Jason Pinter -- Official Website

The End of the Line

"Look, you think you're looking through some window, but all you're really doing is looking in a mirror."

*********

"I would have spared Lem."

"And I stepped up and put Lem down so you could go to bed at night believing that."

Tonight is the final episode of "The Shield". I'm both excited and sad about this, as "The Shield" is one of the greatest police/crime dramas ever (at least in my lifetime), and Vic Mackey undoubtedly has a place among the iconic characters of all time. Never has there been a character so adept at pure survival, at finding the tiniest chink in the armor of anyone he meets and exploiting it, wedging a crowbar in there until he exposes the person's heart. If Don Corleone said to keep your friends close and your enemies closer, Vic would have mad the Don proud. And tonight, it all comes to a close. Will Vic die? Live? Go to prison? End up a broken down nobody like his ex-partner? Tonight's 90 minute episode will bring to a close seven seasons of brilliance, and thankfully, like "The Sopranos," the final season of "The Shield" has not missed a beat (ignoring the pooping in the shower episode of Sopranos).

Check back tomorrow for a recap and analysis. For now, here are a few of my favorite scenes (unfortunately YouTube doesn't have a lot of them):

The end of season two. Just wrenching, as Julien is nearly beaten to death, Aceveda is elected to city council, and the Strike Team enjoys the spoils of the Money Train heist. Until, that is, they realize just what they've done.

Kavanaugh lets loose on Claudette and the chief. Kavanaugh was the antagonist to Vic, though ironically everything he says is completely true.

The final scene of the first episode ever, Vic Mackey's original sin. Not many shows can say that the beginning of the end came in the first episode. And yes, when this episode aired "Bawitdaba" was still a bad ass song.

In order to protect the team, Shane tries to antagonize gang kingpin Antwan Mitchell (the awesome Anthony Anderson) into giving Shane cause to shoot him. And he does it in the lowest way possible--by going after Antwan's son.