Because he tried to save the kid and get him out of the country the same way he did to Lem, and he failed again. Remember when he showed Ronnie and Shane the books Lem ordered so he would have something to read in Mexico? Vic stated he was going to give the books to the kid when he goes into hiding.

I think the idea is that, contrary to appearances, killing Guardo didn't actually make Vic feel better. I'm guessing he never really stopped and grieved for Lem, as he was probably going full steam ahead looking for Guardo since Lem's death (remember, it's probably only been a couple weeks since Lem's death at this point). The arrival of the books, followed by the fact that he failed the 19er that was trying to get out, was too much for him to bear.

I agree that the dialogue was mostly shit, but the exchanges between Billings ans Dutch were hilarious, as usual, and I've been waiting since season 1 for Julian to get a promotion to the Strike Team. (I'm sure THAT'S not going to work out, but I think Michael Jace is a fantastic actor who barely got any screentime in season 5.)

There NEEDS to be a Billings and Dutch spinoff

I was about to post the same thing. I demand a buddy cop spin off. And then the show can end when Billings retires

Nah. They're the types of characters that are great for support, but a series built around them would get boring fast.

I think The New Guy is also going to back Vic, possibly even tell him about Claudette's plan. Hopefully it will be in time for Vic to come up with a way to hold off the forced retirement. Maybe Vic will find the killer of the 12 Mexicans but not give him up to Claudette unless she backs off, or else the Barn gets closed down.

^ i agree. Since we know we're getting one more season and there are 6 episodes left this season...no way is Vic getting forced out now.

It's not Claudette that's forcing him to retire, it's the city. Vic will most likely do something heroic and the city will be forced to keep him on.

Well, according to my dvr's synopsis for next week's episode, Shane .

Good point. Maybe it's time for "the picture" to resurface, giving Vic something to blackmail Aceveda with. With his new political connections I'm sure he could keep Vic in action.

I didn't get Vic taking Claudette at her word at all, and I hope he finds out soon she's playing him and turns the tables.

As for adding Julian to the strike team, I think it could be excellent. He's a big tough dude and can crack some heads when need be, and he's over that whole "other" thing, so who knows...

Fooled me for a sec when Corrine seemed so concerned about Vic being forced to retire. Reality was that she was worried about her child support checks. Nice...

THos.

I've been waiting for that picture to resurface for a long time now....would love to see Aceveda get what's coming to him!

That should be a last episode kinda thing.

Normally Vic wouldn't fall for it, but he's in a bad place right now and on top of that he desperately wants to keep his job.. so it's understandable that he fell for it.

Hell, look at how he was played between seasons 3 and 4 when he thought he was moving out of the barn to head up another task force, and then had AssInvader torpedo his transfer.

But where would he get it from? I am under the impression that no copies are left.

Antwan probably got the confession when he killed Juan. The picture has the potential to resurface. Just b/c Juan was too stupid to d/l it doesn't mean his brother(? cousin?) who took it was.

I think Dutch & Billings the buddy cop show would be a bad idea, but an appropriately cast and written Dutch moves into the homicide division spin-off could be very compelling if you ask me. You'd need another strong character for him to bounce off of, but I'd really love to see a spin-off that would follow Dutch into the depths of where he seems headed.

Isn't the picture pretty much gone? Acaveda got the phone, Juan's buddy got killed, and Juan didn't seem to know how to download the pic off the phone when Acaveda asked him about it. Also, didn't Juan's girlfriend try and get Acaveda on tape admitting what happened? She wouldn't have had to have done that if they had a copy of the picture.

I think if anything happens with that storyline, it'll be someone finding out that Acaveda had Juan killed, and it wasn't at the request of the DEA, as he told Antwon.

I don't really care how it happens, but I think the only way to make bringing Vic down in the end palatable will be to also take Acevada down. I think it probable that Vic has to pay (or die) in the end, so that means they have to take the slimy politician down.

I'm another Billings fan. He cracks me up everytime he's on screen.

Judging by the LAPD Rampart story this show is taken from I have a feeling most of the corrupt cops will go down and the barn will be closed. It's only a question of who lives, dies, goes to jail, or gets away free IMO.

Remember the episodes dealing with Claudette pissing the entire barn off because she decided to push the DA's office to reopen a shit load of cases because of the corrupt dead-lawyer/crappy detective work? I have always felt that story was a definite nudge to what would happen at the end of the series.

Here is a good site to read through and see how The Shield parallels Rampart.

PBS Rampart Scandel

Well Im a bit pissed Tina is gone. She was one of the hottest girl on the shows I watch. I hope shes not completley written out.

That dream felt very off I thought and a dream with Lems ghost or any of that crap doesnt fit the show.

Im a huge fan of Billings and Dutch. I crack up at almost anything Billings says and its great hes shining a bit. I knew Julian would join the team before the first ep even started, thanks to my stupid local paper having an interview with a promo pic of the new strike team! bastards!