A thread for discussion of all things The Shield. If you haven't seen the episodes as they air, stay out of the thread because there's no way to talk about it without spoilers of the night's episode.

What do people think of 7.1 tonight?

I thought it was pretty great, except I had forgotten so much from last season that I was busy playing catch-up. Random thoughts/questions:

* What happened to Hyatt last season? Totally can't remember why he's gone from the strike team.

* Billings is so hilarious

* Did Dutch and Danny hook up/have sex at the end of last season? Totally forgot about that too, but Dutch indicated as much.

* Hard core gore/violence in 7.1. They're really pushing the envelope for basic cable.

* What was Shane's wife trying to tell Vic's wife when they had their little convo in the doorway? That the wives need to work together? Or stay apart?

* Any predictions for the rest of this season?

I'm gonna be so depressed when this show is done... only 11 more weeks and it's all over for good.

I had forgot about a ton of it too.

I think Dutch and Danny just made out or something weird, but its so funny how awkward Dutch always is.

Billings is hilarious and I'm glad hes back.

Hyatt transferred to like the DEA or something weird like that.

Oh yeah my favorite scene from this episode is when Vic plows the car through the front of the store and ends the confrontation. So badass.

I'm not gonna go that far out on a limb here, but Shane is going to get SMOKED.

So awesome.

And I agree with Private Joker. I was pretty baffled for the first half and just became more confused by all the names being thrown around.

"I'm gonna create a diversion."

VROOOOOOOOOM.... WHAM!


lol

I was hoping they'd have some sort of Shield marathon before this episode tonight, or a series recap, because I was also lost on a few key points from the end of last season. How about Vic's torture method of shoving his gun into that guy's stomach bullet wound? (my description sounds like rape)

Also, has Ronnie ever coldly shot an unarmed guy before in the series? That surprised me.

The Shield

Yeah, pretty much everything surprised me last night. Did anyone notice that the scene shot before the opening credits seemed to suck balls? Image quality and acting quality?

Franchise is ur ava the scene from heat "but she's got a GREAT ASS" ?

Very good episode I thought. I can't believe how deep Shane is getting with the Armenians. Every year, just about every episode I think "how the f is he going to get out of this one?" and every time he does. I think this is the season his luck runs out. Vic will no longer save his a$$ from every screw-up.

Highlight of the episode for me was Ronnie after he killed the guy, how shaken he was. Of and of course every scene with Billings.

God I love this show. I loved the scene where Claudette tells Vic that his hearing has been postponed for 30 days and that **** eating grin creeps onto his face. Vic is so good at manipulating ppl its just sick.

I started with S4 and watched til S6, then caught up on S1-S3 and just rewatched S4 right before the premiere of this season, so I was pretty familiar with everything, though I still need to rewatch S5 and S6 to remember everything.

I hope that cute little minx that can't do her job properly gets fired for not clearing the room properly.

I totally forgot what Julian's role is now, but he's an annoying self-righteous POS of a character.

Yeah, I think Julian got 'promoted' or something, either way, *agreed* he's a POS.

I LOVE the Shield, I got goosepimply (YGOS?) with the opening credits. My favorite interaction was:

Shane: Vic, I"d never hurt your family
Vic: Lem was family.

Like alot of others, i'm going to be very sad when this season is over.

This, * 1,000,000,000,000

Seriously, though, it's great to see a discussion of what I consider to be, if not over-rated, at least an overlooked show when most people are discussing the best original series on television over the past decade.

TH

can any1 help me navigate this site? i just started here and i'm lost

The Shield is my favorite show on TV right now. Every time I see a Von's, I think, "We hooked up in the parking lot at Von's, yo." and start giggling.

Hey, Mara's kind of hot.

More than what we can say for Corrine or however her name is spelled.

it was kind of tough the way they threw you right back into the story. its like season 7 takes places a day after season 6 ended..which is fine narrative-wise but tough in the real world since its been something like a year since season 6 ended.

thats really the only complaint you can make..this show is a blast. nothing like the remnants of a body being dragged around, vic's diversion, and ronnie taking out that thug to remind you why this show is among the best on tv, cable or premium tv.

after 7 seasons you sometime take michael chiklis as vic mackey for granted. man, is he great.

Shane has to die, obv, but anybody else think that Vic needs to die or fall in some way? I love his character, but he needs to be punished for all the **** he's done even when trying to do right.

In a trashy sort of way, yeah, but I've hated her ever since she first came on the show.

See, what I like about The Shield as opposed to other shows is that it doesn't have this sense of bad guys get what's coming to them, good guys get rewarded. It's not some biblical world where sins are punished. In the world of The Shield, the bad guys win sometimes. The good guys get the shaft. The police department is a microcosm of a society where people think they can get justice done, but because nobody is pure good or pure evil, and every single action is tainted with selfishness, greed, fear, and often incompetence, then justice is still simply a Platonic ideal. Chaos and entropy still rule.

I hate claudette. Why would she get mad over vic's diversion. cops were being gun downed by guys with automatic rifles. She should be happy as hell vic ended the fight.

I agree completely, but Vic isn't really a bad guy. And since he's the 'hero' of the show, I figured it would be fitting that he gets nailed somehow, or de-balled. For example, his family gets screwed somehow because of him or his past transgressions.

Basically, I think it would be just within the world of the show, as well as a cathartic release for me if Vic ends the show on his knees.

I want vic to end with him on top. But I never like to have main characters lose in any way.

Yeah, I mean I'm not calling Vic a bad guy. But he isn't a hero either -- he's an anti-hero, I guess, if this were a classical drama. He has his own moral code and lives by it, but clearly he's an outsider who does plenty of illegal, violent, and despicable stuff. But to him, it's all good because he only steals from thieves, he only kills criminals, and he only lies to those who keep him from accomplishing the above goals. Vic's a cop that disagrees with the system but needs it in order to keep the streets safe. And that's essentially the existential allegory of the whole show -- humankind struggling to deal with the limitations of a system that seems hopelessly flawed.

Now if they took this Camusian struggle to its extreme, they'd just kill off Vic at the end. But I doubt they need to go that far. I think there will be some implication that this situation will never end... even if Shane falls (and his tragic flaw is the desire for, but the incapability of, being Vic), crime will never disappear and Vic's hunger for eliminating it will never be satiated. I'm more interested in seeing how they climax the arcs of Dutch, Danny, Wyms, and Ronnie.

Not surprised at all really. Ronnie was the one who tried to take out Cavanaugh with the grenade.

In the earlier seasons Ronnie was Vic's clean up guy, doing the dirty work.. Vic was always like "Ronnie take care of this", then he's off camera doing the bitch work and rarely had a speaking role until that episode where he worked with Dutch.

I always thought of Ronnie as the most dangerous one. He's the quiet guy in the background that will sneak up behind you and cut your throat.

I bet ronnie dies before vic.

Things don't look good long term for the Strike Team. I was glad to see some development for Ronnie, and I kind of wish Dutch had been able to "bask in the glory" of his hookup with Danny.

I still think Vic's life would be easier with Asceveda pushing up daisies.

Also, LOL at the look on Dutch's face when Tina Hanlon asked, "can you fill up my box?"