tonight! I'm kinda excited, this has been an intense season. I don't know where the other thread went so the finale gets its own. Is there another season coming up?

Apparently, like the Sopranos, there's a "bonus season" of eight episodes later this year or next.

I'm super psyched, too...but probably won't get the chance to watch tonight. I'm working late on account of the Illinois primary election and won't be home until like midnight or so.

I'm like 5 eps behind on my Tivo, damn basketball season takes up all my TV time.

yeah I hope the final season comes out later this fall........tonight's gonna be the end all of tv shows.....

Fuck

No shit.

Fucking amazing.

Gonna be a long wait 'til the next season, which I've been reading isn't coming 'til 2007.

I'm still reeling. Best. Show. Ever.

Unbelievable ending. The Sopranos and The Shield are like dueling banjos.

I think it's funny that Hollywood bitches and moans about piracy and declining receipts; they should just stay at home and get schooled by the small screen.

Call me crazy but I was disappointed, I wanted the last ditch effort run for the border and Lem sipping on a Margarita somewhere and then see what Kavanagh's next move was going to be. It was good but I wanted more.

you're out of your fucking mind.

I don't know if it's too early for spoilers, but it aired last night so I think everything is fair game, but just in case, spoilers below:

I still can't believe that Shane took out Lem all by himself. And the fact that he didn't die right away...that scene with Shane talking to Lem was one of the saddest most powerful scenes I've ever witnessed on television. I was almost crying. I would love to make predictions, but I have no idea where the show can go now.

Can they even have a 3 person strike team...and does anyone remember what ever came about with that black guy that temporarily joined the team? I know Shane beat the shit out of him and put him in the hospital...but I can't recall what came about from that.

i thought that fight scene was crazy. as graphic and brutal as any fight scene that i have ever viewed.

i thought the episode was pretty predictable. but...a nice powerful ending/final shot.

on to thief now.

the black guy (wish I could remember what his name was) was in the hospital after getting into a car accident after a fight with Shane and Shane's wife, right? I honestly don't remember what actually happened to him, though. I may have missed a few episodes of that season.

gotta begin checking out Spike's reruns starting this Friday.

Shane took out Lem because he knew (and Lem was naive in his thinking) that they would eventually turn Lem on the rest of the team and with his wife expecting again, could not risk that ultimately. Consider big struggles next year with this one and Vic ultimately finding out and getting redemption in some way for Terry's murder.

will Vic kill Shane if he finds out what happened?
please say yes, he needs to die.

Lem would NEVER have given up those other guys.
Shane on the other hand will give up Vic & Ronnie in a heartbeat.

Knowing Vic's character, he would have no problem killing Shane. However, the problem if he kills Shane is that then it's just Vic and Ronnie (and Ronnie basically has no lines or personality to begin with). Also, if 2 members of the Strike team end up dead within a few months of each other, after the IA investigation, and after Lem's indictment, it would just fuel the flames of suspicion (and the IA investigation). So my guess is that they're just going to fill the empty spot on the strike team with a new guy, and my guess is that Shane will frame someone else for Ronnie's murder, or Vic will discover it and just have to come to terms.

Shane killing Lem is the downfall of Vic & the Strike Team.
Kavenaugh is going to offer Shane witness protection for giving up Vic and Shane will take it.

Man...the last two episodes this season have been absolutely incredible. I wasn't expecting that ending at all.

Few observations:

A former co-worker of mine who watched the show said she felt Vic's constantly getting away with what he did and his huge web of lies in every episode was starting to become comical, particuarly during Season 3, with the whole Armenian money train cover-up. I also started to wonder just how realistic it is that this guy can do so much dirty shit for so long and always get away with it. With the last episode, it seems his actions are finally catching up to him, but not in the IAD bust sort of way. Kavanaugh's case pretty much died with Lem, so I don't see him as being an issue from this point on, but you can hardly say that Vic "got away" with anything ... clearly his conscience has got to be killing him at this point. So, after all this time, Vic finally pays a price for what he's done: with the blood of one of his best friends, and his betrayal by another. I think that's just as bad as jail time...even if he never gets arrested, (and since he's leaving the force soon anyway, he could just skip town and not be found and route pension checks to the Caymans or something) he's going to have to live the rest of his life with what happened with Lem.

Really curious to see how this all ends.

Fucking awesome finale.

Vic's downfall is going to be that he thinks everyone cares about the team as much as he does. Vic would NEVER kill any of the other 3 guys, they're what he lives for and how he justifies all the shit he's done. Now that one of them is gone, it'll never be the same, and once he finds out it was Shane, he'll be lost forever. We're drifting into Shakespearean tragedy at this point.

IIRC Tayvon is still in a coma. I was thinking a couple of eps back why Kavanaugh hadn't followed up on that, writers must've been lazy.

edit: from wikipedia:

To protect Shane, Vic and Lem convince Tavon (who can't remember what happened) that he nearly killed the then-pregnant Mara in a furious rage. The character's fate is unknown, though it was hinted at by Vic that Tavon's injuries were severe enough to have him removed from active duty.

maybe I'm sick in the head, but I really want Vic to kill Shane and I want Mara to be alone with 2 kids and no money. I hate that bitch.

anyway Shane freaked out as usual and really just needed to think out the situation before just ending Lems life. but he always thinks about himself before the team.

shane MUST die.

fin

What a great show.

Shane is and always has been the weak link that will bring down the Strike Team, and he's now well on the way to doing that. With his own instincts for self preservation and his whining wife, it wouldn't take much for him to give up Vic, so Vic's got some decisions to make...

I'm surprised that Kavanaugh didn't come harder after Shane - he knew he was dirty from what Antwon Mitchell told him. And why didn't he haul in Mara like he did Corinne? She'd have flipped on Vic in a heartbeat.

Plenty more great stuff here for the writers to explore in the next season - let's not forget about Aceveda and his deal with Antwon Mitchell to kill the BJ guy, either. There'll be fun and games if Vic gets ahold of that little bit of intel...

Gotta love Dutch's use of the Pimpology

Dutch's pimp hand = very strong

You'd have thought by now that Shane would know that if/when the four stick together, they can't be stopped / caught. It's only when one of them acts on their own that shit flies.