The Shield: Back to One

(S06E03) "This thing's gonna get a lot uglier before it gets better." -Vic

Well... it's official. I'm fairly certain I can't say a bad thing about this show. It's too good. Period. I'll even go as far as saying that it might be one of the finest cop dramas ever to be made and there's still 20 episodes (7 this season and 13 in the final) left before it's over for good.

There's just so many layers and subtle things that make this show so great (this episode in particular), that I know I won't recall all of them. That's how you know a show's good.

So we picked up with last week's kidnapping of Nadia (Guardo's girl) and Vic was forced to go to some extreme lengths to find the peace he's been looking for.

Of course, he was able to apprehend Guardo using his reputation for protection as part of the bait, but what ensued even I didn't expect. We've seen Vic violent before. Hell, he shot Terry. But we've never seen him like this. Hearing him yell, and cry, while beating Guardo with that chain was hard to watch. You almost had to wonder who was in more pain. Shane begging Vic to stop was even harder to handle. The guilt in his eyes and his voice is just so thick, especially when he barely muttered "we just killed somebody" following Vic's single shot to Guardo's forehead. Then to hear Vic justify Guardo's silence by assuming he acted alone? Wow... every scene in that abandoned warehouse was just mesmerizing.

Elsewhere, we finally got a really good look at the odd-couple that is Dutch and Billings. Those two are hilarious together. There never really has been a solid source of comic relief in this show and it's almost as if Shawn Ryan and Co. realized how dark this season was and rationalized the need for some laughter. To hear Billings wax on his desire to run with the Strike Team to get the blood flowing while Dutch merely closes his eyes and massages his temples? It's a riot.

Despite Billings' attempts to be as manly as possible (he did actually beat down that biker dude pretty good), it's Dutch that still seems to be making the big progress. I loved Billings' assessment of Dutch though. Wagenbach treats Steve like crap so that he'll take the fall if their stats drop. All this because Dutch is worried that Claudette was a better detective than him. Billings may be a goof, but he's smart, and it takes someone with real wit to actually make Dutch doubt himself.

I'm not even sure what else to mention, but here's what comes to mind...

• I love that Ronnie still has the stove-top scar from his run in with Armadíllo Quintero.
• Speaking of Ronnie, looks like he has a new fan in Tina. She was all sorts of flirty with him in this episode.
• I was surprised that the Feds actually came to Dutch to tell him to stop looking into their Salvadoran undercover Hernan. If anything, this will just make him push harder. If they said nothing, he would have kept hitting walls and probably given up. Agent Zinman said one thing that will stick with Dutch though: Guardo didn't kill Lem.
• I absolutely love the little things we're getting from Corinne. It breaks my heart that she feels like she may have said something to Kavanaugh that led to Lem's murder.

In the end, one line still sticks with me. Guardo, fearing for his life, offers Shane money to let him go. Shane says no and Guardo asks what he does want. Shane's response? Peace. That one line makes this episode damn near perfect. Six out of seven and the only reason I'm leaving off that extra point is because I've been fortunate enough to see the next three episodes. It only gets better folks.