The Shield (May 8) SPOILERS

The Holy Shit moment of the season finally happened tonight











Vick confronts Shane about killing Lem.

The wait was well worth it.

 

Great fucking final few minutes. I don't know why Vic wouldn't have killed Shane there, other than it would have been too easy to tie it into him, but that was a seriously intense showdown. And next week's preview looked pretty intense too.

Best show on TV.

 

Vic can't kill Shane. We saw that a few seasons ago when Shane had to kill Vic.

I'm really not sure how they can go from here. You can't have Shane suddenly quit the force or the Strike Team. That may be too obvious.

 

The thing they were alluding to was that Shane was kinda going to start playing the game with Vic, instead of just leaving dodge, and that Vic was going to follow suit. With how close the strike team has been, and the fact that Vic couldn't kill Shane when he had the chance, I just can't see a battle between those two the likes of Vic/Cavannah and Vic/(old chief whose name escapes me). They are too close for that. In the end, I see Shane killing himself over this, but I thought that might have been coming over the past couple of weeks and was wrong. Last night was a hell of an episode for one hell of a show. I like most of the FX shows, including Rescue me as a possible favorite, but I will always stand by the shield as top dog on that network, and I'm sad to hear the rumors of next season being it's series finale.

 

If there was any debate that The Shield isn't the best show on TV, last night ended it. Wow. The best part is that I have no clue where the writers are going to take us the next few weeks.

 

I've watched it from the first episode, but the thing that makes it the best show for me is that it converted my wife, who is the farthest from this kind of show you can get, but now she can't get enough of it. When I first described it to a co-worker during season 1, I told him it was a new "edgy police show" His reply was, "oh, another one." My answer was, "No, this one is different." It's been a great show from start to finish, but most FX shows are really good, hence Rescue me, Nip/Tuck and even dirt for the most part.

 

The Shield is the only show on FX I go out of my way for. I tried with Dirt, but if it didn't involve a dubious form of journalism, I probably wouldn't have stayed for long. I tried with The Riches, but it didn't hold my interest. I'd like Rescue Me in theory, but it's probably too late to get in now. nip/tuck I disliked from the word go.

Apparently all but the season finale are already out on your favorite torrent sites. Some network in France is a few weeks ahead of us.

Other thoughts:

• I don't like Tina's new attitude. Assumably we're only a few weeks, perhaps only a couple of weeks, past Lem's murder. Her development is too quick, and her relationship with Dutch kind of got garbled (though they'll probably pull it out in the end [sup boots]).
• Ditto Shane's development, though I guess he should be wildly inconsistent and off the board given the circumstances. I liked the "so despondent he willingly puts himself in suicidal situations" as a subconscious reaction to what he did, but it shifted too quickly to "offended at Vic's perceived willingness to move on/defense of Guardo," then "let it go, guys, there's nothing left to find out." A little TOO frentic, but whatevs.
• They've done a quality job of building false storylines. First Kavanaugh's planting of evidence, which on the face would seem like a long story arc, gets resolved the next week. Now you have Shane confessing to Mara last week, which given their fighting that episode and their characters would imply a "Mara uses knowledge to keep Shane in line/get what she wants" plot. Except that Vic has it figured out by the next episode.
• Julien on the Strike Team has potential, but there's too much going on to let that develop fully. I'm guessing he'll have a bigger role in the coming weeks. And who, at the beginning of the season, saw the Strike Team as Vic/Ronnie/Julien/new guy by this point?
• I assume Ronnie shaved so he wouldn't get confused with Kevin. The scars from Armadillo's attack is a nice touch.
• Who makes the deal with Antwon first, Vic or Shane?

Too bad the season is already more than half over.