# The Shield 2/7 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 8, 2006, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shield-2-7/343504 "2006-02-08T04:20:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shield-2-7/343504/21 "2006-02-08T20:14:42Z")
> [@RancidYakButterTeaParty](#): > > But don’t you hate the fact that we have no idea why Dutch went psycho on the kitties? I wanted to see some sort of resolution for that action… [Provided I am thinking about the right segment] But we do know: a murderer had taunted Dutch about what he saw/got out of taking a life. So Dutch lured a cat to his house so he could kill it and find out. ---
**Author:** ![c\_goat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@c\_goat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c_goat)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shield-2-7/343504/22 "2006-02-08T20:18:17Z")
> [@RancidYakButterTeaParty](#): > > But don’t you hate the fact that we have no idea why Dutch went psycho on the kitties? I wanted to see some sort of resolution for that action. Dutch needs to understand the mind of a criminal to better catch them. He did it to see what it was like to look something in the eyes as you killed it (that same episode was a killer describing that feeling). It just shows his obsession with being able to understand the bad guys he catches. I think that was the point, so there’s no need to go further with it. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shield-2-7/343504/23 "2006-02-08T21:15:35Z")
Agree with **c\_goat** and **Oslo**. They start taking that story further, it’s going to be bad. Lem and Ronny are dirty cops, but not on the level of Vic and Shane. Lem, IMO, is less dirty than Ronny; neither of them would go down the road Vic did with Terry. Other than that one kitten episode, Dutch doesn’t have anything bad in his jacket. Claudette showed quite a bit of hubris in her spat with the DA’s office. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shield-2-7/343504/24 "2006-02-08T22:54:13Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > Claudette showed quite a bit of hubris in her spat with the DA’s office. I don’t know about that. I think she honestly wanted the job so that she could make things right. Then she found out that things would NEVER be right, so she just concentrated on policework… ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shield-2-7/343504/25 "2006-02-09T00:18:51Z")
I read a lot more into Dutch’s kitty killing. He not only wants to understand the mind of the murderer, but is both attracted to and repelled by the thought that he might have similar tendancies. I do wish the writers would have taken that story line a bit further. Similar with Aceveda and his picture phone “problem”. Last season it was a major part of his character, and this season it’s just gone. Did those photos just disappear? Has he resolved his sexual issues with his wife? Is he still seeing a prostitute on the side, and getting off on rough sex with her? Claudette is a problem. She doesn’t have any real “bad” in her other than her occasional crankiness and the writers just don’t seem to know what to do with her character. ---
**Author:** ![RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/53a042/32.png) [@RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RancidYakButterTeaParty)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shield-2-7/343504/26 "2006-02-09T18:05:25Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > I read a lot more into Dutch’s kitty killing. He not only wants to understand the mind of the murderer, but is both attracted to and repelled by the thought that he might have similar tendancies. I do wish the writers would have taken that story line a bit further. Similar with Aceveda and his picture phone “problem”. Last season it was a major part of his character, and this season it’s just gone. Did those photos just disappear? Has he resolved his sexual issues with his wife? Is he still seeing a prostitute on the side, and getting off on rough sex with her? > > Claudette is a problem. She doesn’t have any real “bad” in her other than her occasional crankiness and the writers just don’t seem to know what to do with her character. I agree with John. Dutch wasn’t just conducting research when he killed that little kitten, he actually got a thrill out of the experience. He does seem to be very attracted to the idea of having power over someone else. I have a feeling that it will come up again. As far as Aceveda goes, I still contend that Vic and the boys are going to find that phone in the evidence room somehow and stumble onto the pictures. This will happen right when they need a huge favor from the Councilman, of course. I know they can only focus on so many story lines at a time, but Aceveda’s has been the best to date. I hope they bring it back soon. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shield-2-7/343504/27 "2006-02-09T18:11:54Z")
> [@RancidYakButterTeaParty](#): > > I agree with John. Dutch wasn’t just conducting research when he killed that little kitten, he actually got a thrill out of the experience. He does seem to be very attracted to the idea of having power over someone else. I have a feeling that it will come up again. > > As far as Aceveda goes, I still contend that Vic and the boys are going to find that phone in the evidence room somehow and stumble onto the pictures. This will happen right when they need a huge favor from the Councilman, of course. I know they can only focus on so many story lines at a time, but Aceveda’s has been the best to date. I hope they bring it back soon. Yeah, I thought they were trying to set it up (it was either late last season or the first or second episode of this season) when Vic (and Ronnie? Shane?) went to Aceveda’s house and were talking about the guy who molested Aceveda being killed in prison. Something seemed to click in Vic’s mind; I’m hoping he’s saving the information for later. There’s too big a potential payoff there for the writers to completely dump the story. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shield-2-7/343504/28 "2006-02-10T03:54:05Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > The only person who has remained unstained in this show is Claudette Wymms, and she’s only been able to do this by basically becoming disengaged from the poliltics and just doing her job—which has also marginalized her. I disagree. The limits of Wymms strictness in “doing the right thing” was made starkly obvious in the episode where her daughter was witness to the random street murder of Wymms ex-husband, and that it was likely she would have to ID the shooter, and also testify against a gang member in court. Claudette more or less told Dutch point blank that her daughter was _not_ going to testify ,and to wangle an ID of the suspect some other way. Wymms may be more straight and narrow than most of the others, but only to the extent it does not impact her family. ---
**Author:** ![Creative\_Munster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Creative\_Munster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Creative_Munster)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shield-2-7/343504/29 "2006-02-13T13:31:51Z")
I thought Aceveda tracked down that phone with the incriminating pictures? Can anyone confirm this? ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shield-2-7/343504/30 "2006-02-13T14:36:17Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > I don’t know about that. I think she honestly wanted the job so that she could make things right. Then she found out that things would NEVER be right, so she just concentrated on policework… However, when she ticked off the DA’s office, Claudette ended up ‘on-the-beach’, dragging Dutch there with her. Dutch was the good partner and stuck with her. Excepting the kitten episode, I very much like the portrayal of Dutch. He’s a good, clean cop, but he’s a social dweeb and a horndog (can’t blame him with the rookie cop, though). He’s not spineless like Billings, but he also isn’t a bulldog like Mackey or Aceveda. ---
**Author:** ![sleeepy2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@sleeepy2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeepy2)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shield-2-7/343504/31 "2006-02-13T15:41:37Z")
I’m not sure if Ronnie is corrupt or not. The guy’s had about six spoken lines in the past four seasons. ---
**Author:** ![JDeMobray](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@JDeMobray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JDeMobray)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shield-2-7/343504/32 "2006-02-13T15:49:06Z")
> [@sleeepy2](#): > > I’m not sure if Ronnie is corrupt or not. The guy’s had about six spoken lines in the past four seasons. I think Ronnie is corrupt, but I honestly think he wouldn’t be as corrupt or as good at being corrupt if he hadn’t been hooked up with Vic and his crew early. Unlike Lem, Ronnie doesn’t ever seem conflicted about any of the shady stuff (like the money train) that they do. But also like Lem, I don’t think Vic lets him all the way in on the some of the really bad stuff. I like Ronnie, even though he has the least lines of any of the Strike Team guys. Besides, he had Journey tickets. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shield-2-7/343504/33 "2006-02-13T19:16:37Z")
> [@JDeMobray](#): > > I think Ronnie is corrupt, but I honestly think he wouldn’t be as corrupt or as good at being corrupt if he hadn’t been hooked up with Vic and his crew early. Unlike Lem, Ronnie doesn’t ever seem conflicted about any of the shady stuff (like the money train) that they do. But also like Lem, I don’t think Vic lets him all the way in on the some of the really bad stuff. > > I like Ronnie, even though he has the least lines of any of the Strike Team guys. Besides, he had Journey tickets. Ronnie also seems to do all the tech stuff for the Strike Team, like computer work and planting bugs. He’s obviously a pretty smart guy, just not a ringleader type or an extroverted personality. ---
**Author:** ![sleeepy2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@sleeepy2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeepy2)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shield-2-7/343504/34 "2006-02-14T21:46:13Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#): > > Ronnie also seems to do all the tech stuff for the Strike Team, like computer work and planting bugs. He’s obviously a pretty smart guy, just not a ringleader type or an extroverted personality. Plus he drank all that coffee so he could convicingly use the men’s room wearing Lem’s wire. _That’s_ a teammate! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shield-2-7/343504.md?page=1)