I agree about Hyatt. I liked his character, and to see the complete 180 was a total disappointment. I understand that he has a new show, but it is still sucks.

My thought about the hearing was that Vic walked away so that Corrine would go speak on his behalf and play the autism card for him. He didn't want to do it, but if Corrine does it for him, that is fine with him.

Hyatt was already on Claudette's shit list for a few eps now. Leaking info to Vic, screwing Tina, etc. Him getting innocents hurt by not knowing how to work the streets was enough in her mind, to bounce him.

He was trying to be gung ho, work his own thing, and be an even bigger golden boy, and it back fired on him.

Not a great finale by The Shield standards, but was a fantastic way to open up the running plot for next season.

If I had to explain why Claudette did what she did, I'd put it this way:

She was looking for a guy as savvy as Vic who would play by the rules. By the time she yanked the new guy, he had proven he was precisely the opposite. He made Shane seem passable as a Vic substitute, and we know how bad that is.

Give Ronnie a spin off as the new leader of the strike team!!

I doubt there's a guy like Vic who plays by the rules, or else he really wouldn't be much like Vic at all. Maybe Claudette started to realize that, but I doubt it.

I would've rathered had Hyatt go down in a hail of gang bullets instead of just turning into a jackas$.

She actually said a little like Vic. Something tells me if the Barn is still running at the end of the series Ronnie will be leader of the Strike Team.

I couldn't disagree more! Vic steadfastly refused to use his kids for that! He was willing to stand up and do it but realized his family needed him and action was required. So the plan became ACTION and what a windfall that action produced!!!!!

Hiatt had been slowly hedging towards this ending. First he started taking Vic's advice - which was solid in the vein of the old Strike Team. But little by little he seemed to suspect that Vic wasn't leaving and decided he needed to make his own mark - to the point he was doing the opposite of Vic by dropping his CI. While smart and clever, he really wasn't ripe enough to take over for Vic. I mean all the reasons Claudette stated also applied to Vic, but he was subtle about it (e.g. boinking Danny!?!?!). No doubt it was a little bit of a radical shift. I mean I really LIKED the character at first. But his exit is no more spontaneous than Rawling disappearing in like 2 episodes.

As far as Alex O'Loughlin goes, congratulations on Angel -er I mean David Greenwalt's retread, Moonlight. Sorry but that show doesn't smack of originality or staying potential. CBS is getting itchy as it starts to dip in the ratings. I'll certainly watch it, but I'm not holding my breath. When do we get to hear his Aussie accent?

I actually fell asleep the last 20 minutes of the show (lucky for me I recorded it).

Definitely not the 'holy shit!' of season finale's that I've come to expect from 'The Shield', but definitely well-played and thoughtful.

They better go 'balls to the wall' next season.

Yeah, once he realized when his kids showed up that he wasn't going to go down like that. Begging for his job using his kids as an excuse he rolled the dice like he normally does and took the chance. In this case, it paid of for vic in taking action and coming up with a huge win for him.

I saw someone else bring this point up on another board. Curious for thoughts...

Did you all think that Vic NOT going after Shane once he found out what happened to his kids and ex wife seemed a little out of character or illogical?

He said "We're gonna crush him"

He's just being patient that's all. Doesn't seem out of character to me, not at this point in the show. Five years ago, maybe.

I think two things restrained Vic:

* He had other irons in the fire
* He knows Cletus has that dumbass manifesto

Getting Shane isn't more important than him keeping his job. It's also going to take getting all of those manifestos and now probably also taking a trip to Armenia to whip a mob's ass. It's going to take some planning, and Vic is capable of that when he knows it's necesary.

What a great show. I think this season was one of the best. Here's how I'd rank 'em:

Season 2
Season 1
Season 6
Season 4
Season 3
Season 5

EDIT: re-evaluated

I would rank them:

Season 1 - best
Season 5
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4
Season 6 - still pretty damn good

The real question is, why no screen-cap yet of that hot cop's butt?

OK, in this past week I got around to watching all of Season 6 (I love my DVR!). Anyway, my take on Vic skipping the meeting was that he didn't want to play the autism card and he also had a hunch about the developer - the hunch paid off, he now has tons of blackmail on basically everybody so he'll be back.

And yes, the Armenians will play a big part of Season 7.

Have they said how many more seasons there'll be?

Yes, Season 7 will be the final season. FX green lighted 13 episodes and that's it.