The Shield: Deathtrap

Last night's episode of "The Shield" wasn't just the best episode of this season, but it was the best episode since Shane decided the best thing for himself and his Strike Teammates would be to blow up one of their friends. (I'd also argue it's in the top 3 non-season finale "Shield" episodes.)

It makes sense that "The Shield" would hit such a high with this episode, since much of it was devoted to Vic and Ronnie honoring their vow to get Lem's killer. As the hour progressed, and Shane (pictured, right) inched closer to Vic and Ronnie's trap, I honestly had NO idea what was going to happen. I could see a scenario where Shane was murdered (even with more than a handful of episodes left in the show's run). I could also easily see Shane surviving unscathed, or being seriously injured in a gun fight. I repeat: I had NO IDEA WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN. And I loved it!

The plan was spurred on by Aceveda announcing he was turning the blackmail box into Justice. With the blackmail box out of play, Vic would no longer have any sway over the Armenians or over Pezuela and the Mexicans. Aceveda gave him an extra day to tie up his loose ends and bust Pezuela on a more serious charge than would come from the blackmail box.

Now we've definitely seen Vic improvise complicated plans and set-ups in a short amount of time before, but even this one was a doozy. This time, the idea was to eliminate the Armenians by telling them a fictitious group of Mexicans wanted to sell them the blackmail box for $100,000, but instead sending a Pezuela hit squad led by Armando Rios to kill them. They would also kill Shane (who would be with the Armenians to help broker the deal), eliminate the top Armenian brass (anyone who might be a threat to Vic's family), and keep the Armenians' $100,000 (what's a Vic Mackey plan if he can't get some $ in return).

Of course, Vic wasn't counting on the few curveballs that came his way. The least interesting of which was Agt. Murray's desire to turn herself in so Pezuela would no longer have any influence over her. Pezuela's people asked her to get Rios and his men out of the country after they took the Armenians out and Vic convinced her not to do it. To be honest, I didn't really care and instead worried that my prediction about Vic sleeping with her might not come true. I was actually more interested in Vic's family drama this week, since it turned out Corrine was popping downers to deal with bad girl Cassidy (and autistic Matthew, who is suddenly invisible). The irony of Vic questioning Corrine's parenting skills was completely lost on him.

More interesting was the reappearance of the last person I expected to see again (other than Lem, of course). Tavon, the former Strike Team member who was hospitalized after one of the fiercest fictional brawls EVER with Shane, returned to get his help. He needed Shane's cooperation because of Shane's rapport with a 16-year-old girl who was going to help them catch a murderer, but it turns out he was really there to tell Shane that he knew the truth about their fight — Tavon hadn't hit Shane's wife Mara and instead had been hit by Mara in the head by a golf club.

Besides the fact that Tavon's reappearance left a dangling plot thread that will probably be resolved soon (nothing happened after Tavon's confrontation), I liked it because his interactions with the girl allowed us to see a softer side of Shane, and that side that IS a good cop.

More importantly, Vic saw that side and had a crisis of conscience. He tried to back out of killing a close friend ("I'm not Shane"), but I was most struck by how ice cold Ronnie was in his insistence to go through with the plan. In the end, Shane survived because he was fortunate enough to leave the warehouse a few minutes before the Armenians were executed. However, the entire sequence was one of the most wonderfully tense few minutes on television in a while.

Of course, the best twist came at the end when Shane revealed to Mara that he'd figured out that Vic and Ronnie had set him up to be killed. Walton Goggins played this scene with the right mix of subtle anger and hurt feelings. Shane had an uneasy alliance with Vic and Ronnie the last few weeks, but that's out the window now, so it's going to be fascinating to watch them interact from here on out. I also liked that Shane found a way to get away with the money, which is totally a Vic move. That right there underscores how similar Vic and Shane really are, no matter what Vic might say.

The main Vic/Shane storyline was so strong in this episode that it made everything else look relatively weak.

I was a little disappointed to see Dutch and Billings revert to Dutch working on his own and Billings not giving a damn mode (no matter how funny he is). Dutch was working on a case of a sleepwalker who'd apparently committed a murder. I WAS excited to see Dutch and Claudette team up since Billings was more preoccupied with his lawsuit. However, their scenes together didn't really crackle. In fact, my favorite Claudette scene was when she tore Ronnie a new one for being a puppet leader for the Strike Team.

Despite Dutch not having his best storyline last night, it DID yield some interesting forward movement. After it turned out that sleepwalker guy was innocent, but still killed himself because Claudutch convinced him he'd committed murder, Dutch had a heart-to-heart with Billings, in which he implored his new partner to challenge him so he doesn't become indulgent in the way Dutch does when he starts to feel particularly smart. We'll see if Billings steps up next week.

So what'd you think of this episode? Did you think Shane was a goner? Will we see Tavon again, and will he have a hand in getting Shane? Finally, when will Vic and Ronnie find out that Shane is on to them?