The Shield: This Can't End Well

I really want Vic Mackey to get away with it all. Despite all the bad stuff he's done on The Shield -- and there's a lot of it -- he's still the guy you're rooting for, the only one tough enough to get his hands dirty and do what's necessary, whether it's for the good of him, his family, or his city. There's something slightly noble in how he won't skip town before he takes down the Mexican cartel. Sure, it's a whole lot of self-preservation at work too, but with Vic being Vic, you know he could run now and live a life of leisure on some Mexican beach. But Vic's not a quitter, and he's in it till the end for better or worse. And of course, it'll be for worse.

Vic's the ultimate player -- the riverboat gambler who can read the situation and quickly adapt it to his advantage, raising the stakes higher and higher and somehow always winning. He's covered his back pretty well in his illegalities -- from murdering fellow cop Terry Crowley to robbing the Armenian money train, to countless other set-ups, frame jobs and abuses. There are precious few loose ends. But even those are now starting to unravel. Shane's on the run with his wife and sick kid, along with his file that could send Vic to prison for life. Vic's cornered, starting to panic, abandoning his code -- he's always had a soft spot for women and children, even the ones who've burned him. But now he's willing to kill Shane's wife, Mara, and her unborn child to save himself. That's a pretty big line to cross.

You get the feeling Vic's taken one step too far, and has fallen off the ledge and can't go back. Now his ex-wife, Corinne, is spilling her secrets to the cops. Vic's trapped on all sides, and I don't see a viable way out. He can run, now. Or he can stay and fight, and inevitably lose.

There are only four episodes left of this brilliant series, and however many twists and turns are left, and whichever direction Vic turns, you just know it won't end well for him. Judgement day is almost upon us, and Vic Mackey is going to go down guns blazing.