i’ve recently added some of this to my family meeting review but i want to point them out here so hopefully a few more people read them because i think they should have been read along with the original review. rereviewing this also put me on multiple tangents so 90% of this isn’t in the original review. i believe that this is objectively the best episode of all time with objectively the best peak in tv (and arguably the third - fourth best peak, again objectively). however, silence is going to stay my #1 forever for my personal / subjective reasons 🐺🥂 [SPOILERS] first off, i want to argue that vic is COMPLETELYYY responsible for shane’s suicide and for the killing of pregnant mara and jackson. everyone knows this but i have something unique to say on it. obviously vic leads shane to his suicide, rejecting him and forcing him into said situation, but we can infer in many ways that shane’s two (or three i guess) murders in this episode are also because of vic. again, obviously vic’s remarks during the phone call play into this, but so did vic’s ideals earlier in the show when shane was most easily effected. “remember, the team comes first. we take care of each other, alright?” as vic says in the first episode. “you’re trying to get me to turn on my family.” lem mutters on the payphone in postpartum. “what about the goddamn team?” ronnie exclaims in the finale. vic has a strong emphasis on loyalty, tightness, and being ride-or-die regarding the team that he indoctrinates onto its members (this continues the family allegory i discussed in my original review, all members of the team follow vic’s example). i think that shane took this to heart and applied it to the strike team until vic rejected him (6x6), in which he, mara, and jackson become his new team. knowing how extreme and how impulsively shane applies vic’s ideals, i find it very likely that shane killed his family off of vic’s teachings by refusing to let the group disband. we’re a team: we don’t separate. another thing i unfortunately didn’t discuss in my og review was how absolutely fantastic “he wrote a note” is when you actually analyze it. i loved it when i first watched it but i appreciate it even more now. it didn’t really hit me at first but watching vic’s minute long stare into claudette’s eyes isn’t him acknowledging her challenge and challenging her back, but rather him being too scared to look down at the photos in front of her. we know judging off of the end of the episode that vic truly feels a deep sadness about shane and his family (and obviously his role in it). it’s likely that last scene is the first time he’s been able to sit down with nothing but his own thoughts since he learned the news, and due to it being a secluded place, he’s able to drown in his thoughts and tear up for one of the few times in the show. the contrast between the final scene where we get to see vic’s unfiltered reaction and the “he wrote a note” scene where we see vic’s cop-persona’s reaction is amazing and makes both of them go hand in hand. this builds into the idea of there being two vic’s: vic mackey and victor. vic mackey is a cold blooded cop and victor is a deeply empty father. one of the most memorable scenes of the show to me was always the final scene of 1x13, circles, where vic breaks down after realizing his family has left him. seeing that personal and emotional side, aka victor, after thirteen straight episodes of a badass violent emotionless vic gave me whiplash the first time i saw it. vic has the persona of being emotionless, and by the end of the show the persona of being faithful to his decisions, but that’s all they are. when vic is alone in that final scene and he’s able to sink into his mind, we get to see the real him. letting us see that tucked away person in the final minutes of the show is the perfect way to conclude his character and isn’t something i would have ever considered. the writers are just on an entirely different level. but this isn’t how the show ends. vic doesn’t walk out of the ice building like victor. the lights turning off is in my opinion the best single few seconds from the episode because of how it causes this. after being so deep into his mind, he’s brought back to reality by the lights, turned off by the passing of time. he remembers the world around him, and in that moment he remembers that in this world he’s vic mackey. he’s a stone cold badass, never been caught, never been defeated, and never felt sadness. he doesn’t have time for that. he pulls out his gun, he slides on his vest, and he shifts back his persona. it’s a much more true way to end vic’s character than if we were to end in his depression, vic’s always gonna be vic mackey. with the burden of shane and his family’s death, it’s just gonna be a lot harder. EXTRA NOTES: - vic not going to prison was the right move. this whole show was vic’s followers taking the falls for him, whether it be lem, shane, ronnie, and even tavon (tavon’s car crash is caused by shane’s intense drive for vic’s approval). shane killing himself and ronnie going to prison while vic still gets to live a stable life, corrupted by only himself and his thoughts, completely encapsulates what this show is about. - the roughly ten minute space between “he wrote a note” and the final scene (vic holding it together and vic letting it out) is absolutely the perfect move. felt like we sat with the information for just the right amount of time. we and vic had enough time to reflect on his role on it that his final tearing up had the proper amount of weight. [ALL OF THIS HAS BEEN ADDED TO THE ORIGINAL GOOGLE DOCUMENT] //////////// i could talk about this episode for hours but i’m tryna be concise so i’m ending here. https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTL1AWnWa/ major spoilers 🐺 wow great edit james wow no sfu review in five days amazing schedule james