i wont miss vic. the level of corruption was so seriously bad as to turn me off completely. there are enough places where the police are just as corrupt in real life that why anyone would want to see it on t.v. amazes me. if these were the police were i lived and i were being raped and beaten and there was a daylite donuts across the street, i wouldnt call for help for fear they would join in...just for kicks. and i do live in a place where the police ARE the robbers,kidnappers,rapests.....i live in mexico.

Vic changed his suit at lunch and the lights went off at 6, so he sat at his desk for 6 hours. The papers on the keyboard look like the same papers there lunch time -- not tomorrow's work. So it seems me he sat and did nothing, and violated his agreement.

couldn't stand it.

This bastard was too much like a real typical pig and I ALWAYS hoped he'd eat his gun.

I never watched it againas, it's realistically disgusting.

Mostly a nice review for an excellent series.

Agreed with a couple previous posters that

1) It seemed clear at the end that Vic was NOT to be chained to the desk in his own type of cubicle hell - that Vic was to be Vic. Overall amazing scene - not sure how the reviewer missed this.

2) Also agree that CC Pounder and the supporting cast should have gotten more of a write-up here.

I'm also annoyed the wrap up essay overlooked the fine ensemble of characters which comprised the Shield. One might think the only story was Vic - which might explain the too approving take on him which interprets Corrine's actions were unjustified.

Vic's story wouldn't have been interesting without the fully realized setting and characters around him, and Chiklis had a masterful group to play off. They took a show which was far less planned than The Wire and made a sprawling but cohesive narrative tied into the theme of actions, consequences and responsibility. It's a major accomplishment to do seven seasons with few (if any) dead spots, jumping the shark or ending without closure.

This narrow view of the show omits any of the minority characters, actors and story which gave The Shield its power. Aceveda and Weems were the key counterpoint to Vic story as were the actors playing them, and the hard pounding machismo would have been unwatchable without the strong women. I'm getting the impression the essay's author has a slight blind spot on race.

I dunno, I think Salon needs to post another essay about this with a longer view.

I think Heather really misreads the ending for Corrine. It's a bittersweet escape from a borderline abusive partner. It's somewhat disturbing that Heather makes excuses for Vic just because he doesn't cross the line before she gets away.

Corrine sees his love for family is proprietary, as "clean" objects he clings to as an excuse for his acts. He may not hurt his kids, but he's betrayed her with many women. Her safety is provisional upon the control she allows him. This is made clear when he scares Danny into moving by his refusal to relinquish control to a kid he has no interest in.

So it weirds me out to read a female critic be so eager to say Corrine made the wrong choice. Perhaps Heather can't enjoy a show without approving of the protagonist, but by doing so she not only misses the point, she comes off as an apologist for abusers.

As for the last scene: That wasn't Vic Mackey, reborn warrior deliberately violating terms. He was told to put his gun in a lockbox or take it home. So, it was a guy getting his piece to go home.

Ryans leaves a tiny bit of ambiguity, just in case a movie is possible, but I'm taking it as a real end.

I saw Vic chaining himself to a desk because it's the only option - feigning a snarl after trying to cry but not. If he allowed himself to real regret, he'd implode. He's trying to take it as penance, maybe as best for his family, yet cannot repress satisfaction at having gotten away with it, and resentment over what he lost, despite deserving it. This is a Vic quite capable of hunting Corrine down and killing her, and the hope is he won't.

This is what makes Vic a great Bush era fictional character, perhaps even more than Ryan intends.

Vic is a monster of white guy entitlement, destroying and betraying what he claims to uphold, making the government complicit in his acts and encouraging the worst in people.

At the end, he's merely diminished, not paying for his crimes just prevented from doing more. He still has a paycheck, while everyone he hurt pays a bigger price and his critics get little but the impotent closure of confirming he's an asshole. The only person alive paying a price is Ronnie, the flunkie and follower.

There was also a dark metaphor for the minority leaders left behind by Vic - they are either utterly compromised, dying or killed in a quixotic stand by thugs Vic was never really interested in eliminating.

Vic's means aren't justified by the ends and he's not only helped perpetuate bad conditions more than he helped, but also left others with less to clean up his mess.

Finally I was impressed by how The Shield showed how nothing goes away. From bringing back Andre Benjamin's minor character to make a point, to a final reference to Julian's unresolved struggle they managed to provide closure by showing what isn't resolved.

The actor who today embodies the idea of self-centered amoral menace, too dangerous to ever be disregarded; hard to believe a few short years ago he was the disposably lightweight comic actor who played the Commish, Daddio, and finally Curly in the biopic of the Three Stooges.

Little known fact: Chiklis comes from a long line of Lesbians! (as in, natives of the Isle of Lesbos)