Television Review: Parricide (The Shield, S7X08, 2008)

Parricide (S07E08)

Airdate: 21 October 2008

Written by: Kurt Sutter & Elisabeth A. Hansen
Directed by: Guy Ferland

Running Time: 47 minutes

Parricide is the second episode of The Shield’s final season to be titled after a relatively obscure Latin word used for a specific type of killing; however, unlike Genocide, which was originally aired a few weeks earlier, nobody actually gets killed during it in the literal sense. This absence of bloodshed, however, does not imply that nothing dies; in fact, the episode is riddled with symbolic fatalities that carry far more weight than physical ones. The list of casualties includes the complete disintegration of a police unit, the shattering of a family, and the professional career of the series' main character, Vic Mackey. The death of his career had been hinted at as a possibility and was viewed as a near-certainty for the entire series, but seeing it come to fruition in this episode brings a grim finality to the narrative.

The episode marks the moment when the long-standing charade of friendship and professional brotherhood that had kept Strike Team finally comes crashing down. By this point, Vic and Ronnie have already attempted to take out Shane, and Shane, having survived the attack, strikes back. His tool is Two-Man, a low-level pimp whom Ronnie had manhandled during a recent arrest. Shane recruited Two-Man to assassinate Ronnie, setting the stage for a violent night. Shane himself waits in ambush for Vic. However, Two-Man misses his target, and Ronnie, alerted to the danger, manages to warn Vic. Consequently, Shane misses his chance to eliminate him, leaving him exposed and vulnerable.

To make things even worse for Shane, his attempt on a police detective, even if it is unsuccessful, is bound to make Captain Wyms put all the resources of the Barn into finding the perpetrator. The investigation is assigned to Dutch and Billings, the Barn’s best investigators, and Two-Man has the misfortune of having his motorcycle, which was used during the attack, spotted by witnesses. The bike is easily identified, leading to Two-Man’s capture. He is brought into the Barn, and despite Shane’s desperate attempts to prevent the inevitable and talk him into remaining silent, Two-Man ultimately cracks under the pressure. He points to Shane as the person who hired him as the assassin. Realising he has no choice, Shane is forced to flee the Barn, knowing full well that he will become a wanted man.

Shane, however, was not completely incompetent and had some plans for this eventuality. Mara and his little son, Jackson, are joining him on the long escape, but not before Mara arrives at Corrine’s home and spills everything she knows about Vic’s misdeeds, including the murder of Terry Crowley. This action is calculated to act as a warning to Vic—a reminder that Shane still possesses the means to bring him down with him. It is a desperate bid to ensure that Vic cannot simply walk away unscathed from the inevitable conflict.

Yet, instead of ending the conflict, Shane’s actions only fuel the escalation. Vic, now knowing that Corrine would never again have anything to do with someone as destructive and dangerous as himself, has nothing left to lose. Captain Wyms also commits a significant miscalculation when she thinks that Vic could be ordered to simply sit in the Barn for the last few days before his termination. Instead, Vic resigns on the spot, walks out of the Barn, and finally unburdens himself of the last vestiges of law and professional considerations. He decides to hunt Shane on his own, turning the dynamic from a team effort into a personal vendetta."

"Before this paradigm-changing development, the script by Kurt Sutter and Gary Lennon actually bothers to remind the audience that Vic and Shane's antics occur in a world that does not always revolve around him. Vic's last foray as the head of Strike Team and some sort of positive force in Farmington deals with Father Morton (Silas Weir Mitchell), a Catholic priest. It turns out that the priest was apparently involved in drug dealing in cahoots with the E Park Johnnies, a local African American gang. After some inquiry, it is revealed that the church stood in the way of Pezuela's real estate development and that the local gang had actually blackmailed the priest by having his girlfriend and illegitimate child. Strike Team sets them free, showing Vic’s street smart efficiency even in his final days as policeman.

Even before that, Vic had offered his service to the federal government via Olivia and her ICE bosses, volunteering to act as an undercover agent against Pezuela. However, the script leaves this plan hanging in the air, raising questions about how this operation would be relevant after his resignation.

Silas Weir Mitchell, a character actor specialised in roles of psychopaths and lunatics and best known of them being Haywire in Prison Break, delivers a very good performance in one of the last notable guest appearances in the series, playing a priest burdened by some wrong choices he had made during his career.

Directed competently by Guy Ferland, Parricide isn't among the truly best episodes of the series, but it logically and, to a degree, efficiently propels the series plot towards its grim and credible conclusion. It serves as a necessary piece of machinery in the narrative engine, consolidating the themes of betrayal and survival that have defined the show from the beginning.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

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