End of "the Shield"

[cythraul]

There's only one more episode of "The Shield" left.

Thoughts?

[rkolegendkiller91]

Yes!!!!

[jivetrky]

So, after watching the last ep, I am just ...speechless. My heart sank in the last scene with Shane, and then managed to sink a little further shortly after.

I think the did an awesome job wrapping things up. I'd love to hear comments from others. I really am just kind of in a weird state right now. I'm not sure what to say, not too often that television affects me this way.

[virux280]

Wow... This may come off sad on my part but I'm mourning over the end of "The Shield". Lots of attachments to this show good and bad. A good chunk of my life went to watching "The Shield" and now it's gone. At least it has a proper ending unlike "Pushing Daises". I shall always recommend "The Shield" to my friends, family, and even coworkers as The Greatest Show Ever.

[fancyburrito]

I saw the outcome with Shane coming a few episodes back, only confirming beleif in the scene where him and Mara were in the abandonned house crying, but when it finally happened... I was in shock, speechless, and sad. I actually got a few people to tune in that didn't watch the show because they wanted to see what I was so emotional about (despite my advice not to, since it's been seven seasons of story leading to this), and even they were shocked and felt the weight of that scene.

Also, between all the excellent stuff that's been building for seven years, I thought that the Mayor Huggins stuff (Andre 3000) was beautifully tragic.

Edit: here's a good post finale Q&A with Shawn Ryan http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/2008/11/shield-shawn-ryan-post-finale-q.html

[diane]

Also, between all the excellent stuff that's been building for seven years, I thought that the Mayor Huggins stuff (Andre 3000) was beautifully tragic.

Edit: here's a good post finale Q&A with Shawn Ryan http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/2008/11/shield-shawn-ryan-post-finale-q.html

I agree. When she kept saying you have my vote, my heart just broke.

But when Vic looked at the pictures and there on the bed, holding the flowers, I didn't get to sleep last night. I just kept closing my eyes and seeing that picture. I use to work for an agency that trains FBI, CIA, Sheriff's Depts, etc on various topics. One of them was homicide investigation. I use to put together the training materials and that meant reading a lot of police files. That shot was dead on from any of the training materials. Even the garden flowers. Chilling.

But I was disappointed by the final shot. I thought it would have been better to end it with the lights going out. Not what they did. But I wanted him to be punished more for everything he had done and it didn't feel like he was.

[hunsingeruk]

But I wanted him to be punished more for everything he had done and it didn't feel like he was.

One thing to consider here though is the fact that Ryan painted a pretty clear picture that Mackey knows he is to blame for at least most of what ended up happening. Yes in the previous episode he chose to go back to the non remorseful Vic, but all the anguish in that he conveys in the interrogation room as well as at his desk at the end tell me that all that he thought he lifted from his shoulders got put back upon them 1000 fold.

Me personally, I thought the same as you but now that I've seen what happens, could not ask for a more brutal punishment for him.

[sandlapper]

I thought it was a great episode. Seeing Shane kill himself didn't shock me, but then seeing that he had killed his family did. It put me in a strange depressed state of mind. It's odd how a television show can do that to you.

As for Vic, he may have not been "punished" in the traditional sense, but sitting in a cubicle like that will be just as bad as prison to Vic.

I'm sad to see it go, but happy about the way the sent it off...

[maracle]

i thought it was just perfect.
ever since i stared watching TRS jeff has talked about the shield and last summer i gave in and started watching it. i watched the entire 6 seasons in the summer. although some plot lines and characters could have been more developed (Ronnie pritty much through the whole show - this season and the stove burning. also julians being gay never had a strong resolution. and character relationships just ending and not really showing it) the show is a masterpiece. the last scene was just perfect. you saw vic going through everything that happened and him taking his gun and leaving left the "ambiguous" ending that can be so hard to pull off. wow, just wow

[dolson]

I just watched, and I'm in a funk too.

I think the previous episode was the best out of the entire series, and this finale would have been better if the two were strung together, I think.

Also, was it just me, or did Vic smirk at the end, after taking his gun to leave for the night? Seems to me like he just realized that he got everything he wanted - his family is safe, he's off scott-free, Shane is dead... True, he lost a friend, but he's not exactly the remorseful type (if you've been watching the whole series, you know this). I think Vic is actually happy with how he made out.

I'll have to look again, because right after what I thought was that smile, it cut to black, and I was a bit in shock that this was the end. I misread the time, I guess, and was thinking there was another 10-15 minutes to go...

Anyhow, I am sitting here on my PS3, not knowing what to do right now. I don't feel like watching anything else, and I don't feel like playing a game... Weird state.

Sons of Anarchy, here we come.

[cheech151337]

I thought Vic was going to trade himself in for Ronnie's freedom. I don't think Vic would be content with the way it ended, especially since Ronnie never screwed him, never gave him a reason like Shane did time and time again.

[dolson]

OK, I just read a large portion of that link someone pasted on the other page of this thread, and I went back and rewatched the last scene.

Vic smiles/smirks while looking at his gun, and then he gets serious again, and I interpret this as "heh, I got away with all this shit" as if he's almost surprised, and relieved, and then, "alright... Three years of this desk job bullshit, and then I walk free."

I guess it's all up to how you interpret that little laugh thing Vic does - it's one of those little things that Michael Chiklis did throughout the season, sorta like the laugh/chuckle when he's confessing everything at ICE (as mentioned in that link).

I'm still affected by this episode, this show, and Jeff, I'm sure you read every Shield thread on here - so, for one final time, thank you. Thanks for your constant promos in the earlier episodes of TRS. I probably woulda never watched this if it weren't for that, as I hadn't even heard of it before.

Well, time to try and sleep, I think.

[shakermaker]

Well, I don't know if this finale was right for me, I mean isn't Vick the anti-hero, I mean yeah he may have done allot of wrong things but wasn't his intentions were not for him but for his team and his family. The whole series, he is made out to be a cop that does not have a black and white view of the world but with shades of gray.. I guess that was his weakness in the end, of all the people he mislead he never thought it would happen to him, specially by his own wife. I felt he did not get what he deserved, and even being a cop killer, aren't the members of his team just as guilty as Vick? In the end, I guess he got what was coming, and as far as Shane, only in the last few episodes did I become sympathetic, though he did make the stupidest mistakes.. I mean come on just got to Mexico, I would of gone to Aceveda or someone else to get away from Vick.. I was looking for a Vick and Shane shootout but what I got was something worse, however the show seems like the left on a high note, leaving you wanting more..

[scoobydiesel]

Not reading this buuut now i need to get this mega box set and watch it all. Wish it was on Watch It now.

[iccanui]

Ill make a deal with you Jeff, if you read this. Get the guys or just yourself to check out Sons of Anarchy and ill check out the shield. You watch 2 or 3 and ill watch a whole season of the shield.

:)


On topic though, im sorry you lost your fav show. We all have them. Farscape, Stargate's, firefly's, so many we have all lost. But you always got them on DVD and if this show is like shows i like, they echo your morales and sensibilities. I think avatar is kinda like my shield and i know itll always be there for me when i need to remind myself of who i am and who i want to be.

[murray]

That was a superb finale. I think it sums up the show perfectly: Both the people I felt sorry for, Ronnie and Shane, had their entire lives ruined right in front of us. Shane had a complete breakdown in that episode and while I wasn't totally surprised by him killing himself, the fact he killed Mara and Jackson caught me completely off-guard.

As for Ronnie, I feel so horrible about what happened to him. He was never completely with Vic and Shane. He wasn't exactly proactive in stopping them or opting out of the Strike Team's wrong-doings, but to have been betrayed so horribly just when he thought he'd just been released from that huge burden was a terrible way to go. I really ached when he was screaming and Vic in the Barn. I wanted him to just tear him apart.

The ideal scenario for the ending, to balance out the right and wrong, would have been for Shane to kill Vic and for Ronnie to escape punishment. But that would have been completely anti-Shield. It wouldn't have been realistic and would have been too much of a happy ending scenario. That's not The Shield at all.

So, yeah. I'm left with a huge feeling of "what do i do now". But I'm just glad it didn't disappoint.

EDIT: Also, I know someone mentioned about us not being given closure on Julian or some other characters. But we were. There was a scene where he looked out the car at the two gay guys and did nothing really. That's the way it's going to be for him. He's going to always think what could've been, and there's always a possibility it might happen. But to have just had a scene where all of a sudden Julian's gay and happy would have been ridiculous and a very bad addition to the episode. I think his partner getting a cake for graduating was just the writers' way of saying life goes on. She was the symbol for that, instead of doing an individual storyline for each character.

Great ending. I'm looking forward to Shawn Ryan's next project, whatever that may be.

[dolson]

Ill make a deal with you Jeff, if you read this. Get the guys or just yourself to check out Sons of Anarchy and ill check out the shield. You watch 2 or 3 and ill watch a whole season of the shield.

I know you didn't direct this at me, but I take this as a promise! The Shield is great, beginning to end, and I think you'll not regret it.

With that said, here's an email I recently received:

Hi Dana,

We haven't had a chance to catch Sons of Anarchy yet, but we've heard good things. We'll have to give it a look.

Thanks for watching the show,
-Jeff/TRS

You may as well go and get your hands on season 1 of The Shield, and get to watching. ;)

[mier]

Someone is going to have to put Jeff on suicide watch. (<--- Joke for those that don't get it)

[scoobydiesel]

like i said i havnt read or seen anything about this...until a few minutes ago when i read that the end is kinda like the true life story of Chris Benoit and hs family tragedy...So that makes me go wow...

Makes me really interested in what they did...But now im going back to staying out of here

[maracle]

like i said i havnt read or seen anything about this...until a few minutes ago when i read that the end is kinda like the true life story of Chris Benoit and hs family tragedy...So that makes me go wow...

Makes me really interested in what they did...But now im going back to staying out of here

ya i thaought that too, if you scroll down hear:
http://www.f4wonline.com/content/view/7575/
until the news bits, after the history
it talks about shanes originally story line ended up with them getting caught but it changed when the benoit thing happened

[johnichi]

ya i thaought that too, if you scroll down hear:
http://www.f4wonline.com/content/view/7575/
until the news bits, after the history
it talks about shanes originally story line ended up with them getting caught but it changed when the benoit thing happened

I don't know...that sounds fishy to me, but mostly because if they ended Shane's storyline with him getting caught it wouldn't have made any sense at all considering Shane's suicide was being built up all of season 7 for the most part.

[geeksunny]

Pretty much all of my feelings have been covered all through out this thread, so I'll just leave it at that.


Something cool, though. I just watched it again and I don't even know how I didn't catch this the first time. The city they take Vic's family to for witness protection was my hometown. :) Rockford, IL. Shawn Ryan is also from that city, and there has been references to it throughout the run of the series. Good stuff!

[johnnysix]

I thought the season finale was great. I didn't read anything into the smirk other than it sort of being a reminder of what used to be. I think Vic was truly shocked at the news of Shane's death. We'd seen Vic go to the line with Shane but when it came to pulling the trigger (metaphorically) he couldn't do it. His betrayal of Ronnie gutted him. The creators really took Vic down to the wire and when they got there he was revealed for what he was. Basically he's going to spend the next 3 years living with that. The pain will come not from what he has done, but what he is. He's been at the bottom and he now knows that when push came to shove all the loyalty and pride he preached didn't mean enough to him. They really boiled those last half a dozen episodes down to a test of his core morals. I couldn't have asked for more.

As for closure, I'm a proud Sopranos fan. I loved the ending to that show. It's artificial to have absolutely everything wrapped up for a season finale. For a show that prides itself on being gritty and real I think it would have been a little too convenient to have every storyline wrap up on the same day. All the characters are left on a path. For some it's the start of a new path, for others the end of an old one and some will just continue doing what they do.

[maracle]

I don't know...that sounds fishy to me, but mostly because if they ended Shane's storyline with him getting caught it wouldn't have made any sense at all considering Shane's suicide was being built up all of season 7 for the most part.

although it was being "built up" it still could have gone a number of ways and still made since in my mind.