For all you Shield fans that have been sticking it out this season (as well as the previous ones)… Whole Lee Shit, who doesn’t feel like they’ve been dragged over fifty miles of Intensity Road? Gaah!
Ahem. Theatrics aside… what’re everyone’s feelings, going into the Season Finale tonight? What is Dutch going to find out about Vic, if anything? What’s the Strike Team going to do with the money? Will Margos Dezirian manage to kill anybody off? Mara, perhaps? Or Mara’s mom?
Theories abound. One guy I know is convinced that Shane is gonna get killed. Most people say no… but with this show, who knows for sure? Or what’s going to happen with Vic’s kids… Cassidy recently went to live with him. Maybe she’ll be a target for Margos?
What about Aceveda? He’s got his hands on so many dicks, he can jerk off whichever ones he wants. Is he gonna keep humoring Dutch’s theory? Or is he going to force Wagenbach to leave the Strike Team alone? And Lem… is he gone? Will they replace him with Julian? Or Danni? Or both? And when’s Tavon coming back?
And Jesus, Claudette. She’s almost Captain, and she’s been scheming something up all season. In fact, it seems she’s given up her principles and is getting sucked into the politics of the whole thing. And what’s SHE got planned for Julian?
But the most important question of all… Taylor: Will he get Danni to go out with him, or not?
Post your own questions, answeres, theories, hypotheses, wonderments, frustrations, bitchings, or rantings about The Shield here! One rule, though… nobody’s allowed to think that Vic is a bad guy.
I think either Shane or Lem is toast–probably Lem.
I really, really hope that Mara is next on the hitlist. I still don’t believe she’s pregnant. I think she’s just a manipulative bitch and she got her hooks deep into Shane. Of course, telling Shane to “dump” Vic has been a miscalculation on her part…maybe. It might be enough to plant more than a seed of doubt…Either way, it would be interesting if she lost her feet and Shane found out she wasn’t really preggers.
Also, that would get Tevon off the hook and maybe even make him doubt everything Vic and Lem told him–which should assauge his guilty conscience if nothing else.
I think Claudette will go forward with the evidence she has on the Public Defender, and I think she’ll accept the consequences.
I don’t think Dutch will corner the Strike Team this year. I think if anybody does at any point, it will be him, but I don’t think it’ll be tonight. I think he’ll focus on helping catch Margos, and the momentary high of getting his guy (which is what he lives for after all…) will make him forget about the Strike Team until later…
I think Danni will go out with Taylor.
I don’t know about Julian. I thought they were building up to something, but I have no idea what, or how it’ll relate to the other storylines.
Ah, but here’s the rub: Right now, both the Strike Team and Dutch are after Margos. The Strike Team wants to shut him up. Dutch wants him to sing. They’ve got mutually exclusive needs, here.
I don’t think Lem’s going to die. I think it’s much more likely that another target, like Mara or Cassidy, is gonna get picked off. Maybe even Mara’s mom (QUEEN bitch!)
I love this show simply because you have no idea what could happen next! It is seldom a tv series moves so fast - sometimes I look up at the clock and am amazed it is only 15 minutes into the show and I am already worn out watching it!
I too hope that Mara gets bumped off tonight…she is a class A bitch, and I think she is lying about being pregnant, or at least who the father is…BTW, the woman who does such a good job playing bitchmom to Mara has a re-occuring role on General Hospital as, surprise surprise, the mom from hell.
At any rate, I am sure tonight will be interesting - one fact that The Shield has going for it is that sometimes Vic and his crew land in a mess and seem to be able to turn it to their advantage on the quick. So I won’t be surprised if a storyline might come close to wrapping up simply because Vic and the guys can think on their feet pretty damned fast. My money is on the Russian Mafia to be tricked into thinking someone else is behind the money train robbery after all.
Well once way one another (based on the previews) something really comes to a head with idiot boy Shane tonight.
I think they’ve also got to wrap up the Gordian knot situation with the entertwined Armenian mob/Treasury Investigation/Mara+Mom situation but I have absolutely no. idea. how they are going to do it.
Shane and Mara getting offed together by the Armenian mob is all I can think of. The only way Mara and Mommy can live (and I think it’s better than even money they do) is for Vic to get something on her and mommy so over the top they have head for the hills. Mom inferred that Mara has been in major trouble in the past.
My WAG predictions-
1: Dead or just leaving I think Lem is gone. He’s too disaffected from Vic and the crew at this point.
2: Acevada or someone else at the station is going to get hurt bad (or killed) by the nut case flyer lady from last episode (possibly Julian or his partner). If Acevada does not get killed he’s not leaving, and for that to happen something has to occur that will destroy his political prospects.
3: Something real bad happens to Dutch - might not be getting killed
4: Arrogant Claudette gets a smackdown of major proportions
That’s it ? That’s the season wrap up? Almost every ball except the Armenian killer up in the air? Talk about loose ends. There’s enough to make a fringe jacket. Not a bad show, but IMO hardly a worthy season ender.
I feel the same way. I actually didn’t know it was the season finale, as I avoid any and all promos for the show and don’t watch the “next week” trailers. After it was over and they mentioned next season, I couldn’t believe that was all there was.
The head Armenian mob guy gets to Vic’s wife and she dies. This contrasts perfectly with last seasons finale. Last year, they nearly perfectly ripped off the Armenian mob. This season, the loose ends from that case eventually catch up to them and rip the team apart.
If this does happen, its sets the stage for Vic’s eventual downfall. He would instantly be saddled with two autistic kids, and a boatload of money he can’t safely spend.
The post burning 65K each is not (IMO) a "boatload of money". It's probably about a year's salary (or less) for Vic and not much more for the others. Even dumb Shane made the pointed observation that they has risked all this for a relatively measly 65K each.
What I can’t understand is how Shane is allowed by both Vic and Lem to mouth off as idiotically and hypocritically as he does. His wife is the person who brought Treasury Dep’t suspicion down on their heads in the first place by stealing and spending money that wasn’t hers; she’s also the one who clocked Tavon, thus putting them one man away from disbandment (that scene where Vic and Lem made Tavon cry was truly sickening). Basically, a large portion of this money train mess they’re in is Shane and/or Mara’s fault. Yet somehow, Shane has no trouble, no twinge of irony, in working up a full head of steam against Lem and goes off on him about his loyalty issues, never once reflecting on or being confronted about just how titanically he’s allowed his relationship to screw up their business. Shane and Mara are selfish morons whose feet ought to be Armenian mob trophies.
As for Claudette: was there no way she couldn’t have done exactly what she did without such a huge productionbeing made of it? Maybe she could have picked out 5 really egregiously underdefended cases, gone to Aceveda and said, “May I just pursue these, and only these, and promise not to make a very public deal of it?” The arresting officers would probably not like it much, but by throwing down the gauntlet so openly, she screwed herself over. Is she doing more harm than good?
I didn’t realixe how much of the money was burned. And it turns out I was completly wrong on everthing else, it seems we all were.
I agree about Shane being a hypocrite though. He’s been a fuckup for the better part of three seasons. The only thing that he’s done right recently was having a good reason for the storage locker that Aceveda asked about.
Speaking of Aceveda, who was the prostitute that he almost picked up? It seemed that he meant to pick her up, and then had second thoughts.
Did anyone else scream, “Noooooooooooo!!” when they flashed the “coming in 2005” on the screen at the end? I can’t wait six months to find out if Dutchboy is going to kill his cute new kitten.
I got the feeling that Dutch’s new kitten is an atonement for the dead cat. By taking care of this helpless little guy, he balances the scales a bit for his flirtation with the dark side. I don’t think he took it home just to think of a good way to snuff it.
So many loose threads! This show has 3 times as much going on as any other cop drama, but they really seem like they needed a fuller season to deal with everything.
Threads, among many others, that we have nothing close to resolution on:
[ul]
[li]Julian’s Sexuality / Impregnation issues[/li][li]Taylor (Is that the informant’s name?) and Danni[/li][li]Tavon’s recovery and memory of the attack (Maybe this is really closed, but I got the impression Tavon might be playing along, and ready to call in IAD on these guys who are all obviously covering for Shane)[/li][li]Dutch’s computer of child porn[/li][li]Aceveda’s rape trauma and troubles at home[/li][li]Corpse-sniffing dog lady and Hunter the psycho boyfriend[/li][/ul]
It’s been several episodes since we’ve even seen some of these mentioned. I’m leaving off Mara/Mom, Aceveda vs. Claudette, The money train fallout, etc. as I’m sure many of those will continue into the new season…in 2005.
The look in his eyes at the end… the look of a broken man.
My prediction: No. This show does a VERY, VERY good job of keeping you second-guessing. Whereas a lesser show will have something like Dutch killing a cat be a big, significant character change, in the world of The Shield it’s just one more goddamned thing that happens.
Non-issue. Just another way of showing how Dutch’s alternate way of trying to accomplish things just winds up embarassing him.
Yea, when they said “Coming in 2005” I was like, shit, it’s June, dammit! Get back to freakin’ work, I can’t wait that long! This is the only TV show I watch on a regular basis. What the hell am I going to do now? (Well, I suppose I could rent/buy the first season, since I never saw it).
It’s gonna be real hard to guess what’s gonna happen, especially when the writers have a good chunk of time on their hands to plan the next season, 'cos they’re already so good at keeping you on your toes…but here are my theories:
Lem’s back, but only for a week or two at the beginning. Something will happen (like Lem dying) that will give Aceveda/the Chief an option to keep this strike team going, while the other ones may be getting dispersed. You know - “Lem died in the line of duty, this strike team does great work, we’ll keep this one going, just 'cos it’d be bad form to disperse it due to a line of duty death.”
Armenian money-train story isn’t over - and the Armenians aren’t out either. Remember, someone sent Margos over to America to deal with the problem - now he’s dead and the money’s still missing. Furthermore, the Armenians were already looking into the strike team, and Vic being Margos’ killer (even if cleared by the police dept.) will not look clean to the Armenians.
Dutch and Claudette team up to destroy Vic. This may be Claudette’s one chance to get the Captaincy - if she can show that Aceveda “ran a dirty shop”, maybe she gets a chance to clean it up (and Aceveda won’t have any say in the matter).
Dutch does not go psycho.
Shane and Mara and Vic - this is a tough one. Ultimately, I think Mara’s a goner - or at least the relationship will die. Maybe Mara will pull an ultimatum on Shane, and he sides with Vic - but the story could then go with Mara/her Mom blackmailing the two of them over the money-train affair.
Everybody wants to see Mara and Mom get it in the chops, but this show always confounds expectations. I think Tavon recovering his memory and seeing how he was played is going to (somehow) play into Mara’s exiting the scene. At some point I’m hoping they shine a light on Mara’s and mom’s past. I want to see Shane realize he’s been played, and that Vic and the others were right all along.
A lot of people like Claudette, but in the context of the situation I think she’s got a career death wish of major proportions, and a hugely arrogant attitude brimming with moral smugness.
I’m getting kind of tired of the money train drama. I think they’ve got to put it to bed next season for good and move on to some new dilemma.
