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.