JimK:  SPOILER WARNING!  SPOILER WARNING! This post and every comment thereafter is likely to be spoiler-filled, so...SPOILER WARNING!

How will it all end?  When last we saw Vic, he burned Ronnie - he sort of had to - and took the Fed deal, then told the truth about every dirty trick he and the Strike Team ever pulled.  Watching Chiklis in that interview room was like a master class in psychopathy.  He went from pretending he had a conscience to bragging about his “accomplishments” and then to cold and calculating at the end.  Brilliant.

But was it all an act?  Was he acting for the Fed chick, or is he really planning to screw Ronnie?  And if he does, will Ronnie transfer his hate for Shane (over Lem) to Vic?  Will this be the Greek tragedy where everybody dies?  Will Vic float to the top like pond scum while everyone else falls to the bottom?  Will he redeem himself with one last act?  Faced with seeing Ronnie about to go down for the things Vic talked about on the tape...will he recant, ruining his immunity agreement but saving Ronnie?  Will he simply warn Ronnie to run to Mexico?  Can we get the non-tragic ending where somehow, Vic gets Ronnie to safety, keeps his immunity, keeps his benefits and finally gets his autistic kids in programs that will help them?  Maybe even making it up with Corinne?

Nah.  That’s way too Wayne’s World happy ending.

Here’s the thing.  The first time we ever met Vic Mackey, he shot fellow officer Terry Crowley in the face, and he did it just to protect his dirty Strike Team bullshit.  But somehow we the viewers rationalized it away by seeing all the good Vic did as a cop...and the only people he ever hurt physically or financially were bad guys.  Terry was always this sore spot, something that stuck in the viewer’s craw, but watching the show from the beginning, you could rationalize it by saying that Vic was robbing from bad guys, strong-arming gangsters and generally being an anti-hero kind of hero.  He was a good guy doing bad things.  The heart and soul of Vic Mackey was always in how he went the extra mile for his kids coupled with how loyal he was to his team (i.e. his extended family).  The only reason Shane and Vic had conflict is because Shane went against a member of the team.  That put Shane squarely in the “Them” column of the Us vs. Them ledger.  HOWEVER…

If Vic sells Ronnie down the river, then he’s not a good guy who does bad things.  He’s a pure sociopath.  He’s a bad guy.  We were bamboozled by him the entire time.  We bought the bullshit, as so many do when confronted by a true psychopath (the clinically correct term for sociopath, BTW).  If Vic sells Ronnie out - and complicates that by lying to Ronny just long enough to get what Vic needs from him - I think it demonstrates that Vic was always a complete bastard and has no redeeming qualities.  he doesn’t love his kids - he owns them.  he protects them because they are his.  They are things that are part of his inventory.  he sees them as “My Stuff.” You don’t touch his stuff.  The Strike Team was his stuff.  Shane touched his stuff, so Shane is no longer in the protected column.  If Vic sells Ronnie out, it demonstrates that Vic has no loyalty, no honor and no capacity for love.  Only a “This is mine, and if I want what is yours I will take it, and then it’s mine too” mentality.

On the other hand, if he redeems himself somehow and saves everyone at the end (maybe even himself)...then we’re back to a good man doing bad things, and that means killing Terry was an act of desperation, not the cold calculations of a true psychopath.

While I am in no hurry to see this show end, I can’t wait to see how it turns out.  And I hope Michael Chiklis already has another series lined up somewhere.  No cops though.  Something else.  The guy is amazing.  I really hope he’s not just going to try to be a movie star...actors with that kind of intensity need to be seen on television too.

GOD I love this show.  I am so buying the super deluxe mega box set of this series when it comes out someday.  The one that will have like, a hundred hours of extras, a wanted poster of Mackey and a badge from the Farmington division.  DUDES and DUDETTES.  How awesome would that be?  A boxed set that looked like case files that came with a Farmington detective’s shield.  GET ON THAT, FX.

So...your predictions?  How does this go down?  What happens to David?  Will he finally get his comeuppance?  Will Claudette die on the floor of The Barn?  Will Billings finally lose his badge?  Will Danny get over herself with Corrinne and bond over the terrible babydaddy they share?  Will Dutchboy catch the child psychopath or be killed by him?  Maybe nothing that tragic happens to anyone but Vic, Ronnie and Shane, and everyone else just keep on keeping on as cops do in real life?  Bad guys come and go, but the thin blue line is forever.  It is certainly going to be a hell of a finish, no matter what they do.