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The Shield Season 5 Episode 11

Postpartum

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AIRED: 3/21/06

As Vic prepares to help Lem get out of the country to begin a new life in Mexico; Kavanaugh and Aceveda attempt to capitalize on the situation by using this as means to try to take down the leader of the Strike Team. Dutch decides to file for a transfer. Meanwhile, Shane tries to cut off the investigation by taking extreme measures and Danny finally confronts the father of her child.

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FAN RECAP

Fan Episode Reviews (66)

unfair

9.0

By DileepChakrav, Sep 24, 2012

I do not know whether I like him or not. But I wanted him to win always.

Sometimes he acts as though he do not have moral boundaries; Armenian money train, killing Terry, sleeping with other women, and other things which makes us hate him. But there is something in him. Something that is in between good and wicked. The show portrayed greater insight into other characters like Dutch, Danny etc.., showing their weaknesses, attitude which helped us understand them. When it comes to Vic many times he acts unpredictable - I myself was not convinced whether he was a bad cop or a good cop (as he told "good cop and bad cop left for the day I am a different kind of cop"). I am yet to watch season 6 and 7 - just completed 5. I wish he realizes his mistake and tries to set the things right. Well, season 5 had different Vic. For some reason Vic stopped doing anything he used to do till season 3. No matter what I ended up wanting to him every time. Shane turned out to be a real jerk. At least Vic got gratitude and good heart. Shane did not even paused a moment to think that Lem ended up in trouble to save Shane.

Ronnie and Lem seem to be better characters of all. Lem had conscience. The look on Lem when they saw Kavanaugh talking to his wife showed him that Lem felt bad for Kavanaugh and he did not look approvingly at Vic when the latter told him "at least we found his weak spot"

I hated Vic for sleeping with Kavanaugh's wife - I would not blame if Kavanaugh wanted to haunt Vic for rest of the seasons.

I strongly felt it is unfair to let Lem take hit.

- Lem was never involved in Terry's murder

- Lem did not steal the tar - he kept with him as a leverage - but bad for him he could not tell that

- Lem showed that he had good heart (During season 2 he hesitated before sleeping with the girl after he rescued her brother, he even admitted that he shot him)

- Lem was never into that Armenian money - never

- All this shit he had got himself in was because of Vic and only Vic

On the other hand Vic made all the decisions and pulled others into trouble when he walked away. Sticking with the team and hiring a lawyer for them does not make it go away.

He should not have done that in the first place.

Inspite of all this Lem told the lawyer that he is ready to take the hit and is not going to give anyone up.

Kavanaugh is right - Vic is the responsible guy for everything.

Lem's dead is on

1. Vic - for dragging him into this and asking him to run.

2. Aceveda (for wrongly tipping Vic and others that Lem is going to testify everything against them)

3. Kavanaugh - for taking it personally.

We have to now see

- How Shane now handles this - this is too much for him.

- How Vic tries to take revenge

- Kavanaugh ; is he off Vic's tail?

- Will Lem's incident bring some sense into Vic?

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With Kavanaugh and Acevedo on their tails the Strike Team gets their plans in motion to get Lem out of the country. Meanwhile Danny has her baby and confronts the baby's father.moreless

10

By meathead704, Oct 04, 2011

A fantastic episode from start to finish with an ending nobody watching could have predicted. Walton Goggins has never been better as the Strike Team member we all love to hate. All other cast members were at the top of their form. It's good to see The Shield is still able to deliver for its fans after five seasons.
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Simply put, "Postpartum" hits you like a ton of bricks. It'll stay with you forever.

9.5

By VeryAware, Jun 21, 2011

Phew, this one takes a lot out of me. No other season finale affected me as much as "Postpartum". It was the episode when everything – and I mean everything – changed for our characters. One of the leads was killed in a dramatic, heartbreaking twist (I'm trying to keep this spoiler-free but you folks who haven't seen this really, really should). His death started a chain reaction that would lead to the end of the series, only two seasons away. After watching "Postpartum" I turned and said to my dad, "There's no going back now." Never before had a show shook me like this.

There's so much to admire about THE SHIELD but the highlight for me has always been its guts. The show is willing to do some incredibly tough things to its characters, including kill them. Shawn Ryan and his crew showed no mercy to them or to us. Simply put, "Postpartum" hits you like a ton of bricks. It'll stay with you forever.moreless
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Amazing finale to the best season so far ("It's all about family, right?")

10

By tvgirl17, Apr 15, 2011

In the past month, I've marathoned through The Shield from Season 1. The first 3 were great, the 4th stumbled a little as the Strike Team was divided, but then the show came back with season 5, the best so far. After the entire season, you could see how things piled up and why Shane did what he did. Nothing is black and white on this show, and Shane felt he had no other choice. Vic tried so hard to patch things up for everyone, but they all could see how impossible it would be for everyone to get off free and clean. Instead of becoming a 2dimensional EVIL villain during season 4 leading to an EVIL murder here, Shane always went back to his family, the Strike Team, and saw no other way out when backed into a corner. He had to protect Vic and Ronnie, his wife and kids, and I am dying to see how this affects him. The last line of the episode was chilling. Brilliant drama, and Emmys should have been handed out like candy for this mind-blowing show and its remarkable actors.moreless
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Best episode ever!!! and heart-broken episode too

10

By viidu, Apr 01, 2011

What can I say? An episode that brings tears to my eyes and I couldn't help myself. It's the first time since five seasons, that I really really hate the writers to be so cruel on the strike team, putting them in such a dillema and create a character, wonderfully played by Forest Whittaker, a merciless, cunning predator that will do everything to get what he wants.

And finally he did it, he cornered the strike team and forced Shane to make a decision, probably the hardest of all, to put an end to this chase.

I'll never forget the look on the face of Shane and Lem and I have to say that this is the best TV show ever!moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Benito Martinez	Councilman David Aceveda
Catherine Dent	Officer Danielle "Danny" Sofer
Cathy Cahlin Ryan	Corrine Mackey - (Season 4, Recurring Previously)
CCH Pounder	Detective Claudette Wyms
David Rees Snell	Detective Ronnie Gardocki - (Season 4, Recurring Previously)
Jay Karnes	Detective Holland "Dutch" Wagenbach

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Kwesi Boakye	Wendell	Guest Star
Leeah D. Jackson	Haley	Guest Star
Bon Ogle	George	Guest Star
Onahoua Rodriguez	Emolia Melendez	Recurring Role
Paula Garcés	Officer Tina Hanlon	Recurring Role

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (0)
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QUOTES (8)
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- Shane: LEM! Lem, I'm sorry! But I had to right!? You know I'm sorry, I'm so sorry man!
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- Kavanaugh: Are you happy now... Detective Mackey?
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- Vic: We're gonna find out who did this... and we're gonna kill him.
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- Claudette: Track down whatever you can find. Run everything by me. And Vic, that renegade s--t's not gonna fly on my watch, but you already knew that.
  Shane: It looks like a new Sheriff just limped into town.
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- Vic: Lem trusts us. He trusts us. And I still trust Lem. I do.
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- Kavanaugh: My office will have eyes on all of you, every second of every day until Lemansky's caught. Thank you… for bringing me back into your life.
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- Billings: See? No respect. Wyms is even moving my desk where everybody can get a good gander at Caesar lying in a puddle of blood.
  Dutch: In this story, you're Caesar?
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- Dutch: The only reason I was hanging around here was because we were partners, and now that's gone. I'd just like to move on.
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NOTES (4)
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- With the episode running approximately 70 minutes, it is cut down to 48 minutes for the UK DVD release.
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- International Airdates:
  The Netherlands: February 20, 2008 on Veronica
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- During the production of this episode, the writers used the phrase "Shane delivers Danny's baby" as a codephrase for him murdering Lem. This was just one of many efforts on the part of the cast and crew to keep Lem's death as secret as possible until the night the episode aired.
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- 90 min episode.
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ALLUSIONS (1)
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- The end of the episode does parallel John Steinbeck's novel "Of Mice and Men" (which influenced the previous episode's title) since, in the novel, George kills Lennie out of mercy.
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