So I have some questions and comments about The Shield, which I just finished for the first time.

1. Whatever happened to Dutch killing the cat? I thought Dutch was going to develop some seriously messed up stuff.
2. Why did the storyline with Vic and his kid with Dani just disappear?
3. Tavon....why did they just leave him hanging, esp when he confronted Shane after he returned?
4. Why no more Glenn Close? Cluadette's character got old.
5. Did Julian leave his wife, or did he go back to being gay?
6. Mara....god I hate her.
7. What happened to Dutch and Corinne Mackey and why wasn't that played up more?
8. Vic really screwed Ronny....who was actually a likeable guy.
9. Hated what happened to Lem and Ronny. Two great guys.
10. Vic really did go to prison with the ICE agreement.
11. The interrogation room scene with Vic and Claudette in the finale might have been some of the best acting I've ever seen on TV or period.
12. For some reason I don't hate Kavenaugh as much now at the end of the series as I did during it.
13. Aceveda stayed around too long.
14. Were there an unusual amount of production errors? Seeing camermen, boom mics, etc. For example, the scene where Julian gets jumped by the other cops, there's 3 or 4 cameramen and crew running along the left side of the screen in full view.


That all aside.....this was a fantastic show. I totally thought Vic was going down or going to figure out a way to get everyone off scott free. And the finals scene was great with Vic alone in the office.

Don't you know? It was a chatracter driven series, it was never about that stuff. At least that's what every director/creator seems to say now.

can't answer all of them, but i'll give a few a go:

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1. Whatever happened to Dutch killing the cat? I thought Dutch was going to develop some seriously messed up stuff. I think this was just a character moment, dutch trying to understand what it was like to kill something. not everything has to have a payoff...he was always a curious person and tended to be the victim...maybe he just wanted to know what it felt like to be the aggressor.
2. Why did the storyline with Vic and his kid with Dani just disappear?
3. Tavon....why did they just leave him hanging, esp when he confronted Shane after he returned?
4. Why no more Glenn Close? Cluadette's character got old. was only signed for one season...I think they wanted to bring her back, but she had damages to move onto.
5. Did Julian leave his wife, or did he go back to being gay? don't think he left her, but as wiki stated: "At the end of the series Julien looks longingly at a homosexual couple, indicating stirring desires that haven't gone away.". He's gay, he's just been trying to not be.
6. Mara....god I hate her.yep
7. What happened to Dutch and Corinne Mackey and why wasn't that played up more?Dutch was largely doing it to get back at Vic. What else did you want?
8. Vic really screwed Ronny....who was actually a likeable guy.Are you assuming Vic wasn't a rotten guy who only protected himself?
9. Hated what happened to Lem and Ronny. Two great guys.
10. Vic really did go to prison with the ICE agreement.
11. The interrogation room scene with Vic and Claudette in the finale might have been some of the best acting I've ever seen on TV or period.
12. For some reason I don't hate Kavenaugh as much now at the end of the series as I did during it.I was rooting for him all along (though admittedly, his character crossed the line a few times). by season 3, I had no sympathy for Vic and was actively hoping for him to get caught.
13. Aceveda stayed around too long. maybe, but he provided a needed "in" to local politics. and who didn't enjoy his squirming to keep the "photos" out of people's hands. I thought he was a pretty great character, as far as slimy politicians go
14. Were there an unusual amount of production errors? Seeing camermen, boom mics, etc. For example, the scene where Julian gets jumped by the other cops, there's 3 or 4 cameramen and crew running along the left side of the screen in full view.the show was on a basic cable station that many people hadn't even heard of until the shield, so I'm sure they were working on a shoestring budget. Also, since so much of the show was shot on location, I'm sure if they didn't have much opportunity for reshoots, etc.

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I always thought that Dutch looked horrified after he killed the cat. I think he did it to try to understand killers, and then realized he just couldn't understand them.

Dutch's dissection of the 1st-season serial killer and subsequent breakdown in the men's room, one of the best "both sides of the coin" sequences of the entire series.

One could spot the Lem/Shane thing coming from a mile away as that scene built.

However, i did not expect Shane to go Bruno Mars on Lem.

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2. Why did the storyline with Vic and his kid with Dani just disappear? That is exactly what Dani wanted.
3. Tavon....why did they just leave him hanging, esp when he confronted Shane after he returned? After the wreck, Tavon was a liability. In one of the most evil moments IMHO, they convinced Tavon that he was responsible and he exited stage right out of shame/guilt/etc. I wish we could have gotten another season out of him. Great character.

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You could see Vic screwing Ronnie over coming a mile away as well. When his family and the Strike team were both intact, Vic's attitude was always "it's either us or them". Once both of those relationships were broken beyond fixing, it became "it's me or him."

Ditto on Shane's arc being visible from space. Starting with his and Army's bumbling while trying to strong-arm Antoine Mitchell (Anthony Anderson in the role of a lifetime), and going forward from there. Still was such a horrific thing to see what he did to his family at the end.