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Blowback

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Blowback
Season 1, Episode 05
Airdate: April 9, 2002
Production Code: 5012-01-104
Written by Kurt Sutter
Directed by Clark Johnson
Previous: "Dawg Days"
Next: "Cherrypoppers"


"Blowback" is the fifth episode of Season 1 of The Shield. It was originally broadcast on April 9, 2002.

Synopsis[]

Mackey must recover the stolen evidence from a drug bust before Aceveda is able to pin the theft on him.

Plot[]

On intel from Rondell Robinson, Vic Mackey and Ronnie Gardocki bug an apartment used by the Armenian Mafia to sell and use cocaine. Shane Vendrell, watching outside, calls the two to warn them when the Armenians return, and they leave out the back. They record the Armenians speaking and pay an Armenian college student to translate it for them, learning that six bricks of cocaine are being delivered that night. They pay a taxi driver to fake a statement claiming he overheard talk of the shipment, allowing them to obtain a warrant. David Aceveda informs the Strike Team that he will be sending backup with them, to ensure that "everyone comes home this time."

Julien Lowe is visited by Tomas Motyashik, who he has been avoiding since they had sex. After some coercion, he promises to call Tomas later. Danny Sofer shows Dutch Wagenbach the study material for the upcoming sergeant's exam, and he agrees to meet her later that night. The police raid the apartment as one of the Armenians kills a man using their product with no explanation. They arrest the three remaining men and bag the bricks. Instructed by Danny to patrol the back, Julien witnesses Vic, Shane, and Curtis Lemansky keeping two of the bricks for themselves to deliver to Robinson. While on the way, Shane stops by his girlfriend Amy's house to have sex with her, and emerges to find his police-issued truck with the bricks inside gone.

As Vic logs the bricks into evidence, Aceveda remarks that he has logged no money. Vic explains that it was a delivery and not a buy, and that he and Aceveda both want to protect taxpayers and lock up criminals. Aceveda muses that he is fine with that, so long as "we're going about it the same way." Vic angrily tells Aceveda that he knows he is to blame for Terry Crowley's death, but neither of them can change what happened. Shane takes Amy's car to look for his truck and pulls over one matching his model when the driver refuses to stop, only to find it is a coincidence. He goes to Vic's house the next morning and covertly tells him that the bricks have been stolen. Vic orders Shane to call Lem and Ronnie, loading his gun and affirming that "no one steals from us."

Vic orders Lem and Ronnie to tell Robinson what happened and takes Shane to meet with Lester Hoffman, a police officer who points them towards a stolen car seller named Mark. He asks Vic to keep his name in mind should a slot on the Strike Team open, and Vic remarks (while looking at Shane) that that day could be soon. Julian asks Lily Cacuzza in evidence how many bricks were logged in Vic's bust, and she tells him four. Dutch and Claudette Wyms interrogate Margos Dezerian, the shooter at the bust, and another Armenian, who say nothing to them. Claudette tells Aceveda that the other Armenians are terrified of Dezerian, who has been arrested but not jailed in several countries and has just returned from a short trip to Peru. Aceveda tells Claudette to get a search warrant on his Glendale apartment, which she is already working on.

Vic and Shane visit Mark and get him to inform on Ricardo, a car thief who wanted to sell a truck matching Shane's model. Dezerian says something to Danny, and she repeats it to Dutch so he can translate it and get back to her later. Vic and Shane break into Ricardo's apartment and get him to give up Deena Klein, a young woman who has the truck and he is helping get into the crime scene. Vic tells Shane to go find Klein with Lem and Ronnie, and Vic returns to the station and tells Danny the truck had the Strike Team's weapons in the back, asking her to let him call it in while Julien watches from afar. Troubled, he goes to Claudette and asks her what to do, having seen something illegal on the job. She warns him that he is risking more than one career: whoever he saw, and his own.

Regardless, he goes to Aceveda and tells him he saw the Strike Team take two bricks. Aceveda asks an administrative assistant if the truck checked out is back yet, and finds it is not. At Matthew's neurologist appointment, Vic gets a call from Aceveda, having received a complaint from the mother of the young man Shane pulled over about his actions. Aceveda is more concerned about the fact that Shane believed the vehicle was stolen, which Vic claims to know nothing about, and hangs up when the neurologist, Emil Bohdan, sits down to discuss Matthew's results. Matthew is diagnosed with autism, distressing both Vic and Corrine. Shane calls Vic as they discuss what to do next, telling him Aceveda put an APB out on the truck throughout California.

The Strike Team meets, having found Klein's apartment but being told by her roommate that she is out getting waxed. Knowing their fingerprints will be found on the bricks, Lem and Ronnie blame Shane for their predicament before Vic breaks them up. He orders Ronnie to wait for Klein to come home, and takes Shane to search nearby waxing places. Dutch and Claudette report to Aceveda that Dezerian's apartment is filled with maps and translation dictionaries, but nothing incriminating. Danny asks Dutch if he translated Dezerian's speech, and he sheepishly tells her it was "delicious feet." Dezerian himself kills another incarcerated man who had insulted him with his bare hands.

Danny and Julien pull over Klein, driving Shane's truck, who tries to manufacture a story until Danny recognizes it. She stops Julien from calling it in as per Vic's request. Unwilling to risk violating an APB, Julien calls it in anyway. Aceveda arrives on the scene to find the car empty, Vic and Shane arriving shortly afterwards. Aceveda interrogates Klein, confirming that there were drugs in the car, and she demands to be let off for the car theft if she tells him where they are. Danny informs Vic that Klein called a pawnshop after she stole the truck, and shouts at Dezerian to stop staring at her feet as he is led out. Vic and Shane find their guns at the pawnshop and interrogate the owner at knifepoint, and he tells them Klein sold the bricks to Freddie, the other pawnshop worker. The Strike Team bursts into his apartment to find him dead, having overdosed on the cocaine. They flush the bricks and clean up the scene as Aceveda approaches, and the Strike Team leaves victorious.

Vic assures Corrine they will get through their predicament and kisses Matthew good night. Danny stops her studying with Dutch short when a friend calls, needing her help. Visiting Tomas, Julien denies any homosexual tendencies, citing it as immoral and against the Bible. Despite this, they end up having sex again. Claudette is informed by Aceveda that Dezerian escaped custody as he was being transported. Danny's friend is revealed to be Vic, exhausted by the day's events. Dutch drives by and sees them kiss in the doorway, and says "oh, you've got to be shitting me" as Vic closes the front door.

Episode credits[]

Cast[]

Starring[]

Guest starring[]

Co-starring[]

Uncredited[]

Production staff[]

Featured Music[]

Note all the music originally appears in FX airing release not applicable for streaming websites,they might change music over time due legal disputes.

  • Seda Garibyan - Hyots Aghunak
 Plays at the apartment in the beginning

 Shane and Lem talking about the color of Rondell drugs in the car
  • SX-10 - Caught Up In The System
 Vic and the strike team prepping for the bust in the clubhouse
  • Haissmavourk Choir and Arakel Siunetsi - Yerg Votnlvai [1] (Hymn for the Washing of the Feet)
 Margos Dezerian and his guys snorting drugs in the apartment before the take down happens
  • Trailer Park Casanovas featuring El Vez - Beer
 Shane Vendrell arriving to Amy's place
  • Push - The Flute Song
 Plays at the cafe when Vic and Shane talk to officer Hoffman 

 Vic has a knife pointed for a guy in the shop
  • Jason Darling - One By One
 Julien visits Tomas Motyashik 

 End of the episode when Dutch rolls by his car seeing Vic kiss Danny

Episode Title[]

The title refers to the negative effects from a specific action, like the effects of the Strike Team theft of cocaine from the Armenian Mafia. Due to this, it might also be a wordplay on the word "blow", which is a slang term for cocaine itself.

Notes[]

  • International airdates:
    • Germany: September 1, 2004
    • France: July 11, 2007
  • Margos Dezerian is played by writer/producer of the show, Kurt Sutter.
  • Shane Vendrell makes a reference to hip-hop singer Grandmaster Flash, but Lem doesn't recognize it.
  • The car that Deena steals from Shane Vendrell is a 2002 Lincoln Navigator. During the episode, it is alternately described as black or blue.
  • Vic Mackey and the Strike Team drive a dark blue 2000 Dodge Durango. David Aceveda drives a light 2002 Mercury Grand Marquis with a 4MYW996 license plate.
  • Vic makes a reference to Ralphs supermarkets.
  • Margos Dezerian foot fetish is addressed during all of Season 3.

Quotes[]

  • Vic Mackey: (after Ronnie sneezes) Is there anything you're not allergic to ?
  • Ronnie Gardocki: Sheet metal.


  • David Aceveda: Don't see any money in the log.
  • Vic Mackey: That's because there wasn't any.
  • David Aceveda: Major drug deal and no cash ?
  • Vic Mackey: Nope. Just a million in powder, a killer and two drug collars. Sorry, slow night.
  • David Aceveda: I guess if that's what you put in the book, then that's what you found.


  • Vic Mackey: You lost the Navigator ?
  • Shane Vendrell: Somebody stole it.
  • Vic Mackey: With the drugs inside ?
  • Shane Vendrell: Yeah.
  • Vic Mackey: Where were you ?
  • Shane Vendrell: At Amy's.
  • Vic Mackey: You stopped to get laid ? What the hell were you thinking ?
  • Shane Vendrell: I was thinking about getting laid.

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