The Shield - Season 5 - 1/10/06

[Iguana Man]

Just a friendly reminder.

The Shield - Season 5

[limacharliewhiskey]

I'm late jumping onto the Shield bandwagon, as I've just recently started watching the Season 3 & 4 reruns that FX has been running in 3-to-4 hour blocks over the past couple of months.

Hope to watch Seasons 1 & 2 at some point so that I'll be fully caught up to understand everything in Season 5, which I've read that involve events that happened in Season 1.

[Iguana Man]

Anyone watch this last night?

I tivo'ed it and hope to watch it later.

Titelist?

[limacharliewhiskey]

Not me yet. I recorded it, as I'm halfway through Season 4, with 5 more episodes to go. I'll probably be caught up by the weekend, but I might continue recording the Shield for now, as I'm enjoying the Boston Legal episodes.

[Titleist]

Sorry I didn't comment on this earlier, yeah, of course I watched it. All I can say is that Vic better watch out, Forest Whitaker's character is a cold blooded shark. I won't dive too much into it till you guys have seen it.

But it's pretty good, doesn't seem to have lost it's edge. There's a school riot that's absolutely brutal, wait till you see Mackey grab a damn fire hose to keep the rioters off a car. Totally in badass form so far. Danny is also way pregnant in this episode, was it addressed last season that she was pregnant, maybe I missed that.

Other than that it was great across the board. Dug it, very cool. I look forward to seeing what you guys think.

p.s, is it just me or is Ronnie the guy on the strike team that does absolutley NOTHING. Except being burned, beaten, and just standing in the background in every episode.

[Iguana Man]

Originally Posted by Titleist

Danny is also way pregnant in this episode, was it addressed last season that she was pregnant, maybe I missed that.

I got short...no, long term memory loss so I don't know.

She's knocked up huh? Cool!

Thanks man!

[Lex M]

Originally Posted by Titleist

p.s, is it just me or is Ronnie the guy on the strike team that does absolutley NOTHING. Except being burned, beaten, and just standing in the background in every episode.

Ronnie RULES. He's been (wait for it) back-burnered a lot of the time, but with so much of this season apparently hinging on his pal Lem, he'll be around more. Plus it's a good sign that he's been moved up in the opening credits.

Good to see Lexian fave Paula Garces (CLOCKSTOPPERS, MAN OF THE HOUSE) as Julien's new partner.

"And so forth."

[Titleist]

I hope so, Lex, Ronnie seems like a cool character, and usually the quiet ones are cool characters, but he's like the Shield equivalent of a Red Shirt. I'd like to see him do more.

Paula Garces' character won't last a new york minute in Farmington, I hope they toughen her up a bit.

[Titleist]

Oh wow, tonights episode was fantastic. Normally when Vic and his team get out of trouble it can be contrived sometimes, but till the last part of the sting I was worried they'd get nailed. Anyone else catch this episode? I don't want to blab about it if no one has seen it.

Great episode, season 5 is as good as seasons 1,2,3, and 4. And the last bit with Cavanaugh, intense.

[Titleist]

Is no one watching this show? Last night's episode was intense, yeesh, give Forrest Whitaker the emmy right now. His performance with Gina Torres at the end was friggin crazy.

[MrMike]

I was watching the season until the last few weeks, but thankfully I have them taped. I just need to find time to watch them. This season seems great so far...last thing I remember seeing is Cavanaugh walking in just after Vic was threating the female informant.

[limacharliewhiskey]

I've been following it after finally watching all of Season 4, which was mighty important considering how much they refer to those episodes, and that was indeed a crazy episode. I've never been much of a Forest Whitaker fan over the years, as he's always played these calm, subdued characters, but he is fascinating to watch as Lt. Cavanaugh. Clearly the best and most memorable role I've seen him do in years, especially after I saw him in that cheesy Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai movie, which was ridiculous.

Gina Torres was great as his wife, playing a more fragile character than what I'm used to seeing her do. Seeing her in Firefly, then Serenity, the Matrix sequels, this character is so unlike those previous roles.

My only knock on the show is that we're seeing less of Walt Goggins as Shane Vendrell. He was great in season 4, but he's gotten a smaller role in season 5 as Vic and Cavanaugh butt heads for most of the screen time. That ending with Cavanaugh arresting Lem and shoving him in the cage with the rest of the prisoners was a "holy sh*t" moment for me.

The Shield rulez! I'm glad I finally caught on and started watching this show, even though I haven't seen seasons 1 & 2 yet.

[Titleist]

I'm not a huge Gina Torres fan, again but I'm also not a huge fan of Firefly either. But regardless how she played that character and how it totally reduced Cavanaugh to butter was great, then seeing the realization that Mackey and Lem were watching it in the observation room was one of those "OH SHIT" moments.

Plus his freak out which led to Lems arrest was insane. I felt bad since i tuned in at 8pm, we get the east coast feed, and the episodes are now running 5 minutes longer (probably to account for those horrible Black White promos). So I tuned in right at the "ARREST LEMANSKI" moment, which totally blew the episodes dramatic load.

But seeing how hard Vic has been pushing back against Cavanaugh I knew something like this was going to happen. I honestly thought they were gonna grease Amolia during the raid. Yeesh, that girl next to her, when she got stabbed...yikes.

Anyways, does anyone know how many episodes were up to this season? I'm guessing 9 since this month has the season finale. Man this show is great. Consistantly better year after year, although I'm missing Glenn Close a lot, damn was she awesome last year. Also seeing Antwoine back is friggin intense.

btw, as for Shane, I don't mind seeing less of him, he was such an utter fuck up that it's nice seeing Mackey reign things in again.

[limacharliewhiskey]

Originally Posted by Titleist

Anyways, does anyone know how many episodes were up to this season? I'm guessing 9 since this month has the season finale. Man this show is great. Consistantly better year after year, although I'm missing Glenn Close a lot, damn was she awesome last year. Also seeing Antwoine back is friggin intense.

The whole season is supposed to be 20 or 21 episodes, I forget exactly. FX is showing the first 11 (last night's was #8), then will go on a short hiatus where I read Michael Chiklis will be shooting Fantastic Four 2. Then afterwards, the rest of season 5 will air, probably during the summer or the fall.

[Titleist]

Interesting, I hope it's for the best, if BSG is any indication sometimes when you make a shorter season longer you get more filler eps. Filler eps = bad.

[limacharliewhiskey]

Wow. After last night's episode, all I can say is damnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn. That was a whole lotta shit going on in one episode, and the surprises just kept coming.

I'm glad I finally started watching the Shield, and I'm slowly working on catching up on the first 2 seasons.

[Titleist]

Yeah the last few minutes of revelation that Lem was gonna have to go on the run, and for the first real time Vic not knowing what to do was intense.

Plus Vic banging Kavanaugh's wife was insane, damn Vic.

I'm wondering how Claudette is going to deal with the strike team now that she's captain.

[Rileydog]

And, the way it ended and some preview clips for next week indicate maybe Kavanaugh goes off the deep end and forces / rapes / fucks Vic's ex-wife.

Question- if they are splitting season 5 into 2 parts, as stated earlier about 21 Episodes with 11 being the last one next week, then why do they call it a "season finale" if it is the halfway point of a full season?

I also am so glad the commercials with the "I'm a bad man" song in them got me interested in watching the show. I saw the little season 4 mini-catch-up marathon they had prior to the start of season 5 (Glen Close episodes), so I have in essence watched season 4 and 5.

But 5 is intense- every week something going down but no cheesy twists.
Compliment to the show is I think that the characters behave realistically for the most part, and what they do as cops, while morally questionable, I don't doubt actually goes on.

[Titleist]

I still think Dutch is the biggest douche bag in tv history.

[limacharliewhiskey]

Rileydog, there will be a Season 1 mini-marathon starting tonight through Sunday on Spike TV. From 9PM-12AM for the next 3 days, there will be 3 episodes per day, and then on Sunday, there will be 4 episodes from 9PM-1AM. This will cover all 13 episodes for season 1. I plan to record these and then watch them at my leisure after next week's finale. I think it'd be a good idea for us to see the event of Vic shooting this Detective Crawley that Season 5 is completely based around.

No word yet if there will be mini-marathons on seasons 2 or 3 later on.

I skipped watching the previews for next week's mid-season finale, but that last scene with Kavanaugh entering Corinne's front door looked very ominous.

The Shield has been so good that it's shot past all of my favorite network shows in rankings, and probably only falls behind Battlestar Galactica as my favorite show on TV right now.

[Titleist]

Originally Posted by limacharliewhiskey

The Shield has been so good that it's shot past all of my favorite network shows in rankings, and probably only falls behind Battlestar Galactica as my favorite show on TV right now.

Lima, you're a man after my own heart!

[limacharliewhiskey]

Originally Posted by Titleist

Lima, you're a man after my own heart!

Well, it did take me some time getting familiar with the vast number of characters in the Shield, and with most TV series, I wasn't that impressed in the beginning. I jumped in halfway through season 3, and it probably wasn't until halfway through season 4 when I really started to notice the quality acting and intricate storylines.

Season 5 really sealed the deal with me with Forest Whitaker, who has been absolutely wonderful. I've also happy to finally see the other half of the beautiful Mulholland Dr. ladies, Laura Harring, finally get a good TV role after some rather minor and forgettable movie roles. With her adding that Latino accent to her English-speaking voice, she really doesn't seem like the same actress who seduced Naomi Watts in Mulholland Dr.

[Titleist]

Wow I didn't even recognize her from Mullholand Drive.

[limacharliewhiskey]

Originally Posted by Titleist

Wow I didn't even recognize her from Mullholand Drive.

Yeah, I didn't recognize her until her 3rd episode appearance, and it was only because I noticed her name in the credits. It's the shorter hair, less glamorous makeup, and different voice she's using for the character that completely threw me off.

She hasn't quite had the same success as Naomi Watts since Mulholland Dr, so I'm glad to see her get a regular gig this season on the Shield.

[DiScOrD tHe LuNaTiC]

I thought that Glenn Close did a good job last year, but Forest Whitaker just blows her off the screen. This guy is fucking unbelievable. Whether or not they intended this to be the final season(which I doubt), they have with Whitaker a guy that you actually believe is a threat to Vic and the Team. It takes a damn fine actor to outshine Chiklis on this show, and Whitaker's matched him scene-for-scene. I love this constant game of one-upsmanship they're locked into.

And what's this about S5 being 20-21 eps? The seasons have all previously run 12-13, although I did think it was odd that this season is apparently only going to be 11(even though it'll be 90 minutes long)

--
And much of madness, and more of sin, and horror the soul of the plot.

[Rileydog]

Is it season 1?

Did they start season one with killing Pat Crowley?

I only ask cause I missed the first night, Wednesday, Tivo-ing it.
So, assuming they are in order I missed the 1st 3 episodes of season 1.

I got all 3 on Thursday and Friday.

I watched the next 4 of them in order and they already had Crowley killed.
The storyline focus' on the black cop and his gay lover, reporting
kilos he saw Vic's guys take to Acevedo and IAD, a serial killer of young girls and a cherry poppers porno ring / whorehouse, Vic finding out his kid has Autism.

[Titleist]

Yes, Crowley gets shot and killed at the end of the first episode, it's amazing how everything is coming around finally, as the Crowley aspect sort of faded into the background as the seasons went on.