damn. what a pain. nice to hear there is some hope though.
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It was a horrible, horrible idea to re-watch The Shield
- Thread starter gdt
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damn. what a pain. nice to hear there is some hope though.
Count of Monte Sawed-Off
un33dab@dpu$$y
This was definitely the only blight on the finale, but still it has to be the best ending in TV history.
season 7 spoilers
We get the beyond tragic Shane ending. "Family meeting," 
.
Vic winds up in his purgatory. He gets away with everything but at the expense of what he claimed his action were all for.
Ronnie, the only smart one, pays the price for the strike team, and we find out that Vic's talk about the team being family was shit. And Vic pays the price...
.Vic winds up in his purgatory. He gets away with everything but at the expense of what he claimed his action were all for.
Ronnie, the only smart one, pays the price for the strike team, and we find out that Vic's talk about the team being family was shit. And Vic pays the price...
shadyspace
Banned
Vic only got that Job for 3 years, wonder what happens next for him. He'll see his kids again though, Cassie at least would reach out. I like to think that, again, he makes himself useful to his new bosses and goes over Olivia's head.....but fuck, he laid out a hell of a lot in his confession.
Yep, definitely more of a The Wire thing.
PhoenixDark
Banned
The Shield has the best finale season of any show
MarauderShields
Member
We get the beyond tragic Shane ending. "Family meeting,"
Vic winds up in his purgatory. He gets away with everything but at the expense of what he claimed his action were all for.
Ronnie, the only smart one, pays the price for the strike team, and we find out that Vic's talk about the team being family was shit. And Vic pays the price...
What could he have done for Ronnie? He clearly did try to save him.
shadyspace
Banned
A giant plot hole was Vic
not keeping a copy of the blackmail document. Pretty out of character and he would have had Olivia wrapped around his finger
Agreed. As far as it's peers go (Sopranos, Breaking Bad, etc.) Vic was the least despicable, I generally gave him the benefit of the doubt.
Count of Monte Sawed-Off
un33dab@dpu$$y
He sold Ronnie out once Vic thought his family was in danger. Of course then it goes to a value judgment. Does your ex-wife do a few years or does your boy do life? That shows that Vic's view is that his strike team family comes second. Not that there's anything wrong with that, who here would make a different decision? It just goes to show that Vic was full of shit.
MarauderShields
Member
But they wouldnt include Ronnie in his deal so as far as Vic knew Ronnie was done no matter what. I dont find it out of character for him to decide to save the woman who takes care of his 2 autistic kids.
Count of Monte Sawed-Off
un33dab@dpu$$y
Season 7
Vic orginally said he wouldn't take the deal without Ronnie. He could have held out.
shadyspace
Banned
Count of Monte Sawed-Off
un33dab@dpu$$y
shadyspace
Banned
Well, yeah. Kinda hard to blame the guy. Better than how Walt treats Jesse in BB :lol
MarauderShields
Member
Count of Monte Sawed-Off
un33dab@dpu$$y
Season 7 spoiler
That was his game. He claimed the Strike Team was a family but he was full of shit. Shane was right. Vic may have killed Lem if it was between Lem and his family, just as Shane did. Shane took the bullet so Vic didn't have to. That's Vic's flaw, he can pretend he's above that, but what he did to Ronnie is no worse than what Shane did to Lem, in theory.
MarauderShields
Member
Season 7:
He could have told him to run. Maybe?
shadyspace
Banned
Interesting that you bring that up. I was more or less sympathetic of Vic until
his confrontation with Shane about Lem's death where he says "I would have spared Lem." It was such a cold statement to say about someone he purported to care so much about. Really illustrated how he saw his fellow teammates. As pawns.
Count of Monte Sawed-Off
un33dab@dpu$$y
Season 7
Ronnie could have been, Vic made a choice. He could have spun it any way he wanted and if ICE wanted the bust and Vic could have shown what was going to happen, anything could have happened.
That is exactly the line I was thinking of when I wrote my post. The word "spare" says so much. the show is Vic lying to himself, and ultimately I think Shane had Vic's number. Shawn Ryan has said that Shane is Vic without restraint. If it came down to it, Vic would have killed Lem, whether he wants to believe it or not.
MarauderShields
Member
Only if you assume they were bluffing. It never felt like they were. There was only a matter of hours left by the time he made the deal so it wasnt like he just took the deal right away.
He didnt even kill Shane
shadyspace
Banned
The shot in the last sequence of the finale
where the photo of the strike team is folded over to just showed Vic and Lem obviously points to this. Which was super heart breaking. Vic's still a human and misses Lem but even more than that it reveals his delusion.
Count of Monte Sawed-Off
un33dab@dpu$$y
Season 7
Vic definitely believed they were legitimately arresting Corinne. That's where the betrayal comes. A few years at best to Corinne, life (maybe) for Ronnie. In the end though, I think Ronnie will actually come out better than Vic. No way they pursue a convicion against Ronnie and if they do he'll get a sweetheart deal. Vic is stuck in purgatory for a few years.
Exactly. The only stable relationship he has left is with a dead man. And it's only stable because it was never put to the ultimate test. It's definitely heartbreaking and why Vic is a great character. His only decent relationship is based on a lie he never had to confront because Shane did it for him.
Wish I could too, not just to see it "for the 1st time" again, but also to let me rewatch it period. That ending, how the show ended, is just a soul crusher. So heavy that it's still all I think of when I think of anything of the shield.
Anytime I see it on TV, all I can think of is just how fucked most of the people are by the end of it.
Easily top 5 show for me.
I've seen similar outcomes in other shows (i.e. circumstances at the end of Vic's, Shane's, Lem's and Ronnie's arcs), but none gave it that certain "umph" that The Shield did. A character going to prison? Ok, he's going to Prison, the end. Certain Shield character going to prison: I start thinking of what that's going to be like for him, and then how I'd feel in that situation, and I start to feel a little panic.
MarauderShields
Member
But as far as Vic knew he was already done and he was right. Ronnie was going to be arrested
shadyspace
Banned
He was certainly prepared to do so at one point. And Shawn Ryan originally meant for Vic to go through with it at that junction. Imagine how different of a show it would have been if he had.
Count of Monte Sawed-Off
un33dab@dpu$$y
Indeed, there probably would have something close to a happy ending. Crazy stuff, but the Shield is so damn good.
bodyboarder
Member
Rewatching it. Hope you lot are happy.
Without reading anything here because of spoilers i'm kind of disappointed in this show. I just finished season 4 and i can't stand the main character. Really can't stand him, every scene he's in i just want to punch him in the face. Glenn Close's character was terrible too. Also apparently before a couple of hours in the interrogations no one asks for his lawyer.
And don't get me started on the direction which is probably some of the worst i've ever seen in a tv show, it's like the director of The Hunger Games shot this while drunk.
It's still good, but i find it massively overrated. Or maybe it's just not for me.
And don't get me started on the direction which is probably some of the worst i've ever seen in a tv show, it's like the director of The Hunger Games shot this while drunk.
It's still good, but i find it massively overrated. Or maybe it's just not for me.
Angry Fork
Member
This is why I've never watched the show and assumed the praise it got was unfounded. Channels like that (TNT in particular) usually show shitty/meh stuff that's nowhere near as good as premium channels so I didn't bother. I assumed it was a dull cop drama that was about police taking down 'thugs' and 'street youths', saving the day bla bla. I don't like police so that doesn't interest me, The Wire is about everything from every view point which is why I loved it. It didn't paint the police as the law abiding heroes like shows usually do.
dehydratedbabies
Member
Definitely, and that's a big part of why it can't touch The Wire. It's very entertaining, though.
blahblah...blah
Member
I agree completely with this. The absolute destruction he could cause on his way down, and the fact that the confession is largely the only evidence, means he'd walk free.
mysterion86
Neo Member
Brilliant show with the best series finale.Not a big fan of "Case of the week" format though.
Unhandled Exception
Member
Funny, I just bought the DVD collection an hour ago because I want to watch it again. Mainly for all the commentary.
I watched The Shield during it's original run and loved it. Over the summer I re-watched seasons 1,2 and some of season 3 and found a lot of it cringe worthy. I always thought the biggest mistake the writers made was having Vic commit THAT crime in Episode 1. After that it was always going to be impossible to justify his crimes and balance out his morals. Without the murder his future exploits could have been seen as positive and justified (in some instances) - it would also have made his claim that he is doing it to support his family more sympathetic and believable. As it stands he is was left a mess of a character with no real moral direction and as a result he is totally unlikable and I personally found it impossible to align with him.
I appreciate having a villain as the main character gave the show a fresh angle when it was released but trying to portray him as an Anti-Hero did not work at all.
On the other hand Walton Goggins is the most under appreciated actor I have seen in a TV show.
I appreciate having a villain as the main character gave the show a fresh angle when it was released but trying to portray him as an Anti-Hero did not work at all.
On the other hand Walton Goggins is the most under appreciated actor I have seen in a TV show.
Ventilaator
Banned
Even though the finale of season 5 happened, what happened to Ronnie is still the most depressing part for me.
Funky Papa
FUNK-Y-PPA-4
The Shield is my favorite show of all time, but the end of the pilote episode is kind of the show's achilles heel.
And yet basically the whole show hinges on this one singular incident. It irks me a little. Doesn't ruin anything of course, but yeah. And I get why it was included, the producers needed to have something shocking to set the show apart from other procedurals for new viewers, etc.
Killing the cop in such a spontaneous and reckless fashion is actually way out of character for Vic and the guys, both morally and in its execution. The Strike Team of later episodes would never have done it.
And yet basically the whole show hinges on this one singular incident. It irks me a little. Doesn't ruin anything of course, but yeah. And I get why it was included, the producers needed to have something shocking to set the show apart from other procedurals for new viewers, etc.
I hope you are following Justified.
No I'm not but I will look into it later today. I need a new show to watch!
Unhandled Exception
Member
It's actually not terribly different from how things happen throughout the series. Vic making rash decisions about the lives of others is what divides the team through Lem on more than one occasion.
Yes, but
throughout the series you get a sense for their moral compass, and somehow killing cops just doesn't fit into it, especially when comparatively little was at stake at that point.
Anyway, like I said I get why they did it that way.
Boombloxer
Member
In case anyone didn't know, one of the Shield writers created and runs SoA. Kurt Sutter.
Sadly, with no Shield, I just created an alternate reality. It's also really easy to imagine Aceveda's career taking a different turn and him ending up with the CIA instead. Ronnie? Got out with Vic.
Of course, Lem
got blown up in the both shows, so he's still dead.
Yeah, you might want to spoiler-tag some of that for the people who haven't seen SoA yet.
dehydratedbabies
Member
Worth it.
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