(S07E07) "Ehh... another Mexican donkey show and Aceveda had me playing the reluctant virgin." - Vic
Even though this whole season is really "the beginning of the end," I think it's safe to say that this episode was the true turning point. Yeah, Vic and Ronnie tried to kill Shane but now he's going to retaliate. Bad move. You'd think that by now, Shane would have learned his lesson. Why stick around and add fuel to the fire? He's got Rezian's 100K. Take Mara and the kids and jet - for good. If the little plan he's setting up goes south, then he'll be running anyway. Say what you will - I still think he's stupid. Even Vic understands what it means to quit while you're ahead... well, sometimes. Not in this episode.
It's not often that The Shield latches on to one theme and really pounds at it for the whole hour, but it did this week. Second chances all around - for Vic (via Lee), for Shane, for Farrah, for I.C.E., and for Lester.
The whole situation with Lee is odd to me. I really don't get why Vic cares so much, although I think "cares" is the wrong word. Corinne hit it on the head when she asked Vic if he's fighting simply because he's a fighter. I think so. Cassidy's string of recent bad behavior has him worried that he screwed up and Lee is his chance to do it over, but how much involvement is he really going to have? Well... none, now that Danny packed her things her up. Where do you think she'll run to?
That being said, I don't blame her. Vic was a total ass by setting up that court ordered DNA test, all in an effort to scare Danny into submission from all the mounting court fees. That really screams, "I want to be a good dad."
Moving on to Shane, he's heading down an all too familiar path at this point. The only difference is that Two-Man will be pulling the trigger instead of him. If you caught the line about "How's your jaw," then you know he's sending TM after Ronnie. So that leaves Vic. All I'll say is that Shane has definitely not forgotten about Vic. Pretty ironic too, that this was the same episode that Vic admitted to Ronnie that he's mostly to blame for Shane being the way he is now. Unfortunately, Vic is a little too late at this point. No time for friendship rehab now.
As for I.C.E., I love how Vic and Olivia are working together to make things happen for them both. Vic blew Chaffee's shot at nailing Pezuela (with Olivia's help) and now Mackey can dive right in and offer them a second shot. You'd think Chaffee would have said something after how conveniently it played out for Vic. Even if Vic does help them to get a big win, is that really going to be enough for them to offer him a job? A paycheck is clearly the end game, but c'mon - who would want to hire him?
That leaves Farrah and Lester. The second both of these fools re-appeared, you knew they weren't any better than they used to be. I'm not surprised Vic caved and helped out Farrah and I'm certainly not surprised that she played him again just like she did in in the season three episode "Bottom Bitch." She's a manipulative woman and Vic's whole crusade for Lee has his judgment cloudy I think. People can change... but not crank addicted alley whores who've already taken advantage of you once before. Those people stay the same.
Lester too. Remember him? He's the overly aggressive ex-cop who helped bust that drug den with Vic and his old partner Joe (Carl Weathers) last season in "Haunts." Like Vic said to Dutch - if you think he did something shitty, then he probably did. And speaking of Dutch, it looks like his little pep talk with Billings worked because those two made a good team this time around.
A few more thoughts on "Bitches Brew" --
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I'm really starting to worry about Claudette's ending in the series. It's not looking good. I'm glad Dutch got her the cleaning lady, but her place was a total mess. And now, with Danny bolting, her extra set of hands at the office is gone too. I'm worried.
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Aceveda is such a sleaze, keeping Olivia's file before he turned over the box. He acts like he's so much better, but he's just like everyone else.
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Now that Pezuela is getting his box back, don't you think he's going to be a little suspicious of how Vic came up with it all of a sudden? I would be.
While all of that still plays a role, it takes a back seat next week. Buckle up because Vic's world is about to change drastically. The episode is called "Parricide" and you should look it up if that doesn't sound right to you... it didn't to me anyway. Apparently, it can mean more than just killing your father. Chaos equals change equals opportunity - but opportunity for who?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-15-2008 @ 1:22PM
Jimmy said...
Line of the night: After Vic tells the hooker he'll pick up her sponsorship fee to join the Rotary Club. "I don't do anal."
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10-15-2008 @ 12:23PM
D-Bo said...
I really like how the proverbial noose is tightening around Vic's neck. This is when the show is at it's best, building tension through various angles for the shows characters. I would not be surprised by anything at this point, it's all wide open.
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10-15-2008 @ 1:22PM
Joel said...
I think you were thinking of patricide, which is killing one's father.
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10-16-2008 @ 9:19AM
D-Bo said...
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) -
par·ri·cide /ˈpærəˌsaɪd/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[par-uh-sahyd] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
1. the act of killing one's father, mother, or other close relative.
2. a person who commits such an act.
[Origin: 1545–55; < L parricīdum act of kin-murder, parricīda kin-killer, equiv. to pāri- (akin to Gk pāós, Attic péós kinsman) + -cīdum, -cida -cide]
—Related forms
par·ri·cid·al, adjective
10-15-2008 @ 1:22PM
Andy said...
this is another great episode.
I love Dutch. He's a great character. I love his affection for Claudette.
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10-15-2008 @ 1:22PM
pvarine said...
I say Danny gets into a fatal car accident when she goes on the lam, and Lee survives, going to Vic because Danny added his name to the birth certificate.
I have to say, though, the whole Danny-leaving thing seems like a plot device to me. She's smarter than this; she knows that Vic hasn't exactly been there for his kids, despite Corinne's insistence to the contrary, and his involvement with Lee is likely to be minimal. I just don't see how running helps her. If anything, it makes her look worse in the eyes of the law, if the whole thing ever DOES get dragged into court.
Olivia to Aceveda: "Then I tell Justice how you blackmailed me."
Vic: "...and I back her up."
The look on Aceveda's face is the reason I love this series so much. In that one little glance is their entire history: "Goddammit--Mackey got one over on me AGAIN." If Aceveda was smart, he'd make Vic his campaign coordinator, ha ha.
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10-15-2008 @ 1:22PM
pvarine said...
Shane will NEVER learn. Every time he tries to be as slick as Vic, it blows up in his face. Antwon, the Armenians. Like he said, it's only by sheer luck that he survived the hit at ALL (although Vic's pushing and prodding throughout the whole fifth episode didn't help, I'm sure).
And really, what IS Shane's plan anyway? Why go after Ronnie? Because of the symbolic proxy beatdown he gave Two-Man?
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10-15-2008 @ 2:15PM
Gordy said...
Vic is not on the birth certificate, Danny just said that to make him leave her front door. She has no intention of acknowledging him. Also, Danny dying in a car crash would work for a 24/Prison Break/General Hospital storyline, but this is The Shield. Danny is getting into a fist fight with someone...she's noone's punk.
Love Dutch/Claudette. Love love love!
I only watch this show to see Vic go down. I think I'll be watching the rest of this season in vain.
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10-16-2008 @ 8:42AM
John in Dallas said...
I agree with Andy. Especially as this series has wound down over the last season or two, Dutch has become a more and more fascinating character.
I wish Shawn Ryan would build a new show around him.
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10-15-2008 @ 5:19PM
T.M. said...
R.I.P. Julien Lowe... anyone else think that he will be the next casualty in the Strike Team War?
Also, they made mention of who the Cartel boss is that is making Pezuela nervous, could it be Armadillo?
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10-16-2008 @ 8:21PM
juan said...
great episode
i think "Parricide" is killing one of your family not just your father, it includes brother(ronnie) or mother.
or ronnie kiling shane (hunch) an then vic killing ronnie because he'd had the chance to fix shane
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10-16-2008 @ 9:20AM
Mack Key said...
Armadillo died in Season 2. Shane and Lem set him up to get stabbed in the cage so he wouldn't bring Vic down on a brutality charge (the law book beat down and grilled face finish - one of my favorite episodes.)
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10-16-2008 @ 7:31PM
T.M. said...
Thanks I forgot about the cage murder of Armadillo
10-16-2008 @ 7:31PM
pvarine said...
Vic's not killing Ronnie. No way. Not even if he offed Shane. The 'Shield' way to do it would be for Julien to accidentally kill Shane somehow. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if Tavon killed Shane. Surely they didn't just bring him back for one episode.
As for Dutch, as much as I like his character, I was hoping to see him connect a few more dots about Vic as the final season starts ratcheting up, whether it was Terry or the money train. Terry in particular, would force a very interesting dynamic between Dutch and Vic, since Kavanaugh basically killed any chance of actually getting Vic for his one true assassination.
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10-16-2008 @ 4:16PM
freestyle55 said...
pvarine,
It's my opinion that Shane will go after Ronnie first because he thinks (or at least thought) that Vic might be coming around to see his side of things with Lem, and maybe because of their long history together, and also because he knows that Ronnie is never going to forgive him and is probably pushing Vic (which he is, but the show intimates that he doesn't know this) to get rid of Shane.
Such a good season, it's a shame that there's only a handful of episodes left, wish it could go on forever!
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10-16-2008 @ 7:31PM
pvarine said...
It's tough to see Shane letting either of them slide after he found about the set-up meant to take him out. If there's one thing he knows from past experience, it's that Mackey usually gets his man.
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10-16-2008 @ 7:43PM
johnny said...
here in peru everybody is intrigate how this end...
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10-24-2008 @ 8:37PM
Baxter Mcalister said...
I think parricide refers to the symbolic "fathering" of Shane 2.0. Even Vic aknowledges that Shane was not always like this and that he is to a large degree at fault for that.
After Vic killed Terry, they were both broken up about it, Shane in fact in tears over it. Over the years that kind of behavior became tolerated, accepted and further promoted by Shane as the cost of doing business. Over a series of these small events, Tavon, Antoine Mitchell, Angie's death, Lem, Guardo, Shane has moved himself to a place that even Vic looks on with disgust.
To find out that the person whose example and tutaledge you have tried to emulate has rejected the person you have become so much that they are ready to end your existence must seem incomprehensible to Shane.
In his mind he is now forced to put down the team, the man, who has made him the monster he is.
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