Television Review: The New Guy (The Shield, S6X04, 2007)

The New Guy (S06E04)

Airdate: 24 April 2007

Written by: Sarah Fain & Elizabeth Craft
Directed by: Clark Johnson

Running Time: 45 minutes

Following the seismic events of the preceding episodes, which served as a cathartic purge of the series' long-running antagonists and the tragic death of Lem, The New Guy attempts to recalibrate the tempo of The Shield. The show, usually a blur of high-octane violence and desperate survival, seemed to take—or at least the authors of this specific instalment seemed to think they were taking—a slightly slower, more measured approach. The expectation was a return to the mundane horrors of the Farmington district, with lower stakes and a focus on the regular dysfunction of the Strike Team. However, while the setup promised a breath of fresh air, the execution feels like a reluctant step backward into melodrama.

Vic Mackey, having survived Kavanaugh’s Internal Affairs investigation and exacted revenge for Lem’s death, believes he is finally at a good place. He takes the reins of the Strike Team, ready to reassert his hegemony on the streets. Yet, a palpable void remains. It is not just the absence of Lem, but the strategic maneuvering of Captain Claudette Wyms. With the unit’s ranks thinning, Wyms sees an opportunity to bring in fresh blood and, crucially, a replacement for Vic. This new arrival is Detective Kevin Hiatt (Alex O’Loughlin), a former INS agent with four years of experience working the Mexican border.

The tension peaks in a restaurant scene where a bloody gunfight broke out between One-Niners and a group of gang members attempting to defect. It is a particularly nasty situation, and Hiatt proves his worth by helping Vic, Shane, and Ronnie handle the chaos. Wyms uses this moment to formally introduce Hiatt to Vic, effectively crowning him as her successor. Vic, desperate to keep his job and maintain his empire, attempts to mentor the newcomer, playing the benevolent father figure. However, Wyms reveals a cruel twist: the appeal board hearing for Vic’s forced retirement was a fabrication, a lie told solely to make Vic behave and work with the new guy.

In the meantime, Vic attempts to prevent further bloodshed on the streets by intervening in the conflict between Moses and Vantes (Kevontay Johnson). Vantes, a former One-Niner and self-styled "revolutionary" leading a gang away from crime, becomes an obsession for Vic. As bodies pile up, Vic becomes fixated on saving Vantes' life. When he finds the wounded Vantes after shootout, it is tragically too late. Vic brings him to Mission Cross Hospital only to watch him die. It is a moment of profound vulnerability; Vic breaks down in front of his wife, Wyms, and his colleagues, exposing the depth of his grief and his desperation to replace the friend he lost.

While Vic struggles with his emotional demons, Dutch and Billings are tasked with a particularly nauseating serial rapist case. The perpetrator targets vulnerable runaway teens, drugging them with GHB. The case is doubly embarrassing for Claudette because the Modus Operandi matches the testimony of a girl whose story was previously disregarded. Dutch is driven to solve it, convinced the rapist will eventually escalate to murder. This subplot provides a gritty, procedural counterpoint to Vic's emotional turmoil, grounding the episode in the messy reality of police work.

Unbeknownst to Vic, Wyms continues to dismantle the Strike Team from within. Officer Julien Lowe is offered a position within the unit. After agreeing, he is told to join the team the next day, further signalling the fragmentation of the unit’s original dynamic.

Written by Sarah Fain and Elizabeth Craft, The New Guy is a solid episode, but it feels merely functional. It tries to compensate for the relative banality of its content with enhanced melodrama. The Strike Team members are constantly reminded of Lem’s absence, which leads to Shane feeling utterly miserable and Vic trying to compensate for his friend's loss with a bizarre, almost delusional idea: making Vantes, an idealistic martyr, some sort of replacement for Lem. It is a desperate, pathetic attempt at catharsis.

The most bizarre element of the episode is undoubtedly the scene in which Corrine suddenly appears at the Clubhouse to recount a dream involving Lem. Each of his friends interprets the dream in different ways, and the sequence itself shifts into a realm of mysticism or surrealism. It is the closest The Shield came to fantasy, and it feels awkward, as if the writers forcefully transplanted a scene from a less realistic drama into their gritty police series. It disrupts the immersion and feels forced.

On the acting front, Alex O’Loughlin, the Australian actor who would become a big star a few years later as the protagonist of the Hawaii 5-0 remake, makes his debut here. Apart from his physically imposing presence, he doesn't make a massive impact, but the script leaves plenty of room for his character to grow in the episodes to come. He provides a physical counterpoint to Vic, but the episode lacks the chemistry to fully establish him as a genuine threat or partner. The New Guy is a transitional piece, necessary for setting up the changing of the guard, but it suffers from trying too hard to be emotionally resonant while relying on contrived dream sequences.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

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