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Post by icy on Jun 12, 2007 11:04:44 GMT -5
I think everybody is comparing this season's finale with last season's finale. And a lot of people have a problem with the way that Lem's death was somewhat brushed aside instead of truly resolved.
I can understand both of these issues. As shootfirst points out above me and many others have said, it seems that there was a lot of "filler" stuff that did not necessarily have to do with the MEAT of the main storyline that we had a hankering to see.
Maybe one of the issues is that there are new writers integrating themselves into a very deep story that is trying to satisfy a high standard we have all set the bar for. YES, THEY NEED TO DELIVER. THIS IS NOT A PIZZA and we will never settle for Dijorno's.
It was not Shane's time to go this season. Maybe that was why they needed the fillers. They need Shane and Vic to fill out the arc of the final storyline and I trust that it will not disappoint. Hopefully there will also be more resolution to what happened to Lem next season, as well. Everything is intertwined.
Such a wicked web we weave when we so choose to decieve...
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anavarchus
The power of accurate observation is frequently called cynicism by those who don't have it.
Posts: 43
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Post by anavarchus on Jun 13, 2007 23:12:03 GMT -5
Shootfirst:
I couldn't agree more about Lem's death (as I have mentioned before)! This is the ONE thing I wanted them to deal with and it almost seemed as if they did everything BUT deal with it.
None of the characters ever really dealt with it either. Vic beat up and killed the Mexi gangbanger and then...that's it. Even when he learned that Guardo didn't have anything to do with it!
Now, I know everyone's saying this ep was to set up next season, but that's never been the show's style before. And never before have they set up one season with a finale and then never dealt with what they started in that finale (as they did ALL this season).
I was disappointed in this whole season, mainly because I was REALLY looking for Shane to get his comeuppance. New writers or not, there is no excuse to use one season as a vehicle for another. If that is the case, why not make us wait a few more months and see them all together? It's not like they (the network) have any problem at all dragging out the time between seasons!
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Post by electroshockblues on Jun 18, 2007 3:01:19 GMT -5
I agree with this too.
If I had written the finale I would have had Vic use the photo force Aceveda into publicly clearing Lem of any wrongdoing in light of Kavanaugh's arrest before they teamed up to take down Pezuela.
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Post by ShootFirst on Jun 19, 2007 11:40:13 GMT -5
Exactly, Anavarchus! It is absolutely no excuse for this show (the new writers thing). There is a standard and it should be met. If the show wants to sprint past the finish, you have to start running early. As many of us have stated, I don't mind filler stuff and setup material but you can have too much of it and the cost of it is a lack of the right amount of closure. Spanish Practices could very well have set up S7 while giving more closure than it did. I also agree that it was not Shane's time to go but forgetting about Lem's murder, which is what was essentially done after the Vic/Shane confrontation, is just 9 kinds of wrong.
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Post by Inside Man on Jun 19, 2007 16:05:21 GMT -5
I really hope the End of the Series washes away some of the ill will toward this episode.
I mean, if done right, it could be something extremely special. Imagine setting up a new S7 major storyline and have it build to a climax that somehow gives closure to Shane and Lem and Vic all in one fell swoop! To end that powerfully, a setup like what we saw this season is necessary.
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Post by ShootFirst on Jun 20, 2007 13:07:02 GMT -5
I really hope the End of the Series washes away some of the ill will toward this episode. I mean, if done right, it could be something extremely special. Imagine setting up a new S7 major storyline and have it build to a climax that somehow gives closure to Shane and Lem and Vic all in one fell swoop! To end that powerfully, a setup like what we saw this season is necessary. ...and I agree with you completely. It's just that the S6 finale should have been just that, a season finale. More of a "closure of this season" if you will. It still could have done that while giving plenty of setup for S7.
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Post by cuffs on Jun 25, 2007 0:21:45 GMT -5
Ok, I am going to be reallly honest now that I have "endured" the season finale--imho--the single most boring ep I've seen--in The Shield history! Don't be offended when I say I had to watch it while doing email, cleaning my cats' boxes, vaccuming, ETC. Things I needed to be doing anyway because I've been out of town, or maybe because I was so frigging bored.
If you ask me, the only thing worth watching tonight was Cathy Ryan and a few other fight scenes--the things that remind me of what The Shield has really been!
I gave it a D but maybe because I am feeling tired and somewhat cranky. I watched the finale again tonight, paying a lot more attention and not feeling so tired and cranky.
I would amend my grade, if I could, to a solid B. It really wasn't that bad. A few loose ends were nicely tied up and Vic has, once again, saved his own ass. I think the "trunk full of leverage" was pretty clever of the writers, actually!
So it wasn't a breath-taking ending like last season--it was fair enough to carry us over to next season.
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Post by fju2112 on Jul 7, 2007 7:25:04 GMT -5
i have been watching seasons 3-6 again (my friend has my 1 & 2 sets). remember the end of season 3, where we were all anxiously awaiting what would happen to the team after the fight - a cliffhanger that ended season 3? It was unlike season 2, where you know they have the $$ and the foreshadowing of the looks on their faces when Vic shows up. it took an entire season to wrap all that up in s4 and get the boys back together. this situation isn't unlike that. we're pretty sure vic will save his job, at least for the short term (just like we were pretty sure in season 4 we were going to see the strike team somehow get back together). i personally loved the season finale this year. it makes me want to see s7 all that much sooner but isn't that the idea when we're heading into the final 13 eps of the show..??
even though i was one of the few that enjoyed the sopranos series finale (after a month or so of complaining about the lack of tying off character arcs/plots), the shield is going to go down as one of the most consistently solid shows over its entire life, to ever air. the sopranos certainly can't say that after seasons 5 & 6.
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Post by chemikalman on Jul 7, 2007 17:07:48 GMT -5
I don't quite understand the comments about this season not dealing with Lem's death enough. Vic was obsessed to the point of torturing and killing Guardo, for chrissakes. It made sense to me that watching all of this unfold added to Shane's guilt over what he had done to the point where he just couldn't keep it inside anymore.
Nonetheless, although I was surprised at the timing of Shane's admission to Vic, the confession sent up a powerful tension between Vic and Shane--unlike any tension between ST members that we had seen before and which then dominated the rest of the episodes. I did find it a bit strange that Vic ended up co-existing with Shane after saying he would kill him if he saw him around. But after thinking about it, I have to wonder if Vic is ambivalent about whether his own actions could have influenced Shane into thinking he was doing what was best for the ST by killing Lem.
I agree with those who say that S06 finale was justified in being more of a setup for S07 than finales of the other seasons. At the risk of stating the obvious, the finale of the season leading to the final season makes it different from all the other finales.
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