Whoops, Lost Track Of Time

Set out for the comic store today, amde it about 5 miles, then remembered Labor Day pushed new comics back to Thursday. Bugger.

. . .

So, how about that Shield season premiere?! I'm almost didn't watch, since I'm not sure how much of the season I'll get to watch after this week, but it was pointed out to me that at least this way I'd know what was going to be happening this season.

Spoilers below.

I went into this season figuring that it would pick up sometime after Vic used that file box full of blackmail material to get his reinstatement taken care of. If it had been one of the middle seasons, I think I would have been right. But since this is the last season, I guess they weren't going to wrap things up that neatly.

I think Ronnie's just about outta time. As much as it ought to be Shane and/or Vic - seeing as they're always the ones starting whatever the Strike Team is mixed up in - they both seem to have a knack for squeaking by. Vic thorugh his deviousness, Shane through, honestly, dumb luck, and boundless energy, really. He just runs around and keep strying different stuff, until he hits the combination that works. For about five minutes, then that blows up in his face, and away he goes. Where was I? Then again, I could also see Vic dying saving Ronnie, and probably Vic's family. I don't think that's real likely, but Vic's solution to helping Ronnie in that standoff between the cops and the Mexi enforcers seemed a bit over the top, even for Mackey.

Also, I think Aceveda might finally pull one over on Vic. First time for everything, right? They're dealing with politics, councilmen, businessmen, etc., and that's Aceveda's world. I seem to recall Vic tried his usual intimidation tactics last season, while trying to save his badge, but without success. It's different from what he's used to. Granted, Aceveda's never managed to pin Vic down before, but all he need do is string Mackey along. Convince Vic that they will deal with his reinstatement to keep him in line, then just let the clock run out and move forward. I suppose that could backfire on Aceveda, and he might just decide it's better to play it above board, but they have different ideas about what to do with those files, and that's going to cause problems.

Nice to see Dutch Boy is still clueless when it comes to women. Bravo to he and Wyms ruining Billings' plans, though. Of course, now they have Billings to deal with again, but I guess they're used to that.

I'm still not a big fan of the young cop, the girl that keeps making mistakes, because that seems to be all she's there for, is to keep screwing up. She's like Deputy Chief Dwayne Robinson from Die Hard, where everything he said was wrong, everything he did was wrong. Which worked fine there (for me anyway, I recall Ebert disliked the character), because it was part of the movie's humor. I'm not so sure it works on The Shield, a show not known for its laughs. Unless it's meant to be a commentary on people who get by on the job based on things other than how competent they are. They do have all kinds of characters, that take all kinds of approaches to their jobs, I guess that could be her niche.

With Vic and Shane stoking the fires between the Mexicans and the Armenians, I expect there's going to be a lot of graphic violence this season. I don't know if we'll have another "Vic beats a guy to death with a chain" moment, but there'll be something (assuming the corpse getting its feet chopped off wasn't graphic enough for you).