The Shield: Serious Finale

I'm sad.

After I finished watching last night's 90-minute (plus commercials) series finale, I was actually surprised by how sad I felt.

I've seen every episode of this show, so I obviously wasn't expecting any sort of lighthearted finale that ended with something like Vic and Shane high-fiving each other and then driving off together to watch "The Day the Earth Stood Still". (Think you've got enough commercials for that one, FX?)

I also wasn't expecting a "crowd-pleasing" finale, because there's just no such thing. Ok, maybe there is for "Sex and the City" and "Friends" fans, but not for a show like "The Shield" where so many of the central characters have done truly deplorable things. They don't exactly get to ride off into the sunset, but we may not necessarily want to see them catch a bullet either.

Of course, part of the sadness is the fact that I'd just finished watching the final original episode of one of the best show's of the decade, one of the best cop shows ever, and the most consistently excellent and underappreciated drama in the last 20 years. ("The Wire" doesn't count because people talked about how it was underappreciated all the time — most of the time people don't even remember to forget about "The Shield.")

Still, the main reason I was sad was because, as the series finale progressed, it became increasingly clear where each character was headed, and almost all the results were tragic. We knew there was no way Shane and Mara would go to jail, we knew Claudette would die before she would be able to arrest Vic and we knew that Vic — well, we'll talk about him a little later. Whereas other episodes this season have been packed with tense "wow" scenes and moments, the series finale was packed with incredibly tense moments of dread, where you just kept waiting for something terrible to happen. (I'm sure the guy who got bit in the face by the snake would disagree with me that there weren't as many "wow" moments in the finale.)

Let's just get the minor complaints out of the way. I don't have any problem with Andre Benjamin's performance as Robert Huggins, the comic book store owner from a few seasons ago who was sick of the crime in his neighborhood and decided to run for mayor. In fact, I thought he was pretty great and I understand that the show wanted to reiterate its commentary on the relationship between the cities, police departments and the "prison complex."

I just selfishly wish some of his screen time had been devoted to Danny — really a glorified extra these days — or that Julien had more to do than longingly glance at a happy, openly gay couple. These two were a major part of the show at the start, but by the end only uttered a few lines per episode. I know some people out there were hoping for an appearance from Antwan Mitchell, Monica Rawlings or Jon Kavanaugh, but I commend creator Shawn Ryan for not going for a big splash return of a major character from the past (although he did slip it in over the closing credits mini music video). Fitting them into the story wouldn't have worked organically and I guess the same can be said for the likes of Danny, Julien and Tina (though Tina isn't a huge loss).

However, there were more pressing matters to get to for our main characters. Vic had to broker the Beltran bust, Corinne had to get herself into witness protection (I liked the "he's got his whole life to figure out what I did to him" line), Dutch had to try one more time to get Lloyd and Shane had to reach the destination he's been heading towards for a long time.

I've already talked, at length, about how much Walton Goggins deserves an Emmy for his performance as Shane, so I won't bore you with that. Though the Vendrells have been inching toward their tragic demise for a long time now, it was still heartbreaking to see the moment where Shane realized that he couldn't save Mara or Jackson (the dirty old man/druggie already knew he couldn't save himself).

The couple had returned home and, with Mara in agonizing pain, their current situation was pretty much the exact opposite of the idyllic scene from a few weeks ago with Shane playing piano and Mara and Jackson dancing while they were on the run. As a result, it's no great shock that Shane would want a little piece and serenity for his loved ones, but watching him blow his brains out in the middle of his surprisingly eloquent suicide note and seeing Mara and Jackson peacefully lying in bed was still jaw-droppingly awful. Still, as Shane would undoubtedly point out, he died with his loved ones nearby.

In contrast, Vic didn't even realize he was seeing his family for the last time, in what was probably one of the finale's more underrated scenes. Cathy Cahlin Ryan played this perfectly. Corinne knew she wasn't going to see Vic — a HUGE part of her life — ever again and the kids would never see their father again, but she couldn't show even a hint of those emotions, Ryan still had to convey said emotions for the audience.

At least one of my finale wishes came true. Dutch didn't get shot by Lloyd. Instead, the budding serial killer appears to have framed Dutch for the murder of his mom. I thoroughly enjoyed the ambiguous ending to this storyline over a cut-and-dry "Dutch gets Lloyd" or "Lloyd kills Dutch" resolution. We know Dutch has dark impulses (RIP strangled alley cat) and we also know that Lloyd is just not right in the head, so a case can be made for either scenario (though Claudette's confidence near the end seemed to suggest they had something). Heck, Rita may even still be alive — as Claudette said, "no body, no murder."

Another thing I loved was the generous amount of screen time given to CCH Pounder last night. The scene where she tells an in-denial Dutch that she's dying was unsentimental, yet touching, and her one-sided conversation with Mackey in the interrogation room was fantastic. (Chiklis also gave a master class in acting without dialogue in this episode.)

In fact, Vic just seemed to be out of words by the end of the episode. It appeared that he'd used up all his lies, excuses and justification by the time he ended up in an awkward-looking suit and tie, listening to the oppressive drone of the I.C.E. office he worked at.

He should maybe consider himself a bit lucky for even getting that. The first drug bust with Beltran didn't pan out when the heavy hitter declined to show up, so Vic and Ronnie set about finding him and the drugs and delivering the huge bust I.C.E. wanted (though I DID enjoy how completely disgusted Agt. Murray continued to be with Vic.)

Of course, the drug bust only earned Vic immunity, which led to the second biggest show of emotion from Ronnie as he tried to go after Vic for betraying him while yelling "I was gonna run!" The biggest display of emotion from Ronnie came a few minutes earlier as he cried with a bit of sadness, but mostly relief upon hearing about Shane's suicide. On the other hand, Vic's reaction was a mix of horror and guilt (I didn't see any joy or relief in there).

So now Vic is in his worst nightmare — chained to a desk and forced to type and evaluate tedious reports for I.C.E. I'm not one of those guys that either needed to see Vic completely get away with everything or get killed for all his sins, so I believe this conclusion — isolated from all the friends and family he loves — is as good as it gets. (Vic enduring an orientation from an HR woman was probably the comedic highlight last night.)

I'd still argue that working a boring desk job still isn't anywhere near as bad as ACTUALLY going to prison. Still, given the final shot of the episode (and the show) —Vic grabbing his gun and heading out — I don't think it will be very long before he's up to his old tricks. And that's the way we love (and loathe) our Vic.

So what'd you think of the season finale? Is it more likely that Dutch actually killed Rita or that Aceveda actually put a hit out on Huggins? Will Dutch call Billings' lawyer? Finally, where do you like to think Vic was headed as he left the I.C.E. office? To find Corinne? To bust some gang banger heads? To go home and follow Shane's lead?

Thank you very much for reading my rambling recaps. I hope you enjoyed reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them after watching this fantastic show.