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Post by qb on May 17, 2005 22:01:44 GMT -5
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Post by fju2112 on May 18, 2005 8:21:17 GMT -5
I almost missed it last night! Seriously...it was 10:58 and I was like, SHIT! I think the week off really did me in.. Thank god for the immediate repeat we get at 11Pm. Overall, great episode. one of the more exciting ones with things starting to come together. I'm forecasting a relatively disappointing season finale, though, since Antwan just isn't as convincing an enemy as Armadillo, etc. Seems like it'll be something with him to wrap things up as they haven't introduced anyone who can potentially be as big a threat to the guys as Antwan. But the two cops going missing was huge, and was certainly a powerful storyline. Aceveda in the uniform was something too. I mean, he's a councilman, how does he even still have a uniform? I wanted to find out more about Aceveda and where his "issues" will take him, but I'm thinking that will spill over into next season, unfortunately. I doubt they'll have time to play out a plotline of his that will sufficiently conclude until season 5. Ok on to the good stuff... So it looks like Shane is rollin' w/ his old boys again, humbling himself in the process. I think the old strike team finds the body just in time next week (90 minutes next week by the way! Anyone else catch that on the preview???). It'll be interesting to see how things with Antwan play out. Seeing Shane & Vic roll together again was pretty powerful, especially the line, "that's what separates us from you" when Vic was telling Antwan's boy (forget his name offhand), "kill your buddy before your buddy kills you". Then Vic gave Shane a look that almost said, "don't even start..". Should be interesting...I think the season has steadily become better week to week...
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Post by chemikalman on May 18, 2005 10:01:48 GMT -5
I look foward to reading a lot of critiques! I won't be able to see the ep til Wednesday night, as usual, but I hope to see some posts by our new members, too! Go for it!! ;D I am so tempted to read fuji's post but I, too, won't be able to watch it (for the first time) until tonight.
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deputy
The Shield Rules...
Posts: 26
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Post by deputy on May 18, 2005 13:02:38 GMT -5
Good Show overall......
Is it my imagination, but Aceveda saw his old unit, destroy TV and other property, when the store owner refused to cooperate......
So now maybe Aceveda will be more understanding of vic,, prob not.....
as for moving the girls body, the body must be so decomposed by now that identification will be impossible... and Shane can simply lose his gun,, and say a 19'er took it..
as for Vic and Shane grabbing Antwon first, they shud have made him dissapear...... no witnesses,, etc....
all the problems would go away........
claudette seems more humble now,, then she did the last few episodes........ the captain put her high and mighty bs, on hold especially when two cops are involved......
my 2 cents..
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Post by fju2112 on May 18, 2005 14:30:38 GMT -5
Good Show overall...... Is it my imagination, but Aceveda saw his old unit, destroy TV and other property, when the store owner refused to cooperate...... So now maybe Aceveda will be more understanding of vic,, prob not..... as for moving the girls body, the body must be so decomposed by now that identification will be impossible... and Shane can simply lose his gun,, and say a 19'er took it.. as for Vic and Shane grabbing Antwon first, they shud have made him dissapear...... no witnesses,, etc.... all the problems would go away........ claudette seems more humble now,, then she did the last few episodes........ the captain put her high and mighty bs, on hold especially when two cops are involved...... my 2 cents.. I can't imagine that after only a few weeks, the body will be decomposed beyond recognition (especially if wrapped in plastic). They'll still be able to tell that it was a 14 year old girl or so, and the forensics will still come up w/ a police officer's bullets, which will be matched to Shane's gun. I did notice that while Aceveda was down he witnessed his old unit go apeshit on that storefront...wonder how that will play out...he can always spin his man of the people routine and call the cops out on it, saying to the press "i was there, i got attacked, and i didn't take part in any of that, it's a shame" and blah blah. I'm thinking it's more likely he goes in that direction than being understanding. I'm thinking if Vic & Shane took out Antwan in the car, they'd also have to take out his right-hand man in the hospital, and Antwan probably has half a dozen other guys (like the ones who moved the body that Antwan's buddy in the hospital doesn't know anything about) who would smell something fishy and make that body turn up real quick-like....were it that simple though!! There are always plot holes, but if Shane "loses" his gun and pins it on some 1-9er, antwan still has lots of dirt on Shane; the protection he offered, the drugs he stole, money, etc. Plenty with which to put Shane away, if not for the girl's body. Plus, if he says he loses his gun but all the cops around him see him with that same gun well after teh time he'd have to claim to have lost it...that wouldn't make much sense either; Capt. Rowling has seen Shane and his gun. My 2 cents I'll love the 90 minutes next week...nice payback for skipping a week for Independence Day...??
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Post by qb on May 18, 2005 21:25:42 GMT -5
I give this one a B maybe a B+. Not that it was bad, it just wasn't *as good* as the rest of the eps so far!
Assinvader is a reservist now; hence, the uniform and participation in the search/manhunt.
I thought this ep had some weaknesses. Would Carl and Scooby actually climb down into the sewer themselves or call for rescue, if the ruse had been a child being down there? Would they go down there even if ordered to at gunpoint? I buy a lot when I watch The Shield, out of pure fun, but this one wasn't working for me.
Danny and Assman seemed remarkably calm after being shot at, standing there and looking around. That didn't seem very realistic.
Antwon suddenly appearing with Shane and Vic with a few lines to cover the transition... At first, I thought I had fast-forwarded over something! (Antwon does say his boys saw him leave with Vic and Shane--they all know both of their families would be in danger if they killed Antwon) Too many of the lines in that scene were plants... meant to explain everything we hadn't seen. It felt like corners are being lopped off, not just cut!
Getting Corrine involved with squeezing Halpern was clever but did she also tell Vic how to adjust the morphine drip? He pressed the button numerous times after adjusting something on the pump...supposedly to knock Halpern out for a while. Nice in theory, but no way. The pumps are locked and only a nurse with a key can adjust the amount a patient can self-administer. The patient can push that button all he wants, but the morphine will only be released at timed intervals. I seriously doubt Corrine would have messed with it herself prior to the interrogation...this would be a career-busting offense, not to mention being profoundly unethical. Corrine wouldn't go there.
I am tickled, however, to see Vic *might* be returning to his darker ways... could he be faking it? I hope not! I hope we are going full circle with this character...from hard to soft to hard again. And a cool way to wrap up the fifth season (if it will be the final season)...while it would make me cry, to end it with Vic in a pool of his own blood, staring up the same way he has stared down (twice now) on the men he murdered outright.
Of course, destroying this charcter would be a very drastic and final, yet stunning and memorable, way to go. If anyone had the nuggets to do something like that to end a popular series, it would be Shawn Ryan!
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Post by qb on May 18, 2005 21:30:44 GMT -5
Oh, and the big question which no one has mentioned so far...Where does "String Theory" come from? Is that some scientific term about time and space?
My first thought is that this episode "ties" things together, the arcs/characters are bound and pulled together, for the finale. And as tightly bound as it all is now, that tenuous "string" is bound to snap!
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Post by qb on May 18, 2005 21:43:50 GMT -5
Found this:
string theory description of elementary particles based on one-dimensional curves, or "strings," instead of point particles. Superstring theory, which is string theory that contains a kind of symmetry known as supersymmetry, shows promise as a way of unifying the four known fundamental forces of nature. The strings are embedded in a space-time having as many as 10 dimensions–the three ordinary dimensions plus time and seven compactified dimensions. The energy-scale at which the stringlike properties would become evident is so high that it is currently unclear how any of the forms of the theory could be tested.
and
String theory is a physical model whose fundamental building blocks are one-dimensional extended objects (strings) rather than the zero-dimensional points (particles) that were the basis of most earlier physics. For this reason, string theories are able to avoid problems associated with the presence of pointlike particles in a physical theory. Detailed study of string theories has revealed that they describe not just strings but other objects, variously including points, membranes, and higher-dimensional objects. As discussed below, it is important to realize that no string theory has yet made firm predictions that would allow it to be experimentally tested.
Hmmmm!
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Post by chemikalman on May 19, 2005 13:26:24 GMT -5
Found this: string theory description of elementary particles based on one-dimensional curves, or "strings," instead of point particles. Superstring theory, which is string theory that contains a kind of symmetry known as supersymmetry, shows promise as a way of unifying the four known fundamental forces of nature. The strings are embedded in a space-time having as many as 10 dimensions–the three ordinary dimensions plus time and seven compactified dimensions. The energy-scale at which the stringlike properties would become evident is so high that it is currently unclear how any of the forms of the theory could be tested. and String theory is a physical model whose fundamental building blocks are one-dimensional extended objects (strings) rather than the zero-dimensional points (particles) that were the basis of most earlier physics. For this reason, string theories are able to avoid problems associated with the presence of pointlike particles in a physical theory. Detailed study of string theories has revealed that they describe not just strings but other objects, variously including points, membranes, and higher-dimensional objects. As discussed below, it is important to realize that no string theory has yet made firm predictions that would allow it to be experimentally tested. Hmmmm! This is interesting stuff, for sure, CC, but I wonder how much applicability it (String Theory) has. Theories such as the Kinetic Theory of gases rely on ideal gases existing as "point masses" i.e., having no volume on an atomic level. That is why they are called "ideal" => they don't exist. But real gases behave enough like ideal gases under ordinary conditions of temperature and pressure so that the Ideal Gas Laws work quite well in describing their behavior. As just one example, hot air ballooning relies, in part, on Charles' Law relating temperature and volume of an ideal gas. Unlike String Theory, the Kinetic Theory of gases can be easily tested and verified. Therefore, I'm not sure what the purpose of String Theory is. I guess it keeps theoreticians off the streets. It didn't keep the homeless guy in TS off the streets, though. But he had the excuse of being a fruitcake. I found him to be quite a fascinating character. To even bring the concept of String Theory into a show like The Shield is just wonderfully wacky. I'm going to take a guess that either Chick Eglee or Scott Rosenbaum wrote it. (Now I have to check to see if I'm right )
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Post by chemikalman on May 19, 2005 13:52:54 GMT -5
I'm going to take a guess that either Chick Eglee or Scott Rosenbaum wrote it. (Now I have to check to see if I'm right ) From TV Tome.com: w: Charles H. Eglee & Shawn Ryan <clouding my fingernails with my breath, then polishing them on my shirt (a 60s thing )>
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Post by qb on May 19, 2005 20:01:58 GMT -5
Prof. Chemikalman wrote: Theories such as the Kinetic Theory of gases rely on ideal gases existing as "point masses" i.e., having no volume on an atomic level. That is why they are called "ideal" => they don't exist. But real gases behave enough like ideal gases under ordinary conditions of temperature and pressure so that the Ideal Gas Laws work quite well in describing their behavior.
<waves hand so professor will call on me>
Um, so, it's like when my dog farts.... you can't see or hear it, but it's definitely a "fundamental force of nature embedded in a space-time continuum having as many as 10 dimensions–the three ordinary dimensions plus time and seven compactified dimensions." Plus, it makes you want to throw up.
Professor, does this theory have the potential to answer one of the greatest questions of all... if a dog farts in the living room and no one is there to smell it, did he really fart??
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Post by qb on May 19, 2005 20:11:56 GMT -5
Ok, I am done being a smart ass... How did you know it was Ryan and Eglee? Who is the latter? I hadn't noticed this name before.
Ok, Brainman, get thee to the trivia contest!
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Post by chemikalman on May 19, 2005 23:25:11 GMT -5
Ok, I am done being a smart ass... How did you know it was Ryan and Eglee? Who is the latter? I hadn't noticed this name before. Actually, I guessed it might be Eglee or Rosenbaum. According to Adam Fierro, Eglee has a pretty good pedigree as a writer (right Peach?). He wrote for Moonlighting, St. Elsewhere, Dark Angel (series creator) NYPD Blue, and a bunch of others. When I asked Adam how the heck they came up with all the ghetto talk since none of the writing staff exactly looked like they grew up in the hood, he said it was mainly Charles "Chick" Eglee. The reason I thought he might have written this ep, though, is because he seems a littlle "eccentric." In the pic of me with the writers somewhere on this site (in the Welcome category, I think) , he is the one playing Solitaire in the ball cap. In fact he played Solitaire the whole time I was there. For more on Eglee, click here: Charles Eglee
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Post by fju2112 on May 20, 2005 9:12:01 GMT -5
I give this one a B maybe a B+. Not that it was bad, it just wasn't *as good* as the rest of the eps so far! Assinvader is a reservist now; hence, the uniform and participation in the search/manhunt. I thought this ep had some weaknesses. Would Carl and Scooby actually climb down into the sewer themselves or call for rescue, if the ruse had been a child being down there? Would they go down there even if ordered to at gunpoint? I buy a lot when I watch The Shield, out of pure fun, but this one wasn't working for me. Danny and Assman seemed remarkably calm after being shot at, standing there and looking around. That didn't seem very realistic. Antwon suddenly appearing with Shane and Vic with a few lines to cover the transition... At first, I thought I had fast-forwarded over something! (Antwon does say his boys saw him leave with Vic and Shane--they all know both of their families would be in danger if they killed Antwon) Too many of the lines in that scene were plants... meant to explain everything we hadn't seen. It felt like corners are being lopped off, not just cut! Getting Corrine involved with squeezing Halpern was clever but did she also tell Vic how to adjust the morphine drip? He pressed the button numerous times after adjusting something on the pump...supposedly to knock Halpern out for a while. Nice in theory, but no way. The pumps are locked and only a nurse with a key can adjust the amount a patient can self-administer. The patient can push that button all he wants, but the morphine will only be released at timed intervals. I seriously doubt Corrine would have messed with it herself prior to the interrogation...this would be a career-busting offense, not to mention being profoundly unethical. Corrine wouldn't go there. I am tickled, however, to see Vic *might* be returning to his darker ways... could he be faking it? I hope not! I hope we are going full circle with this character...from hard to soft to hard again. And a cool way to wrap up the fifth season (if it will be the final season)...while it would make me cry, to end it with Vic in a pool of his own blood, staring up the same way he has stared down (twice now) on the men he murdered outright. Of course, destroying this charcter would be a very drastic and final, yet stunning and memorable, way to go. If anyone had the nuggets to do something like that to end a popular series, it would be Shawn Ryan! It's TV so there will be holes in every episode...I think most of the holes are minor, to be honest. TV sets up scenes to explain things that time doesn't allow them to film all the time. And Danny & Aceveda being calm about being shot at...ok not very believable, but they are police officers. They got out of the car before they knew bullets hit it, then when they realized what had happened, they started looking around for a suspect; wouldn't that be a cop's instinct? The morphine drip thing may not have been realistic, but for the sake of entertainment, I'll buy into it in the context of the show. I would hope they go beyond 5 seasons if they can keep it as strong as it's been, and I feel like killing off Vic would be the worst thing they could do. Does he get back with Corrine, stop cheating on her, and his kids suddenly develop out of autism? Of course not; it's not a fairy tale show. I can't think of a great ending because I'm not Shawn Ryan, but I'm not feeling an unhappy end to the series for the sake of it, especially one that dramatic. Knowing he's dead at the end of the series makes watching all the prior seasons that much worse when you go back; to me. I like endings where it's left up to us what happens to characters, where that type of ending is appropriate. In Heat, for example, DeNiro dies due to a fatal flaw; not being able to take his own advice and walk away from Waynegro/Jameson at the hotel. He was on his way to New Zealand and took a sharp right turn off the highway to "take care of something" he couldn't let go. Pacino lives and he looks down on DeNiro after he catches up with him at the hotel; holding DeNiro's hand, watching him die. I always wonder, "what happens to Pacino's character??" By his own admission, he was on the down slope of his third marriage, his life was empty save for the people who's deaths he redeemed by going after the killers and taking down "crews", and we all know he can't do that forever - he was very Vic-like! So what happens to him? It's up to us. Just my opinon; I think a better ending to the series will be allowing all of us to figure out what happens to Vic, with some/most questions about his character/past/future answered before they sign off.
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Post by leadinvestigator on May 20, 2005 16:38:54 GMT -5
I can see both sides. A dramatic, series-ending finale would be shocking and painful for Vic/Shield fans BUT I think they might admire Ryan for ending what he started and preserving the integrity of the entire story (as in no schlocky big screen or movie of the week attempts starring other actors)
The Shield is special, different from any other series, one of a kind. It should have a special kind of ending--and not one that leaves all of the fans wondering forever. Those kinds of endings drive me nuts! Still, it will be comforting in a crazy sort of way to imagine Vic Mackey, out there somewhere, shaking down thugs.
Heat is an excellent movie. I always wondered what happened to Chris, Val Kilmer's character, beyond the movie. He probably ends up broke and shot dead in the street trying to pick off a mini-mart!
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Post by fju2112 on May 23, 2005 9:15:54 GMT -5
I'm seeing U2 tomorrow night here in Boston, and had no idea it was on Tuesday. I have to miss the 90-minute Shield Episode; hopefully someone can tape it for me!
the schedule doesn't indicate a 90-minute episode on FX..? at least not yet. Am I imagining things or did I see that this week's episode will be 90 minutes long during last week's promo?
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Post by Peach on May 23, 2005 23:33:27 GMT -5
FJU - yep, ep 10 is 90 min long. I'd offer to tape but I've got TiVo so no way to send it to you! I know that Chem tapes, maybe he can help you out....
Have fun at U2 <totally jealous!!!>
~peach
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Post by qb on May 24, 2005 11:50:43 GMT -5
We will get you a copy...no matter what!!
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Post by chemikalman on May 24, 2005 15:40:27 GMT -5
If you give me an address, I'll make a copy and send it to you--I'll try to get in tomorrow's mail.
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