If season five of “The Shield” were any more like its debut season, Michael Chiklis will be polishing his new Golden Globe about this time next year. I mentioned in a past blog that I thought the show had gotten back to the basics, and if last nights episode was any indication, I was right on the money. The Strike Team is back to kicking ass and taking names, albeit at a low enough level so that Lem’s wiretap doesn’t pick it up. All four guys know about Kavanaugh now and it looks like their going to walk the straight and narrow until they can figure out how to get rid of the monkey on their backs. It’s true that they have to watch what they say when they’re out in the field, but if they’re just lounging around in the Barn, typing in Microsoft Word seems to do the trick.
And for the first time this season, the filler cases used to pad the major plotlines were actually interesting. While the Strike Team track down an underage Mexican slave trade with the help of newbie cop Tina’s undercover work, Dutch and Claudette are forced to reopen a case involving the wrongful imprisonment of a suspect in the school shootings. So, Dutch, was wrong… big deal. If he would have had Claudette’s full attention on day one, maybe they wouldn’t have made that mistake. More interesting, though, is the fact that Super Detective Dutch couldn’t figure out that the “face reader” specialist was more into him than the case at hand. Is Dutch really losing his edge, or is his Gaydar just a little fuzzy?
Meanwhile, the countdown to Vic and Kavanugh’s first face-to-face begins when Corrine runs to Vic about a man who’s approached her numerous times at the school. Vic knows right away that it’s Kavanaugh, confirming Corrine’s statement with a newspaper photo Ronnie dug up in the archives while searching for dirt on the IAD agent. Seems that Kavanaugh is worse than they thought, going so far as turning in his own partner while on the job years before. That really shouldn’t be surprising considering the level of determination (desperation?) that his character has shown thus far this season, but it’ll certainly play a part down the road.
All queries about Kavanaugh aside, why in God’s name would Shane mention his work problems to Mara again? Doesn’t he realize that this is the same psycho bitch who botched up the money train two years ago? I doubt Shane would ever give Lem up to save his ass, especially since Lem is in this trouble precisely because of Shane, but I wouldn’t give Mara those same odds. She’ll do anything to keep her husband out of prison, and screwing over the other three guys is probably on the top of her list.
