Vic saw him again and Shane is still walkin' and talkin' as far as I can see. I mean, I hoped it would happen. I hoped Vic would pull up to Shane and pop him one, but I also knew it couldn't happen that easily. Shane's no dummy, we all knew that. I always considered Vic to be the more cunning of the two, but Shane has really upped his game this time.

It was hard to tell up front what Shane was going to do with his documentation. The episode started off with him writing all about Terry (and we saw later, it's Tavon, the money train and everything else they did). I wondered if Shane thought the only way he wouldn't get killed by Vic is if he implemented Vic for everything, so I figured Shane might take the offensive on this one. But that doesn't do much for him, since his name is all over those items as well. He's clearly smarter than I am, though, because he has a way out now: Draw up the documents, play defense and tell Vic that if he ever lays a hand on anyone he's close to, everything will be brought forth. The look on Vic's face at the end screamed that he didn't see this coming, which I'm surprised at. So now what? There are two ways this can end now. Vic and Shane ignore each other and go their own way and leave it all behind them. Or, one of them dies. And one of them makes for much better television! We've got another season coming, so if someone dies this season, you can bank on it not being Vic.

Not only would killing one of them off make good TV, but with Mara and Corinne involved now, you just know it won't stop. Mara really has got Corinne on edge about Vic, with her comments that Vic can get hurt too if something happens to her or Shane. Oh, hey, your husband better watch his back and thanks for the toys. It's quite a message. So you know Corinne is going to start quizzing Vic and going crazy on him, and Vic's going to have to do something to shut them all up. The question is what, though.

As far as the San Marcos murders go, I'm going to be honest with you, as I always am. I'm a little lost at this point. Bizlat, Salvadorans, Mexicans etc… they were tossed around so much in this episode that I lost track of who was doing what. I do know Hernan lied about it being Mexican on Mexican, which the Barn found out when the Mexican's killed some Salvadorans at a street fair for payback. And I think the case has been "solved" by Santi giving up three of the six possible shooters; this way Claudette can show that something has been closed. I might be wrong on that, though, since I'm not really understanding what Vic gave up in the deal with Santi. I have a hard time thinking that my favorite show muddled up something, so I'm blaming it on the cold that I currently have instead! Maybe my head isn't straight. (Or maybe it's actually possible that one episode just didn't strike a chord with me! Oh, the horror!) If it's me, forgive me for having an off-week and feel free to explain where we are with the case, if you understand.

And finally, there are the two comedic moments that I loved:

The first one being the strike team chasing down Santi as he ran out of the raid. Julian was like lightning running after this guy, and when he knocked him down, Vic says, "Godspeed."

Then there was the obligatory Dutch/Billings banter, which was awesome in this episode. Billings started talking about how he used to bring hotties up to the expensive neighborhoods, supposedly to his mother's house, but would notice the lights were on so they'd have to go back to the girl's place. Quite clever when you think about it. But then Steve says, "You know, Dutch, I could teach you a few things about women if you want."
Dutch responds with, "Why don't you write them down, and I can read them at my leisure." Classic.

Chat away, folks, and we'll see if you can help me put together any more of the puzzle in my head now.

Don't forget to check out our new Online Video Guide here, for videos from the show.

Until next week, friends.

There it was, folks. The biggest episode of The Shield so far this season. Shane vs Vic, man vs man, dog vs dog. The one-on-one confrontation we've all been anticipating this entire season has happened, and my lord, is Shane in trouble now.

The last 10 minutes developed nicely over the course of this episode, starting with Shane being in a much more chipper mood. I guess Mara took him back and now that he got the murder off his chest, he just wants to “put this in the rearview mirror.” It’s a complete reversal, of course, since after Vic killed Guardo the rest of the strike team tried to put it behind them, but Shane kept preventing that. That’s of course the moment that Vic really puts two and two together and Ronnie starts thinking about the semiconfession that Shane told him a while back. Both of them were still thrown a little off when Ronnie counted the grenades and they were all there. Now, the viewers all saw Shane pocket one last season, but for me personally, I didn’t really think about how truly premeditated Lem’s killing could have been until Vic pointed it out. Shane did take the grenade before any of the crap went down. Could it have just been because he was dirty and it was easy to do? Sure. But I guess he could have taken it thinking that he may need it for something in the end, too. Everything completely clicked for Vic after he read the final report that Kavanaugh wrote in Lem’s file, and then he just had to take his own advice for the strike team from earlier in the day: “Find out the truth, then figure out what to do with it.” And what to do with it created the final 10 minutes, which had my heart pounding. I could feel the adrenaline racing through my body as I expected Shane to get brutalized by Vic, and even though he didn’t, that certainly wasn’t a letdown for me. If anything, it’s going to make the final stretch all that more interesting. There was such amazing dialogue in that scene, I wish I could quote it word for word here, but that’s just too much to do. But I do want to call out some of the finer points between Vic and Shane:

Vic: You piece of sh-t. He was strong, you were a coward.

Vic: I would have spared Lem.

Shane: And I stepped up and put Lem down so you could go to bed at night believing that.

Shane: You will learn how to accept it.

Vic: You and me, we’re all out of time.... Get in your truck, drive away, leave here before I kill you.

Shane: No, you won’t. We’ve already been through all of that.

Vic: Before you didn’t blow Lem in half with a grenade.

Vic: I see you again, I will kill you.

Obviously, there’s a bit of dialogue between those lines, but those were the moments that really stuck in my head. I just can’t believe Shane. He was backed into a corner and tried to flip it all around on Vic and then tried to tell Vic that he’d have to accept it. Wow, that takes cojones. And what happens now? I mean, Shane does still work in The Barn. He’s going to have to show up for work tomorrow, right? Does Vic kill him? You know what sets The Shield apart from other shows? Right now, there are so, so many directions this show can take that I can’t even begin to predict what’s going to happen next. I love 24 as well, but I can probably tell you exactly what’s going to go down for the rest of that show's season. Here, I have no clue what the end result of the confrontation is going to be. That’s why this show is so delicious. Six seasons in and I’m still on the edge of my seat, every episode.

Personally, I think I shouldn’t even comment on any other story line in this episode, because frankly what I just talked about was the episode. But I still want to hear your comments on these, so I’ll recap briefly.

We had an all-together new case for the strike team. Emily Martin, the daughter of “some important city dude,” died, and the strike team was told to find the truth and make it look good for the city. Vic found the dirty truth and then had the suspects tell a cleaned-up story. Then he got the city controller to look into his retirement case as a return favor. Nice, Vic. I think the most important thing I took out of this one was simply that Julian just doesn’t belong here. He’s way too straight and narrow for the strike team. I know we didn’t see this go down, but I have to wonder if this is all a setup. Was Julian recommended by Claudette not really for the team, but to go “undercover,” if you will, to get some dirt on how the team really operates? And does Julian know this? I can’t tell for sure, but I can certainly see a move like that coming from a sly fox like Claudette.

The Billings and Dutch war came to a head in this one. I love the continued ribbing of Dutch about his fondness for Tina. And Dutch’s scene where he said to Billings, “This stops now, you understand? This Tina BS. This isn’t high school” was great. I love seeing Dutch get angry, because he still has such composure even when he’s fuming. And to bring up the vending-machine problem again was awesome. Dutch rocks. Billings was right, too, of course. In the break room, Danny took a gaze at Kevin. Kevin took one at Tina. Tina, of course, eyed him up right back, and then there was Dutch yet again with that “I think I’m going to vomit” look on his face. He’s such a lovesick puppy. I feel for him and everything involving Tina now.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Antwon Mitchell back, even if for a few minutes. He’s one of my favorite recurring characters because he brings such a dynamic to the screen. He knew right from the start that Vic was desperate for answers, and he certainly has a bit of a psychological advantage after this meeting. After Vic accused him of setting up the hit on Lem, he stated, “And that, ladies and gentlemen, is my final encore. Making the great Vic Mackey think I’m everyone and everywhere, responsible for all the worst crimes against humanity.” The look on Vic’s face was priceless.

Finally, outside of Vic vs Shane, my favorite part was with Cassidy. I can’t believe that her friend did a LexisNexis search on her dad and she found out all his dirty secrets, including the fact that she had a baby brother. The best moment of this whole story was after Vic told her to show him some respect and she countered with, “Respect is earned.” Yikes.

OK, so this was not such a brief recap after all. Sorry for the length of the blog this week, but if I could sit you all down in a room today and chat all day about this, I would. That’s how much I’m loving this show. Please comment and let me know your thoughts.

Until next week, friends.

I wish I had the time to go back to the beginning of this series and watch the whole thing from the start again. I'd love to see the point where Shane's life started spiraling out of control. Maybe it was the money train, or hitting Tavon over the head, or even all the way back to the first episode when the strike team killed a cop. There's got to be a dozen other moments as well, but whatever moment it is, one thing is for certain: Shane has no control over what happens now.

This whole season has been a mess for him. I guess it's karma coming back to bite him the butt. Nothing is going right for him, and in reality he deserves it all. But it was a shocker to see him get beat down. If that was me, I would have been crying like a 10-year-old girl. No wait, I would have been dead. But for Shane: eh, no big deal. And the real twists came when we learned that the beating was from Tillie's stepdad, and when Mara found out there were condoms in his personal items — not to mention when Tillie called Shane's cell phone and Mara picked up.

But it was the last scene that was the edge-of-the-seater. After begging Mara, "Just ask me to come back," he pulls out a gun and then confesses to killing Lem. If you did your reading last week, you already knew he was going to reveal that to his wife, but I was still shocked about how it went down. But even more shocking to me was the fact that after all of this came out, Mara embraced him. Now for the first time we know that Shane was being very honest when he said he did it all for Mara and his son. But still, to go from "get out of my life" to a hug was interesting. But who knows how I would feel in that situation (let's hope I never have to find out)?

Now of course this leads us to the fact that Vic is bound to find out sooner or later, especially since Hernan told him flat out that Guardo didn't kill Lem. However that goes down, that is going to make for some riveting television.

In the side stories, the strike team is back on the slaughterhouse case full-time. They seem to be making a little progress, although they need to be making a lot more since Claudette has put it in their heads that solving this case might determine the fate of the Barn. Hiatt's got a bit of intel out of Hernan and now has to figure out where to go with it (and keep Julian from telling the world about it).

Then you have this scumbag Carlos who comes in to lend a hand to Dutch's runaway case. How about this guy? Molests his own daughter and forces her to run away from home, and then abuses other children, too. That's a father-of-the-year candidate right there.
And I'm shocked that Billings was the one who broke this case. Dutch created the profile and didn't even recognize that Carlos fit it exactly, until Steve pointed it out to him. Way to go, Billings. I'm even more shocked that he didn't go around patting himself on the back about it, too.

Last but not least, let's not forget about the special appearance of Action Jackson, Mr. Carl Weathers, playing an old cop down on his luck. Great performance from him and an even better one from Vic when he knocked out that idiot Lester who Joe showed up with.

Five episodes down, five to go in Season 6, and no one is more excited about these final five than I am.

Until next week, friends.

A big hearty handshake (well, not from Shane) goes out to Alex O'Loughlin, aka Detective Kevin Hiatt, as he begins his tour of duty in Farmington. Boy, he has no clue what he's being thrown into!

This was a nice semi-setup episode to get us ready for what we saw in the preview. For the first time this season, chasing Lem's killer wasn't No. 1 on the list. We saw new drama unfold and even got back to the slaughterhouse briefly, while the Lem situation still stewed in the background a bit. Of course, that's not to say that the strike team was thinking about Lem at all. Corinne brings him up with this dream of hers (more on that later), and a box of books that Lem bought arrives at the barn. Plus, the new guy is a painful reminder that the team is one short.

Right away, Hiatt learns how Vic operates when he's told to stay down as Vic storms a house. This doesn't sit well with Hiatt, but butting heads with Vic is certainly not the path to go down. I love the fact that Claudette is still playing Vic and Hiatt knows about it. Vic really thinks he's got an appeal hearing, but Hiatt knows that Vic is definitely on the way out. I'm curious to see how that plays out in the end. It's strange to see the almighty Vic Mackey not picking up on what Claudette is doing. He's always been able to see through the smoke and get to the bottom of things, but this season, he's not picking up on situations as well. And I love that. Why? Because it's realistic. He's had a rough go of it lately and it seems like the blinders are on. We all go through stages like that, so I like seeing Vic go through it as well, though he is still more on top of his game than I ever would be in his situation.

There are a lot of things going on besides that as well. The Mexican-slaughterhouse case is back in Claudette's lap so she can solve it and bring the number of closed cases back up in Farmington. Claudette doesn't quite see it this way, though — for her it's more like an extra body count is being dumped on her, especially since at least a half dozen 1-9ers have gone down in this one.

We also have a new open case with the sexual assualt that happened. Did you see that girl's stomach? "Go home" carved on it? Ouch. The biggest revelation in this whole story is that Claudette and Dutch got a case wrong. They didn't believe the last victim of this crime and so they did nothing to prevent another one from happening (and who knows, maybe another).

Then of course we have the whole festering relationship between Billings and Dutch. A few of the comments from last week mentioned that some of you look at Steve as simple comic relief, so I decided to look at it from that perspective this week and I have to say, I didn't dislike him as much as I have in the past. When Claudette was handing the assault case off to Dutch, I had to laugh at Billings comment: "I love the smell of underage sexual assault in the morning." Oh my! That statement would have gotten me a trip straight to the TV Guide human-resources department. But Billings just got a few shocked looks and some eye-rolling. I laughed again when he called Dutch out on his attempted "dating," saying that Dutch has "a pattern of sh**ing where you eat." Ha! And Billings probably has never said anything more true. I can't forget him motioning how large Danny has become or the fact that he knew who 98 Degrees was, either.

Then there was Vic trying to keep Vantes, a reformed 1-9er, from getting killed. That's awful nice of Vic, wouldn't you say? It's a shame that all of Vic's work didn't keep Vantes alive. It's also a shame that silence and brotherhood trump saving a life. If only Vantes' friends had given up the location sooner. And now we have to go back to discussing the dream, since after Vantes died at the hospital Vic went nuts again and started mumbling about it. I could be completely off base, but the dream had to do with Lem and burgers that were overcooked so the center wasn't bloody, and there at the end is Vantes with blood coming out of his gut. Am I onto something here? I could be grasping at straws, but that's all I really got out of it. If you understand what the dream meant and how it tied into the final scene, I'd love to know your thoughts on it.

And Julian? The strike team? I don't see that being a very good match, do you?

Until next week, friends.

"He killed Lem. Don't you remember his body, his face? You think you could just forget that, huh? Don't you think he deserves to die for what he did?"

Those words, screamed at Shane Vendrell by Vic Mackey, helped mold a scene that had to be the most powerful one of the entire series. Wow! You knew Vic was going to do something harsh to Guardo if he found him, but wow! I mean, wow! I know I'm saying that word a lot right now, but that one word — wow! — really sums up the boldness, the intensity, the determination, the shock, the brutality, the hatred.... I could go on forever trying to describe the meeting of Guardo and Vic but nothing could do it justice, so I choose "wow!"

This whole season, you could see the anger in Vic's eyes and you could smell the revenge coming, but despite everything that's happened over the previous five seasons, even my eyes were wide open in shock this time around. Guardo, hung by a rope, getting brutally beating by Vic with a monstrous metal chain was crazy. Shane stopping the beating only to have Vic draw his weapon and pop Guardo was even more intense, especially with that look of pure evil in Vic's eyes. And what can you say about Shane in this situation? I mean, the guy still hasn't cracked. How is that possible? I mean, granted that confessing to Lem's murder while Vic is killing Guardo might not be the smartest move, but I cannot believe he's been able to keep it in this long. But now that Guardo's been killed, set on fire and buried, is it really over? You'd think Vic would be at peace and would let it drop. But what about Shane? His mindset certainly is getting worse each week, so I can't picture that we've heard the last of this, especially since Dutch is still out seeking answers.

Despite the fact that once the scene with Vic and Guardo took place all the other stories took a backseat for me, there was still a lot going on this week to discuss.

First of all, I'm really hating two people right now and I don't mean the actors playing them, but rather the personalities of the actual characters. One of them would be Steve Billings. His lazy attitude always rubbed me the wrong way, but he's really becoming a total idiot now. Steve can flat out tell Dutch what his shortcomings are but doesn't want to hear it in return. He corrals one bad guy and then has to brag to the whole department later. And when is his lackadaisical attitude going to get Dutch shot or killed?

The other character I can't stand is Tina. She is playing the fact that she's smokin' hot to perfection and manipulating every guy who lays eyes on her. I mean, she clearly flirts with Dutch, but then when Dutch brings her over to his place she gets offended when he insinuates it might be a date. Before that, when Ronnie tackled the guy in his case she looked like she wanted to jump him right there (and of course, Dutch looked like he wanted to puke). And was it me, or did it even look like the photographer was flirting with her for a second? She appears to be getting better as a cop, but still isn't up to par yet. Yet thanks to her ability to flirt, the only male cop who notices her lack of ability is the gay one. But watch out, Tina, Sargeant Danny is on the case now! Ain't no flirting going to work on her.

Then there's Claudette, who I love as the captain more and more each week. I love seeing her in power, manipulating everything around her. Sticking Ronnie on the case with Dutch was a great ploy to get info on Vic's whereabouts, even if it didn't pan out. I hope the growing death toll in Farmington doesn't get her the boot, because she's a great leader.

Finally, who's this Hiatt guy and what's he doing in the barn? Vic's replacement, huh? Interesting. Someone's going to replace the baddest cop in the land? C'mon, not a chance, right?

Until next week, friends.

PS. Anyone else sense an Emmy or two or three coming down the pike?

So the fact that Forest Whitaker wasn’t going to be around after this episode was not a well-kept secret at all, but I wasn’t expecting the situation between him and Vic to go down like this. I think I was somehow expecting Kavanaugh to get a surprise beating or take a bullet, although then again, he’s too smart for that. But it seems like he wasn’t smart enough to realize that no one plays both sides quite like Vic Mackey. Jon’s downfall of course was when he started planting evidence. (You could say his downfall was taking this case in the first place, and I might agree.) But seriously, when you think about it, Vic has done so many things wrong, from killing a cop through the money train, that if Kavanaugh couldn’t take him down based on the true facts, then maybe he’s just not as good as he thinks he is. Vic was in his head so much that as a last-ditch effort he tried becoming him but even Dutch Boy saw through the load of crap that Kavanaugh was shoveling. Claudette was the true great manipulator in this one, though. She ripped into Emolia and broke her down while she forced Kavanaugh to watch from the outside. As you could see by the look of shock on her face, I don’t think she was expecting Jon to bust in and confess everything, but she was playing him, too, so she knew something was up. As crazy as the whole situation with the two of them went down, Jon seemed very at peace with himself after confessing, when he stated to Claudette, “At least I have Mackey out of my life. He’s not my problem anymore, he’s yours,” and when he told Vic that it just wasn’t his time and that “the universe will take out its trash when it’s ready.” Big props to Corinne as well, who established she had big cojones by outing Jon’s advances in front of the whole barn. Family comes first, even when family is Vic Mackey.

Speaking of a big set of family jewels, it takes ones the size of boulders to go into the middle of a gang house, alone, with just one bullet. But Vic is determined to do anything to find Guardo Lima. So he goes in alone and tells the leader, “You and I are going to leave this basement together, or you and I are going to leave this life together.” It must be nice having a friend who will go to this length to avenge your death, but Vic’s pushing it so far that he’s going to get himself killed. And really, what good would that be in finding Lem’s murderer? Now Vic’s going to kidnap Guardo’s girlfriend Nadia, knowing he’ll come back from Mexico to keep her safe. Shane keeps trying to get Vic to stop the madness, but he knows there’s only one way and that’s to tell Vic the truth. I just don’t know how Shane can keep this in. It’s still clearly bothering him and yet all he keeps telling Vic is to stop. Clearly, Vic is not going to stop until he gets Guardo, so if Shane or Ronnie are going to get him to back down, something else needs to happen, and quickly.

Not a mess of violence tonight, which is semi-unusual for The Shield, but there was so much drama. I for one am really going to miss the dialogue between Vic and Jon. I love the blood and guts, but the drama between the two of them is what made Season 5 so good and what’s making Season 6 the best yet. Let’s hope the loss of Forest Whitaker won’t also mean the lost of quality. The promo for next week makes it looks like there'll be quite a scene with Vic, Shane and Guardo, so I’ll cross my fingers that it delivers some violence and that the drama continues. And maybe “soon enough” Vic will be at peace again.

Until next week, friends.

I thought of many ways to begin my first blog for The Shield, and I think the best way is for you all to join me in saying two words: hell, yeah!

Honestly, I've never been this excited for a new season of a show. I certainly haven't watched every show in existence, but of the ones I have, this might be the only one without a misstep somewhere along the way. So, you'll have to pardon me if my emotions get the best of me at points. What can I say, I'm excited!

But first, before we chat, a moment of silence for Lem.

Whew. It felt like an eternity between the time we saw Lem take a grenade and the start of this season, didn't it? It's all worth it, though, to see the absolute gore, the unmatched anger on Vic's face, and to feel your eyes swelling as the show opens and closes with Johnny Cash's stark cover of Sting's "I Hung My Head." I certainly ran the gamut of emotions with this episode.

I mean, first, how can you not feel for Lem? He was extremely loyal to his crew and wasn't about to give them up, but Vic and the gang got caught up in the web of lies last year and Shane took it over the edge. We come back and see Lem being portrayed in the media as a dirty cop (which, if you consider him dirty, then he was the least dirty of the strike team members) and getting no respect at all. Clearly, even before Shane realizes the extent of his mistake you can see his guilt and that Vic really doesn't know what happened. At the end of last season, I was kind of hesitant to clear Vic of the murder, pinning it all on Shane. But it really is clear after this episode that Shane took the grenade on himself.

Shane's all over the place now. He's always felt some kind of guilt for killing Lem, but after Claudette tells the strike team that he wasn't going to rat them out, Shane goes off the deep end. You could see how distraught he was in the hallway, but then to see him weeping in his car with gun drawn was something else. And you know he's going to get someone seriously injured if he doesn't care if he's alive or dead now. The guy poured gasoline all over himself at the meth clinic and told the suspect to flick his Bic if he lied to him. Sure, it worked to get the baby out, but that's not going to be the case every time. Obviously Shane is good at what he does, but keeping this secret hidden is going to be very tough. Vic is better at what he does and he is a detective after all. You have to wonder how long it will take for him to get a lead right back to Mr. Vendrell.

Then there's the awesome Vic/Kavanaugh story. Kavanaugh is one crazy, crazy man. He thought he had Vic last season but just couldn't finish the job. Now he's relying on everyone he can reach out to, to lie for him. It wasn't enough that both he and Aceveda lie all the time about Vic, but now he has to pull Emolia in too. Emolia really could be the nail in the coffin because there are a lot of people that want to see Vic go down. Then again, The Chief doesn't even seem to know which road to take with this one. But in this situation, the person I root for the most is Dutch. You know he doesn't like Vic, but clearly he doesn't think he did it either. Here's hoping that Dutch sticks to his guns, and doesn't cop out like everyone else, and finds a way to prove Vic innocent. He might be on the right track after going to get the video tape from the area Kavanaugh lied about meeting Emolia at. As far as Vic goes, we've seen him angry many times, but could this have been the angriest? The look of disgust on his face when confronting Aceveda in the bathroom was killer and then threatening Kavanaugh at his house at the very end was great.

Those are obviously the main stories now, but you can't forget the great things that make The Shield what it is.
First, you've got a guy with his head busted open while he's sitting on the can. You've got Dutch uncovering dozens of dismembered bodies, and Danny and Corrine dishing out insults at each other. And, of course, there's always a laugh or two — this time courtesy of a DVD of Richard Nixon having sex with grandmothers!

But of course, the end scene might have been the most gut-wrenching of them all for me. Aceveda is out giving his speech about Lem. Vic is watching, Ronnie's watching over a drink and Shane is out doing the underage prostitute he met earlier in the day. Yep, that's the way to show remorse, buddy.

Man, what an awesome start to Season 6! Wouldn't you agree?

Until next week, friends.