Tuesday March 19, 2002
5012-01-101
Internal Affairs investigates the shooting death of Det. Crowley, but Aceveda starts his own investigation. Meanwhile, Claudette and Dutch investigate the shooting of a churro vendor that ends up in the Strike Team busting up a gang initiation.
Write a Recap »After the action-packed gut punch of the pilot, yours truly was ready for more of the same. This episode, while a decent entry, was a slower-paced character development piece. Not that that's a bad thing... hide show
Picking up where the pilot left off, this episode essentially highlights all of the things the pilot showed us:
Mackey is a bad mutha
Aceveda REEEEEAALLLY wants to bring him down.
Claudette is a tough, cagey multifaceted broad; Dutch is a nakedly ambitious naif- together, they have an effective chemistry
Danny is a veteran cop who works hard to be one of the boys, even though she catches a lot of crap for being a woman
Julien, her rookie partner, has a lot to learn. He also seems to be harboring a big secret.
Let's see, what else did we learn- oh, yeah: there's a lot of black and Hispanic criminals in LA. I'm sure the show caught a lot of flak for its depiction of minorities but, to be fair, The Shield seems to work hard to include characters who do not fit cultural stereotypes.
All in all, a good, but not classic episode.
After such an explosive Pilot, The Shield had nowhere to go but down you could say, but this was a bit much. The start of the episode started off very slow, with a lot of the same that we saw during the slow parts of the Pilot and the funeral scene between the two familes likely wasn't needed. The only reason I think the scene was even included was the show that Vic is trying to make sure no one cracks about what they did. The continuing investagation was needed in this episode, though the only cool scenes were the ones with Vic. The others seemed pretty boring to me. I thought the capturing of the Latino gang was a cool scene, with Vic dropping the card on the ground once they were done with it. In the long run though, not a very strong episode - Action or written wise.
The second episode of The Shield picks up where the first one left off. Though it doesn't have as much action it is still a great episode. hide show
This episode picks up right where the pilot left off. This automatically (in my book) makes the show better than most because it shows that it is not just another cop show where it is one case per episode and whatever happened one week ago no longer effects any of the characters this week. The episode revoles around Aceveda trying to pin the murder of Detective Terry Crowley on Vic. The episode shows that though Vic is a very tough person he does have feelings and is a real human being. He is not just a cop but has another life with his family and is mentally effected by his murder of Terry. The way Claudette breaks down the kid into confessing that he shot the churro vendor is also great. As with the first episode this one is also amazing. Though it has much less action for me good dialoge is always much more important than a gunfight. So far The Shield is 2 for 2.
1st apperance of Gilroy and Matthew. hide show
Vic appears a bit more human here as we actually see some guilt in his frequent flashbacks to killing Terry. Also with the first apperance of Gilroy, we understand why Vic is so cocky and dismissive of his Captain, he's got the assistant cheif in his pocket. I'm not 100% sure at what point viewers start thinking of Vic as good and Aceveda as bad, but it's still early yet and although a bit obsessive and underhanded, Aceveda seems to be only fighting for what's right. Although he appears more human than the monster that's introduced in the pilot episode, Vic nonetheless is still a bad guy who's trying to cover up his dirty deed come hell or high water.
Slow start, and this episode is sharing alot with episode 1. hide show
This episode was good, but by Shield standards it was only average. It stood too much on episode 1's arc, but from halfway, the plot picked up, luckily.
Overally, this episode was a good character developing episode. I liked Vic having flashbacks.
Its also really interesting, i mean..damn it. Acevade was very close to catch Vic, but thank to his loyal people, he couldn't. Thats good drama.
The Shield has also has one big strenght: thats the intensity. Once its an action scene, IT IS an action scene.
Overally. Decent episode, with little twists, nothing biggy. Upcoming episodes are much better than this one.
Gino24
Editor
John_Q_Public
Milks23
SrRui
