The Shield: Box-ing Day

It certainly wasn't the flashiest episode of "The Shield" you'll ever see, but I think last night's episode was the best of the season so far.

After a few weeks of slightly redundant plotting, we got some definite forward movement in the Mexican/Armenian gang war storyline, a fresh take on the Dutch/Billings dynamic (a case that didn't involve Billings being an ass for 90% of the time) and, most importantly, a pay off to the question as to why Laurie Holden's Agent Olivia Murray is even there. (Pretty soon, I'm expecting a pay off to all those lingering camera shots of an increasingly disapproving Ronnie.)

I'll start at the end first with the episode-ending revelation by Aceveda that Agent Murray is one of the people in Pezuela's blackmail box, which means Pezuela controls her. Of course, this is a problem because earlier in the episode, Vic asked Agt. Murray to check up on Armando Rios, one of Pezuela's most trusted guys.

Pezuela had burned down a building in Little Armenia (and a couple of Rezian's soldiers along with it) in his search for the blackmail box. Sensing he was overmatched, Rezian demanded a meeting with the Mexicans to tell them he didn't have the blackmail box. Since that wasn't likely to score him a meeting (that didn't involve him being shot), Rezian eventually decided to pretend he had the blackmail box, just so Pezuela would agree to the meet. The only problem is that Pezuela had no intention of going to the meeting himself, and sent Rios instead.

While I've loved watching Vic and his silver tongue improv his way out of impossible situations before, it was also very interesting watching him deal with all the curve balls coming at him (Rezian pretending he had the box when Vic knew he was lying, and Pezuela refusing to go to the meeting). The meeting between Rios' and Rezian's men was tense, especially when Rezian started acting all reasonable and convinced the Mexicans that he didn't have the box and would actually help them find it. I also liked the scene where Vic helped Rios escape arrest after Julien tracked him down (and Murray pretended not to be able too). It's too bad they waited so long to introduce the idea that Julien's do-gooderness seriously interferes with the Strike Team agenda.

Vic's next play was to go to Aceveda and convince him to get one of his colleagues to get an Armenian community project approved, so that it looked like the Armenians still had some sway over city officials. The poor sap chosen was the City Controller who had screwed Vic over last season, so I don't think too many people watching shed tears when the guy was gunned down by Pezuela's men.

Pezuela thinks he's sending a message to the Armenians that, if they use the blackmail box, the person who helps them will be killed. He still has no idea that Vic and Aceveda really have it (or does he, thanks to Agt. Murray?) While Vic doesn't want to play either side of the Mexican/Armenian conflict too strong, what I find disconcerting is that I get the feeling he sort of favors Pezuela, who has the power to let Vic keep his job, over Rezian, who has the power to keep Vic's family alive. Maybe it's because we see Shane dealing more directly with Rezian, or maybe it's because Pezuela seems a LOT smarter than Rezian, but I just feel like Vic seems a lot more worried about appeasing the Mexicans right now.

Then again, maybe Vic is just subconsciously over his family. Oh wait, maybe that's just me. Vic went and apologized to Cassidy for grabbing her too hard, but she refused to apologize for leaving her autistic brother alone and wandering in the street. Now, as you know, this blog doesn't condone violence against women (or children) at all, but I didn't feel like Vic had to apologize to Cassidy at all. All he did was grab her — and she was being an insufferable little bitch. If I sat around waiting for an apology for all the times my mom grabbed me hard, I'd be waiting for a long time.

Anyway, this storyline led the writers to a clever way of incorporating Danny into the show. I wasn't sure what she'd been doing since she'd apparently accepted Dutch's suggestion of more administrative work, so I thought having her receive an unexpected visit from Cassidy (who wanted to see her half brother) was a good way to include her. Catherine Dent played the scene (and the one where Corrine shows up to pick up Cassidy) perfectly too, with the right mix of politeness to her guests and the awkwardness the situation demanded. Despite what Cassidy told Danny she read about Vic (Terry Crowley's murder), having Danny go up to Vic and ask him to waive his parental rights sort of came out of nowhere. Then again, with a runaway teen in her house earlier, I can't say I blame her.

Finally, there was Dutch (pictured, left, and back in profiler mode) and the case Lloyd, the potential serial killer. Lloyd had shot and killed a classmate that had broken into his house during a presumed robbery attempt. The only problem is that Lloyd and his mom (Frances Fisher) had almost zero money, so Dutch eventually theorized that Lloyd had tricked his classmate into "robbing" his house just to be able to kill him.

For a show that's often intense and hard-hitting, I enjoyed the slow-burn of this storyline. We watched Dutch methodically work the boy and his mom. Lloyd's going to need a middle and last name if he's ever going to become a serial killer (maybe something like Lloyd Alan Kessler). Anyway, the kid was cool as a cucumber and didn't crack under the Dutch man's intense interrogation. While I loved this storyline, I would actually kind of prefer that they leave the question of whether Lloyd is a serial killer in training or not open — I think it's more chilling that way.

So what'd you think of this episode? Did we know that Vic was famous enough that his daughter could look up his exploits on the Internet? Do you think we'll see Lloyd again before the show ends? Finally, how do you think Vic is going to deal with Agt. Murray?