(S06E02) As I was watching this episode I couldn't help but think how ironic it was how Kavanaugh went out of his way to make Mackey look sloppy, when I think Kavanaugh was being the sloppy one all along. How long could he keep up that charade? How long could he keep Amoya under his control and not looking incredibly suspicious?
Meanwhile, as Kavanaugh continues his witch hunt against Mackey (it does feel like a witch hunt, doesn't it?), Vic continued a witch hunt of his own. Though Vic was into being the judge and jury, Kavanaugh was just playing judge.
I loved that Shane of all people was able to sniff out Kavanaugh as the planter of evidence at Vic's place. Oh, and as an aside, is it just me or did the language in this show get harsher from season to season? I don't remember them saying "shit" all that often in the first season or so, but now it's around all the time. I remember thinking it was a bit edgy for a non-premium cable channel (i.e., not HBO, etc.) to pull that at the time. Not that it bothers me one bit, but I found it interesting.
Despite the whole strange cat killing episode from a couple of seasons ago, Dutch has proven that he's clearly the best detective in the Barn, though Claudette holds a very close second. His instincts are many times dead on, and though he looks like Jack Tripper, he can bring the truth out of the best of them. I think some of us thought his cat killing issue was pointing to him becoming a cold-blooded killer in later seasons, but clearly it was something he did to better learn what it is that makes a killer - what makes them tick.
Vic's voyage into deeper badassedness continues as he makes his way, alone, into Sante's compound, surrounded by freaks who'd love to see him in a grave. Then he proceeds to kidnap their leader and throw him out of a moving car. Awesome.
I was glad to see Corinne come forward and say something about Kavanaugh sneaking his way into her house. It's from that point on that you can see Kavanaugh's edge quickly slip away. Claudette's interrogation scene was great as always. So well, in fact, that she gets the truth out of Kavanaugh through the video camera!
Here's where I'm disappointed, though. Through everything that Kavanaugh goes through to nail Vic, it takes only a few minutes for him to completely cave, get arrested and off the show (yes, this is the last we see of him, at least for the next four episodes that I saw). It seemed a bit rushed, like Forest Whitaker had to run off to do something else (King of Scotland, maybe?). Not quite the blaze of glory one might have expected given what Vic had done to him personally and professionally. Still, Whitaker's presence will be missed.
In the end, Shane begins to show his guilt right to Vic's face ever so slightly, though it's not obvious to him yet. Shane would have been the first person over Vic to find Lem's killer, and here he is trying to talk Vic out of finding the most probable suspect.
I give this one a five on our TV Squad seven scale.
Quote of the episode:
Kavanaugh: The truth is, it isn't your time yet. But it will happen. The universe will take out its trash when it's ready.
Vic: Looks like it already has.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-10-2007 @ 11:40PM
Jim said...
I liked tonight's episode much more than last week's. Claudette in the interrogation room was fantastic.
A return to form ...
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4-10-2007 @ 11:57PM
Bill said...
I think it's Emolia, not Amoya.
I thought Kavanaugh's confession was realistic though. It took a lot for him to plant evidence in the first place, and was clearly an act of desperation. And as he said, he doesn't have much practice at this. But he's smart enough to know when his plan is unraveling that keeping up the charade isn't going to help anyone.
But yeah I was also glad to see Corrine file charges. The wacky "out of seven" TV squad ratings are going to take some getting used to, but 5 seems about right. I liked last week better, but this was still solid.
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4-11-2007 @ 12:58AM
malren said...
GOD I love this show. It's everything it promises and more every week.
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4-11-2007 @ 2:58AM
Eric Berlin said...
CCH Pounder is one of the best actresses on television. And The Shield of course is one of the best shows on TV. Great episode, yet I too was surprised to see Mackey v. Kavanaugh resolved so quickly. It seems as though the focus will be on Vic finding Guardo and Shane's guilt -- though it seems as though the Guardo storyline will come to a head in next week's ep. So will be interesting to see where this season heads. In any event I'm on board with it!
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4-11-2007 @ 9:00AM
Gordy said...
I hate Vic. Kavanaugh got so tired of playing by the rules, that he turned into Vic. He didn't have a chance, since he's a good guy.
Vic will go down. The only problem with that is that the show will be over when it finally happens.
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4-11-2007 @ 9:09AM
Kyle Beasley said...
Wow, Kavanaugh is already gone? I kinda thought that would be a season long conflict. Ah, well. It was good while it lasted and man did it get ugly. The previews for next week look insane, but I'm mostly curious now about all those bodies that Dutch found. That was bloody, bloody.
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4-11-2007 @ 10:09AM
GoldenGoat said...
Not since Armadillo in season two has a Shield Supervillain (tm) fizzled out as abruptly as Kavanaugh just did.
Who could have seen, though, that arguably the most damaging blow against Kavanaugh would be struck by ... Corrine? A rather magnificent bit of retribution for the abuse she took from him in S5.
Things are sure getting crazy on the Guardo front. Vic was in truly vintage form this episode going all psycho-vigilante; the pressure that will be built up by the time he finds out he's chasing the wrong killer will be insane.
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4-11-2007 @ 10:40AM
matriculated said...
I agree that the show will end with Vic going down - in some way - that's the only possible resolution to this show. :( Hopefully they'll give Dutch his own show.
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4-11-2007 @ 11:11AM
Vince said...
I love the Shield but Kavanaugh did fizzle out rather than explode as I had hoped after all the bad blood and risks he took.
I would have expected a better confrontation with Vic than Kav being all metaphyical about the universe. His career was in ruins. Vic should have offered to care for Kav's wife and suggested Vic had a spot reserved with Antion for the wayward cop, ala Lem's fate.
If I was Kav's I would have been in tears and scared to death at my fate.
They missed a chance form a real good ending here. I assume Forest had a lot to say in how he left.
That said, the show is still the best 'must see' TV on right now.
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4-11-2007 @ 3:06PM
Tia said...
This was a great episode... and like others have mentioned, Claudette did an amazing job... because next season will be the final season and since Claudette is the one who is in charge right now, this makes me think that she really is the only person who could take down Vic. Like someone mentioned before, the show will have to end with Vic truly paying for all his crimes. and out of all the people who tried, Claudette seems like shes the only one smart enough and capable enough of really trapping Vic in a lie and in the end, making him really pay for it.
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4-11-2007 @ 11:37PM
Borat said...
Very exciting as always, but I was sooo disappointed to see Kavanaugh cave in so quickly. I was hoping that they would keep up the Vic chase at least for a few more episodes.
Best actor? Walton Goggins as Shane. Even though we all know he's scum you feel sorry for the guy.
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4-12-2007 @ 11:53AM
Hugo said...
Guys, I love Forrest Whitaker but remember he's been at this since last season. I think that those of you who say he fizzled out quickly are the same who feel that his path into the darkside seemed force when at the moment he started to put on the charade for Corrine in S5, try to come on to her in her home, and recruit Aceveda he had already started to make his descent.You could point to many times when it became personal for him and how he manipulated the circumstances to entrap Vic. It just became accentuated by Lem's death. He became extremely desperate also because he felt he may have been responsible for setting up the rouse about Lem taking another deal and ultimately leading to his death. This lead to Emolia's coaching and planting evidence. Like he said, he was framing a guilty cop.
Plus, Dutch wasn't buying Kavanaugh's all-to-convenient explanations and sudden turn of evidence concerning Vic. You could see Kavanaugh's discomfort when Dutch tried to interview Emolia by herself. It took Claudette, the tough-as-nails captain to really set up the stage. It was an interrogation of Kavanaugh, he just didn't know it. As soon as Kavanaugh saw that look on Emolia...he knew the jig was up.
And concerning the final stand-off between Vic and Kavanaugh...a big comfontation was all too predictable. How many times did they get in each other's face...the beginning of the internal investigation against the strike team, after Lem's death at the crime scene, in the barn when Kavanaugh made Vic the main suspect. Honestly, it would not have been creative at all. This was more Zen-like and I think Kavanaugh came out the victor. He was at peace with himself. The tag of the season "No one rests in peace" applies to everyone, especially Vic. Kavanaugh, though, escaped and he realized that when he told Claudette Vic was her problem now.
Still I'll be the first to admit that when Vic goes down I will tear up. I'm just keepin it real.
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5-05-2007 @ 9:03AM
Bobby said...
There was a song , I believe it was the first show this season. Sounded like Johnny Cash. Main lyric was Hang my head. Any help?
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