The Shield Finale

[Dayton3]

I didn't think it was that good.

Spoilers below.
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The stuff with Shane and his family was predictable. Ronny going down with no immunity was equally predictable.

The stuff with Dutch and the kid seems to be missing a few scenes. And the stuff with Acevada and the black candidate, utterly pointless.

As for Vic.

THIS is the terrible fate awaiting Vic Mackey? Sure, his family ends up better off and Mackey will miss them terribly.

But there are many worse fates than being chained to a cubicle for three years doing paperwork.

 

[Trek4Ever]

Well it certainly wasn't what I expected, but the point is that now Vic has to spend the next years of his life in office hell pondering how he lost everyone around him and that's probably worse than killing him off.

 

[sidious618]

I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight, guys!

 

[the_wildcard]

I agree, it also was not what I was expecting....then again with this show, it always keeps you guessing.

Vic's punishment is his living hell. I think in terms of the "shock" factor, it definately scored high. Talked about "screwed up". When we can talk about spoilers, haha I'll be back to voice my opinons in detail.

Don't forget to watch the ending credits. They show some good personal moments/clips.

 

[Surefire]

SPOILERS


Solid episode, but no where near as good as I hoped.
















The finale's final scene is kind of open ended.

Vic takes off on the final scene packing a sidearm in his back waste. Is he going to commit suicide? Is he going off for revenge? We may never know unless they do a feature The Shield movie. Considering his emotional state and that he was told he doesn't need a pistol for desk work, it felt like something was up.

Kind of a Soprano like ending. Even if Vic gets keeps a cool head and goes for the 3 year deal, it is hardly a fitting punishment for all he did. In a way though it was nice to see a finale without a happy ending.

Regarding Aceveda, I was very disapointed that nothing happened to him. Despite all his corruption, it appears he will be the mayor and live happily ever after.

 

[Capt. Vulcan]

Wow, didn't go at all like I expected. Wasn't nearly as crazy as I thought it would. I guess the point of the ending is that despite all that crazyness life just kind of goes on in that world. Claudette will work still she can't, Dutch will continue to try to break the serial killer, Aceveda will continue politicking, and the rookies will turn in to veterans. Even Vic, after having everything taken away and being forced in to this purgatory, sticks a gun in his waste band in defiance and walks out looking hard. The biggest asshole gets off the lightest and life goes on I guess. No Shakespearean comeuppance for Vic, he just gets put on a shelf. Ronnie wasn't even in on the murder of Crowly and he gets hit the hardest long term, life in prison as a cop. Shane took the easy way out and took his family with him. Total devastation for everyone in the strike team except for Vic.

 

[hamudm]

Wish I hadn't read the spoilers

 

[Luckyflux]

Solid ep. Vic is serving his three year sentence. He is suit and tie by day and vigilante ex-cop by night. That is what was with the gun at the end. He knows he has to serve his time for all of the fallout, but you can take Vic off the streets and put him behind a desk, but as soon as 6 o'clock rolls around, Vic is out on the streets cracking heads and earning favors....it is what he does.

Felt bad for Ronnie, I was sad when he was arrested. He did get screwed the most. Even worse than getting the range-top burn from the Armenians. I wish he was able to get away with it. I would have even taken Ronnie on the run....with the last scene of Ronnie fleeing from a squad car towards the desert.....but seeing him arrested and going down just sucked hard.

Julian watching the gay guys was a great nod to the early Julian character. I am glad they dropped that story line. Julian was always an OK character. I didn't like him but I didn't hate him. I thought he was a good character with a good story. Early on, I liked when he tried to stand up to Vic and in a classic Mackie he put Julian in his place with his smile and silver tongue. Julian never bothered Vic again. I am glad they revisited a main part of a character's early development.

Speaking of Danny, she was a main player ealry in the series and in the finale she didn't have much going on. She slowly disappeared from the last season, and didn't do much toward the end. She had a little closure with Vic a few eps back, but that was it.

And I agree about Shane calling the family meeting.....so chilling!

 

[Base_Delta_Zero]

Well, I called it, I guess. Lands soft with ICE and smiling, in the final scene anyway. Even the link to the Sopranos ending was apt. (Unless there's some show creator's after the fact explaination of what the end of that series meant, I don't see how anyone can say what the intention actually was. My take - if Tony doesn't bite it then, he'll bite it that way at some point. Yours may be different. Whatever.)

I'm not quite sure what the whole gun in Vic's waistband was about -bucking orders, vigilante plans, etc.- but it wasn't suicide. Shane was always the coward. That was his route and he couldn't even do that on his own. What a piece of shit loser.

Aceveda has murdered before: he shot the camera-man rapist and hired Antwon Mitchell to kill the deed doer. I could see him putting out a hit on Obama-lite or whatever charicature Huggins was suposed to be. And yes, I agree, what a waste of screen time that whole last minute plot line was.

Ronnie's end sucked ass (for him. it was well done, just a bummer). Antwon's gonna make his stay with the state short and painful. Christ, Vic could have handed Ronnie a note at the Beltran takedown that said "Run, they're on to you" when he was off to the barn and given him a friggin chance, at least.

 

[Surefire]

Would any one like to see, some time in the future, a big screen "The Shield" movie that takes place sometime after the finale?

There were so many loose ends..

 

[Capt. Vulcan]

The ICE lady already told vic that if they even got a hint that he warned Ronnie that the deal would be off.

 

[Goliath]

Well, I just saw the finale, and I thought it was terrific.

I always thought there were just two ways for The Shield to end:

--either with Vic completely destroyed somehow--dead or in prison;

--or with him sitting in the Captain's chair in the Barn, with his feet up on his desk, smoking a fat stogie and laughing at how he'd out-smarted everybody.

But the actual finale found the sweet spot between the two options.

Vic got away with it, of course. He always gets away with it. For him to fail, in the end, would have been out of character.

But his victory was Pyrrhic. He lost his family. He betrayed Ronnie and sent his most loyal teammate to prison, for nothing. He created a monster, in the form of Shane, and was thereby responsible for the deaths of Lem, Shane, and Shane's family. His fellow police hate his guts. His new employers despise him, and plan to keep him chained to a desk. And he no longer gets to do the one thing that gave his life meaning.

He got away with it. But he turned his life to shit in the process, and either lost or destroyed everything he ever wanted and worked for. In the end, everything was for nothing.

And I didn't feel one bit sorry for him.

What a great series.

 

[Immolatus]

It was a good ending. Vic should have gotten Prison time, this man is pure crap. How could he have done that to Ronnie, Ronnie was willing to follw him to hell and Vic knew this. A little word in his ear to let him know he is going to get arrested for all of there crap and let the man run. But in the end Ronnie did get what he deserved, he was a criminal after all. Vic, now he got away with murder

 

[Sagart]

OK, I've just finished watching it and, overall, I thought it was a good ending. Shane's resolution was heartbreaking.

As for Vic? That shot of him following his instructor around the office was so emasculating that it makes me feel that his gun toting at the very end isn't a promise of action or a threat of suicide but rather someone who has lost everything holding on to his imaginary friend. Like a child sucking on their comfort blanket, Vic grabs his gun to make him feel like the 'big man' he thought he once was. At the end of the day, he'll swagger around with it and con himself into thinking he is still the tough guy, although in reality he's less than a shadow of his former self. All that is left now is the deluded pathetic image he has of himself, the only thing that keeps him sane.

 

[the_wildcard]

It's in Vic nature to always compartmentalize his emotions and move on. He's done it so many times on the show. He did it again in the last episode when Claudette showed him the dead pictures of Shane and his family. So him getting stuck in the ICE as a desk job is pretty bad, but Vic would adapt as he always does and eventually would have done something shady again, haha.

 

[Angel4576]

Brilliant.

The final few episodes are up there with the best that The Shield has ever done.

The finale, was heartbreaking in places. Shane, loathed him for the last couple of seasons, but his decline into desperation and helplessness was hard to watch, even if he did deserve it. Ronnie, I was convinced that he was going to get away with everything. Seeing his reaction to the news that Vic had betrayed him, again, was hard to watch. Vic really screwed him, and betrayed even the few morals and principles that he had left, namely, for the team.

Vic himself, I didn't really think he was going to get caught. It's just not the way that the show's been written down the years. He gets a comeuppance of sorts, but gets off incredibly lightly for his sins in one sense. Of course, having said that, he does effectively lose everything except his literal freedom, his quest for which consumed him towards the end as he burnt every bridge to ensure his liberty.

Although it was an extended episode, it could probably have done with being a full 90 mins. The Dutch story seemed to be lacking something, Claudette looked as though she was on the verge of keeling over at the end, and the Billings story was wrapped up within the blink of an eye.

I'm in two minds around the end of the series. On the one hand, I'm gutted that that's it. The characters, the writing, absolutely superb. On the other, for me, it ended on a high (in terms of quality), so I'd rather that they just leave it now.

Great, great show.

 

[Immolatus]

really good show, I have nothing to watch now!!

 

[sidious618]

Despte seeing the finale over a month ago, it still haunts the hell out of me.

 

[Luckyflux]

I miss the show too. How about a greatest moments post or favorite moments post. One of my favorites is when Shane has that prostitute in the room and she tries to seduce him. Of course it works and next thing we see is Vic walk into the video room to see Shane destroying this chick on the desk! The look on his face was great!

I also liked the part when Kavenaugh (sp?) told them his trump card was that the Strike Team room was bugged. They kept the audience going with that for a while until we learn that Vic and crew found the bug weeks ago and they were feeding false intel to Kav.

 

[Angel4576]

You still can't beat Vic introducing Armadillo's face to a ring-hob!