I think I'll have a vodka, before it goes bad. And a piece of toast.

That was Billings, and you're exactly right about Dutch being a class-A dick to him. Dutch's weakness is his insecurity; he constantly needs to be the smartest guy in the room, and everyone has to know it, so he winds up alienating people. On a lesser show, Dutch would be the victim of a group of tough-guy cops; on The…

We are not in the eighth dimension.  We are over New Jersey.  All is not lost.

Do you think there will be an audio equivalent on Sirius XM?

It's comparable to Arrested Development's "Pier Pressure" or Lost's "Walkabout."  In all three shows, the pilot is a great first date, but these are the episodes that end in "marry me!"

I think the look of The Shield comes from some real care with the lighting, to do exactly as you said:  make it look real.  (I don't have enough knowledge of cinematography to know the details.)  There's also great work done at finding sets and shooting their way around them:  in some cases, the crew was standing…

Thanks (which seems inadequate). I'm just a Shield fan with a complete series box set, a notepad, and some philosophy texts on my e-reader.

I'm not actually arguing with you at all.  I think you are coming at this episode from a different angle than I am and doing a great job at it.  I don't consider your comments simplistic and I don't believe I said that.  Mostly I've been trying to make myself clear on the points I agree with you.  Outside of that,…

The Shield doesn't encourage "condemnation," and I certainly don't condemn Vic for this or think he's the big bad, and I conveyed that poorly in my post.  My bad.  I just feel that Vic's actions are totally in character for him.

The Shield is a show about complex characters and impossible moral choices told in the most straightforward style, and it's that last part that makes so many people miss the first two parts.

Walton Goggins' openmouthed "Jesus Christ" is just fantastic.

What you see on The Shield is that although the system is corrupt, not all people are corrupt.  @avclub-79f37254d46ff0eb4aef4db413a7aec6:disqus describes some other options Vic has, and (really, this isn't a spoiler) we'll see more options characters can take in the future, and which options they do take.  (Vic isn't…

THE MASSIVELY SPOILERY POST

The public has no idea what justice costs the men who perform it.  (James Ellroy)

@avclub-792b765aa995daf26cf6f17f519c949d:disqus , @avclub-421d91cd1f20d044be31c05a2908e03b:disqus :  don't bother trying to keep pace.  This series makes you watch the whole thing, and fast.  (I watched the last season in a little over a day, with no breaks in the last six episodes.)

"Peter Weller (yes, RoboCop)"  More like Peter Weller (who looks exactly like David Cronenberg and William S. Burroughs got stuck in one of Seth Brundle's pods and fused).  There's a publicity still of the three of them that's uncanny (in the exact meaning of that word).

Can't afford HBO, I'm living Hindemith these days.

The lollygagger speech was always a favorite between me and the former Mrs. Wallflower.  It perfectly expresses one of the great and underrated emotions:  justified outrage at incompetence.

Do you mean Into the Night?  Because if so, then yes.

Aha. This.