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Cherrypoppers

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Cherrypoppers
Season 1, Episode 06
Airdate: April 16, 2002
Actual length 46:31
Production Code: 5012-01-105
Written by Scott Rosenbaum
Directed by D.J. Caruso
Previous: "Blowback"
Next: "Pay in Pain"


"Cherrypoppers" is the sixth episode of Season 1 of The Shield. It was originally broadcast on April 16, 2002.

Synopsis[]

As Dutch's theory about a serial killer preying on prostitutes proves true, he convinces Aceveda to launch an all out effort to find him before he strikes again; Julien decides to bring down Vic for stealing drugs.

Plot[]

Dutch Wagenbach arrives on the scene of a murder, an underage prostitute, stabbed and left face-down. Well aware that the murder is part of a string he has been investigating, Dutch asks David Aceveda for forty-eight hours and the resources to hunt for the killer while sending Julien Lowe to question a witness about a car seen leaving the scene, a green one with a broken rear tail light. Dutch and Claudette Wyms prep the department on the hunt for the killer, having been given twenty-four hours, ordering them to round up local pimps and search gas stations and car washes for the car. Vic Mackey refuses to take orders from Dutch and leaves with the Strike Team to find the killer himself. Dutch warns him to report everything he finds directly to him as Vic leaves smugly.

Julien asks Aceveda what is being done about the Strike Team stealing cocaine, but Aceveda, knowing they cannot prove it, advises him to let it go. Vic visits Connie Riesler, who recognizes the dead girl and points him towards a friend of hers. The prostitute leads Vic to Sam, a man who pimped Sally out, and he points the Team to a sex club that Sally had previously worked at. He warns her to have someone watching her back following the recent murders. Dutch gets the girl's name, "Sally Struthers", from a group of prostitutes in lockup, and he and Claudette start to create a timeline of events. FBI agent Jim Wright, called by Dutch, arrives to help them with the case. Dutch interviews a gas station attendant who claims to have seen the car and that the owner was behaving oddly, not going back for his change after paying for gas. At the same time, Claudette interviews a dealer who sold to Sally, expecting reward money for telling the police, but is instead arrested for dealing and statutory rape. Aceveda is informed that the women's toilets in the precinct are no longer working, meaning they no longer have any working bathrooms in the building and he is forced to get a plumber.

Vic intercepts a regular customer of the invite-only sex club and forces him to take him inside as a guest, meeting the owner, Mrs. Park. She invites him to watch Sun-Lee, an underage girl, have sex with an adult on a childlike set with the rest of the regulars. Vic watches, immediately leaving the club, warning the man who got him in to never return, and calls for a warrant. The police raid the club, where Vic finds a closet of tapes in Park's office labeled as "Cherrypoppers Films". Ronnie Gardocki finds Sun-Lee, and Vic tells him to take her back to the Clubhouse. Danny Sofer learns that Julien is trying to report something to Internal Affairs and asks who it is about, but he angrily brushes her off as Aceveda watches. Aceveda pulls him aside and again warns him to stop, but Julien insists he cannot live with himself as a Christian if he lets Vic go, knowing the department will turn against him but also knowing he has to do the right thing.

The toilets explode, flooding the precinct's floor. Dutch and Wright discuss the latter's profile of the killer, pinning him as a late twenties/early thirties male who feels unappreciated and leaves his victims face-down for the thrill of domination, likely impotent with live women. A witness, Tom Ross, is brought to the precinct after claiming to have seen Sally in the green car, and after assuring his anonymity, gives Dutch a license plate number he wrote down. As Dutch gives it to an officer to track down, Vic returns with Park in custody, explaining to Dutch that "cherrypopping" refers to fetish videos where underage girls lose their virginity on camera and that he plans to track down the filmmaker. Dutch and Vic argue over the latter's apparent disinterest in the case before Vic leaves after ordering Curtis Lemansky to watch the tapes for anything of interest. He plays blackjack with Sun-Lee while questioning her, learning that she is a Korean immigrant brought over by Park.

Vic is warned by administrative assistant Lita Valverde that Aceveda had her call IAD, and he asks Danny to get Julien in line. She tries, but Julien tells her what he saw and warns her to leave it, or else she could be culpable in the theft of the drugs. The owner of the identified car, Steve Hanratty, is brought in for questioning. As he tries to manipulate Hanratty into a confession by using Wright's profile, Vic interrupts and tells Dutch they found Sally on a Cherrypoppers tape. They stick Park in an interrogation room and play her Sally's tape, Vic warning her that if he has to turn it off before she confesses what she knows, "there are no more rules in this room." Both Dutch and Park find themselves unable to watch it for long, the latter explaining that she got Sally from a man named Kurt Schmidt. A deeply unsettled Dutch asks Vic to find Schmidt, which he assures he will. Sally's boyfriend Eric, unaware of her line of work, tells them she left their date a ten o'clock. Danny approaches Julien and asks him to tell her more about what he saw.

Vic has Sun-Lee identify Schmidt through photos and Vic arrests him. Dutch, Claudette and Wright pinpoint where Sally was picked up based on all their collected evidence, and Dutch tries to get Hanratty to confess to being on that street at the time of her pickup by showing him the photos of the other dead prostitutes. He mentions that they have a witness, and Hanratty realizes that Ross, a friend of his, is playing a prank on him. Dutch arrests Ross for obstruction of justice just as Vic returns with Schmidt, who reminds Dutch to stay focused just as he gets a message on his pager from Connie. He finds her in a motel room with a dead client, who she shot in the chest after she suspected he was trying to hurt her. She begs Vic to help her, who coaches her on a story about the man trying to rape her at gunpoint, and realizes he has to hit her for the story to seem realistic. Initially reluctant, he starts to hit her in the face.

Aceveda pulls Dutch's support early, a riot having broken out at a nearby high school that needs the police force. Angered that Aceveda put equal manpower into fixing the pipes as he did stopping a serial killer, Dutch states that "she deserves better" and Aceveda sighs "I know." He responds with petulance when Danny asks him to help her study for the sergeant's exam. Connie relays her cover story to the police and Vic promises her while in lockup that she did okay, and she insists that she is going to change her life. Vic sends a protesting Sun-Lee away to be deported back to Korea in hopes of turning her life around, and Dutch, mistaking her for Sally, stops her before realizing his mistake. Vic and Wright assure a despondent Dutch that he did good work.

Danny asks Vic if he stole the drugs, promising not to tell anyone because of all she owes him, but still demanding to know the truth. Vic insists that Julien is lying, and Danny asks Vic to leave her alone so she can mull over what she knows. Dutch visits Danny at her house and apologizes for his earlier behavior, admitting the failure of the case is weighing him down but acknowledging that that does not excuse him. Danny invites him in for food. As prostitutes try to attract customers on a corner, a green car with a broken tail light passes by.

Episode credits[]

Cast[]

Starring[]

Guest starring[]

Co-starring[]

Featuring[]

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 

 Vic meets Connie Riesler on the street and asks about his case he is working on
  • Lee Jung-Hyun - Crazy
 Plays at the Korea town bar
  • Jim Blake - Forbidden Fruit
 Plays in sex club just before the stage curtains open
  • Mozart String Serenade No.13 - Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" KV525 Second Movement
 Plays when Sun Lee is getting undressed by the pervert man
  • Gregg Montante - Night In The City
  • Buckcherry - Whiskey In the Morning
 Vic meets Kurt the alleged cherry popper movie maker
  • Cardia EP.Version - Love Loss
 Ending montage

Episode Title[]

The title is a slang term referring to teenage girls losing their virginity. The porn films presented in the episode are called "Cherry Poppers" and the male actors performing the act are referred by the same name.

Notes[]

  • International airdates:
    • Germany: September 8, 2004
    • France: July 12, 2007
  • This is the second episode where Shane Vendrell doesn't appear, although his name still appears in the opening credits.
  • Actress Svetlana Ivy Dizon was 18 years old at the moment of filming, but she plays an underage prostitute in the episode.
  • During a conversation, Detective Dutch Wagenbach and Vic Mackey make various references to Nazi Germany. Vic calls Dutch "Herr Wagenbach" using a heavy German accent, after being ordered by him to do something. "Herr" is a nobility title in Germany meaning "Lord". During their exchange, Dutch refers to Vic's "Gestapo tactics" as a potential reason for the case to be dismissed. Gestapo was the secret police of Nazi Germany infamous for their interrogation techniques.

Quotes[]

  • Dutch Wagenbach: Vic!
  • Vic Mackey: Yes, Herr Wagenbach?
  • Dutch Wagenbach: You got a problem with me running the show, take the night off.
  • Vic Mackey: I thought you wanted this case solved.
  • Dutch Wagenbach: I do.
  • Vic Mackey: No. You only care about being the one who solves it.
  • Dutch Wagenbach: When I do, I don't want it thrown out of court because of your Gestapo tactics.

External Links[]

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