Goldblum

As Jimmy James said, the story line was merged into the Dutch is framed story line. We know that Dutch is somewhat fucked up in the head. Who knows what he was capable of?

DthRdrX

Dutch was ALWAYS an tough book to read. He killed the cat, was more interested in serial killers than anyone, had the child porn on the lost PC, etc ....

They always seemed to leave these little plot points in about the character for the fans to decide what he is up to.

flagstone

I thought Vic would walk away from this one, but I thought he would be walking out as defiant and unapologetic as ever. Looked like I was wrong...until that last little expression Chiklis had as he was walking out just before the final cut. Just perfect. Looked to me like Vic isn't planning on letting ICE win.

Goldblum

Oh, and Best Ending Ever.

Jimmy James

Vic gets to collect a nice salary (particularly if he doesn't have to pay support) and go home in the evenings and on weekends for 3 years. He makes more than I do. I am hesitant to call it hell.

To put a finer point on it, I'm sure Ronnie would trade with him any time he wanted.

DthRdrX

Ronnie got boned worse, but Vic losing his family was the only thing that I believe could really hurt him. I have no doubt that Vic will get them back somehow. He's too clever not to.

I felt worse for Ronnie than I did anyone on this show, including Lem. My friend joked that Ronnie was probably wearing his funeral suit the last few weeks!

chrisih8u

It must be weird for all those normal people who work with Vic now. You have a nice normal desk job and then they put a cop killer next in the cubicle next to you.

siddd5

At the beginning of the episode, I thought Dutch may (very slight chance) have done it. As time went on, that went by the boards. There was no way he did it. He's too freakin' square.

Great episode. Great ending. Vic looks good in a suit.

Newhart still had the best ending, but The Shield was a solid second (and much better than the Sopranos finale).

I noticed Shawn Ryan wrote the episode, which surprised me because it was done during the writer's strike.

Anyone notice Clark Johnson (tonites director) was the real estate guy for Corinne (who after 6 years finally wore some makeup).

Also, anyone notice Julien get distracted by the gay couple? Hmmm ....

flagstone

I'll bet no one eats the sandwich labeled "Vic" in the fridge, though.

Aegean2007

A little tidbit of info:

From the hint (Burpee Museum), Corinne and the kids are now in Rockford, Illinois, where Shawn Ryan is from.

puzzlefighter99

Seems like Ryan took Shane's fate from the Chris Benoit tragedy.

BravesMG

He was also listed in the credits as "Handsome Marshal."

cdoug57

Anyone notice Clark Johnson (tonites director) was the real estate guy for Corinne...

Great to see Meldrick any time. Nice move as he was also the director of the pilot.

Good ending for Vic, lost everything. Sad for Ronnie.

I think Dutch may have done it and I believe that kid will never break.

Doug

Rypro 525

The Shane murder/suicide was creepy, especially now knowing it was based on the Chris Benoit episode from last year. Really enjoyed the finale. Remeber that big story someone got chastized for posting. The first line said 'in the finale Vic Mackey gets exactly what he deserved'. And no truer sense. Also wasn't Andre 3000 in a few episodes a few seasons ago as a drug dealer?

starseed1981

Holy fucking shit fuck fuck fuck shit fuck shit fuck I didn't see that coming fuck fuck shit fuck.

Jimmy James

It was shot during the early part of the strike, I think. The script was done, but Ryan wasn't there to do rewrites on set or anything like that. I hate that because he missed everybody wrapping their parts and because this episode probably would have been 5% better if he were there to smooth out some stuff.



I wonder how many of Vic's coworkers are there with some colorful stories of their own. I'm sure his takes the cake, but I imagine if there are 50 of them in the cube farm, 2 or 3 others have some tales to share. Maybe he'll find comfort befriending them and they can go out on weekends to play paintball or something. That actually delights me to think about because of how pathetic it would be.

BravesMG

I'm not exactly sure how the Benoit comparison works here. Benoit snapped due to years of physical abuse and trauma and violently killed his family and himself out of a paranoid delusion.

Shane was lucid (for the most part) and he was completely understanding that he dug the hole they were in. He killed them with poison and they didn't know, and did it to keep his sins from keeping them all apart and leading their lives down a shithole that knew no depth for any of them. The note he wrote to Vic pretty much summed up everything to a point where it was a selfish and narcissistic, but somewhat logical, conclusion for someone as fucked up as he was.

JohnSlider

Shawn Ryan said that the scene was based off the Benoit situation from last year, it isn't something we are speculating.

ClarkKentKY

Satisfying, but like others, I'm underwhelmed. Then again, it would have been hard for this finale to reach the incredibly high expectations I had.

I guess I'm mostly upset about the Ronnie ending. They had really set him up to be the last-man-standing guy that you root for. During his arrest scene i had flashbacks of how Christopher met his end on the Sopranos. It wasn't fair, it wasn't what I wanted, but there it was. Some people on here had theories about Ronnie having a backdoor with Beltran, or another agency. I'm left wishing that were the case.

I think Dutch had the best line when Ronnie got arrested. "The last 3 years."

I don't buy the "Vic is in hell" summary. Certainly not the "Vic gets what he deserves" statement that was in Entertainment Weekly. If you ask me, he's the only one that came out unscathed. The kids got uprooted, his wife left her job and her home, Ronnie goes to jail, Lem's dead, Shane's dead, Claudette's dying. Vic will continue to be Vic, only now it'll be after the lights and Air Conditioning shut off at 6:00.

Ultimately i'm satisfied though. That last scene was great. Vic's left very much like us, playing it back in his head, thinking about how he'd do it differently if he could.

Jimmy James

Right. I also don't know how lucid Shane actually was. It seemed he and Mara were both hitting every substance they could by the end.

ValeTudoChokeOu

I loved the ending. I read the Variety spoiler over the weekend, which ruined the Shane ending as well as the final scene (Vic leaving w/ a gun)...but still great.

Also, the kid killer his mom, IMO.

The "cat" incident with Dutch was so that he could experience the feeling the one guy told him about in interrogation...about how just before you kill someone (or something, in this case), you see a look in the victim's eyes.

Dutch, IMO, with his fascination of the serial killer mind, wanted to experience the "feeling" he was being told about, and tried to when he strangled the cat.

Just my 2 cents.

BravesMG

I read the interview with Ryan as well, I'm not debating that he used it as a point of interest, but the motivations and events didn't seem to tie in that well together aside from it being a family murder/suicide.

Jimmy James

I think you're right about all of that, but it's hard to say how his fascination has continued. Maybe the mom came over, they had words, and he had a moment of clarity when he realized he had to kill her in order to go ahead and stop this serial killer.

The fire in the trash just rings false. He figures out his trash is on fire in the middle of the night but doesn't mention it to anybody? He not only doesn't call the police to report it at the time but doesn't mention it that morning, just to make sure it's on file as being reported? He didn't notice there were clothes in there? That just doesn't ring true for a detective. Then again, neither does killing somebody but leaving their clothes in your trash.

starseed1981

The ending fucking rocked. It was the best ending for a series since Mash.

DthRdrX

Ronnie: What for?
Dutch: The last three years.

So the Strike Team was in business for three years, the same amount of time Vic has to stay put in the ICE office.

And I disagree with anyone that doesn't think Vic is in his man-made hell. His kids are his life, and the season 1&7 endings were very similiar in showing how much he needs them in his life.

The best scene was the Claudette/Vic faceoff. It was outstanding!