Okay, so I guess what I meant is NOT that this was the WEAKEST of the "Shield" finales, but rather the most open-ended. To me, however, that spells weak. Everyone already knew it was coming back for a final season, so leaving us with so many unanswered questions wasn't really that necessary.

Sorry, but there wasn't a single storyline resolved in the finale. Mackey's job, that's it. Who DIDN'T know he was gonna be back next year? That hardly counts.

And yes, this sets up tons of intriguing storylines for the final run, but what about all of us who sat through this season, well, frankly, expecting more?

Lots of things happened, but not much HAPPENED, if you know what I mean. The whole season switched gears midway, into a San Marcos storyline that seemed to alienate a lot of viewers (not me, but it appeared that a lot of people had trouble following the ins and outs). And then, on top of that, NEITHER of those storylines had any sort of meaningful payoff. Sure, they will next season, but this kinda reminded me of the way the sixth 'Sopranos' season just kind of whimpered out at the end. I remember thinking, 'That's IT?! It's fucking Christmas and the whole season is OVER?!?!'

My only hope is that they already have most of the seventh season in the can, but I just know we're going to have to wait until at least Jan. '08 (PLEASE, F/X, DON'T PUT 'DIRT' SEASON 2 ON. JUST START UP 'THE SHIELD' IN JANUARY) or, God help us all, SPRING '08 like this year.

I kept waiting for all of the reckoning that the promos were talking about in an oh-so-serious voice.

And then there was some waiting.

And some more waiting.

I'm tuning in for the midnight encore, and maybe I'll have a better perspective then, but my initial impression is that just about every storyline I was waiting to see resolved pretty much went unresolved. A quick head count:

- RECKONING: Between Billings and the Dutchman
- RECKONING: Between Shane and Mackey
- RECKONING: Between Shane and the Armenians
- RECKONING/HUMOROUS DIALOGUE: Between the Dutchman and Hiatt and/or Tina
- RECKONING: Between Hiatt and Mackey
- RECKONING: Between Mackey and the LAPD Appeals Review Board

Don't get me wrong, I thought it was a great episode, but by the end, it kind of felt like the next-to-last episode instead of the season finale.

I'm happy at having been right about Pezuela being next year's Big Baddie, as well as the 'Wire'-like detour into big-time city politics, but not at the expense of having so many questions unanswered.

Hiatt's exit was pretty boring. Vic definitely showed him up over the last couple episodes, and proved he was clearly Hiatt's superior on the streets (like Mackey said toward the beginning of the season, the guys that were too smart to get caught by Hiatt when he was working INS made their way to Farmington), but he basically got fired for doing what Wyms asked: play by the rules. So she looks awfully hypocritical canning him for essentially not playing fast and loose enough. What she's asking is impossible. She wants someone LIKE Vic, but NOT Vic. How's she going to deal with his continued presence in the Barn next season, by the way?

Of course, the writers were a little vague on that as well. DOES this Pezuela case go high enough on the food chain for Mackey to keep his job? The look on Aceveda's face (and his driving Vic's car away) seems to say yes. But he just walked out on the appeals board (and the fam), and he did it in order to pull over this Arinboles guy for no legitimate reason, beat his ass and steal his limo. Surely Arinboles is going to tell Pezuela some bald-headed cop did it, and he'll know it was Mackey. And for that matter, where is Mackey taking that limo?

Maybe all these questions are to keep us salivating for next season, which of course I am, but I still can't help feeling a but unsatisfied. This is definitely the weakest ending of any of the seasons.

No Billings/Dutch action was disappointing as well. Dutch is too smart to have not figured out what happened. I couldn't believe he didn't ask Tina if she'd lost her cellphone recently. HOWEVER, it would be hilarious to see the Dutchman make out an insurance fraud case against Billings. He doesn't live in Farmington, though, far as I know (the CRIME, technically speaking, took place there, though.... I'm out of my depth on that one; either way, I wouldn't put it past Dutch to at least look INTO it).

Not sure what the kiss with Danny means; she almost kissed him in S2, but this one was sort of in a moment of emotional chaos, so who knows what may happen there. Will Dutch become stepdaddy to Mackey's other son?

Not to change the subject, but... HOW IN THE F*%! is Cletus Van Damme gonna grab the Armenian godfather's windpipe, threaten the acting boss in the middle of a backstabbing power struggle and walk away without losing his feet? And then Diro just lets him back in the hospital room? This whole Armenian storyline did not have any kind of payoff. I'll be honest, I thought Shane was going to be dead before this episode was over (Hiatt, too, for that matter, which ties back into the Armenian storyline... I was hoping they would go kill-crazy for the Strike Team and chop off Hiatt's feet by mistake).

The whole first half of the season built up to Vic finding out for sure that Shane killed Lem, and I was certain the back nine would be Vic finding a way to get revenge. Maybe that's coming next season, but like I said before, compared to the slam-bang endings of other 'Shield' seasons, this one just didn't pack the knockout punch I expected. It sets up a lot of interesting possibilities, certainly, but... well... maybe more after the midnight showing; lemme get another one under my belt first ha ha ha.

...until the season finale. Commence anticipatory slobbering...

... looks like he's everything Antwon Mitchell was pretending to be: a community-oriented guy trying to make things better. And after another viewing tonight, it seems that Pezuela is just as plugged in to the Mexican gangs as Mitchell was with his One-Niners. The only difference is, Pezuela's not [at least I don't THINK] the ByzLat boss.

But he's definitely privy to their inner circles of communication, as evidenced by his knowledge of the circumstances surrounding The Incident and his graphic description of his candidate's response: "Rather than stand up to his attackers like a man, he takes a dick in his mouth."

Someone on TV Squad's message board posted a comment asking if Latinos are really this petty when it comes to being gay, etc., etc. I don't know for sure, but I know several guys from Mexico, and if you crack a gay joke around them, they laugh, but they make sure you know they AIN'T gay.

Anyway, I stand by my assertion that Pezuela is being set up as next season's big villain, and Mackey, Wyms and Aceveda can all unite in busting his ass, since I suspect things are going to get heated on the streets AND at city hall. Either that or they're going to pinch him in the last episode of the season on Tuesday.

Also, I'm sticking by my guess that the Armenians are going to chop off Hiatt's feet, mistaking him for just another member of Vick's team. Assuming Shane goes down in the Armenian bloodbath that's gotta be on the way (there's no way Cletus makes it through to next season, just no way... I'm having trouble believing that everyone's been so civil thus far), that means next year's Strike Team is Vic, Ronnie and Julien. A fourth?

Call me crazy, but I have a strange sense it could be the Dutchman. This shizzle with Billings has gotta be comin' to a head on Tuesday as well. Either Dutch is gonna go crazy and kill Billings (please let it be strangulation, just like the cat... that would be so great), or they're gonna go at it for Round Two of the S4 brawl. Either way, Dutch and Billings won't be partners next season. Either he's gonna be adrift, or the Dutchman may have to join up with Vic and the gang. That would make for some interesting possibility.

Season finale, here I come...

Alright, so after thinking about it a minute, Aceveda must not know his boy has that picture, because Pezuela was quick to tell Mackey, 'Use it however you want. Just make sure it doesn't come back to me.'

And, real quick: some props to the writing team. This is just another example of how great the writing on this show is. When Shane and Ronnie were waiting on Rehzian, Shane mentioned that it cost him $60 to fill up his truck, a clear reference to the current gas situation. Additionally, he's just trying to make some small talk with Ronnie while they're sitting there. But rather than take the obvious path and sermonize a little/get political re: the world oil situation, they veer right back into current events, and we get a clear picture of where Ronnie stands on Shane: 'You want to chat up a buddy? Go find one.'

But back to Pezuela. I think this Romero/Pezuela/Aceveda lovefest runs a lot deeper down the rabbithole than we realize. I have a feeling that Pezuela might be getting set up to be the Big Baddie to cap the series next season. It would mean 'The Shield' is taking what I would refer to as a 'Wire'-like detour into serious political machination. Up to now, we've only seen Councilman Aceveda in an ancillary role, first when he was slinging shit all over Cpt. Rawlings' seizure policy (S4), then last year when he was kind of roped into helping out Kavannaugh. But if he's tangled up with, in his words, a guy (Pezuela) 'representing a group of Mexican backers' with ties to the community or whatever, who's got some sort of arrangement going with an off-the-grid Mexican official and his suit case of cash, NOT TO MENTION that he also appears to be plugged in to the local ByzLats' inner circle...?

All I'm sayin' is, that's the kind of case that Mackey AND Wyms could sink their teeth into...

More to come...