The Shield

Wow, I had no idea about that.

 

It's a terribly sad story. They were married in 2001 and she jumped off a building in LA on 11-12-04 after suffering from clinical depression. Here's a link to his Wiki page, Arnold:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walton_Goggins

As someone who is familiar with suicide from the death of my maternal aunt/godmother, I can only imagine how painful that scene must have been for him. Even though he's an actor, he's still a regular guy with feelings and emotions that can't always be separated between personal and professional. He deserves an Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his work this season anyway, but I think his biography only adds to his merit. I don't think I'd have been able to perform that scene if I were him.

 

I wish I could be shocked by the Shane double-murder/suicide. But I'm a wrestling fan. The moment they hit the road, I'm waiting for a Chris Benoit to happen.

I dunno. At one level, I can understand and appreciate the "banal job is a fate worse than death" line of thinking as punishing Vic goes.

But within the show, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I.C.E. blindly gave him full immunity for any and all crimes he confesses to. They did so pretty quickly, too. Clearly they were desperate -- and not to hire another office drone. It's great they're punishing Vic, but that's not why they offered him the deal, and now we're left to assume they'll never get out of him what they wanted. Plus it really shows how clueless I.C.E. was the whole time. Seriously, they had nothing on him up to that point? Nobody to tell them he was a suspect in Terry Crowley's murder for the last three years, or the Money Train, or any of the other misdeeds he admitted to in the end? Seems dubious. They should have figured out why he was angling for a deal and what he was angling for before they gave it to him.

From the outside, the ending seemed almost ... corny. Certainly when put up against the Shane scene and the Barn scene. Vic's big punishment is to get dropped into Office Space? That's a Shoebox greeting card of a final scene. And it's not really what we tune in for. It could have been worse -- he could have woken up in bed with Theresa Saldana -- but it was cute when it called for catastrophic.

And as someone pointed out earlier in the thread, Lemonhead never really got avenged. His murder set the scene for the last two seasons, but it wasn't even a bit part in the big finale.

It was a great show with very few missteps, and as last episodes go, it was still pretty gripping. Too bad it set the standard so high (particularly with the previous week's ep) that it really had no chance of meeting it in full.

 

MM - I.C.E. knew about some of his past because when he first started working for them, the female agent said to him that they've read his file and he's had a colored past. I guess the Crowley and Money Train allegations weren't in there because they were never proven and every investigation into them hit a dead-end.
I.C.E. got what it wanted - the Mexican cartel head busted and the drugs seized. After that the agreement said that Mackey would work for ICE, never said in what capacity.

Vic's punishment is being shown that he doesn't always win. He thought he was going to be on the street with a badge for ICE with immunity for all of his past misdeeds. Instead he's trapped in an office away from the real action which is what he yearns for, what drives him. After making the deal and ICE heard what they were getting, they knew there was no way they could put him on the street, so they've got him chained to a desk. Vic's big punishment is losing his family, his respect among his fellow cops (and at ICE) and his street cred as he'll be forced to do what he hates - wear a suit & tie and follow the rules. I don't view it as being dropped into Office Space, I view it as a man who admitted to all of his misdeeds, shows no remorse for it, and loses everything he values.

 

And when you think about what we know about Vic, this is absolutely the most excruciating outcome for him. It's a situation he can't control, and his defining characteristic is that he has to gain conrol in every situation.

Everybody who could possibly help him knows everything he did, so there's no one left to fool or con. He told himself he was doing all these things for his family, and he now knows that not only did he lose them, they chose to run from him and sided with those who tried to bring him down. He's going to spend his days reading reports about gang activity, and his mind will roil with all these plays he'd make if he were out on the street, and he'll go to his higher-ups and ask them to let him set something up, and they'll tell him to be sure to clean out the microwave in the break room. Ronnie has a better chance of being happy in prison than Vic does of making peace with his situation.

It was the ultimate ending: Vic wins, only to figure out that he doesn't win a damn thing.

 

But from that last scene where Vic grabs his gun, stuffs it inside his pants and is about to walk out of the office, I'm certain he doesn't stay at ICE. My guess is he goes down to Mexico and gets back in the game. I wouldn't be surprised if he's in Mexico starting a whole new angle by the time the sun rises again.

 

I thought that the ending was perfect.
Shawn Ryan has also left open the possibility of a studio movie and also a spinoff show featuring characters from The Shield.
I'm really surprised that some people didn't like the ending.
I waited and watched the last three episodes back to back to back and it was better than almost any movie.
And more pluses for Ryan: He thought that the Sopranos ending sucked and he also likes How I Met Your Mother.

 

But even if he tried that, he's now a known cop-killer. None of his contacts would help him. And once he busted his immunity, US authorities would hunt him to the ends of the earth.

 

The only angle Vic could play is to go to the gangs and demand a cut using the angle "I'm the one that writes the reports telling the feds how to deal with you, give me a cut and I'll make sure I throw them off your trail"

 

For those interested, Shawn Ryan did a pretty long interview with The Onion AV club.

Interview was shortened for space in the hard-copy Onion, but here is the full interview online.

http://www.avclub.com/content/interview/shawn_ryan

 

I'm left wondering, would I have preferred the explosive ending or the ending provided, which left things unresolved, like life.