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The Shield Season 3 Episode 13

Fire In The Hole

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9.0

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AIRED: 6/1/04

When a mole in the treasury department is discovered and the framed suspect in the Armenian money train robbery turns up missing, the Strike team race to find the suspect before their cover is blown. Meanwhile, Claudette attempts to make amends with the Decoy Squad by going undercover to help them on a case.moreless

Fan Episode Reviews (4)

Tevon regains consciousness, the Armenian mafia turns up the heat on Diega and Neil O'Brien while Dutch starts to look into the money train himself.

6.9

By marvelfan89, Nov 16, 2011

Interesting episode it's great to see Vick and his pig cops afraid for their lives in the third season. You can see despite their best laid plans, it's really dumb luck that they have gotten with what they have.

Lem finds out the real truth behind Tevon's injuries it was Shane himself, the racist cop. Tensions rises but Vic puts it out when he learns Neil O'Brien is targeted by the Armenian Mafia. Vic wants this guy alive so the Feds don't set camp in the precint. Diega, Vic's drug dealer/gang leader on the side of the Bizlaps, promises to help him.

Things don't work as Diega and Neil meet a nasty end, so Vic and the crew like in an episode of the "Sopranos" dispose of the crime while trying to cover up their own rear ends.

This was interesting and fun to watch. Mackey's team was on edge and their morale was really low. I think the writers could have done a better job with Dutch and Aceveda. You know they get close to Vic and then back off. I don't think a regular cop or detective who suspects corruption in his co-workers would be so naive about what Vic is up to.

How is it as well that these losers aren't under 24 hr surveillance? Well anyways an interesting episode.moreless
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Mackey and his team fail to locate the Irish patsy they set up to take the heat off them from a Treasury investigation into the marked money. So when he turns up dead (mob hit), Mackey decides to dispose of the body and make it appear he's gone intmoreless

4.0

By reillyd, Nov 16, 2011

This is one of those episodes that gets you re-thinking your take on the main characters of a series. Mackey does a great job with his team of preventing a major crime being planned by a gang. He's basically a decent guy trying to make ends meet, and put things right.

Then there's the money trail, and his ongoing corruption. Mackey previously set up an Irish patsy with marked money, to take the heat off him and his team from a Treasury investigation.

The mob is out to get the Irishman before he squeals (he actually knows nothing, but they don't know that). But when Mackey fails to find him in time, he's tortured and killed.

So here's where it get's really messy. Mackey decides to dispose of the body and make it appear he's gone into hiding. So the team load the body up into a truck, and burn it later. It just seems like he's going too far off kilter - that a man who can do such good one moment is capable of such depravity.moreless
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After a few competent, but less than riveting installments, The Shield is right back to high-energy form with this one.

9.4

By rockin01, Mar 27, 2011

After a couple of seasons, I get the drill: even though The Shield sometimes falls prey to the mid-season doldrums that plague even the greatest TV series (it's the nature of the beast, I guess), the writers seem to save the best for the last episodes leading to the season finale- this is one of those.

The pacing is back, as impeccable as always. The character interaction is engrossing, and the intricately layered plot jams the throttle wide open as the season begins to roar toward its close.

The money train robbery really begins to take its toll as the bodies continue to pile up. Dutch is breathing down Vic's as he continues unearthing clues that implicate the Strike Team. Shane's fight with Tavon is revealed- and the Team begins to fracture under all the pressure. Another great one...moreless
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The strike team is getting more paranoid and desperate than ever to cover up their involvement with the 'money train' while the strike team knows the truth about Tavon getting into it with Shane. Dutch also gets suspicious about Vic's involvement.moreless

9.5

By hurleyjunx666, Jul 09, 2007

This whole episode was another chapter in the aftermath of the 'money train' and everyone has their suspicions and thoughts on the idea. Dutch is getting more suspicious of Vic while getting in Aceveda's ear about it. After knowing Dutch, we know how smart of a detective he is and how he's capable of finding the truth no matter what the circumstances are. It seems he might be the one to put Vic on the spot about the 'money train' but he backed off. While he should've pursued, all of us viewers are relieved that he is not taking the matter to the next level for Vic would've definitely been tied with the 'money train.'

Before going into the money train, I'm probably one of the many people who will admit that Shane is just the dumbest character of the strike team. I love the character but I would not want someone like that on my team. Because of his racism and recklessness, he's put himself and maybe the entire strike team at jeopardy getting in a fight with Tavon and causing him to go to the hospital (it's Mara's fault but Shane instigated). You figured he'd be smarter than that but some people just never learn.

Back to the main story, I'm sure you have heard the line 'Money is the root of evil'. That is definitely the case with the strike team. They got greedy and decided to rob the Armenians secret stash of money and because of their greed, people are turning up dead with their feet chopped. The latest victim is O'Brien, the ex-con that the strike team has set-up to take heat off of them. The plan was just to have O'Brien alive and then have him go on the lam where he wouldn't get caught. Things take a different turn when O'Brien turns up dead by the hand of the armenians. This causes Vic, Shane, Lem and Ronnie to pull a "SOPRANOS" style move and dispose of the body to keep O'Brien missing and throw the FEDS and Dutch off their trail.

While the strike team's actions are wrong and very malicious, I could understand them pulling every string to keep themselves from being linked. If I was in a situation like that, I'd do whatever it took to keep the heat off of me, even if it meant throwing some of the heat onto someone else, let alone a completely innocent citizen such as O'Brien (although he is an ex-con). You could tell by each member of the strike team (espechially Lem) that they did not want something like this to happen but they had to do whatever it took to cover up their trail and keep themselves out of jail but most importantly alive. They have definitely have kept themselves out of jail but is it good enough to keep them alive? Like Lem stated at the end of the episode:

"We may have fooled Dutch and the Feds but the Armenians know the truth."

This episode is one of the very few strong episodes in season 3 as it will crank up the tension between the strike team and eventually led to their disbandment. This is one of my favorite episodes and I must admit it's probably stronger than most of the action/drama movies that have been put out recently.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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Mo	Derwin	Guest Star
Michael Phenicie	Bartender	Guest Star
James Budig	Neil O'Brien	Guest Star
Cathy Cahlin Ryan	Corrine Mackey	Recurring Role
David Rees Snell	Detective Ronnie Gardocki	Recurring Role
Brian J. White	Detective Tavon Garris	Recurring Role

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (5)
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- This is the only episode involving the Armenian mob where a member of the mob was not shown.
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- Watch the lighting in the boiler room closely after they dump O'Brien in the fire. When Vic closes the hatch, the light from the fire fades slower than normal. The light is coming from the side of the boiler.
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- A couple of the objects on O'Brein's coffee table move around a bit between shots. Nothing major, but noticable.
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- When Vic talks to Dutch about O'Brien being missing, the guy behind Dutch enters the men's room, but it never worked since the series began.
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- Look hard at the way the ground is shaped where the Strike team finds Diagur. It slopes a bit between his torso and his lower half. It's obviously been messed with. The lower half of his body is actually in the ground while fake legs have been attached to his body on top. It's very well done and isn't noticable unless you freeze it, but it's there.
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QUOTES (2)
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- Corrine: Matthew doesn't even think he did anything wrong. How am I supposed to reason with him?
  Vic: Somehow.
  Corrine: I can't spend every second with him. You...you, can't take him, what are we supposed to do? Put him in a home?
  Vic: You're serious?
  Corrine: (Pause) No.... I don't know.
  Vic: We are not gonna put him away.
  Corrine: I don't want to.
  Vic: Then don't bring it up again!
  Corrine:: Megan has a shot at a normal life. Is this fair to her?
  Vic: Of course not. But that doesn't mean we commit our son!
  Corrine: I am doing everything I can!
  Vic: Well, then I'm going to have to step in.
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- (Waylon dressed as a begger walks up to Vic's van)
  Vic: Hey, take a walk.
  Waylon: You take a walk.
  Vic: Waylon, what the hell are you doing here? You're going to tip these assholes off!
  Waylon: Me? Why don't you just paint 5-0 on the side of the van?
  Vic: You're sitting in the Spook Street crew? What for?
  Waylon: What do you care. You're compromisinbg everyone. Trish is in the store, Annie's over there-
  Vic: You're stepping on our case!
  Waylon: We were here first!
  Vic: (drops a coin in Waylon's cup) Get lost!
  Waylon: You get lost!
  Vic: Aww, Jesus Christ!
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NOTES (2)
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- A deleted scene for this episode on the Season 3 DVD includes a scene where Vic and Lauren confront Hunter. It was removed because Natalie Zea had to shoot a pilot, and her schedule made her unavaliable. Her storyline was meant to extend to the season finale, but was cut short when the crew couldn't keep her.
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- A set of contained fires and paint jobs were used to make the home look like it was set on fire from the stove. There really was no big fire set off in the home.
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ALLUSIONS (1)
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- Waylon: Why don't you just paint 5-0 on the side of the van?
  
  'Five O' is slang for police officers, originating from the tv show, Hawaii Five-0. Hawaii is the 50th state, hence the nickname "5-0."
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