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The Shield update

02.13.2003

This is a special post for Bill and J. Edmund, who can't watch The Shield in Japan and England (respectively). So, you wanna know what's up w/ Vic Mackey and crew? Here ya go (or read the better-written popMatters review):

Background: Mackey's wife has left w/ the children because she fears for their safety (she suspects, accurately, that Mackey's not a "normal" cop). Mackey goes crazy and hires a (very shady) private eye to track her down. Captain Aceveda is still running for mayor, and nervous about a civilian auditor snooping around, so he makes a deal w/ Mackey -- I don't hassle your crooked crew and keep the investigator off your back; you don't get too crazy and lose me any votes. Got it so far? Good.

Episode 1: Two new drug lords (the Quintero brothers) move into Mackey's turf. Armadillo likes to put tires around rival drug lords and gang-bangers who don't want to join him -- then he lights them on fire. A pissed off Mackey goes after them. Mackey and team cross into Mexico (Tijuana) to track down Navaro. They kidnap him, Mackey puts a tire around his neck, drops gasoline all over it ... and then ... Navaro cracks like a baby. They haul Navaro over the border (after being shot at by Navaro's thugs) -- illegally -- and hand him over to the feds (there's a federal warrant for Navaro). Quintero retaliates by burning Mackey's drug middle man to death. This almost reveals Mackey's involvement in the drug trade ... but Aceveda comes through.

Episode 2: Dutch is sitting at his desk, doing paperwork, when a young man walks in w/ a paper bag. He drops the content on Dutch's desk. It's a severed arm! We then find out that the arm was cut off while the person was still alive. The hunt is on. No leads. No leads. Dutch interviews a prospective witness ... except she's not a witness, she's the perp ... and eventually they find the dead girl (sans severed arm) in the trunk of the car -- she died while Dutch interviewed the "witness" and then released her. Remember when Dutch used to solve amazing cases? Not anymore.

Episode 3: Mackey tracks down Armadillo Quintero. He finds Armadillo (who seems to like hanging out in his underwear -- evil and egotistical) and proceeds to knock most of his teeth out w/ one of Armadillo's own many law books (he has a 180 IQ). After beating Armadillo to a pulp, Mackey drags him into the kitchen ... turns a burner on high ... asks Armadillo one more time to get out of Dodge ... and then holds his face to the glowing burner ... for several minutes ... until flesh melts off. Armadillo is left crying in the corner.

Episode 4: Mackey hooks up w/ a former partner and ex-crooked cop (kicked off the force for excessive brutality). They reminisce about the good ol' times. Then go after a known fencer (made rich by a settlement after the excessive brutality law suit). Shane (a member of Mackey's team) threatens to rape the fencer's girlfriend, she gives her boyfriend up, and Mackey kills him in a shootout. Mackey's wounded in the process, which wins him some pity points from his recently returned wife. Oh, and Mackey's tough as nails. To keep his kids from being scared, he covers up his wounds, and walks (!!) to meet them in the lobby to explain that he's just there to console a "hurt" friend.

Episode 5: Armadillo returns. He threatens Mackey and starts selling dirty heroin to school children. Mackey goes nuts and leans on Navaro (in prison). Armadillo calls Mackey's bluff, has his own brother killed, and then puts out a city-wide open hit invitation on Mackey and his crew. Meanwhile, Mackey and co. go undercover w/ the Armenian mafia and make a huge bust. But they don't divulge the "money train" that transports the mafia's monthly money laundering ($$$). They start planning a heist that'll leave them "set" for life.

Episode 6: A multiple homicide at a battered women's shelter shocks everyone. And a child is missing from the home. It ends up that a beat cop from another division is best friends w/ the suspect. But he refuses to give any info, since it might endanger his job. The killer (who has an insatiable appetite for hookers) is holed up somewhere w/ his young son. Mackey's crack-head hooker friend (remember her?) goes undercover to find the guy and get the $5,000 reward (how much crack would that buy?). Things go bad; she ends up dead. But Mackey is tough as nails in the process and another bad guy dies.

Throughout, there's some subplots:

• Danny is involved in a situation. There's a complaint between a black woman who's racially harassing her Middle Eastern neighbors. Danny makes a few mildly anti-Arab statements. They get called to the scene one more time. The black woman set the Arab man's prayer rug on fire. He's irate. Danny tries to calm things down. The man comes out w/ a gun "to protect himself" ... he doesn't listen to Danny when she asks him to put the gun down ... he waves the gun around ... she shoots him. Dead. Complications develop after Danny's partner doesn't quite back her up (he didn't actually "see" the shooting but is expected to back Danny up because she's a fellow cop). One of the complications is that the dead man's widow is, apparently, a psychopath.
  
• Mackey's family life continues to fall apart. The wife is pretty dumb. Mackey's living in a hotel and worried that Armadillo's thugs might kill his family.
  
• Claudette (CCH Pounder) suspects something; she's pissed at Mackey and Aceveda.
  
• Julien (Danny's partner) is getting married. To a woman. Even though he's gay. The poor guy is so fervently homophobic, he thinks marrying a straight woman (he only met her a few weeks prior to the engagement) will "cure" him and help him get closer to God or whatever. He refuses to tell his fiancé, despite Danny's objections. There's a tense moment when Danny's bench pressing ... Julien's yelling ... and we all squirmed to think Julien might just drop Danny's weights on her neck and kill her "accidently" (he does have a temper) ... but that wasn't to be.

I'm sure I missed something, but I don't want to ramble too much. I hope that maintains your Shield fix.

Posted by Miguel at 09:34 AM

Comments

Posted by: Simon King at February 13, 2003 12:20 AM

Posted by: bil at February 13, 2003 09:24 PM