Television Review: Genocide (The Shield, S7X04, 2008)

Genocide (S07E04)

Airdate: 23 September 2008

Written by: Lisa Randolph
Directed by: Dean White

Running Time: 45 minutes

The creators of The Shield have historically struggled with the art of nomenclature, often opting for words that sound significant but lack the necessary gravitas to match the narrative weight. This tendency is evident even in the fourth instalment of the final season, which borrows a term coined in the twentieth century to describe unimaginable apocalyptic atrocities. It is a word that is often misused today for scoring cheap political points in various international conflicts. For many viewers, a title like this would suggest that the episode would feature equivalent ethnic carnage on the streets of Los Angeles, perhaps mirroring the gang warfare that defines the show. However, scriptwriter Lisa Randolph takes a different route, trading the expected bloodshed of the city for a historically resonant tragedy that serves as the backdrop for the season’s final act.

The "genocide" in question is not a hypothetical future event but the Armenian Genocide. This is a horrific event that is in many ways the cornerstone of Armenian ethnic identity, a trauma that has been maintained especially throughout the Armenian diaspora via Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, commemorated every year on 24 April. The plot of the episode is set strictly during these times, coinciding with the apparent escalation of the war between the Armenian mob and Mexican cartels that Vic Mackey and Shane Vendrell have so callously enflamed in order to solve their own financial and professional problems.

The war appears to escalate rapidly with the arson of Rezian's safe house, which leaves two of his lieutenants dead. The perpetrators appear to be the Mexicans. Since this happens just before the very public commemoration, which Rezian is supposed to attend, Vic fears that the Mexicans might try to kill him in a way that could result in too much collateral damage among Armenian civilians. Much of the conflict stems from Pezuela, the cartel's top representative, believing that it was Armenian mobsters who had stolen the "blackmail box." Rezian insists that Vic sets up a meeting with Armando Rios (Jose Pablo Cantillo), Pezuela's surrogate. Much to Vic's surprise and concern, Rios claims that he possesses the box. At the actual meeting, Rezian changes his tune, denies that he has the black box, and offers peace.

This is something Vic would not like, and instead, he hatches a plan with Aceveda to prolong the conflict. The key is Robert Martin, a corrupt city controller who has been blocking funding for an Armenian Genocide memorial in the city. In a Machiavellian move, Vic, through Aceveda, blackmails Marin into releasing the funding, ostensibly to signal his allegiance to Armenians. This is designed to make the Mexicans believe that Armenians have the leverage of the black box. However, this scheme backfires terribly when Marin, who came to attend the commemoration, gets killed by Mexican assassins. Martin is very publicly punished for his supposed treachery, and the execution is styled to send a clear message.

Vic is at the very end of the episode faced with the complete collapse of his strategy when Aceveda tells him that Agent Olivia Massey, whom he relied upon to rein in the Mexicans, is actually in the "blackmail box." Furthermore, Aceveda reveals that she has been most likely working with the Mexicans. This means that Pezuela and the cartel might be aware of both Vic's and Aceveda's machinations, making their lives next to worthless. The episode ends with this devastating revelation, shifting the power dynamic entirely and leaving Vic to deal with the consequences of his arrogance.

In the regular procedural storyline, Dutch Wagenbach investigates a strange case involving a high school student with a criminal record who breaks into the home of Lloyd Denton (Kyle Gallner), his schoolmate. The student is shot to death in what appears to be self-defence. Dutch begins to suspect something more sinister after seeing that Lloyd, apparently a very intelligent yet academically unaccomplished young man, shows a strange lack of emotion following the incident. Dutch thinks that Lloyd is a psychopath who manipulated his schoolmate into the fatal break-in only to kill him, and that he is actually a serial killer in the making.

The episode also features a continuation of Cassidy Mackey acting out against her parents, making another awkward visit to Danny and the home of her half-brother. While this subplot fleshes out the domestic consequences of Vic's life, it is secondary to the main tension.

Genocide is a solid, albeit unremarkable, episode. It uses the "blackmail box" as a relatively efficient MacGuffin to drive the plot forward, though the device itself is somewhat flimsy. The episode ends with an interesting cliffhanger twist that sets up the final act of the season. It also features further characterisation of Vic as a self-deluded man who believes that a couple of ethical missteps can be justified with the greater good, and he is aghast when Shane expresses a total lack of interest in what happens to Farmington after the Byz Lats and cartels complete their takeover. Finally, the subplot involving the young psychopath in the making, starring veteran actress Frances Fisher as his mother, looks rather standard and clichéd by this point in the series' run.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

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