Leave it to show creator Shawn Ryan to write one of the more compelling episodes in the season. Ryan was behind the first episodes explosives plot as well as the following episode Our Gang. The two episodes that followed, The Spread and Dawg Days were noticeably less polished than the first two episodes. Blowback and Cherrypoppers definitely raised the bar, and now Mr. Ryan comes in with Pay in Pain to solidify this season as a certified hit.
Ryan is letting us know that he is the best writer for this show right from the first scene of this episode. Within 2 minutes of the episode an unidentified shooter kills 5 males and a pregnant woman at a shooting range. The director does a good job of increasing the shock value by allowing the shooter’s bullet to pierce right through the pregnant woman’s stomach. Bravo Mr. Caruso, you got me to say “OH!” during that scene. The next scene puts us in the precinct where an African American woman gives a monologue to all the officers about how her neighborhood is loaded with crime and no one seems to be doing anything about it. Her language is poetic and seems like it belongs in a theater show rather than on prime time television. For most critics this may seem like a no-no, but I found the monologue to be refreshing and daring. Ryan definitely likes to challenge our perception of what can and cant be seen on television.
The main plot of this episode deals with a hate crime mass murderer killing Mexican Americans. Mackey is forced to work with a Mexican American detective Carlos Zamora who is more focused on keeping the trust of the local gangs than he is with finding evidence. The interactions between the two bring out the newly established rules and personality of Vic Mackey. As stated in my previous post, Mackey doesn’t respect the criminals because they prey on those he feels are innocent. He cannot understand a character like Detective Zamora, a person who gives out hugs to the local gang leaders. In more ways than one, Vic Mackey expresses that Zamora needs to treat criminals like the criminals that they are. In the end, Ryan offers us a moral of the story when it is revealed that Zamora’s so-called trust worthy gangsters kidnapped the shooters wife and kid and kills his in-laws. The moral being: Mackey was right about criminals, they cannot be trusted and they needed to be treated as so.
Like the episode before this one, we get to see Mackey’s softer side when he tells Zamora that he’s got his back despite their differences. Yet another one of Mackey’s rules being obeyed in this episode: if you’re a cop you’re part of his family.
Shane Vendrell:
I have to say, Shane Vendrell is becoming one of my favorite characters on this show, because of his ability to piss me off in every episode. His character doesn’t have much depth to him, but I honestly don’t care. I just want to see what jerk thing he’s going to do next while on the job. He reminds me of those “thickheaded” commercials that A&W Rootbeer used to play. In this episode Shane manages to piss on a suspect, and inadvertently insult Mackey’s autistic son. You can always count on Shane to make a fool out of himself, and I find myself loving every minute of it. Shane’s interactions with Mackey are starting to look like something out of The Three Stooges with Mackie slapping Shane every chance he gets. Despite Shane’s job threatening shenanigans, Mackey sticks by him. “I’m not giving up on you,” Mackey tells him.
Mackey’s superior officer gives him an ultimatum to either give up Shane in the missing cocaine case, or be forced to take the fall with him. With all the annoying actions Shane has been up to lately, you’d think Mackey would easily give him up. Then again, if you assume this, you are ignoring the established rules that the writers have created for Vic Mackey. Mackey sticks by his fellow officers, unless of course you’re a rat. Which brings us to the explosive ending in which Mackey arrests Officer Lowe’s gay lover while he is giving Lowe oral sex. Once again Mackey uses his wit to outsmart those who are out to get him, and manages to save the job and life of his bumbling idiot of a partner. Yet another excellent episode written by Shawn Ryan.
Councilman Aceveda:
I’m not sure how I feel about Councilman Aceveda. He’s sneaky, and he’s definitely got what it takes to be a politician. In this episode in particular, Aceveda leaks information to the Strike Team cocaine case to the press for his own personal gang. You might not approve of Aceveda for this, but like many of the shows characters, Aceveda has enough depth to his character that you don’t completely hate him. It’s an interesting fact that most television shows and films depict politicians as dirty and untrustworthy, even
though many shows and films have political agendas that often shift the publics view in the favor of a given politician. This episode also features another politician who seems to be a mexican Al Sharpton: more about press than he is about change. It is obvious this show cares more about officers than they do about politicians, which seems to be the common message of most television shows and films these days. Perhaps this is a reflection of the American psyche in 2002, in which we were being mislead in to a war by one of the most controversial presidents in American history (George W. Bush).
It is no shock that Aceveda is portrayed as the villain of this season, given his ambitious pursuit for political power. His hope is to have Mackey arrested for corrupt police work, and use that as a springboard for his political campaign. Once again another officer using an arrest for his own personal gain. As the show progresses it seems as though the only characters that are genuinely good officers are Officer Lowe, Sergeant Sofer, and Captain Wyms. Aside from Captain Wyms, it is quite apparent that the show wants us to know that in this world the nice guys finish last. Sergeant Sofer and Officer Lowe are good cops, but they’re also at the bottom of the totem poll.
Glenda’s Monologue:
The monologue in the beginning of the episode was so compelling, I bothered to quote it:
I’ve lived in this neighborhood all my life keeping my complaints to myself. But no more. My apartment has been broken into seven times in the last four years. SEVEN TIMES! And you never catch anyone! You have got graffiti and cuss words on every single wall that you see. I’ve got needles on my sidewalk, (Throws pencils on floor) beer cans on my lawn, and I stopped ducking at the sound of gunshot years ago. We can drop smart bombs down chimneys half a world away, but some sicko gets released from jail because of a computer screw up, and rapes my niece!(Pause) How does this make sense? I see that yellow police tape everywhere that I go. And it’s all sirens and helicopters and search lights… You got mothers killing their children, children killing strangers, and maniacs flying airplanes into buildings — and I just want life to go back to the way it should have been! (Pause) What are you doing to make us feel safe?
Episode Rating: 5
Viewing Time: 9:00 pm. Alone. Laptop.
Nice monologue. I relate to it in alot of ways, and feel like it did belong in the episode, but let’s talk about your post. I see you enjoyed the twist which i assume was the fact that the so called hate crimes weren’t hate crimes after all, buit rather a man avenging unlawful acts against his family. You did a good job of bringing your readers in, sort zooming us in to this and i found myself going oh! so it wasn’t a hate crime after all.Your ratings and praise of the writer was profound though, does he deserve all that?
Rasheem,
Solid solid work throughout. I am very impressed here. Your work is really… just solid. I enjoyed reading this.
You were funny, the posts were interesting but above all– they were good.
Great photos — great explanations… you really took to the assignment.
I really enjoyed how you examined the characters, discussing real world examples…
You never short-changed the assignment.
Well done!!
Your grade is ready — just email your TA.
GREAT JOB!
All the best,
Prof. Dunphy