The Shield - About damn time!!! - Page 3

So FX looks like the place to be this fall. Final season of The Shield, Sons of Anarchy looks pretty good, and a new season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

And all HBO's got coming is True Blood, a show I've watched the previews for but can't draw any conclusions as to its quality, and a new season of Entourage for me to avoid like the plague until it inevitably gets turned on at a party somewhere.

4 episodes into Season 6 so far. Almost ready for Tuesday.

Apparently Billings is an expert marksman. Been watching season 6 again on DVD and saw a framed certificate next to the break room that congratulates Steve Billings on his prowess. Noticed it in the Darabont episode, thought it was cool.

Vic and Shane one on one: http://fxnetworks.com/shows/original...ternals/Videos
FX Networks - The Shield | Tues 10

First episode is good at getting all the pieces together. Think I'm going to be through Ep. 8 by the end of the night. Billings return is awesome.

One....more....night....

Yeah....it's gonna be a good season, for sure!!

Cannot believe that The Final season is finally here!!! My celly is gettin shut-OFF at 10pm!!

I live in California but I get the East Coast time so the season premiere starts in just over an hour.
Anyone know if this will the discussion thread for the new season? If not, I can start one.

Start it.

LOVED Dutch's brief smirk at Billings' "big-titty heaven" line.

Good God I'm glad this show is back.

Like a glass of ice water to a man who has been lost in the desert!

That was pretty great.

Did not expect Ronnie to do what he did.

Yeah, dark times ahead for Ronnie it seems.

That was an amazing episode. I know that absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that but really, that was perfect. Dutch seriously took one for the team. I coudn't deal with being partnered up with Billings again.

-Ronnie, I did not see that coming.

Hope Ronnie is as much of an iceman through the whole season as he was tonight. Makes his character way more of a wild card.

Gotta give Shane extra credit points for his quick thinking with the ax though.

"That's what my bitch-dyke lawyer's for."

That line alone warranted David Marciano getting his name in the opening credits. Nice to see Paula Garces' name in there as well. Actually it's just nice to see Paula Garces. So nice.

What was it? "Dutch come fill up my box."

I kinda figured for some reason that Billings would show up about half way through the season, it's great he's gonna be there for the whole thing.

Great Season Premiere.

Billings and his dialougue are absolutely priceless. "The brain is the most mercurial organ in the human body."

Shane drops lies like they're going out of style. He'll never be trusted by Vic and Ronnie again.
Ronnie indeed looks to be a changed character. The looks he's given indicate that his destiny may not be what many, including me, expected.
The last scene really sets up the whole season. Anyone else notice the look Vic gave Ronnie just before Shane walked up? That look spoke volumes! Reading between the lines: We have to kill Shane.

Highlights for the future shows looks incredible.

I have this image of Billings hanging out in the back of the Barn, keeping his head way down the whole time, and being one of the few people to actually make it through this series untouched.

Because that's what Billings is--a survivor.

Damn.

Ronnie is hardmotherfuckingcore. The cold open was, as per usual, fantastic. Intense as hell. The shoot out in the Army surplus store was great. Billings was Billings. Claudette and Dutch giving him hell all season will be great. And oh, yeah. Holy ball-fucking shit. The HUUUUUUUUGE blood and body part trail was gory as fuck. Especially the mass of body chunks at the end.

I predict -

The Latina cop (can't remember her damn name) was the one that didn't clear the room properly.

The ICE agent gets a taste of the bald Mackey.

This will not end well. For anyone.

Love it, glad it's back. And, even though it's my favorite show on TV, glad it's ending. Hate to see it peter out and become irrelevent.

THE BILLINGS! Marciano was just hitting everything out of the ballpark, while Karnes was selling it with perfection.

Lorraine Francisco
All night
Great rack
"Well, this sounds likes your notes."
"She said she was with Hector on the night of the murder. And, I do recall, she had great tits."

"Yeah, I'll be back, alright. Putting in my required hours, mandatory paperwork. But as far as effort goes, I don't know what is between zero and city mandate minimum, but from now on, lets just call that THE BILLINGS!"

Everything was perfect last night for the season opener. Ronnie is one bad mofo, and I'm worried he's going to be the one getting offed by the end, with Shane running free. I think my favorite scene was Claudette sitting down with Vic and saying "I don't know who's arm you twisted."

And is FX crazy? Why is The Shield not offered in HD? Why is there not an HD feed of FX period? I have HD Home & Garden TV, but not FX? Pretty silly.

Is DirecTv really the only one with FXHD? Wow, lucky me. I've heard Shawn Ryan talk on the commentaries about why they keep the show in 4:3 SD, even though it's originally filmed in 16:9. The hand held camera apparently looks too "cinematic" and predetermined in 16:9. I can see that. I'd also assume another reason is to keep some continuity throughout the show, since all the prior seasons were put on the air this way it would be weird to suddenly watch the show in HD. Also, HD might look too "clean" for a show like this (a reason The Wire was kept in 4:3 SD).

Oh, and I'd totally help Tina fill her box.

The fact that is not in HD irritates me. It seems like on my cable FX broadcasts irregularly dark, all the other standard def channels look fine, but I had trouble making out what happened during dark scenes like the attack on Danny. Even the commercials looked that way.

Darkness aside, that's what you call a premiere. Despite being a show loaded with shocking moments, Ronnie capping that Armenian hit hard. It's not something I expected out of the character.

Julian being on the strike team is getting more awkward each episode, the looks on his face really sells his discomfort with Vics methods. I'm really curious to see what they do with the character and hope there's some form of resolution concerning his past.

I've loved the evolution of Ronnie over the course of the show. What he did last night shows that Ronnie is completely capable of doing the things Vic and Shane have done, and I'm not sure Ronnie will be able to handle it. This being The Shield though, I'm willing to bet that Ronnie might be able to handle darker deeds just as well, if not better, than Vic and Shane.

Ronnie's smarter than Shane, and maybe even Vic. We all know how Shane handles his problems.

This is what worries me about Ronnie's fate. I don't think Vic's ego is so big he can't see that Ronnie is and always has been the brains. Is something going to happen that Vic needs to protect himself against Ronnie? Or does Ronnie already see the road and have Vic set up? With Claudette putting Ronnie's ass on the line running Strike I think Ronnie may be the one sending Vic up the creek is a high probability.

It's definitely going to be interesting to see where the character goes.

I'm curious as to how Julien is going to impact the strike team. He stuck close to the background through season 6, but I know there's got to be some sort of Julien led shakeup on the horizon.

Ronnie also has the least to lose out of the group. Both Shane and Vic have families who are more important to them then their own livelihoods.

He was the most careful out of them when it came to the money from the money train too.

Before last night's episode I would've completely disagreed with you. There were a few instances throughout season 6 where it felt like Ronnie felt more betrayed by what Shane did to Lem than Vic did. Probably a matter of perspective, but that's what I took away.

Seeing Ronnie put two in that Armenian's chest really changed the game. I wouldn't be surprised if by the finale Ronnie used Vic as his Terry Crowley.

Ronnie has always been loyal to Vic, I don't think there's any reason at this point to think that has changed. Hell, he killed that Armenian for Vic.

Of course, the whole team could just bring each other down in the end, whether that be jail or death, with an every man for himself mentality. If that were to happen, Ronnie has the highest probability of getting away with everything...either way, it will be interesting to see.

Welcome back, The Shield. I've missed you.

I think Ronnie and Vic know that all they have at this point is each other's loyalty and trust. Therefore, its unlikely to me that they would turn on each other. I think they both need to be worried about Shane and Aceveda. I predict one of those two is going to Fuck them big over big time.

One thing I noticed from last night's ep. that has persisted for years is the lack of paperwork for the Strike Team members. Dutch, Claudette, even Billings we see at their desks working on stuff, but you hardly ever see any of the Strike Team sitting down doing any actual work. I know its not a big deal, but its a little something i've noticed.

Mark my words: Julian's gonna do something unexpected and factor heavily in the show's final arc. A Trojan Horse if you will.

I would assume the paperwork for the team is done by the low-man on the totem pole, which now would be Julian.

This.

I'm still surprised that Julian even took the strike team position, pay raise or not. The man's decisions were always led by his morals and I can't imagine those same morals would allow him to team up with Vic. This is probably why Nick is right on the money.

There's been mention in the past of Vic's paperwork. They said it was sloppy.

The Shield has been one of my favorite shows for years, but I watched all five seasons of The Wire in between the last new episode and this premiere.

It feels like a cartoon now. It's still fun, but I feel like I need to watch several episodes in a row to get back into the rhythm.

Billings is still the shit.

There's definitely been several mentions of fudging the paperwork. In fact, didn't Shane make a mention of it in the premiere?

Ronnie probably did a lot of it previously.

Back when Tavon was on the team I recall him getting saddled with a fair amount of paperwork.

Frankly I don't want to watch Vic fill out forms. Takes away from time better spent by him turning a fire hose on rioting school children. Ya know, the kind of stuff that gets results.

True. If I want proper procedure and paperwork, I'll put in The Wire. When I'm watching The Shield I want my action, fuck realism.

I think Billings has run his course. That whole subplot was resolved so quickly and easily... yeah, I think there's not much room for any more fun in the show. Too much is happening.

I'm willing to bet the lady Fed is there to investigate something with the strike team, possibly leading to the final story arc. Her reason for showing up was far too vague...

Also really loved Shane taking the axe to the Armenian's feet. Just disgusting, and I loved it.

Billings still fits the show perfectly. I'm actually glad they got rid of the lawsuit so quickly, and humorously. Hopefully that'll mean Dutch and Billings are back working together real soon. Their investigations last year accounted for a lot of the best scenes from that season.

It is funny though thinking back to when Billings was first introduced as the main detective who could handle all the murder cases while Dutch and Claudette were froze out by the D.A.'s office.

I just thought she was gonna be Mackey's new fuck buddy.

The Fed lady's appearance is a bit dubious to say the least. She says she's there to investigate the Mexican murders but she didn't sound very convincing.
If she's a mole to take down Mackey it wouldn't surprise me in the least.

With regards to Julian. I never understood why they decided to put him on the Strike Team. If I recall from season 1 or 2 he wanted to testify against Vic and co. for taking the stash of drugs. Aceveda even warned that he would be loathed by everyone for turning on a fellow cop.
It always felt like a very a forced transition on the part of the writers.

Not really. With what she thought was going to be a Mackey-less Strike Team, Claudette wanted to load it up with either fresh faces or people she knew she could trust. That's why she put Hyatt in charge and wanted Julian there.

Claudette wanted him on the strike team. She was trying to change it while she thought that Vic was soon out the door. Julian thought that he would be working under Hiatt (however you spell his name) rather than Vic

edit: yeah what he said

Definitely. Really not that funny now, and kind of a time waster. And that bit with him talking about tits was one of those rare, cringeworthy nobody-talks-like-that Shield moments.

Otherwise, ok first episode. The Shield always needs a few episodes at the start of the season to really build steam. Classic Mackey eyeballing of the new talent as Laurie Holden walked away.

New season, so time to bust out the Lem shrine.



All told, it was a pretty good episode, but I'm hoping a few flaws iron themselves out in later episodes:

PROS:
Shane vs. Vic is the best story-line of any show this season, so I'm hoping that most of this seasons episodes have as much fun with it as last nights did.

Ronnie getting a storyline. Dutch is going to break Ronnie like mechanical pencil led. He's going to be cool, calm and collect but the moment where Dutch asked Ronnie a question and Dutch getting a good look at his eyes is all he's going to need.


CONS

I don't want to get on board with a Billings backlash or anything, but I'm hoping they keep his "I'm going to sue everyone for everything" shenanigans to a minimum.

I'm hoping I'm wrong about there being a setup for a Dutch-Danny-Tina love triangle.

Speaking of Danny: Is there any way they can send Danny back to the school security position? Season in and season out the writers have no idea what to do with her, yet insist upon shoehorning her "woman cop in a man's station" BS somewhere.

Final complaint: the "villain" couldn't be any more bland.

I'm hoping for more Vic-Dutchman clashes.

And is this going to be on Hulu? They have clips but not epsiodes. It usually takes at least 3-5 months to hit the UK. and I know I can't wait that long.