Post by n00b on Nov 23, 2008 16:58:02 GMT -5
As I read the phenomenal number of posts following "Possible Kill Screen", something struck me which I never realized before.
There is a very distinct difference between HOW Vic Mackey commits crimes and HOW Shane Vendrell commits crimes. And Ronnie sort of falls somewhere in the middle, usually siding with the "Vic way" but his impulses sometimes pushing him to consider the "Shane way".
I'm wondering how this dynamic might play out in the final episode.
To elaborate, the biggest difference I see between the tactics of Vic & Shane are ....
* Vic will manipulate a situation and use other people as means to his ends. For example, starting a gang war between Mexis and Armos to try to kill Rezian and Pezuela without having to fire a shot himself. Another example, convincing the Mexis to kill the Armos while Shane is with them so that Shane is dead in an easily explained way that does not lead back to Vic. This is why Vic is "just too good" as he confessed to in PKS. Even if the cops were to apprehend some of the shooters in the Armos mass killing, it would not be easy to link it back to Vic because he is so well-insulated from the crime itself. This is the sign of both a master manipulator and a "crime boss" as opposed to a "street thug". In fact the only "street thug" acts Vic has committed are his original sin of killing Terry himself. Even his beat down of Guardo was so well insulated with misdirection that it would have been very difficult to nail Vic on it.
* Shane just jumps head first into personally solving a problem. Instead of leading Lem to a "death trap" he just drops the grenade in Lem's lap himself. Instead of setting up a "death trap" for Vic and Ronnie, he directly "hires" one other guy to do Ronnie while he himself waits to kill Vic. In some ways, this is what Shane meant when he told Vic in 7:09 "at least I had the sack to pull the trigger myself". But by being so "blunt" in his methods, Shane makes his dirty deeds easy to detect and they lead immediately back to him quickly (as we saw in 7:08). Shane's are the methods of a dumb street thug. While Vic has learned to manipulate rather than do the dirty work himself, Shane continuously just jumps in feet first and brain last.
Ronnie usually follows Vic. But his gut tells him, at a certain point, "f*ck it let's just go kill Shane right now." I'm wondering if being screwed by Vic's confession to ICE will push Ronnie to act more impusively, like Shane, and just kill Vic. Not saying it's likely, just wondering if it's possible.
In Vic's master plans, the only weak links - the only ties that could break if put under enough stress, thus exposing Vic to danger - are Vic's most trusted confidants who know all the dirty details. This, again, is very much like a Mob boss or some other master criminal who keeps the number of people who know enough to incriminate the boss at a bare minimum.
So this leads me back to Ronnie. He is the "weak link" in Vic's master plan. Vic has already dealth with the Shane issue by gaining immunity from anything Shane might testify to against Vic.
But Ronnie is now the loose cannon in Vic's final master plan. How Ronnie reacts to finding out that Vic screwed him will ultimately decide Vic's fate. At that point, does Ronnie just continue to "follow the leader" as he's always done. Or does he finally go his own way? Is his own way an impulsive act like Shane's way? Or does Ronnie possibly have something else up his sleeve? Ronnie has always been the pragmatic one. But there really is not a pragmatic solution to his newfound problems. Ronnie will have to show either his most manipulative side or his most impulsive side.
Anyway, not sure if any of this makes any sense. But the very unique and differing "tactics"of Vic and Shane and Ronnie got me thinking about all kinds of last episode possibilities.
And there simply MUST BE a final "confrontation" amongst these three. I'm really hoping for some form of Mexican standoff.
There is a very distinct difference between HOW Vic Mackey commits crimes and HOW Shane Vendrell commits crimes. And Ronnie sort of falls somewhere in the middle, usually siding with the "Vic way" but his impulses sometimes pushing him to consider the "Shane way".
I'm wondering how this dynamic might play out in the final episode.
To elaborate, the biggest difference I see between the tactics of Vic & Shane are ....
* Vic will manipulate a situation and use other people as means to his ends. For example, starting a gang war between Mexis and Armos to try to kill Rezian and Pezuela without having to fire a shot himself. Another example, convincing the Mexis to kill the Armos while Shane is with them so that Shane is dead in an easily explained way that does not lead back to Vic. This is why Vic is "just too good" as he confessed to in PKS. Even if the cops were to apprehend some of the shooters in the Armos mass killing, it would not be easy to link it back to Vic because he is so well-insulated from the crime itself. This is the sign of both a master manipulator and a "crime boss" as opposed to a "street thug". In fact the only "street thug" acts Vic has committed are his original sin of killing Terry himself. Even his beat down of Guardo was so well insulated with misdirection that it would have been very difficult to nail Vic on it.
* Shane just jumps head first into personally solving a problem. Instead of leading Lem to a "death trap" he just drops the grenade in Lem's lap himself. Instead of setting up a "death trap" for Vic and Ronnie, he directly "hires" one other guy to do Ronnie while he himself waits to kill Vic. In some ways, this is what Shane meant when he told Vic in 7:09 "at least I had the sack to pull the trigger myself". But by being so "blunt" in his methods, Shane makes his dirty deeds easy to detect and they lead immediately back to him quickly (as we saw in 7:08). Shane's are the methods of a dumb street thug. While Vic has learned to manipulate rather than do the dirty work himself, Shane continuously just jumps in feet first and brain last.
Ronnie usually follows Vic. But his gut tells him, at a certain point, "f*ck it let's just go kill Shane right now." I'm wondering if being screwed by Vic's confession to ICE will push Ronnie to act more impusively, like Shane, and just kill Vic. Not saying it's likely, just wondering if it's possible.
In Vic's master plans, the only weak links - the only ties that could break if put under enough stress, thus exposing Vic to danger - are Vic's most trusted confidants who know all the dirty details. This, again, is very much like a Mob boss or some other master criminal who keeps the number of people who know enough to incriminate the boss at a bare minimum.
So this leads me back to Ronnie. He is the "weak link" in Vic's master plan. Vic has already dealth with the Shane issue by gaining immunity from anything Shane might testify to against Vic.
But Ronnie is now the loose cannon in Vic's final master plan. How Ronnie reacts to finding out that Vic screwed him will ultimately decide Vic's fate. At that point, does Ronnie just continue to "follow the leader" as he's always done. Or does he finally go his own way? Is his own way an impulsive act like Shane's way? Or does Ronnie possibly have something else up his sleeve? Ronnie has always been the pragmatic one. But there really is not a pragmatic solution to his newfound problems. Ronnie will have to show either his most manipulative side or his most impulsive side.
Anyway, not sure if any of this makes any sense. But the very unique and differing "tactics"of Vic and Shane and Ronnie got me thinking about all kinds of last episode possibilities.
And there simply MUST BE a final "confrontation" amongst these three. I'm really hoping for some form of Mexican standoff.