Television Review: Coyotes (The Shield, S2X10, 2003)

Coyotes (S02E10)

Airdate: March 11th 2003

Written by: Reed Steiner
Directed by: Davis Guggenheim

Running Time: 45 minutes

The Shield’s brief, controversial dalliance with the past in the preceding episode, Co-Pilot, served as the series' sole excursion into spectral territory, allowing departed characters to flit across the screen like phantoms. Coyotes, however, abruptly drags viewers back to the gritty, morally compromised present of Farmington, where Vic Mackey finds himself stalked not by metaphorical spectres, but by a very real ghost from his own corrupt history: the disgraced Assistant Chief Ben Gilroy. This encounter forces Mackey into another labyrinth of impossible choices, decisions that will inevitably ripple outwards, ensnaring his Strike Team in yet another web of deceit and survival.

Prior to Gilroy’s unsettling reappearance, Vic’s primary adversary was the seemingly mundane threat of civilian auditor Lanie Kellis. Her meticulously compiled report, laden with damning details of systemic irregularities at the Farmington Precinct, hung like a sword of Damocles over everyone. Though unpublished, Vic’s characteristic paranoia led him to dispatch Shane Vendrell to pilfer Kellis’s notes—a futile gesture, as it transpired. The report’s contents were inevitably leaked to the press, igniting a firestorm of bureaucratic panic. Captain Aceveda faces professional ruin, the entire precinct trembles at the prospect of mass sackings, and individual officers find their vulnerabilities exposed. For Officer Danny Sofer, the leak us catastrophic; she believes herself uniquely vulnerable due to the shanking of Armadillo Quintero under her watch—a death she blamed squarely on Vic for smuggling the weapon that facilitated it, an act that had already shattered their complex personal and professional relationship. The leak transforms abstract fears into palpable, career-ending dread.

It is against this backdrop of institutional fragility that Gilroy materialises at the Mackey household, a spectre made flesh. Vic’s shock is palpable; Gilroy, his former patron and friend, was supposed to be languishing in detention. Gilroy’s explanation—that he was under house arrest but severed his ankle monitor—immediately raises Vic’s suspicions. The disgraced chief’s demand is stark: Vic must orchestrate his escape to Mexico, leveraging his underworld connections, or face Gilroy’s testimony detailing Vic’s own criminal enterprises. Cornered, Vic reluctantly enlists "Coyote" Jack (Cristos Andrew), a specialist in cross-border human trafficking, and Quazi (Erick Cardillo), a forger previously associated with the deceased Armadillo. Yet, ominous details gnaw at Vic: Gilroy’s dramatic escape garners no media attention or police bulletin, and its timing feels uncomfortably synchronised with the Kellis report leak. This lack of official reaction feels like calculated silence, a trap laid with meticulous care.

Amidst Vic’s escalating crisis, Claudette Wyms pursues a seemingly routine case: the death of Toni Jahnes, an elderly African American woman found in her ransacked home. The investigation reveals a tragic mundanity—Jahnes died of natural causes, and the robbery occurred post-mortem, perpetrated by Mancy (Guy Perry), a crack-addicted transgender prostitute. This subplot serves as a crucial counterpoint, highlighting the often-overlooked human cost of systemic neglect within Farmington, a stark contrast to the high-stakes political and personal machinations consuming Vic and Aceveda. Meanwhile, Aceveda seeks reassurance from LAPD Chief Tom Bankston (Ron Canada), only to receive a brutal reality check: his captaincy is doomed within six months. Bankston’s cold calculus offers Aceveda a lifeline contingent on political success in an upcoming City Council election, explicitly stating that future favours would be expected—a chilling reminder that corruption permeates every level, from the streets to the highest echelons of power.

Further reshaping the precinct’s dynamics, Aceveda enforces his directive for minority representation on the Strike Team. Lemansky tentatively integrates the capable African American detective, Tavon Garris (Brian White), who proves his mettle during a successful sting operation dismantling a car theft ring. Vic, ever the pragmatist, accepts Tavon’s presence but immediately erects walls of distrust, consigning him to an indefinite "prolonged training period." This addition signals a forced evolution for the insular Strike Team, introducing a character whose inherent morality and outsider status promise to fracture their fragile unity in future episodes.

Gilroy’s inevitable betrayal crystallises when he wanders off during a stopover, using the opportunity to plant a tape recorder. His subsequent confession confirms Vic’s worst fears: the entire escape was a ruse orchestrated by investigators aligned with Kellis. Faced with the man who once embodied institutional power now reduced to a trembling, alcoholic pawn, Vic makes a characteristically ruthless yet strategic choice. Instead of eliminating Gilroy, he proceeds with the Mexico plan, but issues a chilling ultimatum: a hired assassin awaits Gilroy should he ever attempt to return or contact authorities. Vic then masterfully manipulates the recorded evidence, doctoring the tapes to exonerate himself and the Strike Team. This fabricated audio is later wielded by Chief Bankston at an official conference, not as truth, but as a weapon to publicly dismiss Kellis and dismantle her investigation, rendering her mission a spectacular, humiliating failure.

Written by Reed Steiner, Coyotes functions as a vital narrative pivot. It deliberately closes the unexpectedly swift Armadillo Quintero storyline, allowing the series to turn a definitive page. More significantly, it engineers a new beginning for the Strike Team itself through Tavon Garris’s introduction. His presence fundamentally alters the team’s toxic chemistry, promising future conflicts born from his inherent integrity clashing with Vic’s entrenched amorality. Director Davis Guggenheim, renowned for politically charged documentaries like An Inconvenient Truth, infuses the episode with subtle left-wing social commentary. This is most evident in the subplot involving an eight-months-pregnant Latina gang member (Seidy Lopez) who deliberately provokes fights, hoping to miscarry, while scornfully rejecting adoption offers from white individuals like Danny Sofer—a raw, unflinching portrayal of intergenerational trauma and systemic abandonment that avoids easy moralising.

The episode’s power is significantly amplified by its exceptional performances. John Diehl delivers a career-best portrayal of Ben Gilroy, revelling in the character’s descent from arrogant authority figure to a pathetic, alcohol-ravaged shell. Diehl imbues Gilroy’s degradation with a tragic weight that makes his final admonition to Vic—“I got greedy. I lost everything. There's a lesson there, Vic”—resonate with profound authenticity. It’s a prophetic warning, a ghost whispering truths about the inevitable cost of their shared path. These words hang heavy over the series, foreshadowing the chaotic, destructive events that will ultimately consume Vic Mackey’s world.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

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