The Shield - 1x05 - "Blowback" - White Lines

 

 

In the recent surge of 13-episode serialized television seasons, the fifth episode holds a lot of weight, both structurally and creatively. After the pilot is shot, months go by before the show is picked up for a season. Then more writers are brought in, sets are built, new roles are cast, everything slowly but surely starts to jive. The fifth episode is the 1/3 mile marker of the season and is where the true thematic entities come to fruition. For The Sopranos it was “College”, where Tony's mob and family life become intertwined when he runs into a rat while taking his daughter to visit colleges. And for The Shield, it's seeing how deep a hole the Strike Team can fall into before managing to dig themselves out, while racking up the tension to almost unbearable levels.

“Blowback” is about, well, the Strike Team trying to get their blow back. Vic and the gang manufacture a bust with an illegal wire tap and a fake tip to score a couple of bricks of cocaine off some Armenians in order to keep Aceveda off their backs and score a nice chunk of change off Rondell from the sale. Those drugs were going on the street anyway, so why shouldn't they profit off it? All cops put their lives on the line every day, knocking down doors without knowing who's behind them, receiving shit pay and then locking up rich scumbags whose drugs and money are sent to an evidence room, waiting to be destroyed. I could go on and on about the insanity of the drug war, but The Shield was never really about soap box issues. If The Wire is the epic byzantine tome of cop shows, then The Shield is the explosive Machiavellian graphic novel. And we're only on the first trade paperback.

But beyond the hunt for the black/blue Navigator (strictly a production design mishap), there's other instances of past events coming back to haunt our characters. When Julien witnesses the Strike Team stealing two bricks of coke, he's willing to jeopardize his career by ratting them out to Aceveda, a self-destructive move to punish himself for being continuing to hook up with Tomas. Vic's son Matthew is diagnosed with autism. Could this be cosmic payback from the universe for Vic's heinous actions?

Compared to other episodes, there's not many variations on that theme beyond Shane warning Lem of the dangers of fat in cookies. It's just a rock-solid adventure where at any second the Strike Team could go down. There's a great moment towards the end of the episode, after Vic flushes the open brick of coke down the toilet, knowing that Aceveda and other cops have arrived, and looks at himself in the mirror. Whatever he's thinking, about almost getting caught, his son, his team, whatever emotions are washing over him as the adrenaline keeps pumping, he just sets aside and puts the remaining brick in his jacket. Then he dares Aceveda to search him. That's why Vic does what he does. He thrives on chaos. And somewhere deep inside, he wants to get caught. But not yet.

Canvassing Notes

• We're introduced to an all-time great Shield villain in Margos Dezerian (played by Kurt Sutter, writer of this episode and future Sons of Anarchy creator) who murders a man because he was impatient with Margo's coke line cutting skills, and snaps the neck of a redneck in the cage because of an off-hand comment. Then he disappears into the night after escaping a police van, only speaking to compliment Danny's feet.
• Clark Johnson's back for his final episode of season 1, shooting this one back-to-back with “The Spread”.
• The episode's bookended with both Shane and Dutch exasperating “You gotta be shittin' me,” both in regards to something important being stolen from them.
• The silencer that Margos uses sounds just like the PP7 in Goldeneye for the Nintendo 64.
• “Is there anything you're not allergic to?”
  “Sheet metal.”
• “Huh. The Armenians speak Armenian.”
• “What if I stuck big blue bananas in your ears and set them on fire?”
• “We're all gonna crash and burn because of you! I mean, Christ, dude, Amy's not even that hot!”
• “We'll check the muff rippers in Little Tokyo.”

Pre-Cog Report (SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE SERIES)

• Margos and the Armenians become the big bad for the Strike Team, after robbing the Armenian's money train in season 2, Margos comes back to hunt them down, chopping off feet in the process.
• Deena the Car Thief makes a return later this season in “Pay in Pain”, as well as a cameo in season 3 and 7.