Very nice episode, but it seems to me that they are stretching believability that Cavanaugh could engineer where the Strike Team would go to jail, and more importantly that Lem would be remanded to state pen (I assume that is where Antwan is) awaiting trial.

No--it was just wasn't you. Kavanaugh's wife also remarked on his weight loss.

I was amazed no one said a word when Kavanaugh lost it and ordered Lem arrested, but I felt about as dumbstruck as they looked. He reacted with 100% pure emotion and may have went too far too soon, but it will really put the squeeze on Lem, for sure. Too bad--he's the least culpable of them all...

SUCH a top-notch show...

Anyone else noticed that Kavanaugh brushed his teeth once he got up, eat some breakfast and brushed his teeth again? I usually just wait until after breakfast to brush my teeth in the morning. He's going brush off all his tooth enamel if he keeps it up.

Yeah, but I was talking about since the last episode, not since the last time she saw him.

I get how he's less culpable than Vic and Shane, but how is he less culpable than Ronnie? Ronnie isn't covering up Terry's death any more than Lem is, and Ronnie didn't steal a brick of heroin.

Didn't he have a patchy beard at first? He was clean shaven with goatee this episode. I think that is what was throwing me for a while until I realized it.

Unbelievable is the key word here.

I've loved this show over the years because everything that happened was plausable but this year is so over the top that I can barely stand to watch it.

There is no way in hell IAD with any department would have that much power. He wouldn't be able to pull in a guys wife trying to get dirt on the husband. He wouldn't threaten everyone with jail time or being fired. There's no way in hell even an acting Captain would give up his office to someone else of lower rank just because he's IAD. A cop would never be allowed in GP and no cop would follow an order to put a cop in GP.

I think some of that stuff has to do with how unhinged Kavanaugh is (his bullying and threats) and how stupid the acting captain is. I do think it is extremely likely that the show is going to do highly implausible things to Lem now that he has been arrested, though.

First off, we haven't actually seen Lem in GP yet... all we saw in the commercial was

As far as the amount of power Kavanaugh has, it's been mentioned several times this season that he's a serious power player in IAD, and reports directly to the chief. We've also heard several times that the higher ups are trying to make an example of the Strike Team, so it's not that much of a stretch that they're giving Kavanaugh a little more freedom in order to get things done.

That would have been a great reveal, but as others have mentioned I loved seeing the look of disbelief on Lem's face while seeing Vic salivate over the thought of finally finding Kavanaugh's weak spot. I also believe he was ready right there to switch to the other side until Kav blew a fuse.

I would have thought that any lawyer could have him bailed out before his seat in the cage got warm. I mean, it's just heroin, man.

oh, ok. Gotcha.

another thing that seems to bother sone people - how Kav is bullying so many people around. This of course is mostly the fault of the acting captain. He sets the tone for his department even though he's just one guy.

If another supervisor at work, while already having bullied your own supervisor, threatens to fire you if you don't obey his commands, wouldn't you feel some pressure to comply? I think I sure would!

in the beginning of the show i thought that vic had hired someone to rape kavanaugh's ex-wife to mess w/ him that would've been pretty badass

A very intense ending to a great episode. Yeah, it may be unbelievable how much power he has, but there aren't many shows out there that don't have those kinds of stretches.

The Ep was solid, but the End was Kick-Ass!

Excellent episode. It sure does look like FW lost weight since the last episode...must have had a few weeks off before shooting or something.

I think like a few have said, Kavanaugh is so DETERMINED to go to ANY LENGTHS that he's pulling any string he can, bending any rules and pretty much has carte blanche since they want to make an EXAMPLE OF THE STRIKE TEAM... sure, some of the things are stretching believability, but just barely...I just attribute it to the above... it could happen...especially with the dumbass captain.

This has been a season on a mission and I really hope that it is the last. I'd rather see The Shield go out blazing rather than fizzle later.

Also, the poster who compared the quality of season of this show to seasons of 24, while I agree that 24 has faltered a bit and certainly stretches reality to beyond it's limits, I think comparing them is unfair... 24 has approx. 11 more episodes a season... If 24 were to do seasons of 13 eps like The Shield, I'm willing to bet the drop off in quality we've seen would be virtually nonexistant.

MATT

I was thinking that Mitchell had set it up.

I thought that Vic was behind the rape. It is very coincidental that just after Lem mentions that Kavanaugh has an ex-wife, she shows up crying rape.

Can't wait to see how the rest of the season plays out.

I was 100% sure that the ep was going to end with Vic paying off the rapist for doing the job. But then, halfway through they brought in the bottle and I was like 'Daaaaaaamn'.


D

man, his lazy eye is bothering me more and more
when he was screaming to arrest lem it was really bad
I know it's not his fault, but it is really freaky sometimes

Yes, this was yet another fantastic episode. To be honest, I'd have to say it was one of my favorites so far.

On a side note, I can't believe that some people are actually wanting Vic to "get what's coming to him". In reality, I'd want a cop killer to be tossed in jail and be put to death himself, but while watching this show I just want Vic to get more and more badass, and do whatever it takes to get out of this entire mess. I love the line they walk showing that yes, he's a bad guy in many ways, but they also show all fo the good that he's done, how he cares for his family, etc...

I'd laugh my ass off if they had him turn on his entire team in the end just to save himself so he could still be able to be around his family.

Awesome freaking episode and best show EVER!!

At the end I was thinking about how no one said a word when Cav was acting like that.. I mean.. Vic, say something dude! I can understand the shock but I dont' think anyone can rightly act like that.. I mean physically manhandling Lem, throwing him around.. That's total BS.


Cavanaugh almost looked sick he got so skinny.. I mean what is the lag time in between
shooting episdoes? How could he lose that much weight??

How about "Did you know Aceveda had me off some guy in prison?" (The guy who made Aceveda blow him and took pictures - remember?) Once Aceveda knows that Kavanaugh knows about this from Antwon, he'll pretty much have to ally with Mackey and the strike team to get out of that one.

Judging by that phone call he made in the interrogation room in this episode, Kavanaugh has plenty of "strings" he can pull.

Kavanaugh pulls strings to jack it up hoping someone will pony that cash from the Money Train!

Anyone think that Kavanaugh has lost the lead offered by Dutch by now?
Dutch is pretty smart, and it seemed to me that Kavanaugh was using the "I just trying to show the Barn that there's no relationship between us" line to excuse his totally insulting and embarrassing verbal assult on Dutch... followed by forcing Dutch to basically do a personal favor for him to help his own ex-wife. After that final scene with Vic & Lem in the Barn, I would say that Dutch is going to start feeding BS intel about the Money Train now (not that he actually has any REAL substantive information anyway now that it is all burned).