Shawn Ryan Movies

It looks like the career of the spectacular successful--and spectacularly corrupt--Farmington District Stike Force is about to screech to a halt in the the fifth season of the gritty cop drama The Shield. It's hard for Force leader Det. Vic Mackey (Michael Chilkis) to go about his business as usual (beating confessions out of prisoners, planting evidence, even committing cold-blooded murder) with Lt. Jon Kavanagh (Forest Whitaker) from Internal Affairs breathing down his neck. Dedicated to the point of manic obsession, Kavanagh puts the screws on imprisoned Force member Curtis "Lemonhead" Lemensky (Kenneth Johnson), hoping that Lem will crack and spill his guts about his coworkers' illegal tactics. Before long, each member of Mackey's team is suspected the other of disloyalty and playing along with Kavanagh, especially after the relentless investigator plants a bug in their favorite hangout, then moves into their headquarters. In other Season Five developments, closeted team member Julien Lowe (Michael Jace) is "outed", much to the astonishment of his coworkers. And after several near misses, Det. Claudette Wyms (CCH Pounder), the "conscience" of the Strike Force, is finally promoted to Captain. Meanwhile, Off. Danielle "Danny" Sofer (Catherine Dent) still refuses to reveal the identity of her baby's father, though it really isn't all that hard to figure out who it is. At season's end, Vic arranges for Lem to be moved out of the country for his own good as well as the good of his coworkers. Unfortunately, Detective Shane Vendrell (Waylon Goggins), the loosest of the Force's "loose cannons", trumps all his previous outrages by making dead certain that Lem will never talk to anyone! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Army (Michael Pena) and Shane (Walton Goggins) are practicing to beat the lie-detector test that Monica (Glenn Close) is making them take, but Army is very nervous about it. At a meeting with community leaders, Assistant Chief Phillips (Nigel Gibbs) lets Monica know that the seizure policy is being reevaluated. She goes to Aceveda (Benito Martinez), blaming him. Aceveda offers to help her if she'll agree to a few modifications, but she refuses, telling Phillips that she'll quit if the program is stopped. Antwon's arrest has created a power vacuum among the One-Niners, and Vic (Michael Chiklis) uses that to his advantage, playing Halpern (Laurence Mason) and Weed (Petey Pablo) against each other to get information about the cop killings. This leads him to a pair of Nigerian suspects, and, surprisingly, to a Russian mobster with no clear ties to Antwon. Dutch (Jay Karnes) and Claudette (CCH Pounder) investigate a drive-by shooting at a local car wash, and find out that Billings (David Marciano) witnessed the crime, but did nothing to stop it, and reported it anonymously. Corrine (Cathy Cahlin Ryan) tells Vic that she's been dating Dutch, and is surprised to learn that the two cops have an antagonistic relationship. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Shane (Walton Goggins) has told Vic (Michael Chiklis) everything about his dealings with Antwon (Anthony Anderson), but Lem (Kenny Johnson) still doesn't trust Shane or Army (Michael Pena). Vic decides to help Shane retrieve Angie's body, so Antwon won't have power over him, but when they look where Halpern (Laurence Mason) told them to, the body isn't there. Two patrolmen, Scooby (Robert Wu) and Carl (Jarvis W. George), go missing after responding to a domestic dispute call. Monica (Glenn Close) makes Dutch (Jay Karnes) and Claudette (CCH Pounder) the primaries on the case, but their only witness is Roger (Joel Stoffer), a mentally unstable homeless man. Aceveda (Benito Martinez) asks to take an active role in the case, and goes out on patrol with Danny (Catherine Dent), putting himself in harm's way. The bodies of the two officers are left in a house that the department has seized for the cops to find. Dutch is eventually able to locate the crime scene and a piece of jewelry apparently left behind by one of the killers. Vic's investigation into Antwon's involvement leads to nothing about the murdered cops, but he does get new information about the location of Angie's body. Lem finds out that Antwon is flying back to L.A. from Las Vegas, and Vic makes plans to intercept him before Monica can have him picked up for questioning. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Although the gritty cop drama The Shield would become the FX's network longest-running dramatic series during its fourth season, a serious drop in ratings at the end of season three could well have precipitated the show's cancellation. Giving the program a major shot in the arm was the addition of two new regulars, Glenn Close and Anthony Anderson. Close is introduced as Monica Rawling, the new captain of the Farmington District Strike Force and the new (nominal) boss of tough, brutal, and borderline-corrupt Detective Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis). Rawlings has been appointed to her post after Mackey's former captain and longtime enemy David Aceveda (Benito Martinez) is elected to the city council. Though certainly not enamored of Vic's strong-arm tactics and questionable ethics, Rawling is willing to give the detective a relatively free hand in dealing with the district's most vicious drug dealers. Even so, both Aceveda and Rawling intend to closely monitor Vic's movements, forcing him to play it "straight" (or as straight as he's capable of being) throughout the season. The promotion of Rawlings has a profound effect not only on Vic but also on his fellow detective Claudette Wyms (CCH Pounder), who is bitter over not being promoted to captain herself.

Anthony Anderson is cast as Antwon Mitchell, at once the most formidable and most frustrating adversary that Mackey and his team have ever come up against. Once a powerful drug lord, Mitchell has managed to win release from prison, and is now regarded by many of the power elite as a reformed man, a dedicated community activist. Of course, Vic (and the viewers) known that Mitchell hasn't changed a bit, and in fact is a more dangerous mob leader and drug pusher than he'd been before his arrest thanks to strong ties with the Russian mafia. But to the public at large, Mitchell is virtually a saint, and thus above suspicion when the you-know-what hits the fan. Even when Vic and Rawlings have Mitchell dead to rights, he manages to wriggle out of their clutches, leading Vic to suspect that there's a mole in the ranks of the strike force -- a mole who may or may not be his longtime colleague Shane Vendrell (Walton Goggins). Vic's determination to expose Mitchell heats up after several cops are murdered in a well-planned ambush. In giving Vic a tacit carte blanche to blast Mitchell's operation apart, Rawling puts her own job on the line. Ironically, what ultimately seals Rawling's doom is not her war against drugs, but her fierce determination to bring the city's most heinous child abusers to justice. Bringing Glenn Close and Anthony Anderson to the fold turned out be the best thing that had happened to The Shield in years. The series ended its four season posting its best-ever ratings -- indeed, some of the best ratings in the entire realm of cable television. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After his car accident, precipitated by his violent altercation with Shane (Walton Goggins) and Mara (Michele Hicks), Tavon (Brian J. White) is in the hospital with possible traumatic brain damage. Vic (Michael Chiklis) visits Shane at home to find out where he was last night, and sees through the couple's shaky cover story. Claudette (CCH Pounder) and Vic clash over his team's latest assignment, but it leads him to a bigger case involving a Byz Latz member sneaking contraband into Chino. Vic finds out that Aceveda (Benito Martinez) and a federal agent are interrogating his smuggling suspect, Aranis (Manuel G. Jimenez), about some marked bills in the money collected in the bust, and realizes that some of the cash from the "Money Train" robbery is marked. So while Aceveda and the fed try to track down the rest of the Byz Latz money, Vic is racing against them to make sure they don't find it. Vic's moves inadvertently lead to Aceveda having an ugly run-in with a couple of gang members. Julien (Michael Jace) and Danny (Catherine Dent) try to protect a woman who's being stalked by her ex-boyfriend. Dutch (Jay Karnes) and Claudette are called in on another two rape cases involving an elderly women, and realize that there's a serial rapist on the loose. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Aceveda (Benito Martinez) finds a minority candidate for the Strike Team, but Mackey (Michael Chiklis) manages to scare the guy off. Danny (Catherine Dent) tells Julien (Michael Jace) she won't let his fiancie know about his "former" homosexuality, but she warns him that his secret could come back to haunt him. Worried about the threat from Armadillo, Mackey has a high tech security system installed in his home, and asks a PI friend to secretly keep an eye on his wife and kids. Danny is forced to apologize to Yahssira Al-Thani (Veena Bidasha) after the woman complains that she made threatening phone calls. As part of a new program for captains, Aceveda goes out on patrol with Julien, and bungles the investigation of a kid's stolen bike. Mackey, Claudette (CCH Pounder), and Dutch (Jay Karnes) investigate a massacre at a battered women's shelter, from which a young boy was kidnapped. The trail leads to the boy's father, who is holed up with a prostitute, so Mackey asks Connie (Jamie Brown) to use her connections to help him. While Dutch and Claudette clash over how to interrogate a uniform cop who's a friend of the firefighter suspect, Connie, thinking of a financial reward, takes her informant work a dangerous step further. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Mackey (Michael Chiklis) gets out of jail and goes back to work, plotting to take down the money train. Chief Bankston (Ron Canada) lets him know that Aceveda (Benito Martinez) wanted him and the whole Strike Team fired. Claudette's (CCH Pounder) ex-husband is murdered in an apparently random gang shooting. While she talks to her distraught daughter, trying to determine why they were in such a rough neighborhood, Mackey uses his gang connections to help Dutch (Jay Karnes) track down the killer. He has Tavon (Brian White) work with him, partly to distract the newbie from the surreptitious money-train plotting. As the primary results come in, Bankston gives Aceveda his own list of people to fire, and Aceveda spends an unpleasant day calling the cops in to tell them the bad news. Julien (Michael Jace) is provoked to violence by the gay-baiting at the station, prompting Danny (Catherine Dent) to report the culprits to Aceveda. The Strike Team finally hits the Armenian money train, but things don't go smoothly, and blood is spilled. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

This episode takes us back 14 months, to the origin of the Strike Team. A less hardened Mackey (Michael Chiklis) convinces Gilroy (John Diehl) to let him handpick and run the team, which will be based in a new satellite precinct, the Barn. Aceveda (Benito Martinez) gives them their first case, a drive-by shooting of two prostitutes. Mackey's informant, Connie (Jamie Brown) tells him it was a pimp/drug dealer named Lionel Phipps (Dayo Ade). The Strike Team butts heads with Aceveda, who likes to do things by the book, but demands immediate results. Mackey finds himself forced to cut corners, using Connie and a dealer who works for Phipps, Rondell Robinson (Walter Emanuel Jones), to plant evidence and bust Phipps. Danny (Catherine Dent) and her new rookie partner, Julien (Michael Jace), find a bloody, naked woman who has been kidnapped and raped. Claudette (CCH Pounder), Dutch (Jay Karnes), and an old vet, Tom Gannon (Ray Baker), take on the case, which leads them to a kidnapping ring that targets illegal immigrants and to a "ransom broker," Latigo (Richard Yniguez), who claims to be helping the families in exchange for a cut of the ransom. Dutch has never heard of Claudette, but he's in awe of Gannon, who once solved a major murder case. Gannon gossips about Dutch behind his back and plays pranks on him. Dutch soon discovers he works well with Claudette anyway. Aceveda seems eager to replace Mackey, and convinces Gilroy to let him pick his own man for the Strike Team, the ill-fated Terry Crowley (Reed Diamond). This episode was helmed by actor/director Peter Horton. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Mackey (Michael Chiklis) gets out of jail and goes back to work, plotting to take down the money train. Chief Bankston (Ron Canada) lets him know that Aceveda (Benito Martinez) wanted him and the whole Strike Team fired. Claudette's (CCH Pounder) ex-husband is murdered in an apparently random gang shooting. While she talks to her distraught daughter, trying to determine why they were in such a rough neighborhood, Mackey uses his gang connections to help Dutch (Jay Karnes) track down the killer. He has Tavon (Brian White) work with him, partly to distract the newbie from the surreptitious money-train plotting. As the primary results come in, Bankston gives Aceveda his own list of people to fire, and Aceveda spends an unpleasant day calling the cops in to tell them the bad news. Julien (Michael Jace) is provoked to violence by the gay-baiting at the station, prompting Danny (Catherine Dent) to report the culprits to Aceveda. The Strike Team finally hits the Armenian money train, but things don't go smoothly, and blood is spilled. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Danny (Catherine Dent) shows up at the hospital, where Aceveda (Benito Martinez) gives everyone the news that Crowley (Reed Diamond) is dead. Acevedo wants to conduct his own investigation, but Assistant Chief Gilroy (John Diehl) tells him to let IAD handle it. Danny offers Mackey (Michael Chiklis) a shoulder to cry on, and lets her rookie partner, Julien (Michael Jace) know that in the wake of a cop killing, they have to let people on the street know who's in charge. Acevedo finds out that his contact told others at the Justice Department that Crowley was helping them investigate Mackey. Acevedo suspects that Mackey was responsible for Crowley's death, and vows to bring him to justice. Shane (Walton Goggins) gets a little shaky at Crowley's funeral, and Mackey warns him to keep his cool. Dutch (Jay Karnes) and Wyms (CCH Pounder) interrogate a young gang member suspected of murdering a street vendor who had stopped paying protection money. Acevedo gets Dutch to help him interrogate Shane, who he recognizes as the weak link in Mackey's chain. Gilroy makes Acevedo back off. Mackey assures Gilroy, who told him about the Justice Department probe, that Crowley's shooting was a "bust gone bad." Julien is coerced into a sexual initiation rite by his fellow officers. This episode was directed by Gary Fleder (Kiss the Girls). ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter), Wesley (Alexis Denisof), and Gunn (J. August Richards) get on with the business of running Angel Investigations without its founder, taking time out only to squabble about what they should now call the agency. Meanwhile, Angel (David Boreanaz) himself investigates a Wolfram & Hart plot to defraud a shelter for Los Angeles runaways of huge sums of money during a charity event. To foil their plan, Angel pretends to befriend Anne Steele (Julia Lee), the institution's manager, and convinces her that lawyer Lindsey McDonald (Christian Kane) isn't the kind benefactor he seems. Eventually, with the help of an old adversary, Angel tricks Lindsey and Lilah Morgan (Stephanie Romanov) into revealing their plans to the rich guests they're in the process of bilking. The vampire hero and his accomplice make off with the money, but Angel eventually makes sure it goes to Anne's shelter, though not before alienating her with his high-handed methods and apparent immorality. Originally broadcast January 23, 2001, on the WB network, "Blood Money" marked season two, episode 12 of the supernatural comedy drama. Although it's only hinted at in this episode and never revealed to Angel, the character of Anne actually appeared in two episodes of Angel's parent series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In the episode "Anne," she was a homeless girl named Lily who befriended Buffy while the Slayer was hiding out under her middle name and eventually took over that selfsame alias: Anne. And in another Buffy installment, "Lie to Me," she briefly used the name Chanterelle when she joined a cult of wannabe vampires. The character would recur again on Angel in "The Thin Dead Line." ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) is transported involuntarily to the unfriendly home dimension of the Host (Andy Hallett) in this first installment of a four-episode Angel season finale. When a monstrous Drokken crashes through a portal at the Caritas karaoke bar, the Host turns to Angel (David Boreanaz) for help in tracking it down. Evasive about the creature's origins, the Host is found out when the gang inadvertently open up another portal through which steps Landokmar of the Deathwok Clan (Brody Hutzler), a warrior who turns out to be the Host's cousin. It seems the Host grew up in a repressive medieval dimension in which music did not exist; he escaped to Los Angeles a mere five years ago, shaming his family back home. Landok helps the gang track the Drokken, which Angel kills, earning the other dimensional warrior's respect. Along the way, the group learns that a librarian and physics student nicknamed Fred (Amy Acker) disappeared five years earlier through a portal similar to the one used by Landok and the Drokken. When Wesley (Alexis Denisof) and the others use a magic tome to open a portal so the wounded Landok can return home for treatment, Cordy gets sucked through inadvertently. Originally broadcast May 1, 2001, on the WB network, "Belonging" marked season two, episode 19 of the supernatural comedy drama. The saga continues in "Over the Rainbow." Amy Acker, who guest stars briefly in this episode and more extensively in the next three, would become a regular cast member in season three. The formerly nameless Host is here revealed to prefer the moniker Loren. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide