The Shield

[2GOLD 0]

But in the end, Vic doesn't fucking care! He just chuckles, smirks, puts his gun in his back pocket and goes home with his sinister "I'm going to fuck shit up" stare and face. For all we know, Vic was going off to still do his thing. He doesn't cry, doesn't feel any remorse, he just doesn't give a shit he lost everything. The guy stays brick fucking wall!

 

Best friends kills his family and himself? No tears

Sends his other friend to prison for ass rape and death? No tears

Loses his family? No tears

Desk Job? NO TEARS

 

In the end, Vic stayed Vic. After all of that shit, he stayed Vic. They didn't break him. That's fucking hardcore television character right there.

[Aero 0]

And I love that the only member of the Strike Team whose picture Vic brought with him was Lem's.

 

Well, I don't think Vic wanted a picture of Ronnie on his desk to remind him of the betrayal.

 

When you look back to the first season (particularly the first few episodes), it's weird to think that out of the four Strike Team members, the ultimate background character RONNIE ended up being the only one to go to jail. Obviously Shane and Lem had worse fates, though.

 

The tour of the ICE office on the way to Vic's desk was the unintentional comedy of the evening.

 

Great finale overall. I would've liked to see Dutch break the teenager, but I think we're meant to assume it's only inevitable. As for Vic, You knew it wasn't going to end well for him, it was only a matter of how it would suck.

 

[2GOLD 0]

I don't know, Ronnie has the worst ending of the four. The guy is going to be raped, tortured, beaten, shredded for all the horrible shit he has done. The guy helped kill a cop, he's not getting the cop protection for illegal acts. He's screwed. Ronnie got the worst of it all to me.

 

Shane kept his family together and went out in a coke fueled gunshot to the head.

Lem got a grenade.

Vic is alone but obviously not enough of a thing to really destroy him.

Ronnie is in for hell on Earth plus ten.

 

ETA: And judging from their house and the look on her eldest kids faces, Corrine had a shit ending too.

 

The only flat part was the wrap-up of the serial killer story. Felt like more of an afterthought and a weak way to close out Dutch's character. Hell, I was hoping Dutch DID kill his mom just to bring down the kid in a weird ass justification of taking down a serial killer.

[Aero 0]

I don't know, Ronnie has the worst ending of the four. The guy is going to be raped, tortured, beaten, shredded for all the horrible shit he has done. The guy helped kill a cop, he's not getting the cop protection for illegal acts. He's screwed. Ronnie got the worst of it all to me.

 

Ah, but you underestimate Ronnie fucking Gardocki.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But yeah, he won't have it easy in prison as a former cop.

[Mecha Mummy 0]

Well, I don't think Vic wanted a picture of Ronnie on his desk to remind him of the betrayal.

 

Yeah, that was basically what I was getting at. Lem is the only Strike Team member that Vic didn't outright destroy; he betrayed Ronnie for what turned out to be absolutely nothing (and not only that, but had he waited it out they would have been in the clear anyway) and Shane's suicide note exists solely to say that the reason he became the person he was was because of Vic. I figured that the point of the photograph was to say that Lem is the only core member of the Strike Team that Vic can still look back on in any fond light.

 

And yeah, I wish Dutch had gotten a little more than he did since he was always my favorite character and I was hoping for a scene like the one in Dragonchasers where he completely obliterated the serial killer he was interrogating, but ultimately the finale was more about the remnants of the Strike Team and Claudette than anyone else, though everyone had their moments.

 

EDIT: Also, I thought it was interesting in a odd sort of way that they cast Andre 3000 again. For a moment I was wondering if he was playing the same character he was the first time he was on the show, but that clearly wasn't the case (and besides, it was so long ago and such a minor part that only diehards would really notice anyway).

[haws bah gawd 0]

Shane's end was just sad to me. To see him so desperate to not let his wife go to prison, and not have his son know him and his wife as murderers, he does the unthinkable and silently OD's them. It was a horrible end for his family, and in the end, he shot himself so he wouldn't have to live with the guilt.

 

There's still so many unanswered questions:

What about Vic and Danny's custody battle?

What about Dutch and the teen killer? This would have been PERFECT for them to dip back into Dutch's dark side, and have him so desperate to bring the kid in that he kills his mother and gets the blame placed perfectly on the kid.

What about Corrine and Vic's other children? What becomes of them having to live under assigned names in a new town?

 

Vic, forced to have a desk job, and working as nothing more than an advisor. He's truly in his own personal Hell. Olivia turned 100% against Vic following his confessions.

 

The scene involving the arrest of Ronnie was intense. You could see the hurt in his eyes and on his face, discovering the one person he trusted and looked up to, sold him out. Honestly, I wouldn't have minded seeing him get one good swing at Vic before being hauled away.

[TheOriginalOrangeGoblin 0]

Wow, what an ending. Shane pulling a Benoit shocked me and was probably the most gut-wrenching piece of television I have ever seen. Ronnie finding out Vic betrayed him and getting dragged away as Vic is speechless was another great scene. And the ending for Mackey is fitting but he still got off light.

 

No one has mentioned the real winner in all of this: Los Angeles Mayor David Aceveda.

[goldengreek 0]

I think Shane puls a "Benoit" on his family and himself. I think Vic gets away with everything. Ronnie I have no clue.

[goldengreek 0]

Shane's end was just sad to me. To see him so desperate to not let his wife go to prison, and not have his son know him and his wife as murderers, he does the unthinkable and silently OD's them. It was a horrible end for his family, and in the end, he shot himself so he wouldn't have to live with the guilt.

There's still so many unanswered questions:

What about Vic and Danny's custody battle?

What about Dutch and the teen killer? This would have been PERFECT for them to dip back into Dutch's dark side, and have him so desperate to bring the kid in that he kills his mother and gets the blame placed perfectly on the kid.

What about Corrine and Vic's other children? What becomes of them having to live under assigned names in a new town?

 

Vic, forced to have a desk job, and working as nothing more than an advisor. He's truly in his own personal Hell. Olivia turned 100% against Vic following his confessions.

 

The scene involving the arrest of Ronnie was intense. You could see the hurt in his eyes and on his face, discovering the one person he trusted and looked up to, sold him out. Honestly, I wouldn't have minded seeing him get one good swing at Vic before being hauled away.

Mara has been talking Shane into that for at least two episodes.... all about how she couldn't go to jail, what was going to happen to the kids... no surprise there. (Never been a Mara fan)

 

[haws bah gawd 0]

I just watched the replay. I wanted to slap the taste out of Dutch's mouth with how cocky and arrogant he looked when they arrested Ronnie. He then gave Vic this "HAHA I got you" face. It's truly horrible sitting there and seeing how much of a rage Ronnie goes into over Vic's betrayal.

[goldengreek 0]

But in the end, Vic doesn't fucking care! He just chuckles, smirks, puts his gun in his back pocket and goes home with his sinister "I'm going to fuck shit up" stare and face. For all we know, Vic was going off to still do his thing. He doesn't cry, doesn't feel any remorse, he just doesn't give a shit he lost everything. The guy stays brick fucking wall!

 

Best friends kills his family and himself? No tears

Sends his other friend to prison for ass rape and death? No tears

Loses his family? No tears

Desk Job? NO TEARS

 

In the end, Vic stayed Vic. After all of that shit, he stayed Vic. They didn't break him. That's fucking hardcore television character right there.

Vic needed the Barn to see what he was, and not walk through it like he owned the place. And Claudette owned him, as did Dutch, and he knows it.

 

But it also ended true to the Vic that always fights and survives. You know when he put the gun in the back of his pants that he wasn't going home to watch TV and get some sleep. He'll be back in the middle of something, and he'll do his 3 years and then go find his family.

 

So Vic's fate is the same as Marlo on The Wire....... For only 3 years though.

 

 

 

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

I hear rumors a long time ago that Dutch may get a spinoff. I don't know if it's true but maybe it explains the ambiguous ending. The only thing I was really upset about was the fact the episode didn't end with scenes from the episode. (PS. I know it's the last episode.)

 

The Strike Team had all the power Farmington and lost it. Vic, who was more corrupt than the other three members, gets to live. Except he's lost everything. Most of his actions were in some part were influenced by the betterment of his family. They don't want anything to do with him.

 

Shane was going down a path of self destruction. He was always unstable especially without Vic. When he knew that Vic outsmarted him again, his fate was sealed.

 

Since I haven't been paying too much attention to Ronnie in past, I was thinking that he would get off easy. Unfortunately, he can't cut any deals because Vic has immunity. Should Ronnie think of something that Vic didn't confess to, then Vic is screwed.

 

Aceveda won, I guess you could say. It's ambiguous if he had anything to do with his opposition being murdered. If someone dug into his past, they could see that the Strike Team was running wild during his watch. He didn't seem repentant about what Vic did.

 

It was better than the Sopranos finale. It was a sad, fitting ending to a great show. I hope that either Dutch gets spin off, they do a prequel, or make a movie.

[Mecha Mummy 0]

I just watched the replay. I wanted to slap the taste out of Dutch's mouth with how cocky and arrogant he looked when they arrested Ronnie. He then gave Vic this "HAHA I got you" face. It's truly horrible sitting there and seeing how much of a rage Ronnie goes into over Vic's betrayal.

 

I didn't see that look on his face at all. If anything, he had a look of pure, unbridled disgust for Vic and fuck it, he had every right to have that look on his face.

[Hawk 34 0]

I believe the Dutch character was given permission to be used on another tv show, if Karnes wants to revive it.

 

As for the finale, it was a beautiful and poignant episode. The final two episodes this season might possibly go down as the greatest 1-2 punch in The Shield's remarkable run. I appreciated that despite the chaotic nature of this show, they found time for Tina to have her own moment. Speaking of which, why wait for the very last episode to introduce what could have been a pretty good threat to Aceveda?

 

Most TV shows go out limping and fail to provide a proper conclusion after a long run but The Shield nailed it.

[goldengreek 0]

Mara = Yoko Ono.

 

She was as responsible for the downfall of the ST as anyone.

 

Also even tho they are two of my favorite shows EVER with The Shield a bit ahead I gotta say the more I think about it:

 

The Wire called...it wants it's ending back.

 

Marlo = Vic

 

Chris = Ronnie

 

Snoop = Shane

 

Oh and Aceveda? Carcetti called, he wants HIS ending back

[goldengreek 0]

*******

[goldengreek 0]

There’s a detailed (and lengthy) interview with Shawn Ryan up on the Sepinwall blog. He sheds some insight into Vic's fate and the other characters.

 

 

Bits and pieces:

 

Yes, and his self-image is important to him, but he's not in a cell next to Antwon Mitchell, like Ronnie is. He's not dead by his own hand, the way that Shane is. He's not dead by the hand of another team member, the way that Lem is.

 

I envision Ronnie with a shaved head, probably having to sidle up to some of the white supremacist crowd to stay alive, so that might be interesting to see

 

 

Do you view what happens to Vic as a fate worse than death?

As a shark and a survivor, no, I think as long as a shark's alive it can find some place to swim to, I think this is a bad situation for him, and I don't think he's gonna enjoy those three years. The tank's very tiny at the moment.

 

 

And he winds up betraying Ronnie.

He's the classic scorpion on the frog, Vic. I think that they can work this way, they can talk any frog into the trip across the river, but then he stings and in some cases he does that in an episode and in other cases it takes 7 seasons to do it

 

I never had any doubt if there was one person to skate on the whole thing, that it would be Vic, that Vic was just that step ahead of everyone else.

 

 

Vic has a harder time at that table justifying his code when he looks at those photos and thinks about that phone call. But he lives with it for a minute and then he turns it off. And then he looks at the camera and realizes he probably let someone see something he didn't want to be seen, and he compartmentalizes again and turns it off

 

 

That just confirms for me that Vic is still Vic. A stone-cold sociopath. He has the uncanny ability to shut off his feelings. He might look at his old photos and fondly remember Lem, Corrine and the kids, but he'll compartmentalize any guilt or remorse. It's in his nature to keep going. He'll find new angles, new games, a new life.

 

 

 

Shawn Ryan doesn't rule out the possibility of making The Shield - A Movie to follow-up on Vic after his three years at ICE.

[goldengreek 0]

And I love that the only member of the Strike Team whose picture Vic brought with him was Lem's.

 

Well, I don't think Vic wanted a picture of Ronnie on his desk to remind him of the betrayal.

 

When you look back to the first season (particularly the first few episodes), it's weird to think that out of the four Strike Team members, the ultimate background character RONNIE ended up being the only one to go to jail. Obviously Shane and Lem had worse fates, though.

 

The tour of the ICE office on the way to Vic's desk was the unintentional comedy of the evening.

 

Great finale overall. I would've liked to see Dutch break the teenager, but I think we're meant to assume it's only inevitable. As for Vic, You knew it wasn't going to end well for him, it was only a matter of how it would suck.

As for the choice for only a picture of Lem out of the Strike Team, that's because Lem's the only one of the Strike Team that Vic didn't betray/drive to suicide. He can look at Lem's face with no guilt, because Shane murdered him to save Vic from having to do it himself, so that he could do what he ultimately did: live with the lie that he would never of murdered Lem.

 

[Mecha Mummy 0]

Mara = Yoko Ono.

 

She was as responsible for the downfall of the ST as anyone.

 

Also even tho they are two of my favorite shows EVER with The Shield a bit ahead I gotta say the more I think about it:

 

The Wire called...it wants it's ending back.

 

Marlo = Vic

 

Chris = Ronnie

 

Snoop = Shane

 

Oh and Aceveda? Carcetti called, he wants HIS ending back

 

Honestly, Vic and Marlo are the only ones in in the first three who have real parallels. Chris fell down on his sword for Marlo intentionally, whereas Vic screwed Ronnie, and Shane and Snoop's endings are nothing alike beyond both of them dying.

 

Now, Aceveda and Carcetti, that's a fair parallel for sure. That's actually why I figured Aceveda would get out scot-free and probably become mayor.

[Youth N Asia 0]

Very solid ending. Everything seemed to point to Vic dying or ending up in prison by mid season, and they swerved.

 

Kinda saw the Benoit thing coming, sadly

 

I liked Claudette bringing Vic back to the Barn just so she could shame him in front of everyone.

 

Julian and Danni may as well not have been in the last 2 seasons.

 

Still wrapping my head around the whole thing, I'll be back later.

[milliondollarchamp 0]

Did anyone notice, when Shane was talking to his lawyer, the missing cat poster on the side of the payphone? I don't know if that was intentional, but if it was, I thought it was a nice sly nod to Dutch killing the cat a few years ago.

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

Yeah about Benoit...

http://www.thrfeed.com/2008/11/shield-creator.html

[Craig Th 0]

I also liked how they showed Julian looking at the gay guys holding hands. You could see it in his eyes how he misses it.

 

EDIT: And the writer of that article didn't read this message board. Someone had it dead on what the ending might be.

[Craig Th 0]

I think Mara will overdose on pills and Shane will commit suicide.

 

I think Shane puls a "Benoit" on his family and himself. I think Vic gets away with everything

 

I honestly think this is the perfect ending for Vic-he ends up working for the ICE. In the process, he now has to obey the law-no exceptions whatsoever. He'll be miserable, and work will be like a personal prison for him. He won't even want to be a cop anymore, because he can no longer do what he does. It's his own personal hell, and it's a fitting ending for him.

 

Goood call by a few of you.

 

Now, they could have done something a little different so Vic gets to stay out in the streets. He could have used the file on Olivia so he could do whatever he wanted. But that might not have ended well with how the story went. I'm sure that went thru Ryan's head at some point.

[haws bah gawd 0]

I think Mara will overdose on pills and Shane will commit suicide.

 

I think Shane puls a "Benoit" on his family and himself. I think Vic gets away with everything

 

I honestly think this is the perfect ending for Vic-he ends up working for the ICE. In the process, he now has to obey the law-no exceptions whatsoever. He'll be miserable, and work will be like a personal prison for him. He won't even want to be a cop anymore, because he can no longer do what he does. It's his own personal hell, and it's a fitting ending for him.

 

Goood call by a few of you.

 

Now, they could have done something a little different so Vic gets to stay out in the streets. He could have used the file on Olivia so he could do whatever he wanted. But that might not have ended well with how the story went. I'm sure that went thru Ryan's head at some point.

 

God yes! I was actually waiting for him to bring out "his" file on Olivia to get her back in line. He gave her the file back several weeks ago, but I figured he kept something vital from the file, or made copies of everything, just in case. By giving her the file, and keeping none of it for future use, he really screwed himself. Vic is stuck behind a desk for the next three years, and is in his own personal hell.

 

You gotta wonder how differently things would gone if Vic called Shane's bluff from the beginning. What if he told him from the start, after Shane went on the run, that he already made a deal with the feds and got immunity. Shane wouldn't have known any different.

[2GOLD 0]

I find Olivia being that way to Vic kinda funny since her working for them cause of her own stupidity probably led to the death of quite a few cops as well. Her being on a high horse to the guy when she was basically doing the same thing was hilarious in a way.

[BruiserKC 0]

Never, never...EEEEEEEEEEVER did I see this coming end-wise. A rather Pyrrhic victory for Vic, really. He beats the system, only to become part of the system. I noticed when he was thinking about his kids and so on about how it was almost like he was at first straining for a tear to come out, then sucked it back in to his eyes.

 

Great ending to one of the truly greatest shows of our time.

[The Truthiness 0]

Tony beat New York.

 

Marlo beat Avon, Prop Joe, Omar, Bodie, and the whole city of Baltimore

 

Vic Mackey beat Shane/Mara, Claudette, Acaveda, Dutch Boy, Penzuela, Bentrel, I.C.E, Terry, Antwon Mitchell, and Jon Kavanaugh.

 

Damn I'm going to miss those 3.

 

I I thought they was going to turn Vic in to a moron, but they more then made up for it the last 2 episodes.

[Mecha Mummy 0]

Marlo beat Avon, Prop Joe, Omar, Bodie, and the whole city of Baltimore

 

No, he didn't.

[Youth N Asia 0]

Marlo lived, Omar got taken down by a baby banger. Not to mention he sells off his drug connection for $10 million without serving a day in prison...Marlo wins