|
Post by chemikalman on Feb 11, 2007 11:42:41 GMT -5
Gee, there are so many threads in this board. I hope I'm not repeating one of them.
Anyway, I just finished watching my tape of the ep "Sub Marine" of The Unit. What a great episode it is. It made me realize, though, that the one thing about suspenseful shows like The Unit is that the suspense is tempered by the fact that we know the good guys are gonna make it in the end
The exceptions are when an actor gets into a contract or some other kind of dispute with the show's bosses and is written out of the show. Another exception is when a show is heading toward its end, as is the case with The Shield.
Shawn Ryan has said repeatedly that he wants The Shield to sprint across the finish line, not limp. He also said that it will definitely end after S07 next year. The point is that there is a plan in place for how the show is going to end. One part of that plan was for Lem to die. Why couldn't it have been someone else, such as Shane? Why did it have to be a beloved character like Lem? Part of the reason is that it is The Shield, the same show that shocked everyone's jaw to the floor with the killing of Terry in Pilot.
It all makes sense to me for Vic's tangled web to start to break under the weight of the Strike Team's sins. It will be fascinating to see how this crew of marvelous writers, led by Ryan's master plan, crafts the journey down the apocalyptic road that the ST is now heading down.
|
|
|
Post by ISaidWhoaDangIt on Feb 11, 2007 15:47:33 GMT -5
I just hope that by the time we actually do get to S7 that SR and the writers leave us as breathless as they say we will be. From what I hear, S6 is supposed to be a knockout too. I guess we'll find out in a month or two. I'm looking forward to watching to see how the death of Lem works out in the upcoming 2 seasons. I do hope Shane gets his and I hope Vic is the one to give it to him.
|
|
|
Post by ShootFirst on Feb 12, 2007 9:35:10 GMT -5
There is always more contreversy and available dramatic possibilities when a character that is very popular and "undeserving" is killed off. I think it provides for way more options that if someone like Shane was killed. I just don't think that people's reactions would be the same either if he was the one who got bumped off. Just a better way to set up the finale that we all know will go out in style.
|
|
|
Post by ISaidWhoaDangIt on Feb 12, 2007 22:50:54 GMT -5
If I had to write the ending, I'd have either Vic or Ronnie turning a gun on Shane. Vic preferably since the writers have pretty much established that Ronnie was the innocent one. He didn't know half of what was going on between Vic and Shane.
Or Shane can just OD.
|
|
|
Post by SMOKE-DOG on Feb 12, 2007 23:30:38 GMT -5
^ OD on what TOOTH WHITENER?
|
|
|
Post by aussieangel on Feb 13, 2007 5:31:18 GMT -5
^ LOL, that would be a shit load of tooth whitener!!!! #roflao#
Did Lemansky have to die? I mean he could have left the strike team and gone back to helping juvies couldn't he? They could have written him out to go searching for any family that might have given a crap about him....couldn't they? Did they need his 'brother' to drop a grenade in his lap? It could have been some kinda fatal accident, or he could disappear under witness protection, couldn't he?
My answer, and trust me I am the biggest Lem fan down under aw heck in the southern hemisphere, is that yes Lem did have to die by Shane dropping a grenade in his lap. How much emotion has that provoked in every single person who saw that episode, how many people have become shield fans mid s5a that have had to go back and watch it all again from s1. It isn't just the writers and producers who took Lem from us, it was goddamn Shane in the brilliance of Walton Goggins who watched Lem breathe his last breath, it was Kenny Johnson who over each season has developed that little bit more and shown the audience his conscience and in the end his soul. Kenny gave us a character to side with, the better of two or three evils, he gave us a 'good' guy to barrack for when the chips were down. Who here can honestly say they did not want to see him escape to Mexico and live out his life in freedom there?
|
|
|
Post by ShootFirst on Feb 13, 2007 10:47:05 GMT -5
If I had to write the ending, I'd have either Vic or Ronnie turning a gun on Shane. Vic preferably since the writers have pretty much established that Ronnie was the innocent one. He didn't know half of what was going on between Vic and Shane. Or Shane can just OD. Never thought of having Ronnie take Shane out. Now THAT would make for an interesting turn. Talk about getting people to discuss! After I read this, it just kept rolling in my head. Knowing Ronnie and the possibilities, IF he were to do it, it could very possibly, and maybe even likely, to not be done with a gun or conventional method. Gardocki could be damn stealthy if he needs to be. Is this likely what will happen? I myself wouldn't give it more than a 50/50 chance but it would not surprise me.
|
|
|
Post by aussieangel on Feb 13, 2007 18:16:30 GMT -5
I don't think Ronnie is a cop killer... I could be very very wrong!
|
|
|
Post by ISaidWhoaDangIt on Feb 13, 2007 21:54:25 GMT -5
I agree with ShootFirst, it could make for a nice twist to help the show not limp across the finish line in Shawn's world.
But the obvious choice would be for either Vic to off Shane or for Vic to have one of his gang banger buddies do it for him.
|
|
|
Post by cletusvanman69 on Feb 21, 2007 8:52:22 GMT -5
I think that a lot of people seem to paint Lem as an innocent, in comparison to the evil Shane. What shouldn't be forgotten is that although Lem was undoubtably the 'nicest' member of the strike team he still went along with everything illegal they did. Lem may well have been 'the conscience' of the team but he always managed to ignore his conscience. When the money train looked like it was going pear shaped and Shane wanted to call it off who insisted they go ahead with it? Lem did. Despite all this I still think Lem's death was tragic, but at the same time brilliant thinking by the writers.
|
|
|
Post by ISaidWhoaDangIt on Feb 21, 2007 12:40:28 GMT -5
Lem was probably on the same level as Ronnie, but IMO, I hold Lem to a higher degree of innocent. Lem didn't want to do the money train after Ronnie's face got scortched and Ronnie was the one who went along with it. Lem was also the one trying to get the Strike Team out of trouble by burning the money to get IA off their back after Mara screwed up.
But the death of Lem made for good TV like you said, Cletus. (My cat's name is Cletus too)
|
|
placid
Placid - beplacid.com
Posts: 1
|
Post by placid on Mar 14, 2007 16:23:05 GMT -5
Lem dieing was definately a shock, and arguably unfair, but f-ck did it make great TV!
|
|
|
Post by acc on Mar 15, 2008 4:13:28 GMT -5
Well, a year later, and I'd like to respond.
I agree, chem, that Lem's death was "earned" by the writers. The more I look back on Seasons 1-5, the more and more oppressively clear it becomes that Lem is such a thoroughly tragic figure. The writing, in some ways, seemed to be on the wall between Season 4 and Season 5 and I remember pointing out to people online that I think the most telling scene ever--arguably--was when Lem told Army to leave the Strike Team for his own good because no matter what, at some point the proverbial s*** hits the proverbial fan. Lem knew the truth but he didn't believe he could ever get out of it. And he believed, I suppose, that Shane had merited a certain degree of rekindled friendship and even trust after he nearly executed Antwon in the Barn. (Again, one of the beautiful things about the show is that we'll never know if he would've gone through with it--because, as is so often the case, Vic saved his ass from having to make that choice. Personally, I think he would have chickened out because Shane's fundamentally a coward... But then again things were looking so impossibly, hopelessly bleak for him anyway--he thought he was going to prison for Angie, so why not kill Antwon and go to prison for killing a guy who deserved it?--so maybe he would have. Like I say, we'll never ever know for sure.)
|
|
|
Post by aussieangel on Jul 24, 2008 0:47:34 GMT -5
I finished rewatching season 5 on Sunday night. I had goosebumps through the last couple of episodes, then cried again when Shane dropped the grenade. The first time I watched s5 I knew what was going to happen so I watched Shane closely to see his interaction with Lem. This time round I was focussed more on why he did what he did instead of what he actually did. It doesn't justify what he did, but I could see things more from Shanes point of view, what he has to live for and protect. He needed to start making his own decisions... and though a poor one, in hindsight, this was one of them.
I'm looking forward over the next month (41 days to be exact) to watching s6 again in the lead up to the finale.
|
|
|
Post by chemikalman on Jul 24, 2008 16:40:16 GMT -5
I'd be willing to bet almost anything that TS ain't goin' out with a fade to black screen. With the Sopranos they must have been setting up for a movie--at least it sure looks like that was a possible motivation. Time will tell.
But I don't see SR doing that ... I see him ending the show in a way that there is no possibility for a follow-up movie. I see his devotion to this show as being greater than any thoughts of possibly cleaning up financially with a movie. Hollywood needs more people like Shawn Ryan.
|
|
|
Post by badcop187 on Jul 25, 2008 14:25:35 GMT -5
Lem was the one with the conscience, and it looks like the last season there will be no room for a conscience, that is why lem had to die.
|
|
|
Post by axeman61 on Jul 26, 2008 17:23:59 GMT -5
I'd be willing to bet almost anything that TS ain't goin' out with a fade to black screen. With the Sopranos they must have been setting up for a movie--at least it sure looks like that was a possible motivation. Time will tell. But I don't see SR doing that ... I see him ending the show in a way that there is no possibility for a follow-up movie. I see his devotion to this show as being greater than any thoughts of possibly cleaning up financially with a movie. Hollywood needs more people like Shawn Ryan. Truth. I already KNOW S. Ryan won't fade to black. I just hope the ending is as satisfying as him and the cast is saying. I don't want to hype up things too much though. But that is an interesting thought. Ending things in a way that they can't have any more "closure." After Season 5, we all expect bullets to fly and bodies to bleed, but I wonder if they have something in store for us we never saw coming. BTW, I don't think Chase set up for a movie. He probably thought what he did was artsy or some shit. It was lame to me, but whatever.
|
|
|
Post by badcop187 on Jul 26, 2008 22:02:40 GMT -5
Maybe Vic and Ronnie will make a score bigger than the money train and Vic "will walk out the front door on his terms, before he lets them push him out the back"?
|
|
|
Post by F*ckernando on Jul 29, 2008 17:53:21 GMT -5
no movie....the shield it's a 7 season masterpiece..... but the thing I'd PAY MILLIONS of dollars to see, it's an ultra flash-back episode when mackey was a rookie and his T.O. was Joe Clarke........can you imagine that blast? ? the endless pool of kick-ass situations that'll be?? haa.....yea
|
|