Many people will lie and say they don’t care what people think. They’ll tell you that they are individuals and that the satisfaction of others has nothing to do with their own happiness. Despite what many will tell you, everyone wants to be liked. Show creators and writers have the same desire for the characters they create, especially their protagonist. In this episode, entitled Cupid and Psycho, writer Glenn Mazzara and director Guy Ferland go in to overdrive to make us like Vic Mackey once and for all.
If one can forgive and even come to the aid of his enemy, then one can be considered a good person. Whether you believe in that or not in real life is irrelevant. The real question is if it’s enough to make you like Vic Mackey as person, and not just for his high level of charm.
For the past 4 episodes, Mackey’s primary threat has been Officer Lowe, whom is was a witness to Mackey and his strike team stealing cocaine from a scene of the crime. In order to gain leverage over Lowe, Mackie arrests Lowe’s gay lover. As of now, Lowe has yet to let any of his peers know of his homosexuality. Aside from Mackey, no one knows about his homosexuality, which makes Mackey’s information extremely vital.
Mackey may have every right to hate Lowe, but he doesn’t. He seems to understand Lowe’s need to do the right thing. Perhaps he even understands Lowe, and many moons ago he might’ve been Lowe. If Lowe were to become jaded while on the force he might become Mackey. The two characters are interesting against each other because they represent the same officer in two different states of being: Lowe is the beginning when the officer is a naïve do gooder, and Mackey represents the officer in his later years jaded and hardened by the cold realities of how things really work. Even though Lowe is a rat, Mackey still feels some sense of camaraderie with Lowe because he is a fellow officer. He makes it clear that he does not want to hurt Lowe’s career when he allows his gay lover to get out of prison early. He tells him that Lowe doesn’t need him around and he is only hurting Lowe by sticking around. I found this to be shocking, and a little out of character for Mackey to do. I mean, it wasn’t completely unbelievable for him to do, but it was a bit of stretch. To stick his head out so far for Lowe didn’t seem very believable, but again I suppose this is Mazarra and Ferland’s way of getting us to like Mackey as a person.
Lowe’s fear of being exposed makes him take back his statement. After the ordeal Lowe and Mackey have a moment together in which Lowe tells Mackey he is ashamed of himself and that he hates that he is homosexual. I like this scene because it definitely does the homosexual character justice. As I mentioned before, many shows have two-dimensional gay characters that only play a large role in two part episodes.
Lowe’s character arch has been developing well throughout the season, and this episode is very poignant because of it. Mackey offers Lowe some advice telling him that he cant run from who is. He lets him know that he’s got his back, and from where I was sitting I believed him. I definitely like Mackey as a person after this episode, but I’m wondering if the episode cheated this result. Is Mackey’s sentiment for Lowe forced and unbelievable? A part of me says yes, but another part of me says no. Mackey seems overly compassionate in this episode in a way that we haven’t seen in previous episodes. Perhaps this newfound compassion can be explained with Mackey’s discovery of his son’s autism. Still even with that in mind, Mackey’s personality shift seems a bit cheated.
Shane the Jerk:
Shane is partnered with Dutch in the departments attempt to break up the strike team. By the way where is the rest of the strike team? The other two members have been missing for two episodes. Nevertheless Shane strikes again when he tries to sleep with a grieving widow and her sister in-law. As I’ve said before, you can always count on Shane to be a jerk.
Vic’s Son:
I want to commend the writers of the show for giving Vic’s son autism. Autism in an interesting condition to give his son, because the condition is confusing and many people have the wrong idea about it. The kind of energy and time it takes to fully understand the condition is something Mackey will not have in the show. It adds needed tension in Mackey’s home with him trying to understand his son in the little bit of time he has at home. I’m looking forward to this being explored further in future episodes. This episode also marks the first time Mackey’s other children are shown.
Episode Rating: 4
Viewing Time: 10:00 pm. Laptop. Alone.
Yeah i agree with you, i don’t know if Mackey should’ve stuck his neck out so far for Lowe.By the way you seem to love this show but i don’t usually get enough of that sense of enjoyment from your postings until i get to your ratings then i’m like, 4/5! or 5/5 he must really be enjoying this show.Maybe you should point out more of the plots you liked so we get a sense of where your rating is going to be.