The Shield

Couple nice cameos by Andre 3000 as the comic book store owner - turned mayoral candidate and Clark Johnson, who directed the final episode, as the Witness Protection agent. Also liked the clips that ran over the credits.
Still, Shane! Holy Crap. Mackey sentenced to three years on a desk. Gardocki in the hole. Aceveda with a shit-eating grin.

 

When Vic's family arrived at their new home, the U.S. Marshall was giving them some info about their new town. While he didn't disclose the town's name, he did mentioned the town having its own museum, the Burpee Museum, and it having its own dinosaur, a juvenile T-Rex named Jane.

The Burpee Museum of Natural History which really does have a dinosaur T-Rex skeleton named Jane is located in Rockford, Illinois.

http://www.burpee.org/exhibits/index.asp

http://www.visitjane.com/

 

i'm sorry. i get the poetic ending and all, but that's not what I watch The Shield for. For me, Shane goes out like a punk, Lem never gets his justice, Mara doesn't get what's coming to her, and Ronnie, who always seems to get fucked over......well, nuff said.
I guess I just wanted/expected more.
And let's face it, a desk isn't a prison that's going to hold Vic.
This final episode didn't have any of the excitement or grit of the first episode, which is the barometer for which I normally judge series finales.

 

Oscar, you were all over those references. And Riddick, while I enjoyed the last episode, I agree with you -- the buildup had been so intense that I flat-out expected a ridiculous barrage of bullets, death, meted-out justice, etc. So yeah, a little bit of a letdown, though overall, just a fantastic series. I'm sad to see it end. Almost always riveting stuff.

 

I'm glad someone said what I felt. Honestly, I felt cheated by the whole thing. I get that Mackey, who walked around tenatively at the end, walked out as confident as ever after putting he gun in his belt. Kind of like a "Vic's always going to make the best of it" kind of feeling. I get that, and am ok with that ending. Buuuuuut . . .

1. Having kids of my own, I really could have gone without seeing Jackson laying there dead with the toy truck in his hands. I get that this show has been a bloodbath from day 1, I'm not a prude, and I didn't mind seeing Mara there, but the kid? Well, for the only deaths on the show, I didn't need to see that.
2. WTF, just leave the hole Dutch-boy storyline hanging? He was easily the biggest of the substorylines in the entire series, and every little plot they put him in went unanswered. So, did the kid do it, or not? I really was expecting a conclusion to the Dutch storyline a few years ago where they had him popping the head off the doll, Dutch turning nut-job on us. But I got nothing! So he's a jigelow now with that DA? Look, they could have gone any number of ways with that, Dutch offing her too. They could have had the mom being the real serial killer and killing her son, then Dutch. But they just end it with him pocketing the DA's card, and then proceeding to not tye up the other storylines. Weak.
3. I was half-way expecting Claudette to take a heder off the railing when the hot chick got her cake from one year on the job, or die trying to kill Vic. But no, just her looking over the station. I get it, she quit taking the meds, she is essentually killing herself, but I can't get any kind of a twist? Perfect opportunity for her to do something unexpected. Weak!
4. They brought back the Julian/Gay thing for one scene . .. why? What the hell did that have to do with anything? Weak!
5. Nothing pans out with the Danny thing. They built up the custody thing only to completely leave it unanswered. I know it was a minor storyline, but still, Weak!

Look, I loved this series. Outside of a few weird years, it's the best thing FX has ever done, with Rescue me a close second for other reasons, but this really, really left me with empty and pissed off feeling after waiting out the much-anticipated ending.

 

The show wrapped up the series quite well yet left it wide open for a miniseries or movie a couple years down the road.

 

Has anyone else heard rumors of a Shield spinoff involving Dutch's character?

The door is definitely open for a movie and/or miniseries. Mackey's redemption and search for his family would be a good start.

Like a lot of people, I was expecting a violent end, but was glad I didn't get it. The ending seemed to work well for me in that everyone got what was coming to them. I think once Shane allowed what Vic said to him sink in, he realized there was no other option, especially once Mara wouldn't get immunity for her crimes.

Dutchlogy 101: Pimpin' ain't easy.....

 

Dutch-the-actor showed up in a couple of early episodes of Sons of Anarchy, but I haven't seen him on that show in weeks. So that can't be it.

 

I dunno. I thought Dutch was a really good second-banana character, but I don't see myself watching week after week on a show about him. I was just really disappointed that they didn't close out many of the storylines. It didn't deliver what they promised.

 

He was also on an episode of the original CSI.

 

Trivia -- anyone know Dutch's real first name on the series? Dutch is a nickname.

 

It's Holland.