It's of little plot significance, but the fact that we know it's Lem's birthday through Kavanaugh always gets me. It's a classic Shield 'less-is-more' kind of thing - the plot is always racing forward and it has so little use for exposition or background details. Of course, because it's Los Angeles and the climate…

It was not Svetlana.

Also,

Seriously, has anyone ever explained this? Is it just a subtle "joke" the writers put in about people making mistakes or did they really forget her name too?

I think ZODIAC MOTHERFUCKER said it best one time - the best characters are those bureaucratic types with a badass, asshole streak (Aceveda, any number of higher ups in the police force on The Wire, etc.). I got a soft spot myself for them.

That's hilarious.

Dutch is always at his best when he's zoned about a case. That's like his character in a nutshell, really.

I love Kavanaugh's interactions with Aceveda. For a few times these episodes, I feel that Aceveda is playing things at face value. I do believe he was truly shocked that Lem didn't know about Terry's murder. Look at the high school riot scene right as Vic lets the fire hose loose - it's a perfect shot, one you might…

The Shield had (among other things, including the best damn series finale ever, and the best final season of any show) an absolutely killer end-all, be-all final credits after the final seconds of Family Meeting.

Go home, President Pierce. You're drunk.

Go home, President Pierce. You're drunk.

Respect.

I'm rewatching The Sopranos for the fifth time and something that's growing clear to me is that Tony Soprano has an absolutely divine gift for sniffing even the faintest hint of bullshit.

I don't see why Dutch couldn't effectively run a division (like Robbery-Homicide). I see why he couldn't effectively run a precinct.

I get a kick out of Vic having no idea who Juan Lozano is. He's not superman, after all, and he comes across a thousand different assholes a year, but he did force a pipe down his throat not too long ago and led (almost) directly to Aceveda getting raped. Which is why Antwon even got this deal.

"What the FUCK are you talkin' about?!"

"What the FUCK are you talkin' about?!"

There's also an officer that gets a name (Paula?) with lines, but never anything more than that.

I don't know what to make of it, so I just file it away in the massively overstuffed "classic Shield" folder.

Also, I don't believe for a second that Jason Porter's dad raped Antwon's mother in prison. There would be NO way that guy would survive the 1990s, let alone 2005.