The Shield where it has been and where its going. March 15, 2006
Posted by vinnyt in : The Shield , add a commentI must first say I am relatively new to The Shield, but in the short time I have watched it I have seen all the episodes to this point and watch weekly with a nearly religious level of devotion. I have to say that I connected with this show on so many levels and it was not a connection made over time but rather an immediate familiarity. My father was a police officer for 30 years, and although the pay was never spectacular the job afforded us a level of security that most people will never be able to understand. The Shield portrays cops in both a real light they are people who put their lives on the line every day to make sure it is safe for your kid to walk to school. However, on the flip side The Shield gives you a view of cops as mere gangsters with a badge. The first is clearly the side I was most familiar with. My father touched the lives of nearly every person he ever met while on duty, and to this very day he and I can not go very far from home with out someone recognizing him and striking up a conversation. It’s truly a blessing to feel that connected to a community, and I think that connection is ultimately what has kept me in Kansas City. Here is where my connection with The Shield really comes into light. After college I moved to California to seek my fortune in the whole dot com boom. I moved out there with very few family or friends and so I had to make my own way. I ended up living on the edge of Echo Park, in the Silver Lake region of LA. If you watch the first episode of The Shield this is where Terry and David meet to discuss their deal with the feds to go after Vic and the strike team. So although this was imaginary I’ve met both those men and felt a strange connection. I’ve since moved back from LA, but continue to visit on occasion to remember the places I’ve been in my life. I was of the opinion this was going to be the last season of The Shield, but I think with ratings being what they are we might be lucky enough to get one more season, and honestly I can’t wait.
Season 5 Episode 7 of The Shield March 7, 2006
Posted by vinnyt in : The Shield , add a commentOh what tangled webs we weave is how I believe the saying goes. The episode begins with Kavanaugh talking to that punk assed bitch Antoine Mitchel. Mitchel who clearly could bring the strike team down offers up information in exchange for any members of the strike team who go to jail they have to be put in his prison. Kavanaugh scoffs at this, and is quickly distracted when his ex-wife reports that she has been raped. Dutch is called in but quickly discovers that the clues don’t point to the rape being real and we soon discover that the ex-wife is crazy and Kavanaugh gave up on her at a moments notice. So clearly he is a scumbag from the word go and so he will stop at nothing to put the strike team behind bars. As the episode progresses we see a very disturbing exchange between Kavanaugh and he ex-wife in which all the dirt the team would ever need to put the pressure on Kavanaugh is revealed however, this jewel of hope that was delivered is quickly taken back when Kavanaugh realizes he is being watched over closed circuit TV and by Vic and Lem no less. At this point Kavanaugh blows up, arrests lem and the episode ends with Kavanaugh offering Mitchel a deal. I want to see Vic clear this one up he is a bad person but he is trying to do well and I think he deserves another chance.
Season 5 Episode 6 of The Shield March 3, 2006
Posted by vinnyt in : The Shield , 1 comment so farI don’t think I’ve ever seen “The Shield” acknowledge a holiday (for the record, I’m still waiting for the Halloween-themed episode), but this had to have been the worst Valentine’s Day ever for our boys and girls at the Barn. First off, I doubt that Kavanaugh’s decision to set up shop in the station was a welcome one by any member of the police force – including Captain Billings, who although has command over the IAD Lieutenant cannot stop him from taking over his office. Bummer. And so the first round of interrogations begins, with Vic playing his lawyer card and Shane treating the investigation as a mockery. We already knew that all of the guys on the Strike Team wouldn’t talk, but Vic’s fugly ex-wife Corrine just had to open her big fat mouth and tell Kavanaugh about the mysterious $65,000 that he gave her at the beginning of last season. Was her nose not taking up enough of her ugly face? Did she have to open her fat mouth and start crying too? Ye gods, and on VALENTINE’S DAY! That wasn’t all folks. Even poor Danny Sofer got the shake down for having a past relationship with Vic. Not like she’ll get punished for it, but it was a nice zinger to use against Corrine during her investigation. Kavanaugh is good at manipulating the weak, and the cards are in his favor for the time being, but what happens when the bulk of the case comes down to getting one of the four guys to turn? We’ve seen how brutal he can be in the interrogation room, but will Kavanaugh really have the balls to drag Shane’s wife Mara into the mix? If he does, God help us. If Corrine cracked under pressure, Mara will surely be more problematic down the road. Meanwhile, Dutch and Claudette revisit an old murder case from last season involving the cool and composed killer, Kleevon, when his sister goes “missing” and they think that he killed her. We know she’s okay, of course, because we caught a quick glimpse of her in the previews for next week’s episode, but another black woman was found raped and murdered mere hours after he was released from question, and she bears an uncanny resemblance to Claudettte. Looks like she may have pissed him off /just/ a bit, but the reckless death job may be his final curtain call. And in a short subplot of ouch-that’s-gotta-hurt hilarity, Julien and Tina walk in on a guy who’s suspended at a glory hole because his dick is stuck in a… what for it… mousetrap! Yowzers! That’ll teach you, if nothing else does, to NOT stick important body parts into foreign holes
Season 5 Episode 5 of The Shield February 13, 2006
Posted by vinnyt in : The Shield , add a commentWell the temperature has just been turned way way up on multiple fronts. In the one hand Dutch is trying to dip his pen in the company ink. The hot new rookie cop is screwing up big time and every one else knows it, but dumb old Dutch is falling for her charm and hot ass. He’s going to screw up, if he didn’t it wouldn’t be good television so it’s best to sit back and watch the stupidity ensue. Next you have the IAD investigation of the strike team. The episode began like all this season with a woman running her head through the window of a car and trying to bite the ear off the man in the car. Vic sees this first hand and discovers that the Russian mob is running bad meds through town and people are dropping dead or going crazy as we saw. Vic and the guys track down some leads and discover the meds are going through a delivery company and decide that with some trickery they can get the bad meds off the street, and create a sting to bust mobsters way up the chain. Now during all this time Kavanugh has wired the club house and is listening in on the most private of conversations. Vic sets up his sting by bringing the mobsters to the club house and creates a deal with him to put the Russians in possession of good meds to help people out, and get 10% of the money generated. The entire conversation is recorded and Kananugh firmly believes that he had Vic trapped where he wants him, but this couldn’t be further from the truth Vic clears this sting with the interim captain and proceeds to do the deed. The deal appears to be going smoothly until the driver ( a detective ) pulls a gun on Shane and is wrestled down and then lined up against a truck and shot. The IAD guys come in and break everything up, and start to arrest Vic when the captain comes in and asks what the hell is going on and explains the sting. A big fried egg is now all over Kavanugh’s face and he is crazy pissed. The show ends with Kavanugh destroying his head quarters in a very scary scene….
The Shield Season 5 Episode 4 January 31, 2006
Posted by vinnyt in : The Shield , add a commentThis show is quickly escalating in intensity. The show begin with a brief discussion between the scum bag play by Forrest Whitaker and Lem; Lem is being told that he needs to produce a little more information or face the consequences. In a move to try and gain Lem’s confidence the detective gives Lem some fishing lures for his birthday, a fact that none of the other guys on the strike team seem to remember. We then discover a gruesome murder seen involving a pregnant woman being shot , and then the baby being cut from her stomach. It was quite rough. The show then progresses with some filler, but goes into Vic having the realization that I.A.D. must have a witness who has sold out Lem in order for them to be laying so much heat down on him. Vic’s digging results in him discovering that his long time C.I. has sold Lem out. Additionally, during this time Vic has approached a public defender in hopes of finding a lawyer to represent him, and it appears that after some initial digging she has decided to take on the case. The show ends with Vic confronting the C.I. and threatening her, but I think it may be too late for her I think once you lose your trust with detective Mackey you’re pretty much done. To make it even more interesting during this confrontation Kavaanugh (scum bag) rolls in and just about squeezes on off in his trousers when he sees Vic. This moment is quite shocking to see the look on his face, and more than likely it appears he might be suspicious that his cover is blown. I have to say the shows intensity is building from week to week and I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to take the pressure of waiting from week to week. Like I’ve said in the past regardless of Vic’s past actions I believe he is above a man who sticks up for his people and this shows his true character. He would protect his own to a fault, and although he made mistakes he is getting right and hopefully this will all end up right.
Season 5 episode 3 January 25, 2006
Posted by vinnyt in : The Shield , add a commentThe drama continues, it now appears that Lem has not sold Vic, and the fellas out. However, it appears that only Shane and Vic know the real story about Terry, so this is a tangled web in which we are beginning our descent. The team has become aware of Lem’s position and they are now focused on clearing things up, and getting right. I personally hope they are able to fix things, and get out of the hot water. Like I said Vic reminds me of my father during his time on the force, not the real scumb bag part, but the new Vic who in my opinion has seen the error in his ways and is trying to overcome his past. Oh yeah, and the busting of heads and ass kicking that’s the best part. I think John Kavanugh is a punk and I hope he get’s his.
The Shield Season 5 episode 2. January 19, 2006
Posted by vinnyt in : The Shield , add a commentI have been expecting at some point an episode will be aired and I’m going to look up and feel as though I’ve been cheated. This episode was not that episode. We picked up right where we left off, Lem, who I stood behind in line for 2 hours waiting to see a movie during my last visit to LA, is being harassed by Forrest Whitaker’s character. I really don’t like this man in the show, and frankly I hate to say it but I don’t feel I’d like him in real life either. Lem discovers that Terry was an undercover fed agent, a fact I believe Vic failed to mention when they capped him so many years ago. So Lem agrees to wear a wire. The side stories with Dutch and Claudette and Julian and his new partner are kind of boring, but interesting none the less. The show is growing more and more intense by the episode, and I feel that the end is going to blow everyone away I can not wait….
My Only Guilty Pleasure. January 11, 2006
Posted by vinnyt in : The Shield , add a commentI try to live a good life I don’t kick dogs I kiss babies, and I help old ladies across the street. I can’t honestly say I’m a gentleman, but I think I’m close. I do have one thing that ends all this and that is my addiction to the show The Shield. I began watching this show early last year, and instantly I was a fan. I was intrigued by the drama, and honestly at some level envisioned my dad’s time on the police department involved him being like Vic Mackey, minus the scumbbag part. I think this has what has kept me hooked for all this time. I know so much of this show is somewhat far fetched, but I think on some level it’s pretty close to the real thing. I have been waiting now for about 3 months since the last episode of the previous season aired, and finally tonight my wait was over. The show began with an intense riot, and the pace never slowed from that moment. Frankly, if the show maintains this intense of a pace going forward I don’t know if I’ll be able to survive the emotion. I can’t wait to see what happens next.!!
