Enter, a club. Former Farmington police captain Aceveda, now City Council member, is speaking with another about his desire to shut down the seizure policy implemented by new Captain Monica Rawling. He promises to be all sneaky-style as to avoid a PR disaster, such is his specialty. A chicky catches his eye and comes over to share a smoke; Sara is her name. And imagine that, she’s a prostitute. But, David plays it cool — he’s not here to bust.
Shane Vendrell meets once again with a coupole of guys in Antoine Mitchell’s posse, looking for tips in exchange for the deal they have struck (which is apparently police protection for Antoine’s goings-on). The boys hint they have something on Shane and will use it against him; Shane responds by beating the hell out of one of the guys. Shane’s partner pulls a gun on the other guy in the meantime, then encourages him to join in the hell-beating of his pal. That’s the message they’re sending.
Beth, an assistant to the DA, talks to Dutch about a bit of a favor: busting a drug dealer, Maurice Webster. He of course accepts, looking to get back in the DA’s good graces.
Corrine and Vic have a realtor showing their house; daughter Cassidy is unhappy with this.
And our first big crime of the night features Oscar Ruiz, who was heading to court on charges of sexual assault and escaped from a window. And he’s already raped again. At the victim’s home, Mackey and Rawlings listen to the message on the machine left by the victim for her husband, in which she proclaims how much she loved the sexin’ from the rapist. Twisted f*ck, indeed.
Enough intro, it’s time for… THE SHIELD!
Dutch names Ruiz the “Stay At Home Rapist” because it’s cute and catchy. Awwww, cute widdle Dutchypoo, naming the sweet widdle wapists. They also learn that Ruiz has a fiance in Farmington, so he should be in the area. Meanwhile, a girl named Emily is brought into the barn; she was previously raped by Ruiz and is offered to be placed under watch. She chooses to stay at the barn until he’s caught.
Vic and Ronnie hit the streets and find Ruiz’ roommate who caves in to admit he saw him earlier and gave him some cash.
Antoine meets with Shane, and both want to know what’s next. Antoine hands over a payment for protection while Shane pokes at him to “step up the tips.” He claims he’ll use his inside ties to those involved with the new seizures enforcement as leverage.
While Vic and pals case Ruiz’ old apartment, Lem shows up: Antoine’s oldest son was observed selling fake IDs. Vic tells him not to take action yet, as he’d like to test a theory…
Meanwhile, Rawling and Aceveda meet to discuss the community’s perception of the seizures policy. Aceveda would like to set up a public forum for the police force to explain and answer questions regarding the apparent police crackdown. He claims the police should be doing more to reach out to the community to show they are on their side, while Rawling believes taking the bangers off of the streets would be more effective, but she agrees to the forum as a compromise of sorts.
Vic shows up at a flower shop which Ruiz recently visited — he had previously disguised himself as a floral delivery man to gain entrance to his last victim’s house. They just missed him.
Out in left field and totally unrelated to everything, Julian and Danny are doing more legwork to catalog and enforce the crackdown on gangs in Farmington. They’re speaking with a city worker who cleans up the same graffiti from the same road sign day after day. It reads “RAGA,” which he claims stands for some sort of insult from one gang to another. Signs of an impending gang war, as it were, and this prominent sign was the perfect broadcasting space.
As Dutch and Claudette dive into the DA’s drug dealer case, it turns out that Webster, their “major player” drug dealer, is 60 years old with a mostly clean record. Claudette smells something funny.
Ruiz, in the meantime, called his fiance; Vic and his gang are running the streets, patrolling for him. Meanwhile, another rape occurs; as Vic appears on the scene, the victim’s husband violently lashes out in a powerful scene of pain and anger. Monica tells Vic to step it up, to talk to Dutch about profiling, to “get creative.” Vic’s response is to give a picture and description of Ruiz’s MO to a neighborhood street gang with instructions to call him if they’ve found his guy.
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Some “random” dude rolled through a stop sign, and the cop on the scene smelled weed in the vehicle, busting him for a few joints. Dutch reminds the guy of the new seizures policy and that he could lose his car (and even his house) because they were involved in drugs. However, this could all be set aside if he gives up his dealer. Surprise, it’s Maurice Webster, a guy who he claims mostly grows for himself and has three plants in his backyard.
Antoine speaks with Shane again, this time with a tip. Mexicans are supposedly being run to the border, then mysteriously disappearing, only to require a five grand relocation fee. Shane brings this tip straight to Vic.
Dutch speaks again with the assistant DA. Apparently, the DA’s office has a murder trial coming up with Webster as a key witness, and they’re looking to undermine his credibility. Hey, these are the favors they’re asking to get Wyms and Wagenbach back in the DA’s good graces. Even with his attempts to gloss it over, Claudette wants out; Dutch argues that he’s stuck by her, she should stick by him.
Suddenly, A HUGE STREET FIGHT! AN OVERTURNED VAN! Danny and pals are breaking it up. Oh, look, it’s the gang Vic enlisted, beating the hell out of a floral truck. But one problem… the guy’s Chinese, not Latino. Oops.
Monica lectures Vic on how sadly the investigation is going, his choice of “creativity,” and asks him… why hasn’t he talked to Dutch? Begrudgingly, he heads to Wagenbach for some of his “profile bullshit.” Dutch babbles about how immediately after escaping, Ruiz binged on rapes; he’s likely binging on other things he’s into. Mid-thought, Vic walks away, respectful as always!
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Wyms is with her stop sign roller through-er, on a sting to bust Maurice. Imagine that, he’s got three plants.
Aceveda calls Sara from a pay phone, lookin’ for da hook-up.
Vic headed back to Ruiz’s roommate, now hardcore grilling him (complete with chokehold!) about what sort of obessions Ruiz may have had. The dude would just lock himself in his room for hours, the roomie says. Eating take-out chicken pot pie from Clucky’s. Every night, man, the dude and his chicken pot pie. (None for kitty.)
Vic ventures to Clucky’s, where Ruiz visited a few hours earlier and macked on the waitress who, unfortunately, was engaged. Mackey asks to check her vehicle… the lock had been jimmied and her registration was gone.
The boys pony up to sting the waitress’s house… and there’s Ruiz, jumping out the back! It’s a foot chase! Vic meets up with a cop and his cop-dog, who run into the yard where Ruiz jumped the fence. Puppy finds a nice smell in a little shed, and the officer directs him to head inside. Yummy yummy, puppy chomps on rapist! Vic and others debate whether Ruiz is armed, as they find he dropped his gun. Still, he might be packing, better let the dog do his work. Ho hum, look at that time go by! You think the puppy has found him yet? Maybe, maybe not… okay, maybe he found him now.
Captain Rawling breaks to Emily, still waiting and hiding at the barn, that Ruiz was caught. She asks if he’s in jail; Monica replies that no, he’s in the hospital after a tumble with a police dog which resulted in a ruptured testicle. So sad, really.
Shane meets with Antoine once again, thanking him for the great bust on the illegals. Shane, meanwhile, slips Antoine a tip about stolen airbags being sold — a tip he picked up while chatting with Vic at the barn.
Dutch and Claudette interrogate Maurice; indeed, he really is just a 60 year old man with three marijuana plants. There’s just nothing much else to tell. Monica pulls them out and sends the assistant DA to take over.
Vic, Lem, and Ronnie discuss their investigation into the airbag deal and how it suddenly just up and disappeared. Vic realizes Shane leaked the info; thus, his next target is Antoine’s son, the fake ID dealing punk, so that both Antoine and Shane feel the heat.
Meanwhile, David Aceveda meets up with Sara at her place. To prove he wasn’t looking to bust her, he propositioned her directly. She hints that she’d like plenty of gifts amounting to about $600. David becomes engaged in some sort of power play grip on the girl; she immediately tells him that he can slap, but not leave bruises; no scratching, no blood. He can pull her hair as long as he doesn’t pull it out, and he can choke if it doesn’t hurt too much. She’ll give a safety sign.
Awww yeah… next episode on The Shield, Aceveda at the S&M club…
Yes, that’s a joke.
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Julien and Danny bust the sign tagger; a voluptuous black girl. In interrogation, she’s asked about this big impending gang war. She denies that’s the intent. Then what does “RAGA” stand for, they ask? “Righteous Angel, Gorgeous Ass,” she replies.
Speaking with Antoine’s son, Vic and company are told he’s not going to rat out the father he can’t stand. Meanwhile, Antoine breaks to Shane that his son was picked up; things are looking rather rumbly.
The tagger’s mother is at the station to pick up her daughter. “She would never do that,” she proclaims, as most mothers say about their kids. Opening the interrogation door, inside is the girl, proudly tagging the hell out of the interrogation room. +150 style points.
The DA hands over a double murder case to Wyms and Wagenbach, while Claudette questions the ulterior motives of this one.
And Shane comes to Vic saying he wants back in. Talking to Monica, Vic vouches for Shane, and Rawling okays it, even with the bad background surrounding the guy. It’s clear by the montage at the end of the episode that this is a plot for Vic to keep Shane under watch, and likely ultimately (and begrudgingly) to destroy him…
Whew. DRAMA! And puppy love. Scenes from the next episode show Shane in a not-very-good place. It just keeps getting more and more interesting.
