The Shield: I.C.E. Work If You Can Get It

Was there every any doubt which way Mara would go in the final scene of last night's great episode?

I detailed in this very space last week that one of the main differences between Shane and Vic is that Shane hasn't totally alienated himself from his family the way Vic has. Of course, you can say Shane including his family in his dirty dealings and making his wife and young son fugitives isn't exactly the most honorable thing in the world either. Still, we saw his decision pay off as Mara displayed her undying (maybe a poor choice of word given that there are only three episodes left) loyalty to him.

But we'll get to that a little later, since there's so much good stuff to talk about.

I want to talk about Ronnie, who announced early on in last night's episode that he was going to call in sick to the Barn and run all the way to Mexico and suggested Vic do the same. Never has such a sensible suggestion (Ronnie's always been the sensible one) come across as a punch to the gut. I mean, Len's death was obviously HUGE, as was Shane running away from the Barn for the last time, but Vic and Ronnie splitting up would officially be the end of the Strike Team.

Of course, Vic did that Mackey thing he does and convinced Ronnie to give him a few days to track down Shane (they'd resorted to bribing gangbangers) and parlay his I.C.E. work into federal badges for them (yeah right!) By the time Shane and Mara barely survived a tense encounter with one of the greedy bangers Vic bribed and Shane demanded that Vic replace the $100,000, Ronnie had an "I should have run" look on his plastered on his face.

I touched on it briefly, but I also want to talk about the I.C.E. angle, which became considerably more interesting last night. Vic's influence in the investigation has diminished considerably ever since he lost his badge, so Aceveda has been the feds' go-to guy.

When Vic met up with Aceveda (pictured, right, with Vic) and asked him to step aside because the involvement of cartel guy Beltran was making things too dangerous, it was clear that he was trying to get inside Aceveda's head. After Aceveda beat Pezuela up in a realistic, but curiously funny fight, I thought that Vic's plan had been to question Aceveda's manhood and get him to act up so that Pezuela or the cartel would eliminate him. It turns out even Vic's not that cold as he warned Aceveda that behavior could get him killed.

In the end, Vic went directly to Beltran, who asked Vic to kill the underperforming Pezuela. Instead, Vic kidnapped Pezuela and chained him to Agt. Murray and convinced Beltran that he'd committed the murder in the hopes of gaining Beltran's trust. I get that Vic still has an eye on the future (Vic's knack for always having an "exit strategy" was brought up), but I don't see how this helps him catch Shane.

He'd better get to it fast because the dynamite team of Claudutch is on the case. After meeting with Corrine, they learned about how Vic had used Corrine to try to kill Shane and Mara. They bugged the telephone in Corrine's house to listen in on Corrine and Mara's conversation, leading to the great scene where Vic unexpectedly showed up in case Shane and Mara called (he's supposed to be under the impression they were done calling) and handled the phone while Dutch and Claudette were on the other end.

By the way, this would be a good time to mention that Cathy Cahlin Ryan has been acting her ass off over the last few weeks and her work should erase any talk that she's ONLY on the show because her husband happens to be "Shield" creator Shawn Ryan.

She's been almost as good as Michele Hicks as Mara.

We first saw her looking serene (for possibly the first time) during a late-night skinny dip before she was joined by her husband. That serenity carried over to most of the episode as the Vendrell's played house, danced (Shane plays piano?) and got a preview of what they're life could be like. Of course, that was before that nosy real estate agent showed up, Shane and Mara's clever cover-up attempt failed, and the family had to run again.

After getting jacked of their money (and their dream house off the coast in Colombia) Mara made the call to Corrine. Claudette boldly stepped in and offered Mara immunity if she turned herself in, though she couldn't offer the same immunity to Shane.

Mara listened to Claudette's proposal and appeared to seriously consider it before letting her husband know that Corrine was working with the police. She obviously cares about her kids and Claudette's suggestion would be the best thing for them. What I love about Hicks' performance (in this episode and over the course of the series) is that, to me at least, there was never any moment where I thought she would turn on Shane. And it's not that Mara didn't consider it (she certainly appeared to), but it's more like that character is utterly incapable of turning on him. The end of this episode was great and I can't wait till next week.

So what'd you think of this episode? Are you liking the temporary pairing of Billings and his "man crush" Ronnie? (I know I am.) What exactly is Shane waiting for by hanging around in L.A. for what seems like too long? Finally, what do you think will happen next week during the money exchange teased in the previews?