Wednesday, November 19, 2008

A Confession About Nothing

I loved the penultimate episode of the The Shield, where Vic Mackey, as part of a plea deal, confesses to every sin he's committed during the show's seven year run.

On the one hand, it was powerful stuff. I loved it when the female ICE officier tells him that he has ruined her career, to which Vic quietly replies, "I've done worse."

Mackey's confession was staged as a series of dissolves and cuts where, at any given moment, you only get to hear part of the specific incident he's fessing up to and, if you know the show, can connect it to the episode it came from.

However, I must say that about half-way through, it reminded me of the Seinfeld episode where Costanza, who is competing for a vacant apartment with an Andrea Doria survivor, gives his sad life history to the tenant association.





If you don't believe me, check out the 17 minute mark of this video to see what I mean.


Seinfeld: The Andrea Doria

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Between this and The Wire, it's a banner year for shows that rip governmental organization to shreds.

Me, I'm not that libertarian leaning, but I find the contempt for the feds dripping from these final episodes intriguing.

Matt Maul said...

Have you checked out Sons of Anarchy. The ATF chick is a real BITCH. And, of course, The Sopranos was pretty tough on the Feds too.

But I'm not sure if this is just a recent phenomenon. It's been a staple of most police shows (going WAYYY back to Hill St. Blues and Barney Miller) to pit the city cops against the more officious, pretentious, and outright obnoxious federal officers like those with the FBI.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I love Sons of Anarchy. Damn you, Profiler lady! You got Donna killed, you bitch!

I know it's a familiar cliche, it's just that it's gotten more pronounced and intelligently thought out, rather than a cheap way to provide conflict. Before it would just be the smug, officious FBI guy wandering in to do the wrong thing, showing the hero's righteousness. Now it's more of showing a long game and the whys and wherefores of it.

Matt Maul said...

Very true.

BTW, I hate to admit this, and I know I shouldn't root for SAMCRO, but I laughed my ass off when the ATF chick got her face pounded on the table about 17 times :)