The Shield Season Finale

Spoilers! Spoilers! Spoilers! Spoilers! I waited a day to do a post on season finale of The Shield for a couple reasons. First, I wanted to at least give people 24 hours to see it. Second, I needed to watch it for the third time. You see FX always re-airs the episode right after the original airing. Most fans tend to watch the episode again right after. Well, at least Bob and I do. After watching the season finale, I was frustrated all day because I couldn't talk with anyone about it. I had to discuss the genius of that episode and the season as a whole. Eventually, I had the time to call Bob after work. I knew he wouldn't let me down. I often go overboard in proclaiming the greatness of those things I love. Yes, I'm still buzzing on the season finale, but I don't think I'm going overboard.

The Sopranos? Lost? ER? NYPD Blue? 24? Six Feet Under? The Shield is better. The Shield is probably the best drama on TV since Homicide in my opinion. I will admit that Homicide is better. Those first four seasons of Homicide is some of the best television you will ever see. But this post is about the Shield.

Last night finale showed why this show is so good. Everything from the past couple seasons has built up to this point. You see the characters in this Shakespearian tragedy work with and against each other to cause the death of the one true good guy, Curtis "Lemonhead" Lemansky. Was he innocent? No, but he realized his mistakes and was willing to step forward and answer for them. Unfortunately, he never got the chance to clean his conscience. The "good" guys lied, schemed, and made deals with the devil to catch the "bad" guys, the Strike Team. The Strike Team, Lem's family, ended up sacrificing him because not only were they unwilling to answer for what they did, but they didn't trust Lem. How could they not trust Lem? Lem had given up everything to protect them. He was going to jail so they wouldn't have to. He was going to answer for everything he did, but never rat on his family. The problem was that they didn't trust themselves. This fault was most evident in Lem's best friend Shane. Shane, who was once tempted to kill Vic to save his own life. He knew what he would do in Lem's place. He would break. But is that why Shane killed his best friend? Because, he couldn't understand why Lem wouldn't run when the Strike Team had the whole plan worked out? Not in Shane's mind. Shane didn't kill out of hate. Shane saw killing his best friend as mercy and sacrifice. Watching this scene play out you actually see a near mirror "Of Mice and Men." Heck, the previous episode was titled "Of Mice and Lem." Lem was going to die in jail anyway with IAD making a deal to send Lem to the same prison as Antwon Mitchell. Antwon would've killed Lem. Only way out for Lem was to give up the Strike Team. Lem was blind in his pursuit of confession. He thought he could pay his own price, but they were all connected. But did Shane have to take the coward's way out when he killed his best friend? No quick and easy bullet to the head. Shane had to use a hand grenade and run. He couldn't even give his best friend a quick death.

The episode ends with the court culprits standing around the aftermath of their lies and schemes. They all had a hand one way or another in Lem's death. Lem, who worked in Juvie when the Team broke up at the end of season three. Lem, who was always first through the door with the battering ram. Lem, who saved Kavanaugh's life even though his death would've kept him out of jail. Now Lem's dead. It's the first major casualty for the wrongs they committed. Next season is the final season. Next season, everyone pays.

Ramblings (TV Edition)

Remember the days when you couldn't wait till September or October because that was when the new show would debut? You would get all excited seeing ads for new shows and teasers of the new season of your favorite show. It hasn't been that way for awhile. Sure, I was anticipating Lost, but that's about it. I guess due to my contract I have to put CSI: Miami in there. But that's really about it. The Shield and 24 don't start till January. Rescue Me is a summer show. This got me thinking. Why can't the new TV season start in January? Clearly the old belief that nobody watches TV during the summer is incorrect. What else comes out during January and February? Nothing. It's a dumping ground for movies. Maybe one or two decent albums are released. TV should take full advantage of this and start shows mid January. I realize with the industry there would be a big hubbub raised about not getting their summers off. My answer is that they can still have the same shooting schedule just don't air them till January. This way we don't have to have extended runs of repeats. Most of the shows will be in the can, and they just have to shuffle them out. 24 should be the production model for TV shows. They start production early and air their shows back to back. No reruns! I realize this wouldn't be possible for all shows. I'm just getting tired of having one new episode a month for shows like Lost. Maybe the best would be to break the year into two seasons?

Anyway, let's catch up with what I'm watching and what you should be watching. For all you Tivo people who wait months till watching the episodes there will be spoilers for the following shows: The Shield, 24, Lost, etc.

The Shield: The season finale is this Tuesday. Usually in a Shield season the second to last episode is the climax in the arc and the last episode deals with the aftermath. It's different this time around. I have no idea what's going to happen. Someone is going to die...I think. Everything is up in the air. Are Kavanaugh and Acevedo finally going to get the Strike Team behind bars? What is Antwon Mitchell up to? Who's the father of Danny's kid? How is the new recruit, Tina, going to screw up and get someone killed? My biggest question is: What's going to happen to Lemonhead? Is he going to die? Is he going to finally rat on the team? Is he going to make it to Mexico? It all leads to at least him not coming back next season. It's a shame because I loved Lemonhead's tortured conscience and his ulcer. Man I love this show.

24: 24 has become TV's Florida Marlins? They've nixed nearly every veteran of the show. President Palmer, Tony and Michelle, and Edgar are all dead. They even killed Rudy! Only Jack and Miss Potato Face are left. Poor Edgar Stiles. His death scene may be one of my favorites in awhile. No screaming and hollering. He just had that "Oh crap!" look on his face, and then he tumbled over. The thing is we are only halfway through the season. What the hell else can happen? Is Jack going to die? I keep thinking they are cleaning house, so they can start over. Maybe they'll make Chloe the next star of 24? Maybe not.

Lost: If they actually aired back to back new episodes maybe I might start caring. I will give them props for at least giving me a little something to think on with Australian chick finding out what happened to her during her abduction.

Sopranos: Wow! What a dump they took with the second episode. To start off with a death/dream sequence and then scrap it halfway through the episode? I imagine the conversation went like this:

Chase: Hey. How far along are you with the episode?
Writer: Um, I'm about 25 pages in. Why?
Chase: It seems we already did a crappy dream episode last season.
Writer: What?
Chase: It's been two years. I can't remember everything.
Writer: What am I supposed to do?
Chase: Just end the dream sequence now and have the family standing around crying and stuff for the rest of the episode. At least the actors can work on their crying.
Writer: Ok.
Chase: Oh! Oh! Oh! Throw in a terrorist subplot!
Writer: But we haven't set-up anything about terrorists.
Chase: Just introduce some new characters out of the blue. Think of the residuals you'll get when they show up the rest of the season.
Writer: Yeah! Hey. With all the crying do you think we can submit this to the Emmys?
Chase: I've already made room on my mantle.

Also, who's the guy that hung himself and why am I supposed to care?

Thief: I have pretty high hopes for this show that replaces the Shield on FX. It has a solid cast headed by acting stud Braugher. It looks slick. If Thief pans out, FX will be the best network on TV. If they can improve Nip/Tuck, or get a better replacement that will be a full year of quality television. Maybe these 12 episode seasons aren't so bad.

Invasion: Nearly having the same problem as Lost. It makes me think this scheduling is ABC trying to milk as much as they can out of these shows. They are screwing the fans over. New episodes of Invasion aren't going to air till May I think. May! Still, I can't wait to see what that crazy dead girl is going to give birth to.

Finally, I was flipping through the channels Saturday night, and suddenly had an 80's flashback. Saturday Night's Main Event was once again on NBC. What is up? Is NBC that desperate to fill their slots? They even went with the same old school logo. How could I not watch it? Oh the times I'd be so thrilled to have wrestling on NBC at night. It was almost like free pay-per-view matches. Almost. Of course, this is all a build up to Wrestlemania which is two weeks away. The matches were basically all stunt matches. I still got a kick out of Shawn Michaels back dropping Shane McMahon from the top of a ladder into a couple tables.

Ramblings (Early Edition)

Because I’ll be on may way to the big D for my first official visit we are going to have to do the ramblings a day early.

Through the magic of sitemeter I’ve determined that around 20 of my hits this week have been from people looking for info about Gillette’s sample of its Fusion razors. To keep those hits coming let me give a little review. I can’t tell the difference between five and four blades. It works fine and I was glad I didn’t reenact the mirror scene from Poltergeist. Still, five is overkill. Actually four is probably overkill.

Do the Grammy’s matter anymore? I mean other than boosting record sales for a week. Do kids in their parent’s basement or garage pick up a guitar or microphone with dreams of a Grammy statue? Does an artist ever feel validated by a Grammy.

I’ve come to realize the problem with modern R&B. Too often they try to hitch onto the hip-hop money train. R&B needs to get back to what made Motown, Stax, and Muscle Shoals artists so great. I don’t say this as a knock on hip-hop. I just think R&B can be better if it didn’t lean so heavily on hip-hop.

Just to warn you all I signed up for fantasy baseball this week.

This was one of those non-stop busy weeks at work. I chalk it up to the work gods making sure I earn the Friday I’m taking off. Part of the problem of this job is what you end up having to see. It’s not like a horror movie. No matter how good the makeup job they can never equal the violence and trauma of a real murder. Some of the worst I’ve seen came across my desk this week. Color pictures are always worse. What really amazes me is that Medical Examiners see this everyday and without the barrier of a screen. I don’t know how they do it.

Have you been watching the Shield? I’m a little torn with the fact that they’ve made Forest Whitaker’s character so sleazy. It makes Mackey slipping through his fingers almost too enjoyable. But, because Whitaker’s character is so sleazy and obsessed I can’t stop watching to see the tables turn. It is fun watching Mackey slither though.

Did anyone else cringe or hang their head in embarrassment when Harrison Ford did that Dr. Seuss intro for the Super Bowl? What were you thinking Indy?

What I really miss about old school satellite TV is that you could find those odd and unintentionally funny channels from different countries.

That’s it for now. I hope to see most of you in Dallas.

Snobfest 2005: Boob Tube

A little warning: There are some spoilers below. So, if you are still catching up on episodes you may want to wait.

“I Wasted an Hour a Week for this Crap?” Award: Nip/Tuck

"What Don't You Like About Yourself?" How about the fact that I kept watching this season of Nip/Tuck? You know when you’re dating someone where their potential keeps you in the relationship? There are small little moments that keep you around, but then they do something frustrating that completely undercuts those moments. I haven’t, but I’ve heard people mention such things. That has been my relationship with Nip/Tuck. It’s always been a guilty pleasure. With its ridiculous story lines, and lack of decency I had become addicted to the show. This was the season where we finally discover who “The Carver” is. The thing is everyone already guessed who it was by the first episode of the season. I clearly gave the creators too much credit by arguing that the person was simply too obvious, and nobody would be stupid enough to be that obvious. To make it worse the rest of the show was just as frustrating. Nip/Tuck has always been “on the nose” and wildly over the top. Usually the over the top nature and twists fit in with the characters, and it made for highly entertaining TV. This season everything outlandish story device undercut the whole show, and the characters. Julie’s mother dies in a plane crash causing her to come to terms with her relationship with her mother. The problem is the mother never got on the plane! Those clever writers. So everything that Julie experienced is now mute. Way to go Nip/Tuck. That’s part of the problem with the show now. They keep trying to throw you with some clever twist, but the twist usually negates what we as a viewer have experienced. Just keep with the outlandish stories that push the characters to make decisions, and stop trying to fool us. I wash my hands of this show.

“Wake Me When Something Happens” Award: Lost

Eventually the teasing begins to bore. That’s what has happened to Lost. The first few episodes were pretty good, well except for the “let’s sit on a raft for an hour” episode. Then they got to wandering the jungle for 40 days and 40 nights. Here’s my problem. We don’t need the new people. They don’t progress the story in any way that our original castaways couldn’t. Don’t introduce new characters simply because you’re afraid you’ll run out of stories for your original stories. I feel like this is when sitcoms add the “cute adopted kid” to spice things up.

"Better Than I Thunk." Award: Invasion

The one reason I began watching this show was Shaun Cassidy. Yes, the one from the Hardy Boys Mysteries. That’s not the reason, though. The 1995 TV series “American Gothic” was one of my favorite shows back then even though it didn’t last a full season. Based on that show, created by Shaun Cassidy, I took a chance with Invasion. I have been pleasantly surprised. Sure the “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” premise has been bludgeoned to death, but keeping everything within a small Florida town was a smart move. The show has also been smart enough to give enough information to satisfy, but still leave us asking more questions. William Fichtner's Sheriff Tom Underlay is Cigarette Man creepy. When he had that fellow abductee chop off his newly grown arm to keep his abduction a secret...shivers.

“The Close the Blinds” Award: Beauty and the Geek

Screw it. I’ll fess up and admit that I really enjoyed this show even though there is no reason I should. Rather than go sensational with the beauties and make fun of the geeks, the show wisely just lets them go to see what happens in the competitions. You get your villains and heroes of both sexes and some actually seem to learn something. My one problem with the show is that they boot them out of the house too early. The competition almost doesn’t matter because watching the dynamic between these polar opposites is pretty entertaining.

“The Crossed Fingers” Award: Rescue Me

I’ve enjoyed this show so much that I have looked past its slight errors. Second season wasn’t quite as good as season one. There is constant feeling of doom on the show that has lead to predictablility. You always know that no matter how good things get that something worse is just around the corner. Usually these moments were countered with cynical sense of humor. They pushed the limits last season when Leary’s son was killed by a drunk driver. Suddenly, the bad thing wasn’t a result of their own negligence or faults. This made the efforts at lightening things up feeling forced and awkward. It’s a slight hiccup that put a damper in a solid season. I have my fingers crossed they can pick things up next season. For more on the show, read my previous post.

“Gone Too Soon” Award: Arrested Development

Once again the networks clearly have no idea what they are doing. AD gets canceled after winning an Emmy, but they keep other shows like Stacked that has gotten the same or worse ratings? Come on. If you haven’t experience the brilliance of AD, rent some DVD’s now.

“They Can’t Possibly Do Anything Else.”Award: 24

This is getting ridiculous. This is what happened is season 4. Terrorists kidnap the Secretary of Defense in order to distract from them causing nuclear power plants to melt down. They then shoot down Air Force One to steal nuclear launch codes of a warhead they stole. The warhead is launched, a Chinese Ambassador is killed, and Jack has to fake his death. Am I the only the one that hummed The Incredible Hulk end theme when Jack walked off into the sunset? Still I love the show, and am completely addicted. I have no clue what they have planned, but I’m certain it will be completely unbelievable. Lost and other serial television shows should take a cue from 24. They run their episodes non-stop. There are no reruns during the season. If this means I have to wait a little longer for Lost to start there season, that’s fine with me. I hate these hiatuses.

“Genius” Award: The Shield

Gritty, tough, compelling, and genius are all words that can describe the best show on TV right now. The fourth season of the Shield was all about rebuilding the Strike Team after deconstructing it in season three. Before the season began, I though the major coup was signing Glen Close on. I was wrong. Not that Close wasn’t outstanding. She was. Her struggle of needing Mackey to put her plan into action, but knowing he could also sink it was great to watch. The coup was having Anthony Anderson as the season’s bad guy. Who knew he could be this good? I mean it’s the guy from Kangaroo Jack! If he isn’t nominated for an Emmy it’s a shame. It’s one of those career changing performances that alters the way you view an actor. For him to be the most ruthless, smart, and evil bad guy from any season of the Shield is saying something. Then there is the rest of the stellar cast. Acevada’s turn from lackey Captain to asshole City Councilman was great. When he works with Anderson’s character to get what he wants, you see how far he’ll go to save his ass. Yes, they tend to write away peripheral characters with no explanation. It’s forgivable with the uncompromising and compelling television they turn out each season. Season five starts tomorrow night.