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The Shield Season 2 Episode 4

Carte Blanche

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9.2

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AIRED: 1/28/03

Now that Vic is back to work, he and Shane go undercover as dirty cops to find the man behind a robbery/murder. Meanwhile, Dutch and Claudette track down an old rival of Claudette's after a turned in gun is connected to a previous case. And in an attempt to get the Asian vote in the election, David assigns Julien and Danny to watch over a Korean parish.moreless

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Fan Episode Reviews (3)

Great episode, but not my favorite storylines. The thing about The Shield, though, is that you never know which plotlines will carry over into important story arcs later, so you gotta always pay attention...moreless

9.2

By rockin01, Oct 29, 2010

As I said in the capsule, a couple of the storylines just didn't click with me, but that's the nature of a weekly series. Claudette's running down a gun that was used in a murder was entertaining, but I hate it when they split her from Dutch, and I'd much rather see her continuing her pursuit of Vic. Not that I want Vic taken down, it just makes for great dramatic tension. There was a little too much Eceveda in this ep for me, and he is gravitating back to his noble crusader/slimy politician mode, and that just gets on my nerves.

That being said, this episode was a worthy entry. I just can't wait until things get cooking on the war with Armadillo again- I know he's not just going away quietly.moreless
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Minor Plots Need To Be Strong - Prime Example

9.0

By cavanagh15, Jan 16, 2009

Now that Vic is back to work, he and Shane go undercover as dirty cops to find the man behind a robbery/murder. Meanwhile, Dutch and Claudette track down an old rival of Claudette's after a turned in gun is connected to a previous case. And in an attempt to get the Asian vote in the election, David assigns Julien and Danny to watch over a Korean parish.

The minor plots to this episode give season two it's first "not edge of my seat amazing" episode. Dutch and Claudette find a lead in the Toys for Guns drive that they set up, which leads to a very boring couple of scenes where Claudette tried to get revenge on an old rival of hers. We never got to see this so called rivalry when it was in action, which is why I didn't tend to care too much about the storyline. I don't like Dutch as a character, which is another reason why the storyline just wasn't good to me.

Julien and Danny continue to work together, but where they are assigned is just terrible. David has to cover his own butt so he assigns them to run duty at a Church. Danny finds out that some guy is burying dead animals in his backyard and - that's the end of the storyline. Not worth my time.

Vic and Shane going undercover was fun to watch. It's always interesting to watch Vic's character to see how far he is going to take something. He blew off someones head in this episode because he needed the undercover story to pan out. Very interested to see how the money train storyline pans out, looks like it could be a multi-episode arch.

Vic is forced to move out of the house, something that I am glad was not dropped considering it looks like a week or so has passed since the trip to the hospital. Overall - really good episode from Vic / Strike team perspective but not a good one from the minor characters.moreless
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Spoiler and spoiler free reviews

10

By blknge, Dec 27, 2006

Spoiler free review

The second season of the shield continues to keep the perfection of the season's start yet again. The season is already looking more intense than the entire first and in this episode I wondered if it went farther than that. Everyone is incredible, and the style is the same greatness as before. Everybody has a deeply involving story or case, a million intense stories are happening at once, and the ending is never enough for anybody. Well worth your money if you brought the box set.

SPOILER REVIEW

The episode put so many questions into my head but none of them were bad. For example when Vic was back into the job after just being shot last episode I wondered if it felt right but at least the show gives a great sense of when everything is happening. Even with shows like The Sopranos I got a little lost with everything that happens between episodes. I sometimes feel like everything is just jumping around, it didn't feel well put together. The Shield fixes all of that, many things between episodes happen very soon to each other and some episodes last almost entire nights. This helps me a lot, now I never get worried about the in between stuff.

Of course as well the acting is phenomenal, especially Shane this time. Like I mentioned about the intensity, this pushes it almost too far. I mean Shane nearly rapes a woman to get answers, then he acts like Di** the next moment about it. The uneasy relationship between acivado and Mackey is still great, the other cases are also deeply effective. So far I still can't believe the sick stuff that's happened, keep it up.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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CCH Pounder	Detective Claudette Wyms
Michael Chiklis	Detective Vic Mackey
Jay Karnes	Detective Holland "Dutch" Wagenbach
Michael Jace	Officer Julien Lowe
Reed Diamond	Detective Terry Crowley - (Pilot Only)
Walton Goggins	Detective Shane Vendrell

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Shaun Duke	Alex Schenenik	Guest Star
Cheryl White	Marissa	Guest Star
Veena Bidasha	Yahssirah Al-Thani	Guest Star
Lucinda Jenney	Lanie Kellis	Recurring Role
Cathy Cahlin Ryan	Corrine Mackey	Recurring Role
RonReaco Lee	Taylor Orrs	Recurring Role

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (1)
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- Use your Season 2 DVD. When Dutch and Claudette are approaching Mr. Hinkle, freeze frame the shot of the top of the street. You can see cars blocking the road so that they can walk across without any traffic.
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QUOTES (5)
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- Shane: Aceveda seems pissed.
  Vic: (grins) Just like old times.
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- Suspect: I'd like to see a warrant.
  Vic Mackey: I'd like to see Anna Kournikova naked on a waterbed.
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- Vic: If I'm gonna be a crooked cop, I've at least got to be honest about it!
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- Vic: Wha-- Wait a minute. You work for Alex, the dead guy worked for Alex, he robbed from you, you robbed back and killed him? Doesn't sound like a very happy family.
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- David: You're going undercover as dirty cops. Think you can handle that? (Sarcasticly)
  Vic: We can try.
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NOTES (4)
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- This is the introduction of the Money Train storyline, which has been the longest running in the show so far.
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- Since this episode aired, the "Toys For Guns" drive idea has been used twice by LAPD.
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- According to the timeline of the show, it's been three weeks since Vic got shot.
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- A number of scenes were deleted involving Danny, Julien, and the reverend of the church they were watching, but didn't make it to air for time. You can find them on the Season 2 DVD.
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ALLUSIONS (2)
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- The title of this episode, "Carte Blanche" is French and literally translates to blank ticket. It also means unrestricted power to act at one's own discretion.
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- Shane's Badge #: 714
  
  This is a reference to the number of the badge that appeared in the opening sequence of the series, Dragnet.
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