Celebrated playwrite, David Mamet directs tonight's episode of The Shield.

I wonder if he had a hand in the script?

Come see the Strike team almost get caught.
Watch in amazement as Vic Makey scowls at minority perps.
Observe in quiet reverance as Ass-Invedah attains final justice.
Laugh uncontrolably as a rapist gets questioned... er, scratch that one.

As always, the best show on television.

Another great episode, loved the Dutch interview with the rapist

that ending really surprised me, with Dutch strangling the cat. Creepy.

Yeah, I started this thread before the Tivo caught up with that part. Poor Dutch, just couldn't figure the rapist out no matter what he tried. I guess he was trying to understand him by killing the cat.

Damn, no love for The Shield this week?

Poor Dutch? I say poor cat!

Yes, I know -- it's really twisted that I'm singling that out when there are so many other things that go much farther on this show. I think that is actually what disturbs me so much about what happened there -- animal abuse is such a fundamental building block to many of the things we see go on that it paints a very dark picture about where Dutch may be going.

I'm not complaining about the scene. It was brutal in exactly the way anybody who watches the show should expect by now. I think it will probably also serve a great purpose down the road, whether the story with Duth ends up going in a positive or a negative direction. This one just hit me like many of the other moments of the show have hit others.

It probably didn't help that one of my two kittens looks very much like the cat Dutch picked up.

Danni as Desperate Soccer Mom

Enjoyed seeing Vic put Mrs. Cleetus in her place and finally clueing Lem in on what happened w/ the iron.

Dutch's chance as PETA's man of the year goes down in flames...

It will be interesting to see where, if anywhere, they go with that.

Dutch killing the cat was creepy. I kept waiting for the seriel killer to lunge at him when he was just walking around the interrogation room.

Vic going off on Mara was good and I'm glad he told Lem about Tavon
It should be interesting what happens with Vic's family the rest of the way.

With Dutch tossing and turning in bed, as soon as I heard the cat yowling, I knew where it was going. How long before he moves up?

Holy shit.

This is why The Shield is so great. You could tell Dutch was gonna strangle the cat, but somehow I figured he'd stop just before death. Guess he just had to know how the 'thing' felt. And if used the same methods as they did with that chick's dead dog in season one, that was a real dead cat... stuffed. (It's mentioned on one of the commentaries.)

Great episode. Nice to see the boys back on the street.

all I can say about that ending is wholly shit. wouldn't it be crazy if he starts to copycat the cuddler rapist?

I'm glad that I was not the only one who found that particular scene disturbing. It seems that Vic family life is coming apart with his son showing signs of violent tendencies and that Vic little daughter might have the same condition as her brother As for the situation with the strike team I'm glad Vic put Maya in her place in regards to Shane for Vic truly sees her for what she is and I'm glad that Tavon's name is finally mentioned as well as an update on his condition.

Anybody remember when Dutch was frantic to find the computer that he had used to "research" kiddie porn? Now with the cat strangling I think Dutch may be heading down a slippery slope!

Great episode, although I didn't really like the 'cat scene' with Dutchboy. It did add some more interesting things to his character, along with the whole kiddie porn thing.

I wasn't all that jazzed about Dutchboy getting played by the Cuddler (did I ever think I'd ever write that sentence?). Seriously, this is a case of the curiousity getting the best of the cat.

More Dog-girl, please.

Less Corinne, please.

More Dani UC, please.

Less Mara, please.

Cleetus is really on the defensive now. Does he really think by marrying Mara that Vic won't do what needs to be done if she gets out of line?

I have no idea who to sympathize with on the show. Not sure that's a bad thing, though.

Now that was one ****ed up ending right there.

To date Cletus has bought Mara a Lexus, a ring, $7000, is getting blackmailed by her Mom, and she's put the Strike Team on the Treasury's radar and put Tavon in a coma. Then again, in season 1 Cletus got played by that stripper and almost shut down the Strike Team getting a slurpee. The moral: this guy just can't win.

The moral is that Cleetus is P-whipped very easily.

That's putting it mildly. "Let's get married now."

Mara: Like mother, like daughter.

Interesting episode. I thought it was important for a few reasons:

1) Showed that the Strike Team is back to being an independant operation mostly out of Aceveda's control

2) Was the first time that Vic openly showed his frustration with Shane to the other team members

3) Showed that Shane will be forced to make a choice between his woman and the team.

BTW - some have mentioned that they don't believe Mara is pregnant. I've never been more sure that's true.

I have felt all along that Mara is not pregnant, she certainly doesn't look pregnant. She seems to have learned all her tricks from her mother. Could she be some kind of plant/goldigger who heard about who took down the money train and hunted Shane down to be where she is?

Glad Vic finally told Mara off. Am ready for her to be gone.

Are they trying to stress out Corinne so she may be put in an Andrea Yates position? No help, no support and kids she cannot control. She looks to be close to losing it.

Dutch being toyed with by the rapist, strangling the cat and kiddie porn, where oh where is he headed?

Just some random thoughts on another great episode.

Vic is starting to look like Andy Sipowicz when it comes to family misfortune.

Agree it was great so see Vic tell Mara off and to see her cower.

The ending was disturbing but a powerful way to show how far Dutch is willing to go to try "understand" the people he captures. Loved it.