Stellar acting in the interplay between Dutch and Claudette.

Oh my god, what an ending...

And the previews for next week... WOO HOOOOO!!!!!

That was funny seeing Jimmy Johnson in the cage yelling that Terry should be in there.

I agree. I, too, thought the acting tonight was particularly stellar tonight. CCH Pounder, I thought, was exceptional tonight...

The noose is closing a little tighter for Vic, and his boys are looking to cut smaller deals as Kavanaugh keeps applying the pressure.

I did like the early scene between Vic and his lawyer, Chiklis was "on" in that scene. CCH Pounder did go out strongly (should Claudette not make it, considering she may have broken her neck).

Holy shit! What an episode! You are right Patman CCH and Chiklis were on tonight. I thought Forrest was really good in this ep to. I really hate that bastard when in real life he would be one of the good guys (well sort of).

ETA: One thing I'm really curious to see is what happens to Aceveda<sp> through all of this. I thought his story was pretty much over, but maybe the truth about what happened to him will come out. To what end I don't know.

Maybe I heard the name wrong, but it sounded like the name of the dead woman in the apartment was Jenny Reborg, which is the name of the girl that was abducted in the pilot ep (obviously not the same character, though)

I wanted to watch the replay, but the commercial for that damn Black.White. or Trading Races or whatever they're calling it this week is annoying the hell out of me. I thought TNT was bad with how often the run the same commercials over and over, but they have nothing on FX in that department.

I didn't even realize that was Jimmy Johnson until somebody mentioned it. Nice work there.

I hope we continue to get fireworks until the end of this portion of the season.

That was an amazing episode.

I had to rewind to make sure it was Jimmie.

I caught it was Jimmy when they went in for the close up. I like how he offered to pitch in for the reward

Great episode

Best. Show. On. TV.

THAT is what sends Dutch off the deep end as I've been predicting will happen this season.

GREAT episode! Umm... maybe I'm just stupid, but who is Jimmy Johnson and Terry? You don't mean Coach Johnson, do you?

Unbelievable ending. I guess Sean Ryan wasn't kidding when he said that not everyone would make it out alive this season.

CCH Pounder was excellent, and has been throughout the series entire run. I hope she doesn't end up a quadriplegic.

Getting scared for Vic. The Strike Team is starting to think about covering their own asses. They did have a good point about four different lawyers poking holes in Kavanaugh's case.

All other cop shows in the history of television are like Barney Miller in comparison to The Shield. Even when the original previews were being shown, months before it debuted, I knew this show was going to be something special.

Next week

The old white guy with the beard in the holding pen was Jimmy Johnson...former Cowboy and Dolphin coach...and current TV partner of Terry Bradshaw

Great episode. I had to chuckle a little bit when that rookie screamed "He pushed her!" and then Dutch-boy immediately corrected her. Guess she won't make a good detective afterall I wonder if Aceveda is going to end up teaming up with the Strike Team, just so he doesn't have his dirty laundry aired out. I know he hates Vic, but he has to be hating Kavanaugh a lot more right now. He is getting awfully close to linking everything together.

One of the oldest cop ploys in the book looks like it may be working on the Strike Team--turning four paranoid, guilty people against each other by playing on their paranoia and trying to get them to look out for themselves. The screws are on...

When Aceveda said he was "also the fifth Beatle" I almost lost it. I'm glad he's getting some heat too, but I don't put him on the same level as Vic. As much as they've made Vic a more sympathetic figure since Season One, the fact still remains he killed an innocent cop who was about to expose his misdeeds, and the chickens are slowly coming home to roost.

The whole Dutch-Claudette thing was fantastic, Dutch pushing her to finish it, not taking over, giving great tips, and the acting by both of them was beyond most anything on TV.

I told the Mrs. that it was playing out a lot like when Frank Pembleton from Homicide had a stroke in "The Box" during an interrogation. I guess Claudette at least made it out the door. Can't say I'll miss the character. She and Dutch have had little to work with this season. in my opinion.

Great episode. My favorite line of the night was when the sister was telling Dutch about how she and her mother always did everything for her brother and he said something like, 'Well, unfortunately that caused the narcisism that makes him kill women.' He's among my favorite tv characters of all time.

I was wondering if they were going to be able to drag the Kavanaugh vs. Strike Team bit out for the whole of the season, but it's looking like they're going to pull it off just fine. Turning the guys somewhat against each other is the smartest thing Kavanaugh has done yet.

While he may not have done as much as Vic has (remember that he was directly responsible for the deaths of the two people who attacked him, though), he still had no problem using the Strike Team's methods for his own political benefit from time to time back when he was captain. Even though he knew they were up to no good, he was more than happy to just look the other way.

As far as next week's ep goes...

I'm impressed by how much they are tying together here - it had looked from the season previews that the investigation was primarily going to focus on Terry's murder, but Cavanaugh's going at the money train, the deal between Aceveda and Mitchell...just about every big deal that's come up. Makes me wonder when Army and Tavon are going to come into play.

Also interesting is that Cavanaugh's first shot at the Strike Team was fairly covert - bugging Lem and the clubhouse, lying to Corrine, etc. It also failed. Now he's walked in the front door, taken over the captain's office, basically is working everything right out in the open - and he's having a lot better luck in shaking things up.

I'm surprised they had Jimmy Johnson in the episode. I never thought this show would do stunt casting.

Regardless, Great episode!

Hey.... just what in the heck ended up happening with Tavon? I know he didn't die, so what ultimately became of him?

You're right, but I see a big difference between indirectly causing the death of a guy who made you...you know what happened...and killing a good cop who was about to expose you for being corrupt. I know Aceveda's plenty scummy, but nothing as bad as Vic's coldblooder murder as he was about to be exposed. I'd be surprised if Vic didn't ultimately pay a heavy price for that, but I wouldn't feel bad if Aceveda got some too...

He woke up from his coma a few weeks or so after the incident. Since Vic had helped Shane cover up the fight, he couldn't have Tavon pressing charges. Vic ended up convincing Lem to tell Tavon that he hit the then pregnant Mara during the fight and that pressing charges wouldn't look good, what with the bruised pregnant lady and all...

The last we saw of him he was in tears on his hospital bed. He's been MIA ever since, presumably he transferred out of Farmington.

I didn't mean that Acaveda was as bad as Vic, but just that he definitely isn't an innocent in the whole matter. I'm personally thinking that .

Thanks much for that... must have been on vacation or something because I totally missed that...