I didn't catch up with the first season of The Shield until the DVD set came out, and I still remember roaring through episode after episode–especially towards the end–eager to find out what happened next. I did the same with the Season Two DVD, and then from Season Three on, I've been watching the show in real-time, and dealing with that excruciating week-long wait between episodes.
Watching tonight's installment, I was thinking how much I envy anyone who's going to get to watch The Shield from start to finish on DVD for the first time, once the series is done. And not just because they're going to be able to rip through these last few episodes with no gap, enjoying the dramatic TV series that understands the power of narrative momentum perhaps better than any other in the history of the medium. They'll also be able to appreciate the intricacy with which Shawn Ryan and his writing staff have woven this story. Remember first getting to know Mara? (And her wastrel mother?) Remember when Corrine and Dutch grew closer after she kicked Vic out? All of those little details inform what's happening now as The Shield comes to an end.
Heck, tonight I even thought about Aceveda's rape several seasons ago, and how the humiliation of it must've come rushing back earlier this season when Pezuela started talking about exactly where he was going to put his dick. That, combined with Vic's warning to Aceveda that he should let "the real men" handle Pezuela surely drove him to come rushing unbidden into Pezuela's office this week, thereby tipping his hand and voiding his usefulness to the ICE investigation. The moment was tense and dizzying–a classic Shield scene, meant to be watched by an audience all shaking their heads and burying them in their hands, in unison. But it wasn't just a twist for the sake of a twist. Aceveda's been on his way to that office for years.
Similarly, The Shield earned its moments of pathos with the Vendrell family, squatting in a mansion and dreaming about the better life Shane's sacks of cash could buy them in South America. Watching Shane and Mara go skinny-dipping and grill burgers was almost painful, knowing that there was know way it could last–and that really, given what terrible people Shane and Mara are, no reason it should last. Again, none of those scenes of stolen domestic bliss were wasted. The Vendrells failing to clean up their little party on the patio tipped off a visiting realtor to their "prospective customer" scam, and forced Shane to draw his gun and hit the road again. And knowing just how the Vendrells planned to spend their money added weight to the scene where two gangsters swipe their whole kitty. (Not to mention poor little Jackson, watching his parents in peril, with pistols pointed.)