Rated M, LSV!! THE S IS BACK, BABY!!
Vic’s a-drivin’. He’s in about as much deep thought as he was when we left him last episode, wandering the streets of Farmington. He arrives at a house occupied by Captain Rawling; yep, she’s movin’ into the hood. She discusses again with Vic why he needs to step out of the limelight, and hopes that he will work with her, not above or around her.
Back at the barn, Vic, Ronnie, and Lem discuss the situation with Shane. Shane and Army were currently off the grid, and Ronnie and Lem are somewhat freaking about what Vic plans to do about the hit on him. Vic’s not worried.
Aceveda is back, and he’s back with his ho, Sarah. She’s changed to a cheap blonde color that looks as awful as when Sarah Jessica Parker was doing those godawful home hair dye ads. Aceveda is all, awww yeah, it’s condom time. But Sarah is all, awww no, my sister needs me, we can’t do this now. Back in his car, Aceveda notes an older fat guy is apparently Sarah’s sister. He gets the plate.
It’s a murder! It’s a CI! That’s no good. He was helpful in one of the seizure cases. There’s a distinct smell that there’s a connection…
…which leads Vic to visit Antoine Mitchell through his magically broken front door. Vic asks about him having hits on CIs while Antoine begs off. Vic gives him a stern warning to behave, mister.
IT’S THE SHIELD! BLAH BLAH BLAAHAHHHAHYELLINGINTROSONG!
Seems there’s a “ghetto internal memo” about CIs. Monica mentions calling in IAD to find the department leak, but Vic wants the chance to find it first. Monica’s first priority, however, is solving the murder.
Vic talks to Ronnie and Lem, still looking to protect Shane. Vic has his cell phone and gives it to the other guys. They honestly just want to end this, but Vic doesn’t want them to get his back.
It’s another meeting between Antoine and Shane. He wants Vic dead tonight, or Shane can take his place.
MORE MURDER! This time, it’s a high school teacher. He’s not a CI, but the murder was done the same way as the last. They pick up a teen who has some criminal problems, but he claims the teacher wasn’t a rat. We’re referred to word from Spook Street, in particular, a mother in protection who may have information.
Vic stops Monica long enough to hint around that Aceveda’s office is a potential new place for leaks. Smooth.
Interviewing the gang mama, she won’t give up her own. She’ll give up the rival 1-9ers, but not Spook Street.
Dutch and Claudette arrive at a convenience store where the clerk was beaten and robbed, while a customer dialed 911 and got him help. Unrelated but notable, Dutch seems particularly distracted and uninterested in the entire case.
Aceveda is at the barn, and stops to tell Julian that he’s glad he stood up for himself. In the meantime, old buddy old pal, will you run this plate number? It’s from a little fender bender my wife was in. (Of course this wouldn’t possibly be any other plate number. For any other reason. No sirree bob.)
Aceveda then meets with Captain Rawling, who explains the leak issue with him and dances around the idea that the leak could be from his end. He’s indignant, and gets even more indignant when he finds IAD wasn’t called on her own house first. He wants the IAD on Vic, pronto.
Danny talks to the Spook Street chick, offering to get her out of town since there’s no future for her and her child aside from gang life in Farmington. Eventually, she talks, and mentions a guy named Skitch doing branding for the gang who may be able to help.
Wyms and Wagenbach interview another convenience store clerk after he recognizes the police sketch of the beating suspect. He says the guy comes in to buy “looseys,” (aka individual cigarettes from a pack). As they leave, Dutch notices a particular guy who seems to be waiting outside for them to leave. They pull away and he heads inside; Dutch stops and heads back to the window. The guy inside fills a cup of coffee and Dutch recognizes the MO. He opens the door, the guy throws his coffee at him, but that Wagenbach, he’s quick like a grasshopper and soon he’s snatching pebbles from his hand — on the floor in cuffs, anyway. Eh, if you can’t grab the beating suspect, might as well close an older case, right? WHAT? YOU FORGOT ABOUT THE COFFEE BANDIT? Shame on you.
Vic takes Danny along to go visit Skitch. It doesn’t take much “prodding” (ha ha because he threatened him with a branding iron, I’m so damn clever) to give up a couple of names. Back at the barn, Monica rallies the troops to round up the guys, but Vic can’t be the arresting officer due to the situation. All alone, he’s all manly and hits stuff.
COMMERCIALS!@
It’s time to go bust the bad guys. Conveniently, as they pull him out of his car, the murder weapon is right inside on the seat. In interrogation, he’s forthright with the fact that he doesn’t like snitches and is proud that he’s taking them out. But what about the teacher, he’s asked? He’s a snitch, he insists. That’s what he was told. But he’s not a snitch. YOU GOT PLAYED, FOOL! So he gives up the name of some chick, Tracy, who gave him the info.
Wyms and Wagenbach talk to the coffee bandit. As Dutch starts to celebrate the genius of the crime, the guy gets all flattered and starts carrying on about how proud he was of his great idea. Gee, that was a rough confession. Time to go find the gas station beating dude.
Aceveda is back with his lil’ tramp Sarah, and she’s not happy that he just decided to randomly show up. He mentions the name of Rosetti, the client of hers who took precedence over Aceveda the other day. Aceveda threatened to call the dogs on him… Sarah claimed she’d make some calls to David’s wife… what does he want? Aceveda does not want to come second to anyone. Ahahahaha, that’s dirty.
Corrine stops by the station to talk to Vic but runs into Dutch first; she invites him out to celebrate his latest arrest. EVIL! Anyway, Corrine and Vic talk: apparently, Megan isn’t eligible for some fancy clinical trial program that could help her autism because the sponsors happen to be the people they’re involved in the class action lawsuit against. They have to make a choice: pursue the cashola for Matthew’s benefit, or pursue a possible future for Megan with this clinical trial. Vic’s response? “I’ll take care of it.”
Shane and Army head out and pick up Antoine’s right-hand man for conversation. They attempt to talk him into offing Antoine so he can take over as head of the 1-9ers; apparently Shane has been working with the Los Mags behind the scenes that they would partner up if Antoine was out of the picture. And with Antoine out of the picture, Rawling would back off, the injunctions would fade, and business would go back to usual. However, during this conversation, the hit on Vic comes up and Army freaks the f*ck out; he pulls his gun. The guy insists he’s not going to do this job on Antoine, period. Army freaks out even more and pulls a Vincent/Marvin, shooting him. Time to head to Mickey D’s for a royale with cheese.
COMMERCIALS! Someone’s gotta fund this fun, right?
It’s the fun part now where Shane and Army need to figure out what the hell to do with this dude bleeding away in their car. Shane wants the location of Angie’s body.
Tracy, the chicky from the drill team with a big mouth, is in interrogation with Monica. The girl is mouthing off about everyone in the universe with full knowledge that people on the streets are angry and may be looking for turnabout to stop the seizures. Monica is angry and books her for conspiracy to commit murder and reckless endangerment. Vic impresses to Monica that these are bullshit charges that won’t stick, but she’s pissed and wants change. You know what? She’s gonna stay in the hood. Refusing any assistance or increased protection, Vic quietly slips her address to some of the regular duty officers to keep a sideways eye on her.
Danny approaches Vic. It’s been a rough day, wanna go out for a beer? Nah, got stuff with the kids and a stakeout. Well how about company on the stakeout? Hmmmm, okay, sure.
Shane and Army are still dealing with their guy who isn’t doing too well, what with bleeding everywhere and stuff. He gives up the location of the body — hidden under a porta potty. Yum! This further pisses off Shane, who promptly dumps him from the car and gives him a message for Antoine that he is DONE dealing with him and that everything is off.
Sarah is shown with Rosetti coming to her door again, and she turned him away. Apparently, that turned Aceveda on. So he runs up and goes for the BUTTSEX! The best part is her completely laughable, unenthusiastic hooker-speak. “Oh, you’re so big.”
Dutch is called outside with a guy who wants to talk to him about the gas station beating. He’s the guy. He’s turning himself in. The clerk wouldn’t bust open a pack for him and his NIC FIT caused him to flip out. He then stole the smokes and left. But Dutch mentions, and the $300 from the register? No, the guy says. Just the smokes. He was only after that sweet, sweet tobbaccy.
A member of IAD visits with Monica, and she places him with the gang unit. Her intent is to prove that Vic is a-ok.
Vic visits Corrine and leaves her a phat backpack full of cash. This way, Megan can get into the clinical trial, and they can drop the civil suit without missing out on having future money for Matthew’s education and treatment. He wants to say goodnight to the kids, and Corrine notices how unbelievably… final… he seems to be about it.
COMMERCIALS… time to get my laundry out of the washer…
Danny is with Vic on his stakeout, which appears to be watching Captain Rawling at her new abode. Danny is all, blah blah blah, and Vic is pretty quiet. She’s trying to thank him for getting her added to the drug task force. He’s still vacant. Danny finally cuts to the chase and kisses him. That’s all he needed, and the Mackeysex is ON as they start gettin’ down right in the front seat of the vehicle. I am the happiest girl alive.
Dutch and Claudette are with the original witness who called 911 on the gas station beating. They cut to the chase pretty quickly, telling him he’s a terrible liar and that they know he took the money. He caved in like an igloo in the desert. He’s sorry, he says. No, Dutch says, you’re sorry you got caught. You could’ve turned yourself in. The guy sneers, “Who would do that?”
Ronnie and Lem are all alone, freaking the f*ck out; Shane comes in looking for Vic and gets his cell phone back. He leaves and there’s more freaking going on, but Ronnie insists that Vic doesn’t want backup and that they should let him go.
And it’s that all-important last five minutes of the episode…
Vic gets a call from Shane who says he wants help with something and to meet him alone. Down by the railroad tracks, the two convene with little more than the edges of headlights to guide them. Shane starts to talk, but Vic pulls his gun. Shane wants to explain and starts babbling at full speed; about the situation with Angie, about bluffing to Antoine about the hit to buy him some time, about their shooting earlier in the day, about needing help getting the body, and knowing that now Antoine is going to want him dead. He wants Vic’s help. Vic puts down his gun.
To Shane: “You’ve got one shot. Take it.”
Shane starts babbling again. No. He would never let some bullshit get between them, make him turn against him. That triggers Vic to pull his gun again, and now Shane is basically begging for Vic’s help. Ever so slowly, the gravity of the entire situation sinks in, and Vic pulls back…
STAY TUNED FOR SCENES OF THE NEXT ‘SHIELD’…
Unfortunately, it seems it will be two weeks before the next episode. Sigh. And tonight marked the season’s halfway point as well.
This episode, in a nutshell? Aceveda’s back to being creepy and nuts, Vic’s gettin’ it on, and we have ourselves a Pulp Fiction moment; had there been some good Dutch jokes, I would call it the consummate episode. Excellent stuff.
Catch you next time, the night before my birthday.
–gloomchen
