We open with Julian and the other uniform cops confronting Monica about the DEA deal with Antoine Mitchell. She’s doing everything she can to keep them calm about Aceveda’s involvement. The seizures are under review, yes, but Monica tries to rally anyway.
Heading straight into the Strike Team’s room, she states her case: she wants to undermine the DEA deal off the books.
Julian visits Danny at the hospital and she wakes to find him saying a prayer for her.
During the initial investigation of Aceveda’s involvement, the Strike Team guys find out about Aceveda’s visit to Juan Lozano at the county pen. Oh, and wouldn’t you know it, Juan was killed not too terribly long afterward.
Vic visits Aceveda regarding Juan Lozano. Vic runs through his history with Juan, including the shootout at the convenience store, up to and including Juan’s death via barbell. Aceveda rationalizes that Juan was going after Antoine to get back his juice.
We see Antoine talking to the DEA, just pouring his little heart out about the Salvadorans. Monica stops by with the rest of the files from the barn. She voices her dissatisfaction with the situation, but mentions that Antoine’s deal is only good if his information leads to arrests and convictions, right? I see a twinkle in the captain’s eye.
BLAH BLAH BLAH YEAH! DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOOO! THE SHIELD THEME!
(Hey, I won’t get to do that again until next year — let me sing along, dammit.)
It looks like a guy named Bonilla is Antoine’s biggest shake, the biggest fish in the Salvadoran pond. Monica leaks it to the Strike Team guys and lets them run with it. They head straight to Guzano, who tells them to check out a flower store. Lem stays behind while they follow the lead.
Dutch and Claudette chit chat as Dutch is more than proud that he stood up for himself (albeit in quite the immature manner) as all of the bullshit pranks have ended. They come upon their case: the father of a 15-year-old girl was shot at her quinceanera. Apparently, her boyfriend showed up; her papi didn’t approve and wanted him to leave. The guy her boyfriend was with is the one that shot him and the two of them took off. The girl, however, refuses to give him up.
At the flower shop, Vic finds tar pretty much immediately. However, these are mexicans and not Salvadorans, which means Guzano just had them bust his competition. Vic gets on the phone to Lem and shit starts getting out of control at Guzano’s; shots are fired, Lem finds himself having to take on three guys. After a tussle, they’re holding Lem’s shotgun on him and he’s fighting not to get shot. He gets his gun back and bitch-whips the guy who was aiming at him. He’s okay, he took down two of the guys all on his own, but Guzano escaped.
Vic is looking for info on how to find Bonilla and thinks of his CI, the girl he helped earlier escape from Guzano’s wrath. She mentions she was friends with Guzano’s girlfriend and even babysat for them on occasion. They head to the house of the girlfriend where they find directions to a clothing store.
Dutch continues to talk to the girl whose father was shot. After much conversation and coaxing, she eventually gives up a name, Miguel. He’s a bad seed, she says, nothing like her boyfriend.
In the clothing store, Vic and pals bust in to find Guzano in the back. Lem gets some beautiful, beautiful street justice and busts up his face.
Guzano is taken to interrogation regarding the fact that he is now up for attempted murder of a cop if he doesn’t cooperate naming this Bonilla character. Guzano instead points to the returned drug stash he got after Lem had confiscated it from one of his running boys; sorry, it wasn’t good. He’s saying it wasn’t the stash at all — it was fake.
Vic speaks with Aceveda again and claims that there’s no connection as Juan died before the deal with Antoine was done and that would severely f*ck up Antoine’s chances of getting the deal. Aceveda still won’t budge. Vic relents and tells Aceveda about the unauthorized investigation going on; Aceveda again claims he has nothing to hide and will help where he can.
COMMERCIAL BREAK! Mmmm, Bombay Sapphire.
We’re back with Guzano as Vic and Ronnie play around, explaining how they cracked his complex cell phone code (subtracting one number from each digit, how tricky!). Vic begins calling everyone on his list to tell them who he is and telling them how much Guzano loves to talk. Guzano cracks and goes on and on about how Bonilla likes music. He points them to a club where Vic and the rest of the Strike Team go to watch for him; it’s noted that Bonilla likes the girls, as he’s surrounded by damn near an entourage of ’em.
Miguel, the kid from the quinceanera shooting, is picked up. Lo and behold, he was in foster care at the same house from earlier this season where a girl was found after being raped and forced to drink Drano. The kid was selling prescription drugs out of the house as well.
Julian visits Danny at the hospital again; Danny thanks him for continuing to come by.
Monica confronts the chick from child services about the foster home; their licence was supposed to have been revoked, but apparently they appealed and are continuing to house kids in the meantime. She says she’s seizing their house.
Dutch and Wyms discuss Monica hanging herself and how she’ll inevitably be ousted. Dutch of course thinks Claudette should be the one approached to take over, but she knows that will never happen. She says they’re looking for some company yesman jellyfish to do the job.
Vic and pals happen to catch one of Bonilla’s girls who went next door to a drug store. They, of course, want info on Bonilla. They attempt to take her down and she vomits blood — she says she has an ulcer and knows it’s going to kill her. Vic offers her medical treatment and protection in exchange for information. She mentions that Bonilla keeps talking about “La Cueva,” whatever that is. Vic has Guzano call Bonilla to tip him off that the feds are on to him, and meanwhile, Vic and pals follow to the source. Looking to move in, they’re seen by a spotter and shots are fired. It’s a BIG GUN FIGHT, but Vic takes down Bonilla. His lackeys try burning everything, but the Strike Team nabs every last one of the guys and puts out the fires.
COMMERCIAL BREAK! We need a break after that madness.
Monica is on the scene after the sting, explaining that this was just a routine investigation that just happened to nab the guy that Antoine was using for leverage and that she needs to bring him in for attempted murder. And yes, she says she wants Antoine back now that his deal just went to shit.
Monica’s next stop is to seize the foster house. Vic actually tells her to cool it and not jeopardize the future of the seizures, but she says she’s on a roll and this needs to be done. On the scene of the seizure, Monica is talking to the child services chick again. Rawling says this isn’t about shutting down a single home, it’s about not putting up with this type of shit anymore.
Corrine comes by Vic’s apartment to pick up Cassidy; turns out the Little Mackey Girl was there with a boy named Evan. She claims they were studying, but where are the books? Oh honey, you’re only 11 years old, eek!
Vic talks to Cassidy and says that of course she’s not allowed to have boys over while nobody else is there. She says that Evan is cool like her dad, and he doesn’t take shit from anyone. Vic immediately feels the sting and says that honesty and trust are far more important than being a badass. But Cassidy responds by saying that her mom just doesn’t understand her — or Vic.
Monica meets with the assistant chief and Aceveda. She immediately starts to defend the seizure of the foster home and the seizures in general, but this isn’t about that. Apparently the DEA is pissed that she undermined them and is on the horn to the mayor, threatening to pull federal funds. The DEA doesn’t want Monica’s apology either — they want her job, and now so does the mayor. The chief acted on his request. Aceveda says that he got Mitchell handed back over to her, but he can’t fight for her anymore. Monica is upset that everything in Farmington is better under her watch, but nobody will fight for her. She fought hard against cop killers, yet no other cops are willing to fight for her? She’s met with silence.
Monica is then summoned to met with the IAD guy who says he knows things going on with the Strike Team guys are definitely fishy. He brings out his CI, who happens to be the girl who Vic was using as a CI and protecting from Guzano. The IAD guy retells the story of the tar that Lem confiscated and later replaced with bunk material. Monica says that she just lost her job and now it’s someone else’s problem.
COMMERCIAL! The final commercial. Oh, I’ll miss them so.
Monica is back at the barn cleaning up her desk. Vic asks if she’s going to fight, but she won’t appeal. She hands over the badges of the two cops that were killed; she had them framed and wants them displayed. The chief then sends over two cops to escort her out of the building, but everyone demands they wait until after Antoine is brought in so that she can arrest him herself.
Vic talks to Corrine and suggests that Cassidy would be better off if she moved back in with her. Antoine is seen in the background being remanded into custody.
Antoine enters the building with a sneer on his face and stares down Shane, who doesn’t flinch. Monica calls Antoine by name and lays out the arrest for the cop killings. Vic stares down Antoine, and Shane once again stares down Antoine. Claudette watches the entire scene from above.
Monica heads home with her things, and Vic helps her carry things in. She’s going to continue staying in Farmington. Vic gives his goodbyes, and Monica wants to know what will happen with him now. She asks if he wonders how it will all end up for him and wants him to take a good look at where he’s going and to take care of himself. He wishes her good luck.
She locks the door behind him and begins to cry.
Back at the barn, the assistant chief takes Dutch aside and wants him to take over as interim captain. Dutch turns it down, saying that if they think he’s the kind of guy they’re looking for, they made a mistake. As he exits, Claudette asks what that conversation was all about; he tells her he was offered the position as company yesman jellyfish and told ’em to shove it.
Vic invites Dutch and Claudette, along with the entire rest of the barn, out for drinks to celebrate the vindication and conviction for the cop killings and Antoine’s capture. And they do show up, as do damn near everyone else who ever stepped foot into the barn, including Danny with Julian. Everyone is having a great time and they pause to toast to the fallen policemen.
Monica is shown sitting alone at home.
Back at the bar, it’s comraderie for days. Everyone is getting along and it looks like although the future is uncertain as to how the barn is going to be run, things are alright in this crazy police house.
THE END!! STAY TUNED FOR SEASON 5, COMING IN 2006!
And so we end on sort of a high note, aside from the loss of Captain Rawling. The only real loose end left hanging is the guy from IAD who wants to look into Lem’s activities. So, the next season could head in any damned direction. Perfect, as this makes it easier for new people to watch the show and get sucked in regardless of missing prior seasons.
Until next year, guess you’ll just have to read my music columns.
Dreaming of Mackeysex,
–gloomchen
