The Shield - 1x10 - "Dragonchasers" - Crash and Yearn

The search for perfection is perhaps one of the leading causes for depression and anxiety, yet it's an issue that's seldom addressed when trying to treat those symptoms. Instead we try to put labels on things, take a pill, sign up for a program, see a shrink. But rarely do people talk about what's really bothering them: that there's gotta be something better. A better job, relationship, or course of action. There's a voice in our heads (another cause: over-thinking) that tells us if we just improve this or that, everything will be perfect, everything will fall into place and all will be right in the world. Instead of the pledge of allegiance, schools should've taught that in life, you can't get it right, and you can't fuck it up.

“Dragonchasers” is another rip-roaring adventure and a (near) winner for Dutch, as he finally gets a break in the hooker murder case, not by his smarts, but by random chance of Danny and Julien catching the perp smackin' it in an alleyway. Most of the logistical detective work (interviewing the aunt, getting a warrant to search her house and find the bodies) is left off-screen, instead focusing on the tête à tête between two very intelligent yet emotionally deranged men. There's a lot of similarities between Dutch and Sean, mainly in regards to their low self-esteem and success rate with women. Dutch's obsession with catching a serial killer may even be an extension of controlling something that once resided in him, much like Julien's transference of hate from himself to the tranny hooker. But in the end, Dutch gets his man and gets to experience the high of success, receiving commendations from the rank-and-file (usually Vic, who of course mentions that he promised “we'd get this guy”) who routinely treat him like a joke. By the end of the episode, the high wears off and the crash begins as Dutch breaks down crying in his car, on some level realizing that Sean's right. He's just a lowly civil servant who became a cop to get respect.

Our other literal dragon chaser is Connie, who swears she's gonna get clean after her mother dies and realizes she can't raise Brian on crack. The origin of Vic's relationship with Connie has always been somewhat vague and Corrine brings it up by outright asking if Brian is Vic's son. But the story of how Vic found her trying to abort her child with “some Drano and a plunger handle” is downright chilling. The whole idea of Vic helping Connie get clean is kinda absurd, since she's only useful to him if she's on the street and in the thick of drug/hooker culture. Detox scenes are always hard to watch, bringing the character to her lowest depths, verbally flashing back to the time when she killed the john and Vic helped her cover it up and throwing up, but the hardest scene to watch is when she seems to be doing better, calmly admiring herself in the mirror and asking Ronnie to get her some tea, then tacitly letting the addiction take over by grabbing his cash (though to be fair, Ronnie should've known better to have that on him) and heading for the nearest dealer. When she shows up at the Barn, high as a kite on the moon, Vic asks her how she is. “Perfect”, she replies and confirms her inability to raise her child.

Meanwhile, Julien continues to hate himself for being gay and in order to pay back a tranny hooker who bit Danny, transfers his self-loathing by joining his fellow boys in blue in a very disturbing “blanket party”. And the reporter drops a bombshell about Aceveda allegedly raping a girl in college, but he quickly explains it away to his wife with the whole “she was into kinky sex and litigation” excuse. But all in all, “Dragonchasers” is another great episode dealing with morally-flawed characters making decisions. And Shane totally bangs a stripper dancer in an interrogation room! You don't see that shit on CS-fuckin-I!

Canvassing Notes

• Luckily this grim hour of The Shield is broken up by some comic relief through Shane being manipulated by the stripper dancer running a mugging operation, with classic justifications like “She was rubbing her ass all over my hands. They don't just do that for everyone!”. Though the best part of that story has to be Vic watching Shane and Lem argue over who was the ringleader like a couple of kids, warning them that he shouldn't have to get involved in their easiest case all year.
• Sean Taylor is played by Michael Kelly, one of those “Hey It's That Guys!” whot's appeared in the Dawn of the Dead remake and had recurring roles on The Sopranos and the mini-series Generation Kill. And his character shares the same hometown of Rockford, Illinois with showrunner Shawn Ryan. And speaking of Shawn Ryan, this is probably just a coincidence but the name of the paper that the reporter works for is La Unidad, which translates to The Unit, a show he later wrote and produced with David Mamet.
• Some clever editing/writing: cut from Vic (off-camera) mackin' it with the stripper in one alley to Sean getting his own release in another. See what they did there?

• “Like, what kind of stuff you into?”
  “Oh you know, golf. I'm a four handicap.”
• “God moved out, the cops moved in.”
  “God's still here, we just sublet.”
• “We busted a one arm hooker. Fifty bucks, she'll let you hump her in her socket.”
• “I was laying the groundwork!”
• “Come on, she's an epileptic hottie, not Amy Fisher!”
• “Cop get shot in the line of duty and it's all commendations and 21-gun salutes. Some queer in a dress gives you AIDs, you end up unemployed and the city's dirty little secret.”
• “I didn't know we got the Spice Network.”
• “I got a yammy full of Georgia joy juice, darling. Enough DNA to have you writing parking tickets in Pacoima.”
• “Truth is, Sean, I might not have been the most popular guy in high school, but I got laid. More than a few times. And I'm getting laid now, too, and guess what, she's hot.”

Pre-Cog Report

• The blanket party that Julien and the others give to the tranny hooker is repeated in season two, only Julien's on the receiving end (no pun intended) when the same cops find out he's gay.
• Connie Will Return! Clean! Then Gets Shot!