909 Watches TV: Peaky Blinders

[909]

THE BARE MIDRIFF

This is another bad episode. It starts off alright, and the piss backsplash is funny, but the whole episode is built around this moment where Larry grabs onto Jillian Bell's belly roll in order to not die. It seems rather clear to me the grab was the initial concept that the entire episode was written around, so the whole thing was written backwards. Of course the good parts of this episode were with Richard Lewis.

THE BLACK SWAN

It's funny how things change from episode to episode. I guess part of it is using the right characters, another part of it is that Larry himself has great improv chemistry with those actors. I also feel the same way about tipping as I've previously told some of you. I know I've said in these other blurbs that certain episodes are unrealistic and whatever. Usually what the issue with those episodes is, is that the actors don't have the chemistry to actually pull the shit off for whatever reason. Maybe it's a bad concept or one of the actors just isn't feeling it. These four definitely had that chemistry though.

OFFICER KRUPKE

This is another episode that was funny to me because the scenario was so absurd. The ending wasn't that good but the rest sure is. I don't know how I didn't realize that Larry was actually going to be wearing women's panties at the end. Susie was hilarious as always here. I feel like I haven't mentioned her enough. The show literally wouldn't work without her in it.

THE TABLE READ

There's not a whole lot I can say about this episode other than that I was surprised. I was surprised that Michael Richards had such a big part in it, especially considering that after his incident he has either been unable to do anything or no longer wants to do anything. I was also surprised that they addressed his incident, because that's the kind of thing a person can never live down. There's also the fact that this feels like an actual Seinfeld reunion. Not just a better reunion but a better version of what a reunion show would actually be. There's not a single thing in this episode that doesn't work. The best part was probably when Larry ran away after Funkhouser brought Mrs. Duberstein.

 

[909]

SEINFELD

There are barely any episodes of television that come together as well as the last two episodes of Season 7. It would be easier to say what's wrong with the episode rather than talk about what's right. Literally the only thing wrong in this episode is how Larry becomes that fixated on the ring stain when kissing Cheryl. That's it. The rest is television perfection. You get an actual Seinfeld reunion, you get the cast reunion constantly in these episodes, and as a result this is the only time in an extremely long time where I've seen Jerry Seinfeld or Michael Richards take a part. Who else could have possibly put this together? The creative genius of this show makes it what it is. My favorite thing in this episode was either the Jerry-Larry staredown or Larry angrily tipping Mocha Joe.

I've seen Season 8 as I've mentioned, soooo

FOISTED!

I have also seen this episode and the following one before becoming lazy and not finishing Season 9. I liked this episode but I feel like the overarching storyline is going to be a complete misfire with me. We do have the foisting and we have more Leon though. I also noticed that the episodes expanded by five minutes in order to support having one or two more characters in every episode. This is a very good thing. I was surprised that they went with having Ted Danson divorce his actual wife in the show even though he did not in reality. I remember my initial feelings of this episode when I first watched it were not all that good, but I really liked Leon being Larry's assistant. Now I like the episode.

THE PICKLE GAMBIT

The Palestinian chick bits don't do it for me even though they do for a lot of other people, but this is another enjoyable episode. Buck Dancer sounds like the most seedy porno name a person could possibly come up with. The disguise is even better. Pickle jar good. Angry kid that can't jerk off is good. Him hitting his elbow that way is not so good. There had to be a better way to get to that point. I feel like this is a point of the show where they may have gone too far away from lampooning social conventions, but I need to watch more episodes to know whether or not that's actually the case.

 

[Brocklock]

It's basically It's Always Sunny in LA where every character is elderly in the last two seasons. Once I realized that I was able to enjoy it more, but Larry is basically a full on cartoon character that is a massive asshole for little reason. In the older seasons you usually see his point, but then he ends up taking it too far. If Flanderization bothers you, you might not like the last two seasons, but I think the show is still pretty funny although not as good as the first 8 seasons. But for a show that started in 1999, with a main cast mostly in their 60's and 70's, having 3 or 4 great episodes every season makes it still a really good show.

 

[909]

A DISTURBANCE IN THE KITCHEN

It appears that the new Curb as described above is not a problem to me at all. The Salman Rushdie shit made me laugh super hard. Elizabeth Banks being an even bigger asshole than Larry was a nice surprise. There are also a lot of borrowed riffs from Seinfeld that feel more like an homage than a ripoff. The host is another very aggravating character that reflects real life.

RUNNING WITH THE BULLS

I think everyone wanted to see Bryan Cranston in this show, particularly at the time, but I was stunned that his character did not end the episode in conflict with Larry. I think that makes him one of the only guest stars to not go out like all the rest. This episode is very funny, but the fatwa stuff is bombing hard with me. Regardless, Larry vs. Richard is the best feud this show has, and they keep going to that well over and over again. Nicely done.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE

I feel literally the exact same way as Larry when it comes to thanking people for their service. The PTSD gag felt like a bit that went too far, but the mail carrier jokes land well too. The improv here also does not work the way it usually does. Overall this is an average episode of Curb, which still makes for a good episode of television.

THE ACCIDENTAL TEXT ON PURPOSE

And here, we come to an episode that will probably not be topped the rest of the season. This was the first point at which I noticed how old the cast really is now, when there's just a bunch of old men sitting around the table at the end of the episode. Really strange. Everything in this episode lands though. There's nothing that doesn't. The shit with the water is incredible, so is the accidental boner (and nobody is ever watching me change my pants like that), and this episode has no fatwa. That's really the one thing holding this season back, the fatwa. If someone tried to make me drink sewer water, I think I would kill them

 

[909]

NAMASTE

When the episode description said 'hot yoga teacher', yeah I got what I was hoping for right here. This more than any of the other episodes so far features Larry simply being a bald asshole. The Romanian thing is also just plain out wrong to anyone with a brain and was stuck in here to show how much of a bald asshole he has become. I was going to say that this was an average episode, until there was the whole Larry pretending to be autistic thing.

NEVER WAIT FOR SECONDS!

There's a lot in this episode that you would think I wouldn't like, with this being fatwa centered. However, this time that is not true! The callbacks to previous seasons all work. The final trial is something else I thought I wasn't going to like, until about ten seconds later when I remembered that this was supposed to be a callback to the last episode of Seinfeld, just as the character witnesses were in the Seinfeld finale. In that way, the fatwa storyline really comes back around on itself and becomes something that I actually liked. Bringing back Funkhouser's girlfriend was very unexpected and very welcome. The asshole kid is also a really good character.

THE SHUCKER

There's actually a lot of things in Season 9 that sound too ridiculous to work, except most of them do and this is another episode where that happens. The old lady should not have been funny. Judge Judy should not have been funny. The fake NBC show should not have been funny. They're all good gags. There is one thing I'm noticing though. Larry has gotten old enough where he is now reusing the same gags with more famous guest stars. There's two scenes in previous episodes where the big gags have already happened. In one, he wrestles with some chick at the doctor's office, and in another a doctor falls asleep on him during a show and drools on him. I don't care for that, but the end result of his relationship with Lauren Graham is a nice way to tie that up.

 

[Brocklock]

Most of his scenes with Lin Manuel Miranda just feel like a slightly altered version of Larry and Ben Stiller.

 

[909]

FATWA!

I came to the determination during this episode that I did not like Lin Manuel Miranda's interactions with Larry. The improv isn't as good as Larry was able to do with other characters, and there came a point where I just had enough. Then we had the duel. The duel is the kind of thing that saves a drowning bit. The swinging bit was great though. I thought for sure that the husband was gay or something and Larry would find a guy coming out of his room, or the bathroom with him, something like that. Maybe he still is gay, but in any case, this was really funny. Larry not showing up to the wedding was probably helpful in that Larry didn't have to come up with ideas for those scenes. I think Season 9 was the worst of the bunch.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

You can tell that this episode kicks off a brand new season in that it's completely refreshing and Larry seems to have new ideas once again. First of all, there's the breaking of the selfie stick. Unexpected as that was, it was also very good. The bald asshole is kicked into overdrive here. Unfortunately, unless the rest of the season is entirely different, it seems like Richard Lewis is starting to have old man slowdown. He struggled through his bit here. The MAGA hat is something I'm shocked more people don't do, but you really can't get away with that shit around here. The sexual assault complaint coupled with Jeff's Weinstein look is classic, and most importantly Larry and Cheryl finally hook up in the most weird way possible. Great episode.

SIDE SITTING

Welp, besides the picture of Susie, this episode really bombed. There is a lot of stuff here that is both not clever and massively overdone to the point where I wanted to get it off my screen. The taped date is the most notable offender. I also did not particularly care for his assistant claiming sexual harassment over the things that she claimed it over, and I feel this is the bad kind of commentary in an episode where the only perception of the scenes I have is that Larry and/or others feel like these claims are often overexaggerated. Of course, he really is an old bald asshole. I shouldn't take it very seriously, but it wasn't funny.

 

[Brocklock]

Richard Lewis was in really bad shape during the filming of Season 10. He had tremendous pain in his back and shoulder and ended up getting surgery on both after the season. He said that was why his performance was off the whole season. I watched a more recent interview and he was fairly energetic and more like he usually was.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/howard-reich/ct-ent-richard-lewis-reich-0308-20200303-retix3gi4bgtrljmadnc6b6mm4-story.html?outputType=amp

But, with tbh my favorite supporting character dead and another one of the best supporting players on the show performing with basically a broken back, Season 10 might be my least favorite season. I was a little less high on 9 than you I think, but there's still some classic episodes like The Accidental Text On Purpose and The Shucker. 10 has some good episodes still (there's a doozy coming with two excellent guest stars), but something has been off the last two seasons and idk what it is. The show is too Hollywood, bright, and glossy looking now possibly. People say the same thing with the new seasons of Always Sunny, but it bothers me here more. I think it's because the cast on this show is 10-30 years older than the younger cast of Sunny, and the higher production values makes everyone seem older and less energetic on Curb. But, idk maybe you end up loving Season 10. There's a lot of people that say it's as good as ever and love seasons 9 and 10, but I think the earlier seasons of Curb are the best.

 

[909]

That explains a lot about Lewis, but in one of the episodes last night he seemed to be just like himself.

ARTIFICIAL FRUIT

By the way, scones are absolutely terrible and I'm glad that this episode treats them exactly how they are. As I was watching this, I was waiting for someone to chip their tooth on one of them, and then they have the ending which gives me even more than what I'd hoped for. Larry's sadness over Cheryl also made this a pretty good episode in that there seems to be a legitimate reason for him complaining. On top of that, he's actually right about the credit card! There aren't a lot of episodes where Larry is almost solely in the right, but this is one of them. You won't see me hug a sick person either. I also dig the spite store. Lewis is also good in this episode and I'm surprised he was able to do anything like this while in pain.

YOU'RE NOT GOING TO GET ME TO SAY ANYTHING BAD ABOUT MICKEY

This episode went way outside the box in terms of what Curb became as a show. There used to be episodes where Larry would travel and we'd see different scenery than the usual. Not counting the airplane episode, this is the first in some time. Alice being brain damaged after Larry's refusal to touch her is one of the darkest jokes this show has ever had. I found this episode to be a good one too. Susie coming to Larry's defense for reasons not consisting of Larry having lied to her was highly unexpected. The weight jokes are stronger than expected, and so is the bit with the toothbrush and the aftermath of that. The coffee beans jokes don't really work like they should. Also, usually these moments don't make it on camera, but there's a part in this episode where Cheryl nearly cracks up (I think it's this episode), and another one where Jeff sees what Larry is wearing and has a moment of genuine surprise. Seems like everyone had a lot of fun with this material.

The episodes are also longer and that's why I'm taking so long to get through them, but I like that they're expanded. The show has become Hollywoodized in that the guest stars now are so big that it's hard to buy into their existence in the show, but it's a really popular show within the industry that everyone wants to be on.

 

[Brocklock]

Rewatching old episodes of Curb, I've noticed moments like that pretty much from the beginning. Like Larry is barely trying to hide his real laughter when Richard or Funkhouser or Leon are talking to him. Jeff is pretty much close to laughing during most of his scenes with Larry. Probably a case of most of the cast not being traditionally trained actors, but I like the little moments on the show and it adds to the genuineness.

 

[909]

INSUFFICIENT PRAISE

This is an episode that probably seemed stupid to a lot of people, but I have a family member exactly like Clive Owen here. Nothing you say in praise of them will ever be good enough, or it will always be treated like you have an ulterior motive. As a result I sympathized big time with Larry here. At first I wasn't too sure about Vince Vaughn being in this show, and when I watched this episode I still wasn't, but he really fit into the show well as these three episodes played out. The blow up doll shouldn't have been this funny either, but it escalated more and more to the point where it just was. Also, Isla Fisher being in this was only because Larry knew his interactions with her would be good, not because she'd be believable as Richard's girlfriend. Very good episode.

THE SURPRISE PARTY

This episode wasn't too funny. This has its moments though. The dog made me laugh a little bit, and Susie's bits with Larry are always good too. Fred Armisen cracked me up, but the premise as a whole doesn't really work. I can't see there being a Jew hating dog. I don't know why Larry would think that Susie is trying to kill her meal ticket. A handicapped person would ordinarily never give someone their placard. Larry is also not enough of an asshole to be calling someone Rusty while they're having a heart attack.

THE UGLY SECTION

Inspired comedy work here. I think I should start with the part I laughed the hardest at, which is the amateur diagnoses. Don't know how someone came up with that, but it was funny. The magical vagina should not have been this amusing, and neither should the Jets jokes. They felt forced a little bit, but they were still good. Then, we come to the ugly section. Have you not seen some shit like this before? I sure have. Considering it's LA, I bet this happens a lot. At first, you would think it's just because it's a bunch of dudes, but then it gets increasingly more obvious and ends in hilarious fashion. The scenes at the golf course are the first time where to me it seemed like Richard Lewis was utterly suffering just to be standing up. He didn't just not have material, it looked like he was dying. In any case, this is a great episode. I'm going to watch the next three, and then I'll be done.

 

[909]

ELIZABETH, MARGARET, AND HARRY

This episode more than the rest had a carefully fine line to walk in order to pull off all the gags, and that line was walked better than I could possibly have hoped for. This is one of the best episodes in the whole series. There's nothing in this episode that doesn't work, everything fits the way that it should. Jon Hamm is probably the best one episode actor in the series as well. The bleeding rectum is something I didn't think would have any meaningful payoff. Except it did. Leon is also used to the full extent of what the character really should be.

BEEP PANIC

This makes two episodes of Leon at his best. In this one, the storyline is really working against the show. Some of these things are extremely contrived. However, that is redeemed by a lot of other material. The opening of the spite store is great. The licorice gag is highly amusing and has a good payoff. I was thinking that Diane's storyline would end with her being unable to shit in the coffee shop. I was surprised things went in a different direction. Maybe she decided not to go there because she couldn't shit there? I have a thing against sweaty people like that. I don't care what their reasons are, why they're sweating, or anything. I damn sure wouldn't eat food that a sweaty person brought to me. It felt like Vince Vaughn really didn't fit in this episode though.

 

[909]

THE SPITE STORE

Some serious mixed feelings about this episode. I know that you aren't supposed to like Mocha Joe, but the guy who plays him appears to have some major range issues. The rest of the episode is pretty good though. Curb doesn't often have surreal scenes like the one where Alice regains her memory, so it had to be engaging and I thought it was. The other celebrities having their own spite stores was a nice gag as well. Ultimately I would merely say this is a good episode and I'm glad it isn't the last one. I also liked this season as a whole a lot more than the one before it. The delivery of everything here makes up for any shortcomings that it may have had.

 

[Brocklock]

Damn calling out a guy that appeared in 90 episodes of Becker and played a character named Sammy Feathers on a show called EZ Streets for range issues. A man that played such beloved characters as Mocha Joe, Man #1, Chet The Doorman, Caesar Santos, Bellhop, Willie The Snitch, and Referee has no such range issues.

 

[909]

I was gonna do a big post about Curb after finishing the last season, but this is a show where I like almost literally everyone on it. There's no point. The show doesn't have heel characters like a lot of other great shows. You expect things from each character when they appear in the show, and they meet those expectations almost every time.

 

[909]

PILOT

This is the only time I will post a picture as in looking for them it is easy to get spoilers, which is a lesson I learned when watching Curb and aborting that search immediately after seeing one. This show is infamous for killing a character in the pilot, but that was all I knew about the show. So I was only able to watch the first episode last night, but I liked it. I still don't know shit and I don't want to know shit, but I had almost forgotten that Michael Jace murdered his wife. Gonna be very hard for me to look at that character objectively. Also, about pilots, it's impossible to know how the show will actually be after a pilot. Oftentimes, a lot of the shit in those pilots drastically changes over the course of a full season. I do like that the show is set in LA with a fictional version of the very corrupt Rampart Division. Will the show go like the Rampart scandal or will it be different? Don't tell me, but I'm hoping for it to be different. What I do know is that what they showed of Vic interrogating that pervert was immensely satisfying.

 

[Hawk 34]

FUCKIN FINALLY.

 

[909]

OUR GANG

The episodes after a show's pilot are often among the worst in a series. It takes some time for writers to get into a writing groove. I don't think this was a bad episode, but there are definitely some issues with the one that follows this. The churro machine shooting was really funny, and it was a look into the usual cop mentality of roughing people up so that they "know who you are." The investigation was interesting but I did not expect that Walton Goggins' character would be the soft one quick to waver on having done something wrong. I also very much did not expect some higher up guy to come down and say that he told Vic that Vic was going to be investigated. Um, hello? Why would you do that? I'm sure there's going to be some reason given later on. I don't have any clue where all this is going, but I dig it.

THE SPREAD

It could not possibly have been more obvious that Julien was gay. Both in this episode and the last one, they didn't even bother to hide it even though it wasn't explicitly made clear until the end of this one. There was a lot going on in this episode and a little bit of it was some shit I didn't care about at all. I don't know why they made an episode about holding a basketball player hostage this early in the series. There are still too many people in Vic's strike team who I either don't care about or don't know their names. That's just one problem. The "IS HE GONNA SAY I'M GAY" plotline is kinda dumb too. The stabbing and attempted rape stuff was not. I'm sure this show is going to massively pick up as it goes, but this is a classic example of an early series episode that does not find a groove. The Sopranos had some too.

 

[909]

DAWG DAYS

This storyline with Rondell has the potential to blow up spectacularly and I really hope that it does. I don't think this was a great episode or anything but I was consistently entertained. The gags with Dutch not being able to speak Spanish were pretty good too. As far as that goes, I don't know why the suspect thought there would be a way where he would get in trouble for murder. The nod to Rampart Division's ties to Death Row was also neat and nicely done. I was sure that Vic was going to kill one or both of the drug dealers himself, but then I thought about it a little more and realized this isn't a show where he's so corrupt that he's going to be a serial killer. OR IS HE?

BLOWBACK

Blowback is the first episode where it really feels to me like this show hit a groove and fired on all cylinders. It's always good when someone steals a vehicle and the episode centers around a group of people trying to find it first. This one is no exception, but the best thing about it is that merely finding the vehicle isn't all that has to be done. I figured some other cop was going to take the place of the noble cop, and in this case it was Julien. Gay religious character is also a weird thing in the context of this show. The last time I saw that was in Six Feet Under. I really hope we get to see Kurt Sutter's crazy Armenian character again. The snowball of bad shit ran down the hill so quickly here, and in doing so created an episode where it became easier to get attached to some of these characters. Also, no surprise with Vic and Danni. They didn't exactly hide that either.

CHERRYPOPPERS

Again, this is an episode where it feels like the people who write the show now know exactly what they want to do and what they want to get out of their cast. The scene where Vic is beating Connie's face in is extremely uncomfortable viewing, and I have a bad feeling about how that storyline is going to end. Will she kill someone else? Who knows. That was just one of the things left unresolved in Cherrypoppers. We still don't know who the serial killer is, we don't know how far Julien is willing to take his complaint about Vic stealing drugs. This is the first time where Dutch doesn't seem like a complete twat. The scene at the sex club was fucking disgusting though. Haven't felt like that when watching a show for quite a while. The ass rape scenes in Oz were more tolerable.

 

[Zetterberg is God]

One of my favorite moments in season 1 (and probably the series) is the shot of Vic looking in the mirror while flushing the coke. He knows he’s down a path he probably won’t be able to get off of.

 

[Brocklock]

The Shield has multiple scenes that I found more upsetting and disturbing than anything on Oz tbh. Oz has a lot of camp seeping through even the most extreme scenes. The Shield handles their disturbing scenes with the grimmest and bleakest tone possible.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Michael Jace's character is one of the worst parts of The Shield even taking aside the fact that he murked the wife. On the whole, I thought all of the non Strike Team stuff to pretty mediocre and boiler plate B cop show.

Spoiler

Acevada getting raped is an exception but more cause it's shocking to see a male character on a non Oz show get raped than it was actually great TV

The Strike Team stuff IS frigging great but I don't think it's on same level as The Wire, which some people thought in '00s.

 

[Brocklock]

Yeah Michael Jace, the lady cop, and the young lady cop they bring in later drag things down. I love the Claudette/Dutch scenes though.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Claudette is great. Dutch is good but tonally feels kind of from a different show.

I just remembered that Michael Chiklis' kid played Vic Mackey's daughter for a few episodes and has to be in strong contention for worst acting performance on a great show.

Also after events of this summer, I feel like The Shield is p. high on list of great shows that I'll never rewatch.

 

[Brocklock]

Dutch got on my nerves at times, but his relationship with Claudette is the heart of the show and he has some powerhouse acting performances occasionally in the interrogation room.

I never thought The Shield really glorified cops or made the viewer want to be like Vic or Shane or whoever, but I probably won't watch it again either for different reasons. It was a show where you weren't supposed to really like anyone with nearly every character having a reprehensible moment. It wouldn't surprise me if there were dumb fans that wanted to be like Vic Mackey like the dumbass Breaking Bad fans that thought Walt was the coolest badass ever and wanted to be like him. I don't think it's harder to watch for anything cop related, but there is a 2000's mean streak and nihilism vibe like Hostel, Saw, or Rob Zombie movies where it seems like misery for the sake of misery that is harder for me to take then it being about crooked cops. Like a certain moment with a character legit pissed me off and almost caused me to stop watching the first time because the scene felt like cruelness for cruelness sake like a lot of Kurt Sutter horseshit I've read about on Sons Of Anarchy. I won't be rewatching it any time soon, but it's more for the hopeless tone and grimness rather than it being about Cops harassing people, which I do rightfully understand can be triggering and a good reason not to watch the show.

 

[909]

PAY IN PAIN

This kind of episode is one where you think there's a chance the cop will do some shady shit to the other cops and fuck them over, or kill on behalf of the gang he used to be in. That was not the case. There's a lot of shit in this episode that is completely beyond unrealistic though. The psychic story bored the shit out of me, and Dutch going to her for advice on the serial killer seemed too stupid. All in all I think there's too much going on in this one. While there are positive twists and turns, it seemed like the storyline with Vic being reported to internal affairs was floundering, and it's clear to see why they'd immediately pull the plug in the following episode. The ending was great though.

CUPID & PSYCHO

Vic had to have known that Julien was going to be in the apartment with that dude, right? Anyway, this was a neat attempt to shake up the show a little bit. First you have the already mentioned ending of the internal affairs storyline. For now. Vic using the gay thing as a bribe in order to do that is something that about ten years from now, people will have a hard time believing that kind of shit even happened. Except it did. And then, he tried to offer Julien his help. Alright then. I was certain the fat chick who kept switching boyfriends was going to get killed, and sure enough. Switching detectives was a nice little wrinkle. Vic and Claudette made for good partners. Of course, the real draw here is the ending montage for the episode, where all kinds of shit happens that they decided not to make full scenes out of. The fact that Julien hates himself so much is something I expect will play into the whole series.

 

[909]

THROWAWAY

This episode is kinda wack, it's focused on Lem, who doesn't really mean shit to me yet if he ever will at all. Ultimately most of this episode is about personal relationships that don't really mean anything to me yet. I don't know anything about Claudette's daughter, who was barely mentioned prior to this episode. Vic's kid doesn't mean that much to me. What this does though is explain why these people are cops who become devoted to their work at the cost of their personal lives. Again, I just don't care enough about Lem to support this episode. The heist on their own evidence truck was funny though.

DRAGONCHASERS

This is The Shield at its best, certainly the second best episode so far. There's a lot going on here. The stuff that Julien says and does is straight up vile, and that's not even the best part of the episode by any stretch. There is no real best part in that all of it is so good. Connie is a complete mess in this episode, much more than the others, and completely destroys a lot of her sympathy by the end of it. Also, I like how they dealt with the question of the baby being Vic's child. I still think it is though. There seems to be no depths to how much of a monster this guy is. There's also Shane banging the chick on the table in the interrogation room. Again, this episode has it all. The Dutch scenes with the serial killer are also very satisfying in that the last show I watched Michael Kelly in, he killed a girl in the most creepy as fuck way that I could imagine. So, even though House of Cards was many years later, the casting departments of both shows did a good job. Great resolution too.

CARNIVORES

Alright, now we have some Brother Mouzone shit in here, and I don't know if they'll be back but I liked it. Acevada's shit is getting worse and worse too and, well I believed the rape accusation for almost the entirety of the episode. This stuff with Julien is accelerating more and more, and it didn't take a genius to figure out that eventually someone was going to notice that he's gay. I mean, no shit? Rondell Robinson had a brief shelf life here too. That is also not surprising but I am surprised that Vic had any say in who was going to take over in his place. This kind of thing seems bad. The Korean robberies were more funny than anything else though. Maybe I'm sick in the head, but it's crazy that the only dude who would tell the cops the truth only did so because he'd get his X-Box back.

 

[909]

TWO DAYS OF BLOOD

This episode had a lot of unexpected crazy shit happen, but after this episode even more crazy shit happens and it's more clear to see where the series is going. It's clear that they didn't have a season long arc in large part because the show wasn't positioned to do that yet, but the last two episodes have an arc that ends in hilarious fashion. Why hilarious? I just found it comical that Gilroy would kill some guy that Vic found for questioning, knowing full well that eventually someone would find out what happened, but I guess he really thought he could bring Vic down with him. The riot scene is also comical and if you say you didn't laugh at that, you're lying. Also, cockfighting? Really?

CIRCLES

This episode was wild and even poignant right at this moment. Why's that? The whole thing is about cop killing and the way police improperly use their force and resources for the gain of people with money. The worst thing about the episode is that it still happens. This was made 18 years ago! Gilroy and Vic's issue involving Aceveda was perfect, and it was inspired for Vic's wife to leave with the kids. That's something that happens a lot in TV shows now, but back then? Not the case. Ultimately this is probably not the best season of the show, but I won't find that out until later. All in all, more shit happened here than I could possibly mention, and I liked all of it. I didn't think Vic would kill Gilroy at any point though because it would be too obvious to pin back on him. At least the next season isn't about that.

SEASON 2


THE QUICK FIX

Now that the first season is over, my expectation is that there will be season long arcs and it seems that the writers of The Shield introduced two of them. First we have the reintroduction of everything that happened in the last season. This time Aceveda and Vic both have to come out to a bit where Shane was transporting coke. Fortunately they actually were able to arrest someone who had coke. Well, how'd they do that? That wasn't entirely clear. As for the first season long arc, it's related to that in the introduction of Armadillo Quintero, a dope dealer who puts tattoos on the faces of girls that he rapes. One of them being Kristen Bell. The second new long arc is Aceveda trying to get elected, needing Vic to keep his shit together. Well, good luck with that shit. Lastly, of course there's the continuing arc from last season where Vic wants his wife and kids to come home. Good episode here, but that material was dark. Also, I was shocked that the show actually filmed in Tijuana.

 

[Zetterberg is God]

Season 2 was the one that got me hooked on this show. Not to spoil anything but:

Spoiler

even though Vic and the Strike Team were on the ropes constantly and always got out of it it was still tense as hell to see how they'd do it. The Claudette/Tio stuff for example.

 

[909]

DEAD SOLDIERS

This is probably the best way possible to follow up on the first episode of Season 2. We needed to immediately transition to when someone else would find out about "Landlord" and now we know. The choice of Claudette to be the one to know is absolutely perfect. She is the perfect character to be at odds with Vic because she has her own strong will and is capable of intimidating other people. The torture scene in this episode is damn crazy. You know that it's coming after he gets his ass kicked by the big private investigator, but I wasn't sure exactly what Vic had in mind for Armadillo. Well, now I know. The episode has more than just that. For one thing, Vic's wife doesn't make much sense. There are a lot of her actions that do make sense, but the traveling to LA for a private investigator thing definitely does not make sense. Everything else in the episode that is pretty good, although some of it is really fucked up. Like the Muslim guy getting shot, for example. The parking ticket stuff was good too, but I'm still confused as to what the civilian auditor is really doing. There should be good payoff on that.

PARTNERS

Well, this episode wasn't as good as the last one even though in concept it should have been. Carl Weathers appears as Vic's former mentor, looking to bust someone after having been fired from LAPD for abuse of power. And just so you don't think Carl Weathers is the only one who abused his power, this episode features Vic and Shane doing it constantly. The main story here though, is Dutch chasing down a woman who has had her arm cut off. He fails. Danny also has to deal with the aftermath of her shooting, and Julien didn't exactly help her out even though it was a good shooting. Even still, Julien told the truth and that's what's important. I like where the show is going even though this was a large departure from the first two episodes in the season.