I thought Lem burned a lot more than that, it looked like he was down to the final trunk when they finally stopped him.

Another great episode, I really have no idea where they're going in the next 6-8 episodes. Shane was pretty quick-thinking (for once) when Aceveda came to his house.

I think there was 3 trunks of cash, and Lem was about to burn the final trunk's worth of cash.

It would have been better to just give the cash back to the Armenians.

Huh? What was the "twist"?

das

I'm assuming he meant the burning of the cash.

Great episode!

I had no idea where they were going with the Judge subplot. It felt like an episode 4 or 5 with a somewhat curt resolution to things.

Anyone know how much money they stole from the Armenian's?

Were Vic and the boys set for life with the money?

Thanks!

I don't know if they have ever said the exact amount of money taken from the Armenians, but they have said it's a couple million. I wonder how much they have left since Lem burnt all but one trunk.

This was a great episode, I'm really glad I got back into this show. (Albeit missing some of season 2.) I too was digusted with Vic when he told Tavon Mara had bleeding after the fight. Tavon was a broken man after that.

Good episode.

But I was really delighted they used a Ween song ("It's Gonna Be a Long Night" from Quebec).

Not sure about the final scene of the previews where Vic and Shane are discussing the future.

I was really sorry that Lem had to lie to Taevon. Vic was evil for lying about Mara.

Can't believe that Lem thought burning the money would solve their problems.

Eagerly awaiting next week's episode.

Bold prediction for finale:
Vic's daughter is killed by Armenians, Strike Team takes down Marcos, they stay together, but Tevon transfers. Some new character is brought on to succeed Acevada as captain due to Claudette reopening all the cases.

Claudette annoys me more and more each week. Aceveda was exactly right when he tolded she needed to start caring about what other cops think if she's actually going to (horror of horrors) take over the squad. And Dutch was right in saying that her throwing the information about the defense atty. would create wild speculation and set criminals free, even though they had no proof the atty. had done anything to jeopardize any criminal's rights. Since when do cops care more about convicted criminals' speculative lack of effective counsel than they do about keeping them locked up?

yes

I don't see how that's a "twist" since they've been leading up to this as part of Lemonhead's character arc since last season.

oh, and that unofficial campaign lady was hilarious

How are they going to wrap up all the big and small plot lines with one more episode? Is there a chance it's a two hour finale?

There needs to be some kind of resolution to:

Money train/strike team
Dutch/Claudette's relationship
Jullian trying to get the wife pregnant
Danni possibly getting together with that guy from a week or 2 ago
Aceveda's campaign
Shane/Mara's relationship
Lem's guilt
And possibly a resolution of sorts regarding Taivon.

I don't think they need to wrap all of that up in this season finale. They will continue the story arcs for next season. It's not like the show is ending, it's just the finale.

"Next week on a very special The Shield..."

[music]Who can say where the road goes, where the day flows, only time...

Interesting prediction.
Maybe the Armenians will kill Vic's wife instead, leaving him to care for the three children on his own. I hope Lem doesn't go through with the transfer OR get killed "in the line of duty" like Reed Diamond.

I used "twist" because I didnt' want to give it away and yet didn't want to use a spoiler tag either
true, Lemonhead has been kind of shakey on the whole thing all along, but now it seems that they did all that stuff for nothing.

Hey hollywood, it's not always wrong to let the "bad guys" get away with a crime

I'm begining to think that the Strike Team never really was going to be able to keep that money. They were better off getting protection money and skimming off raids long term.

That's the lesson here boys and girls - slow and steady wins the race.

I think it was funny that Acevada had to pronounce "Cleetus Van Damme".

Here are my predictions (spoilerized for no reason). Some have probably been mentioned in this thread, but I just skimmed it:

Tayvon is acting. I think that he is just playing along with Vic. If Mara goes to see him, he is going to try to beat the shit out of her. At least I hope so.

Vic's daughter or wife is going to die. I am going with the daughter, since she is going to be living with him apparently. At the end of last season, he lost his wife (she left him). At the end of this one, he will lose his daughter.

Dutch figures out that the Strike Team did the job, but Acevada will tell him to sit on it, since he doesn't want people to know his main guys are crooked. He will want Dutch to wait until after the election.

Lem will want to leave the Strike Team, but Shane is afraid that he will turn them in, or at least rat on him about Tayvon. He will try to stop him, using any means necessary.

I think Lem finally cracking was really great. I couldn't believe he would actually burn the money. You're already in the shit, you might as well make it worth something. The stabbing of the girl in the back of the neck was chilling. The sound she made and her expression were very creepy. I may not want the Strike Team to get away with their money scheme, but I do want them to take out that guy, and quick.

Having to hold that girl in the car on the way to the hospital while she bleed out and died is probably the straw that broke Lem's back.

Yeah, like shooting a fellow officer in the head.

Deleted some spoiler tags. Please don't use them around your speculations unless that speculation has anything to do with the previews for the next episode.