The Shield virgin’s diary – I want to be sick

by Ivey West

While not nearly as Blow the Hatch-worthy as the first episode, The Shield's story about child pornography was disturbing in its own right. And by disturbing, I mean enough to make me want to vomit.

Season One, Episode Six “Cherrypoppers”

Talk about the underbelly of the criminal world. When you see criminals that take advantage like the ones on this episode did, it is so much easier to justify the “Any Means Necessary” mindset that the Strike Force employs. Dutch-boy gets into the game a little bit, too, but more the state of mind than actually getting his hands dirty. Aceveda, on the other hand, just makes everything dirty by flooding the Barn.

Vic is one manipulative son of a bitch. Using Dani to try to shut down Julien’s conversations with Internal Affairs is underhanded, considering Dani doesn’t really know what is going on. Julien did accomplish sewing a seed of doubt, though. Can Vic still rely on her to have his back, without question?

Dutch trying to be a bad-ass is funny. He does a great job in an interview room, but when he tried to get in Vic’s face early on, I almost giggled. By the time the episode had finished, though, I think he and Vic had bonded almost as much as they possibly could. They don’t go about things the same way, but they share the same passion. Dutch may be the Anti-Mackey in a lot of ways, but not this one.

Connie is not going to be anything but bad news for Vic. I don’t know exactly why Vic feels drawn to protecting this particular woman. What he has done is open himself up to more risk. Connie would have been better off going to jail for a while, and if it hadn’t been for her son, I think Vic would have come to the same conclusion. Coaching her through the shooting is going to come back to bite him in the rear.

I’m not sure why we had to experience the whole plumbing side-plot. What was the point? The police maintenance budget sucks? Or was it a metaphor for … erm … something to do with flooding?