The Shield - "Chasing Ghosts"

This week, the Shield leaves me at somewhat of a loss. I have no idea what to expect going forward with the season. Unless I calculate wrong, there should still be another season greenlit after this run of episodes that we're watching, which means that there are a ton of twists and turns to come, because right now it feels more like a set-up for an endgame. Shane's secret is finally out, which of course puts him and Mackey on the outs, but there's still four more episodes left in this split season by my count.

We begin in lockup with a quick view on how large Antwan is living in the clink. Vic stops by for a friendly little cop-killing accusation, but both Antwan and the audience both know that Vic is grasping at straws. This makes Antwan chuckle a little and refer to it as his “final encore”. Mackey views Antwan as the devil, behind all of the evils of the world. And Mackey is out of leads. Mackey and Ronnie take Hernan's info about Guardo's innocence to Shane, but he tries to dodge it... hard. It comes across as more than a little suspicious. Mackey rides Dutch for info on Lem, but is interrupted by Mrs. Ex-Mackey calling about more crazy Mini-Mackey problems. Ronnie and Vic duck back inside to find Shane lounging around. Mackey knows something is wrong. He's more of a detective than we give him credit for. Ronnie recalls Shane's obviously guilty comment from earlier in the season.Vic asks Ronnie to quietly check if Shane logged in all the grenades from their raid.

Mexican Metal Music. Titles.

In the Strike Team office, Julian starts to take Lem's locker, but Vic allows him. He's clearly moving on. Claudette pops in with a murder case for the Strike Team, the daughter of a high-ranking city official. Claudette wants to stay on top of it, but the New Strike Team knows that their screwed being stuck in the limelight. They examine the body, stabbed in the hallway of a building on the wrong side of the tracks.

Back at the Barn, CuteCop returns to Dutch's bumbling and Billings mockery of said bumbling and Dutch's fawning over her. Danny interrupts Dutch's flirtation with a witness with info about Guardo. Danny tries to bring CuteCop up to speed. Danny is annoyed with CuteCop and CuteCop is annoyed with Danny. The witness that Dutch meets with is Guardo's girlfriend, who lays out the whole fake story that Mackey fed her. Dutch is clearly confused.

At the crime scene, Hiatt meets the parents of the young girl and they dodge answering why their daughter was in a crappy part of town. Aceveda warns Hiatt that he needs to keep the reputation of this girl and her parents clean, no matter what they find. A neighbor near the scene saw another troublesome neighbor carrying trashbags in a hurry. New Strike Team follows the lead while Vic assures Hiatt that they'll be able to do both the job Aceveda wants and that Claudette wants. Drugs in the Trash neighbors apartment. Little white girl must have been using.

At the Barn, Guardo's girl explains to Dutch and Claudette the story that Vic fed her. They're both suspicious that Vic killed Guardo. They don't want to be wrong again, so Dutch decides simply to spring the girl on him and see how he reacts.

In the Strike Team room, the boys interrogate a good white housewife whose number was in Trash Neighbor's apartment. Mackey forcible checks her body for track marks. Julian actually blocks the door as Mackey finds what he's looking for very high on the inside of her thigh. He promises to tell everyone that she knows and the housewife breaks. On the floor, Dutch is pissed at Billings about all his CuteCop comments, but Dutch fights back with Billings illegal snack machines. Billings is annoyed but submits. In back, Danny rides CuteCop hard. Hiatt stops in and Danny is clearly smitten with Hiatt. Hiatt and CuteCop clearly share a moment right as Dutch passes by. Danny responds by trying to ride CuteCop harder, but she holds her publicity position up as leverage.

Mrs. Ex-Mackey stops by with a grumpy Mini-Mackey that won't speak to him. Turns out that she read stuff about him on the internet. She's seen complaints about Vic... but more importantly she knows about his baby with Danny. Mackey is floored. While following her out, Dutch tries to wrangle Mackey, but Hiatt has a location on Trashy Neighbor. The boys pick him up. He “knows” the girl, but he didn't shank her. He explains to the boys that she was trading sex for drugs. He introduced her to his white boy Brentwood connection, but she cut out the middle man and he was out of the loop.

The Strike Team continues to bob and weave between Claudette and Aceveda, when Ronnie shows up with information that the grenade count was correct. Everything that Shane logged in is still there. Mackey snags Danny and tells him about the situation with his Mini-Mackey. She wants to meet the newest Mini-Mackey, but Danny is annoyed because she didn't want any single one of them involved.

The Strike Team moves on White Boy's metal apartment when he starts popping off shots heavy enough that they would punch right through their vests. He almost gets the drop on Hiatt, but Mackey grabs him. They argue outside who should take the suspect in. Mackey claims that he'll take the guy in alone and take the hit for the rest of them. Claudette or Aceveda can come down on his head. Julian tries to be righteous about Vic harming the guy. But he doesn't want to hurt the guy, he wants to deal. He feeds him and Trashy neighbor both a story that will get the results that he wanted.

Dutch snags Mackey and puts him on Guardo's girlfriend. She yells at him, but Mackey does an excellent job dodging her questions and answering in ways that will satisfy everyone. Mackey is pissed and comes at Dutch and Claudette. He again does an excellent job admitting information around Guardo without coming close to admitting to his murder. Mackey tells them both that Hernan can back his story and Dutch is annoyed that Hiatt was able to get to him when he wasn't. Outside, Mackey meets with Mr. Big Shot City Dude. They have an honest conversation about the daughter's problems and Mackey's work covering it. In return, Mackey asks for his influence in his non-existent appeals hearing that is coming up.

Both Trashy Neighbor and White Boy tells a ridiculous story where they admit to guilt, but paint the daughter as a saint. Downstairs, Mackey snags Lem's report from Dutch, despite Dutch warning him that there are graphic photos. Also included is Kavanaugh's last report. Something is written there that confirms Mackey's worst fears. Dutch stops by to talk with Hiatt who is installing some door on the Strike Team room, but first there is another tense love trapezoid moment with CuteCop and Danny. Hiatt dodges Dutch's questions about Hernan.

At Danny's, Mackey shows up with Mini-Mackey to introduce her to Mini-er-Mackey. She asks a lot of weird kid questions and basically looks at the baby like its an alien. I know that she's Chiklis's real-life daughter, but I can't believe that she is one Mackey kid that doesn't have autism. At the Barn, Ronnie tells Shane that Vic wants to walk Lem's crime scene. It seems like he knows. Shane suspects that they suspect him. As soon as he leaves, Ronnie calls Mackey to let him know that he's on his way.

The confrontation between Mackey and Shane reveals that Vic knows without a doubt. Kavanaugh's report stated that there was only one tail on the night of Lem's death, which mean Shane lied about where he was. Mackey knows that he did it and knows that he pocketed a grenade. Shane was planning it before Aceveda lied about Lem. Shane comes clean and admits the whole thing. He tells Mackey that they're not that different. Shane killed Lem because Vic couldn't do it. And then Shane threatens that he's got a lot more on Vic than Vic has on him. They dredge up Terry and the fact that Vic could have killed Shane before. Overall, a fantastic scene with excellent acting, but the confrontation was built up more in my mind. We end with Vic telling Shane that if he ever sees him again, he'll kill him.

NEXT WEEK: More Mara and Vic threatens Mini-Mandrell.