They really didn’t show any major breakthroughs on the Lloyd case. Claudette ripped him a new one in interrogation, and said that they had a witness that saw him put the clothes in Dutch’s trash can. Dutch said something to the kid that half of all America’ serial killers come to Los Angeles, and the kid replied “because they want to get famous.”
It’s really just implied that Claudette & Dutch will break the kid, or find enough evidence to put him away.
As soon as he gave the girl at the convenience store the extra money, I knew he was going to kill himself. As much as I loathed the character, seeing Mara’s body posed on the bed next to Jackson broke my heart.
As much as I shouldn’t feel sorry for Vic, he’d be better off in prison. At least there he could still play alpha male - in an office, he’s just another schmuck in a suit shuffling paper.
I just wanted to add that the final phone call between Shane and Vic was fucking awesome.
I was laughing out loud at the “space mountain” line!
The only thing that kept me from crying like a baby was that the little boy playing Jackson was breathing heavily in the first shots of this.
Lloyd didn’t crack, but when he started talking about being famous, we knew he would. That and Claudette said she was going to keep working him until he did. I really liked that Claudette came back to knowing Dutch was her friend. Dutch is sanctimonious, and its irritating, but he is a really good guy.
Awesome end.
First of all, since it hasn’t been mentioned yet, how bad ass was the rattle snake scene? One last over the top “enhanced interrogation” for Vic, reminded me of the stove top.
Ronnie was the one guy I was hoping to get away, my favorite of the strike team, but was still part of the team so he had to get his. Question- would he be thrown to the wolves in regular prison with Antwan or would the put him somewhere else, out of state or in solitary maybe? I’m sure he won’t last long where ever he goes.
The Shane and Family scene- what a punch in the gut. I’ve never liked Shane, but I found my self almost feeling sorry for him when he was on the phone with Vic and apologizing to Mara. Mara and the kids, however, ooph, that was awful.
Aceveda- damn it. I never liked his character and he went along with enough of Vic’s bullshit, he should not have gotten a ‘win’ out of all this. And what was the point of bringing in Andre3000’s character(“Time for a new paradigm” candidate(great campaign slogan btw)), why add that one more downer to all the rest? When I first saw him I knew it was bad news for a new character to be on the last show, I was hoping he would somehow bust Aceveda on his corruption; I guess that would be too d.e.m. for the show. Damn it, this, I thought, was the one flaw on the episode.
I’m surprised we didn’t see any more of Danny. Think she will replace Claudette as Chief? Now that it’s essentially our own Barn for the making, I’d say so.
Speaking of Claudette, and Dutch, it was nice to see them team up again for (at least)one last case together. It was just enough that you knew they would close it. The scene with her and Vic in the interrogation room was intense! and then to set him up to watch Ronnie fall, damn again.
Finally Vic, what more is there to say? I thought it was the perfect ending for him. No fate, not even prison or death, could be worse for that guy than losing his family, power, freedom, and left with nothing but survivor’s guilt. I forget which poster said it, but purgatory is the perfect word for it. I didn’t like the shot of him grabbing his gun as he left, I think they should have ended with him slunched over as a broken man and only the desk lamp on, but it did show that he was stupid and bullish enough that his current “freedom” would be lost soon enough too. There were a couple of small things in that scene I really liked- when he ran to the window(on instinct?) to the sounds of sirens only to realize that is completely gone now, and the HR lady- “if you need any help dial 912” heh.
Question: Andree 3000 was on the show before as a robbery victim (I think). Is he playing the same character or was this supposed to be a different guy altogether? (I don’t have access to IMDB here at work)
Thinking it over and agreeing with just about everyone that Vic’s ending was perfect for him.
That cubicle! It’s miserable, even for a cubicle. It’s tiny, it looks like it’s in a hallway, his back is open to the world – and he’s expected to produce, he won’t be able to sit and look at porn, or crime sites, or whatever someone like Vic would look at.
Something else that hit me is Shane and Mara’s fear of foster care. If they thought they had any other choice, I don’t think they would have taken Jackson and Frances Abigail with them. I feel bad for all the good foster parents who might have been watching. “Death is better than my home?” How sad.
He was playing the same character. In a previous episode he was the owner of a comic book store.
I think his purpose was to show the difference between him and Aceveda. I read a reviewer who illustrated this, explaining that while Aceveda was soaking up PR on camera after the Beltran bust, Andre (can’t remember his character’s name) was out picketing a crack house, trying to actually effect change on the street level rather than just pose for the cameras. That got him killed.
He wasn’t as smart or politically savvy as Aceveda, but his intentions were much more pure.
Truly excellent finale. The Chicago Tribune’s Maureen Ryan calls it the best series finale in history, and I wouldn’t spend much time arguing with that.
I thought last season was utterly forgettable and this season was mediocre – some fine moments diluted by too much “circling the drain.” But the finale did everything right.
Shane and Mara’s fate was easy to foresee, but Shawn Ryan still made it touching. I can’t get the images out of my head – and not because they were over-the-top.
Gardocki’s rage at Vic was powerful. He really made you feel his betrayal, and Vic was utterly humiliated in front of his former colleagues. One partner dead. Another in cuffs. Vic a sell-out. Everyone in the Barn was ready to spit on him and he knew it.
Dutch and Claudette’s interactions were touching and amusing. It took me a while, but I’ve grown to like the fact that they didn’t resolve the missing-mother case but made it clear they ultimately would.
Vic’s wife and kids exiled to Rockford, Ill., was somehow sad and heartwarming. Now they have a chance to start a real life. (You know it was Rockford because they referred to the Burpee Museum and its dinosaur.)
Finally, Vic’s closing scene was amazing. He’s trapped in the next best thing to a prison, forced to wear a ridiculous suit like a convict wears an orange jumpsuit. He’s stewing in the knowledge of his mistakes, his betrayals, his losses. He’s beaten. And then … and then … he gets that look. He gets his gun and heads out. You just know Vic has come up with another scheme that he thinks can change everything. He’s found another corner to cut and somehow get his family back, become a real cop, put him back in the game. And he doesn’t care whose life he ruins in the process.
(My guess is that Vic thinks if he can lay the groundwork for some huge bust – make himself indispensable to ICE – he’ll have leverage to demand that he be put back on the street. He’s going to make himself too valuable to stick at a desk. But I could be wrong. He may simply be planning to find a way to blackmail Olivia.)
I don’t see how everyone is getting anything from that final scene other than Vic is doing what he was told to do. He was going home for the day, so he took his gun out of the lock box and was going home. The look on his face is clearly resignation. He’s stuck with his decision. Olivia told him he couldn’t have the gun there. He was taking it out of the lock box and going home. He wouldn’t be bringing it in tomorrow.
There is no scheme. There is no way out. He HAS to follow through or suffer the same fate as Ronnie. This is a man that has lost everything in the end and knows it. He is beaten.
I know lots of TV viewers don’t like ambiguity, but I like how people can’t agree on what Vic’s fate will be once the camera stops filming. One feels he has resigned himself to his fate, another feels that he will come out punching. Some feel it is a fitting ending; some (me) feel he got off with way too light a sentence.
I knew, when he walked into the Barn, that they could not have known him as a cop killer. No way even Claudette brings him into the Barn with that being common knowledge. But the rumors of Shane’s final words had probably started circulating.
The man can’t stop scheming. If he thinks he can get free to China he’ll dig straight through hell; and if he isn’t there just yet he will be soon enough. He’ll come up with another plan, but like all the rest it will backfire.
The thing with the gun is that Olivia told him to lose it before she sent him home to change. He came back with the suit, the tie, but also the gun. That is the last thing he has to hang on to from his past life, he will not be letting that thing go in any short order.
Yeah. Wasn’t the gun/lockbox in the same shopping bag as the family photos? If someone looked in the bag, they’d see the photos but not the lockbox. Vic isn’t giving up.
About all I can add to the discussion is “Mr. Ryan, Mr. Chiklis, take a bow. Thanks for some great TV.”
Maybe someone can fill me in. I saw the last episode but I just got back to the US a few weeks ago. I saw the last season on DVD but I don’t know what transpired in the final season. Why did Vic confess?
BTW…I thought shane and his wife were awful people. While I don’t think He should have gone all Jim Jones on them, I can;t feel bad except for the kid. But I don’t know why Mara was in trouble.
Vic confessed to get his immunity deal with ICE. They obviously had no idea what they were getting into.
What about all the criminals the Strike Team put away over the years? Will they be overturned once Ronnie goes to prison? I hope not.
I was a bit let down by the finale. I guess my expectations were just too high. I wanted at least one member of the Strike Team to get away from the whole mess fairly well off. Sure, they did some bad things, but they did lots of good as well. I was hoping against hope that Ronnie would find some way out. At least we got to see Dutch and Claudette working together again. Their partnership was one of my favorite things about the first few seasons.
You know there’s no way out, and I know there’s no way out. But I don’t think Vic Mackey can ever accept that there’s no way out. When have we ever seen him resigned to his fate? When has he ever shown that he can stop scheming?
I went back and watched the final scene again. He is beaten _ at first. He’s thinking about all the terrible things he’s done and all he’s lost. He’s on the verge of crying. He starts packing up his things to go home alone. But in the last second or two he straightens up instead of slumps and his jaw tightens up into something I’d call a cocky sneer.
We’ll never really know, of course, but I think Vic was starting to think up a way out of his prison.
To add to this:
Vic was on his way out of the LAPD, but got entangled in an ICE investigation into Cartel activity in LA. Agent Olvia Murray was being blacmailed by the Cartel’s point-main in LA, Cruz Pezuela. Aceveda was also enmeshed with Pezuela.
Olivia and Vic kinda hit it off well, and she convinced Vic to try to get her “file” (the dirt the cartel was blackmailing her with) back from Pezuela, but Vic wanted a gig with ICE in return for helping her out.
As the season progressed, Vic and Aceveda “moved Pezuela out of the way” (and, incidentally, got Olivia’s file back to her so she’s out from under the blackmail) to deal with his boss, a cartel heavy named Beltran. Vic sold himself to Beltran as a street-savvy ex-cop who could be of real value to the Cartel; Beltran was interested but largely non-commital, getting Vic to “prove himself.”
Vic and Ronnie decided that Shane had to pay for what he did to Lem, and sent him out on a bust where he was supposed to get “killed in the crossfire.” Shane survived, but figured Vic and Ronnie set him up. So Shane contracted with a 'banger to kill Ronnie, while he set up in Vic’s apartment to pop Vic.
The timing was off, and just as Vic was about to enter his apartment, Ronnie called and told him that someone had just tried to kill him.
The 'banger is caught, and despite Shane’s best efforts to keep him quiet, he rolled on him, and Shane exited the Barn about two steps ahead of an LAPD lynch mob.
Vic and Ronnie, not content to let Shane slink away, began closing off all of Shane’s options; one of their moves gets Shane’s getaway money (~$100,000) ripped from him by some 'bangers Vic contracted to keep an eye out for Shane.
Shane had Mara contact Corrine to get some money off of Vic via Shane’s threat of blackmail. This causes Vic to turn up the heat under Olivia to get his deal/contract with ICE expedited, with an immunity clause thrown in as well, as a hedge against Shane burning him. Ronnie counsels that they both walk away and disappear, but Vic convinces him to stick it out.
Corrine, sick of Vic’s life, calls Dutch (whom, if you remeber, she dated briefly several seasons ago), which also brings in Claudette. Phone taps are put in place, and the picture begins to emerge. Corrine agrees to setup Vic to get him out of her life.
Vic brokers a deal between Beltran and the heads of the major LA gangs; they give him $200,000 in “earnest money,” but he pockets half of it to buy Shane off and get him away. The Cartel gunsels won’t let Vic out of their sight until he makes the delivery, but he manages to hide it in a gas station men’s room, and calls on Ronnie to be the bag man. Claudette and Dutch, observing the meet where Vic’s supposed to give Corrine the money, instead see Ronnie give it to her, and they now know Ronnie’s in it up to his neck as well.
Meanwhile, Shane is rolling drug dealers for cash and drugs, and manages to wind up crosswise with the friends of one of his old busts; they fight, and Mara, pregnant and all, busts into the house and manages to shoot an innocent bystander. She freaks, drops the gun, just as one of the bad guys tackles her and breaks her collar bone. Shane subdues him and gets her out of there.
Corrine (cooperating with Claudette and Dutch to bring down Vic) has Vic meet her in a park for some reason I forget, but Vic spots the surveillance and high-tails it out of there, as he sees cops swarm Corrine and put her under arrest (for show).
Vic runs to Olivia, and demands that they finalize his contract, like, right now!
Ronnie was supposed to be included, but ICE only originally brokered the deal for Vic, and anything for Ronnie will have to take additional time. Part of Vic’s immunity is that he has to confess to anything and everything.
He does.
Every.
Last.
Thing.
The stunned look of horror on Agent Olivia Murray’s face as she realizes exactly what a monster Vic is was priceless.
Classic lines:
After Vic drops the “Terry Crowley” bombshell, and Olivia, almost not really wanting to know the answer, asks him if there’s anything else, Vic nods to the digital recorder on the table and asks, “How much memory does that thing have?”
When he’s done, Olivia asks him, “How could you do this to me?”
Vic, cold as ice, tells her, “I’ve done worse.”
Claudette and Dutch show up just as Vic is finishing. They get to hear enough, but Vic now has immunity. Claudette almost loses it.
And if you saw the last episode, you know the rest.