Vic has to get shot, the question is by who. Claudette, his nemesis? Ronnie, his loyal partner now betrayed? Julian, from the moral high ground?

No, it has to be Shane, his once protege. Vic helped build him into the scoundrel he is and he will die by his hand. No fade to black for the shield.

Heroes fell off when everyone in India speaks English, even the little boy playing in the street and not in school. Hiro and Ando speak in subtitles, and the Mexican brother and sister speak in subtitles, but in India, everyone speaks English.

Heather, I know comic books. I've read many comic books. HEROES IS NO COMIC BOOK...

Seriously -- the writing in todays comics is far more sophisticated and nuanced than ANYTHING on this show, where characters routinely perform actions that betray everything we know about their characters simply to move the plot in a new direction (and then reverse it two episodes later!). Mark my words, this sort of lazy writing...where there seems to be no long term plan or goal to the show, other than to keep throwing in twists and turns for the sake of having them, will turn out to be the show's kryptonite...

Todd

p.s. speaking of comics, Heather -- if you haven't already, you really should read the current comic versions of Buffy (Season 8) and Angel (Season 6). Phenomenal work -- the Whedonverse lives on!!!

Seriously Heather, maybe you shouldn't reference comics if you haven't read any for the last 20 years or so. The writing in Heroes is just TERRIBLE. Not terrible for comics, terrible for any from of literature or entertainment. There are literally a ton of comics better written now...and more than a few movies based on the comics a lot better written too.

I'm going to go out on a limb here, and predict these specifics:

1. Shane will get caught. He won't be able to get off, so he will try to cut a deal for his wife. He will find something Vic can't immunize himself against - a lie. The lie might even be that Vic killed Lem.

Whatever it is, it will be something that Vic won't be able to deny, without an alibi from Corrine.

2. The drug deal will not go down as planned, but bad guys will be captured - enough to justify ICE's deal with Vic, if only barely.

I half expect the actual cargo container coming in to not be drugs, but be a load of weapons so the Mexican mafia can attack the visiting dignitary. A bit "24", I know, but that would be an interesting twist.

3. Vic will tell Gardocki about the deal he made with ICE, and give him a chance to run. This may go down in the middle of the drug deal that Vic's immunization depends on.

If Gardocki isn't killed and isn't able to flee, he will pull something against Vic also. Either Gardocki'll back up Shane's play against Vic, or he'll try to cut some sort of a separate deal with Claudette Wyms. Either way, there's no way Shane will just go down - he definitely has a backup plan.

4. Claudette Wyms will be faced with the choice of taking Vic down for one of the few things Vic *didn't* do, or letting him walk free. And she will choose to take him down, even if it destroys her soul.

5. In the subplot (which I'm also enjoying immensely), that proto-serial killer kid will summon Dutch to the house by texting him from his mom's cell phone. The kid will then try to kill Dutch, and frame like he's a scared kid reacting to what he thinks is a break-in.

The kid will get killed instead - and Dutch will have to make a deal with his (*brillianty* acted) passive-aggressive douchebag partner Billings, to save his career.

6. Vic will need Corinne to save him against the false accustaions against him. She can provide his alibi.

Corinne will back out of the way, and let Vic go down.

....OR Vic will be killed trying to save the visiting dignitary, and his background will be covered up, and he'll die a hero.

But...Aceveda still has a place to play in this. And what will that be???

I'm sorry I don't know the guy's name - Comic Book Guy would berate me - but one of the writers who did the best work on season one of Heroes has just been freed from his oppressive work on ABC's sucky, cancelled Pushing Daisies. He announced that he would be glad to return to Heroes, where two of the staff members responsible for this season's yucky plotting have been fired. This might be the only chance this show, the only commercial series I willingly watch, may have for survival.

As far as The Shield, whether any hearts, especially Vic Mackey's, stop will determine how honest the producers are. I was upset at the weasely conclusion to The Sopranos, as if they were trying to hold out for a movie deal or a resumption of the series. Let Vic die and rest in peace. There is honor in saying "there's an end to the story," instead of bowing to the corporate idea of running it on until everyone's sick of it.

Nevertheless, there are a few stories that can continue. Superman's been around since the late 1930's and has survived, along with Batman and Wonder Woman, with some evolution and a few periods when they coasted. They mean something vital to the soul. Survivor doesn't.

is there no way that Olivia et. al. can still get him into prison? There must be some legal loophole that will let everyone lock Vic up. He's played fast and loose with people for so long-- the feds must be able to do the same to him, right? Maybe they can ensure that he can't do his job somehow and force him to void his deal. Or perhaps he forgot to confess to something? It's not like he brought a cheat sheet or anything, and with the long, long list of crap that he's pulled, there must be something that he left out. Maybe he'll be busted for failing to pay a parking ticket?

Nitpick: Dutch Wagenbach, not Dutch Holland.