The Shield “Game Face”
Original Air Date: Sept 30, 2008
Tom R - TwoCents Staff Writer
tom@thetwocents.com
I’ve said it before…It’s easy for this show to be dominated by Mackey and the Strike Team, so it’s also easy to forget that this is such an ensemble show. And by association, when you think about how it all might end, it’s easy to focus on what will happen to Mackey. But this episode puts a few more threads in place to make you nervous about the fate of other key characters.
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[photo: Prashant Gupta / FX]
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The Shield
ReplyDelete“Game Face”
Original Air Date: Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Submitted by Tom R.
Two Cents Staff Writer
tom@thetwocents.com
I’ve said it before…It’s easy for this show to be dominated by Mackey and the Strike Team, so it’s also easy to forget that this is such an ensemble show. And by association, when you think about how it all might end, it’s easy to focus on what will happen to Mackey. But this episode puts a few more threads in place to make you nervous about the fate of other key characters.
As the episode opens, Vic tells Ronnie about Olivia’s connection to Pezcuela. They speculate about how much she has kept to herself, and how much Pezcuela really knows. Olivia comes to Claudette looking for the Strike Team’s help when a Cuban drug lord named Echabarria has his daughter go missing. Echabarria is laundering money through a jeans company, and she feels he’ll pack up shop before they can garner enough evidence. She wants the Team to retrieve the girl without an obvious police presence. After finding the gang that is responsible, Mackey “deputizes” another local gang to take them out. The girl is freed, and runs screaming into the street, where she is picked up by Danny.
Shane talks with Vic about giving the blackmail box to Rezian, in order to settle their debt to him. Vic refuses, and tells Shane that after all he has done, putting away Pezcuela is “a down payment on living with myself.” After Shane repeats the conversation with Ronnie, Vic tells him where the box is, and why he can’t turn it over.
Dutch has asked Danny to intercept faxes coming in to Claudette. This has included subpoenas from a convicted serial killer acting as his own legal counsel. Claudette becomes worried about being over protected, and agrees to be deposed by the killer. During his examination, he asks Claudette if she is on any drugs. When she is evasive, he produces an empty prescription bottle that came from her trash. The steroids, prescribed for her lupus symptoms, may have side effects that impair her judgment, which would not only call her credibility into question for all her cases, but also put the department in a bad light for promoting her to Captain. The killer offers to drop his case if he is spared the death penalty, and the department agrees to his terms.
Dutch still obsesses about Lloyd being a serial killer in the making. He meets with a friend of his who profiles killers. After watching Lloyd’s interrogation, he cannot tell one way or the other, only concluding that “something’s off”. He also brings in the killer who sued Claudette, but all he can tell him is that he “has the look”.
Danny continues to press Vic to sign the quit claim, denying access to his son. Vic stalls her. His daughter Cassidy gets into trouble following a “Pimps and Hos” party where drugs were prevalent. Vic picks up the ringleader of the party, but his father arrives before Vic can question him in depth. He does, however, turn over another girl that was involved. After this, Vic tells Danny he’s not going to sign the quit claim.
Vic decides to confront Olivia. When he arrives at her house, he finds she has a file on him. Discussing her relationship with Pezcuela, she lets Vic know that she had been responsible for allowing illegals to be smuggled across the border. The last batch contained the man who shot Martin. Vic agrees to help her get out from under Pezcuela’s influence.
So there’s my two cents…What do you think? Drop them in the comments or drop me a line at: tom@thetwocents.com.