“…your last farewell ride.”
Spoilers ahead.
The Shield is dead, long live the Shield. I still don't know how I feel about how it all ended. There was a lot that was perfect, that happened exactly how it had to happen. Some things were...well, less than satisfying, even if they were somehow appropriate.
The bad...Ronnie. Christ, what the Hell. The groundwork for Ronnie's fate was very much laid out last week, and still I somehow hoped it wasn't going to end that way. After everything, seeing Vic throw him under the bus to suffer under the full weight of the Strike Team's collected sins was fucked up, possibly the worst thing he's ever done it its own way. Ronnie stuck by him, and after it all he still trusted him, and paid for it with his life, at least life as he knew it.
I think I was most bothered not by what happened to him, but how it was treated. Ronnie was hardly used and developed as a character for five seasons, but I always liked him. Then suddenly for the last two seasons, with Lem dead and Shane...Shane, he became far more prominent. And then suddenly, he was wrapped up and tossed away in one 90 second sequence. It was a heavy moment treated far too lightly in my opinion.
Shane's final exit was much darker than I expected. His suicide wasn't the shocking thing, that actually seemed right. But when they showed the bodies of his family, posed and peaceful as if asleep, that shocked and actually shocked me. I thought family meeting would be send the wife and kid/s on their way, stay behind and take the blame...anything but what it actually was.
And lastly, Vic Mackey. I really thought after all that happened he would have gone out in some sort of blaze of glory. Gunned down fighting, making a last stand of some sort. Although I guess losing the only two things he cared about besides himself, and winding up sentenced to his own mundane cubicle and paperwork Hell is also very fitting in its own right.
There are still unanswered questions but I suppose their have to be. Anything short of a forced "kill everyone" ending is going to leave some loose ends. In the end it was an amazing, shocking, perfect yet disappointing finale. I felt fulfilled and totally empty by the end, and that right there is The Shield.
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December 2nd, 2008 - 11:27
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about what Shane did. Before I had a child I think I would have viewed that differently, but actually seeing Jackson’s body was profound for me especially since he and my son would be the same age. When Jackson went into their apartment and his first reaction was to look for his dump truck, it really struck me because Rune does the exact same thing. They always did an amazing job of humanizing characters with the small things and Jackson was no exception to that. I could care less about what happened to Maura, but killing your kid and pregnant wife showed Shane’s true level of desperation.
As for Ronnie, I agree- he got the worst shaft ever. I was half expecting Julian to clue him in at some point, even though that would have been out of character for him. He trusted Vic so much and Vic just turned his back. Left Ronnie for dead (hmmm…kind of like how Shane treated Lem).
Vic got what he deserved. He’s a villain, an antihero at best. I love that they sent Corinne and the kids to Rockford (Burpee Museum, Jane the dinosaur). What a shithole. I agree that some things didn’t end the way I would like. What about Lee? Since Danni didn’t really leave, Vic will still be able to get to them. I also wanted something to happen to Dutch. I thought maybe it was going to come out that he’s obsessed with murders because he’s a serial killer or something. What about Aceveda? Did he get elected? Didn’t really seem like he paid a price and he was almost as dirty as Vic. Overall, I thought it was a really well done ending, but I would have liked to see more. Maybe a movie? The 2nd coming of Vic Mackey, crime lord of L.A.?