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Dawg Days

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Dawg Days
Season 1, Episode 04
Airdate: April 2, 2002
Actual length 45:33
Production Code: 5012-01-102
Written by Kevin Arkadie
Directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal
Previous: "The Spread"
Next: "Blowback"


"Dawg Days" is the fourth episode of Season 1 of The Shield. It was originally broadcast on April 2, 2002. The previously on segment is voiced by Benito Martinez.

Synopsis[]

A dispute over an up-and-coming singer's success erupts in a gang war that threatens to bring Vic down, too; a case that could help Aceveda's political future sends Dutch and Claudette searching for a missing day laborer.

Plot[]

1x04 Kern-chez

Kern Little at a record release party in Chez Club.

Danny Sofer and Curtis Lemansky are working security at a record release party for Kern Little, a rapper and ex-criminal with drug connections in Farmington. Rival rapper and drug dealer T-Bonz and his crew enter, demanding money that Little owes him. Little's friend and dealer Rondell Robinson steps in to confront him, but Lem and Danny break them up. As T-Bonz and his crew leave, one of Robinson's men insults a straggler, and he fires on them. The two groups fire at each other, killing one henchman from each crew as T-Bonz's gang flees. Vic Mackey and David Aceveda arrive on the scene and are briefed on the situation. Aceveda orders those assembled to solve the situation before it gets out of hand. When Vic cracks a joke to the guys about Aceveda, he stops Vic and warns him that he tolerates him at best, and to stay out of his way. Vic tells him he should do the same.


Vic and Lem decide their best course of action is to stop the violence from escalating, so they visit Robinson. He explains that T-Bonz was part of Little's record label and went solo after becoming popular, creating animosity between them. Vic takes Robinson's gun and orders him to take his dealers off the streets for the time being to reduce targets. He orders Robinson to set up a meeting between him and Little, and to give up two of his shooters to keep the Strike Team looking legitimate.

1x04 Machado meets Aceveda

Jorge Machado meets Captain David Aceveda and his wife Aurora.

Aceveda and his wife Aurora meet developer Jorge Machado at one of his events. He asks Aceveda to do him a favor: his nanny's husband, migrant worker Manuel Ruiz, has gone missing, and Aceveda promises to help search for him. He assigns Claudette Wyms and Dutch Wagenbach to the Ruiz case, leaving Dutch irritated that Aceveda pulled him off the gang war to run his errands. Vic meets with Little and tells him to back his crew down, but Little insists that T-Bonz needs to do the same first, as his gang shot first. Vic later notices Robinson's dealers back out on the street, and angrily confronts Robinson, reminded him that the streets are his and getting him to pull the last of his men out.


After questioning several migrant workers, Dutch and Claudette report to Aceveda that Ruiz was last seen going out on a job with fellow worker and close friend Eduardo Salcido. Claudette notes that their relationship had soured since crossing the border as Salcido had been making threats on Ruiz's life recently, and that the two worked for a company called "Jamison Contracting". Vic and Lem are called to the scene of a shooting, where they find three of Robinson's men dead, as well as a man sent by T-Bonz shot dead in a nearby crashed car. To Vic's horror, he realizes a young boy has been run over and is stuck under the car's front tire. The police arrive on the scene and the boy is taken to the hospital, and Ben Gilroy informs Vic that the boy is the son of an acquaintance of the mayor, who is now invested in the case. As Gilroy warns him that continued failure will result in the Strike Team's disbandment, an officer informs them that the boy died en route to the hospital.

1x04 T-bonz-kern-negotiate

Vic Mackey forces T-Bonz and Kern Little to negotiate.

Vic detains Little and T-Bonz to try and force them to negotiate. T-Bonz explains that Little's girlfriend and collaborator Tyesha was taken from him by Little, as well as his cut of the profits that her latest record made. While they argue over the amount owed, Vic steps in and orders Little to come up with a number to pay T-Bonz off with. He orders a 24-hour ceasefire, the breaker of the deal being sent to prison. Claudette and Dutch find Jamison Contracting full of migrant workers and meet Jamison himself, who identifies Ruiz but claims he had not seen him since he worked his only job there. When they find Salcido, he flees. Danny identifies Robinson as one of the club shooters, and Robinson is arrested by Aceveda, determined to jail him.


Aceveda explains the current Ruiz situation to Machado, who thanks him for his work. He asks Machado about backing him should he run for a seat on the city council, but Machado regretfully tells him he cannot currently sell a cop to the voters he has influence over. Noticing Vic talking to Robinson, Aceveda muses if they would like a cop who brought down corrupt officers. Machado warns him that it would be career suicide, but the voters would love it. Danny and Julien Lowe are called to speak with Dottie Cummings, a woman whose three week dead son Thurman's body has been dug up and is being held for ransom. Danny has Julien stay and take care of it. He realizes he went to high school with Thurman, an old bully of his, and Cummings tells him that Thurman was a thief who died in a robbery, and she did not tell him because she was worried the police would not help her otherwise. Julien reassures her that Thurman is now on a better path with Jesus. She gets another call from the ransomer and realizes it is her ex-boyfriend Henry, who is quickly arrested. He explains he wanted to get Thurman's life insurance money, but Julien informs him that Cummings spent it all on the funeral.

1x04 Danny and Copkiller

Danny Sofer is threatened.

Vic pulls Danny aside, claiming Robinson is a criminal informant working under him and that he killed no one in the shootout. He asks Danny to change her story despite Aceveda's investment in the case, and she tells him she will think about it. At home, he and Corrine have a brief argument over Matthew's upcoming appointment, but they resolve it when he tells her to take a bath and let him take care of the kids. Danny is attacked outside a club by one of Robinson's men, who warns her not to testify against him and leaves. She confronts Robinson, who denies any involvement. When Vic learns what happened and confronts Robinson himself, he confesses to interfering. Vic orders him to bail himself out and he will take care of Robinson's trial before it happens, reminding him that cops are off-limits.

1x04 Dutch Claudette and Eduardo

Detectives Dutch Wagenbach and Claudette Wyms interrogate Eduardo Salcido.

Claudette and Dutch track down and arrest Salcido, and Dutch reads him his rights in clumsy Spanish while the other migrant workers laugh. When they question him, he admits Ruiz is dead but stays mostly unresponsive. They step out to watch him on the camera with Aceveda, and Claudette theorizes he may have been raped, having spent years in hospitals taking statements from rape victims. An irate Tyesha and Little visit Vic, T-Bonz having poisoned her dog. Little offers payment for Vic's help in killing T-Bonz, and Vic accepts, needing the war over. Claudette and Dutch asks Salcido if Ruiz raped him, getting him emotional enough to confess to murdering him. However, they realize that Ruiz fell of a roof while setting up an AC unit, and Jamison, not wanting legal trouble, convinced Salcido that it was murder. Claudette has a team dig up where Ruiz's body is buried on Jamison's work site, and Jamison is arrested.


Vic and Lem bring T-Bonz out to an abandoned shipping container to kill him. Little arrives to watch, but Vic locks both of them inside to work things out, warning Little that he is not for sale. Julien observes that an unresponsive Danny is tense and promises to say a prayer for her, which she brushes off. Vic and Lem trash Robinson's house and beloved record collection for having Danny attacked. Claudette and Aceveda explain to Machado and Ruiz's wife that Jamison is being fined for evidence tampering and Ruiz's death is being ruled as accidental. Claudette assures Ruiz's wife that she can successfully sue Jamison's company for a large sum. Machado thanks Aceveda for his help and informs he is willing to back him should he make headway on weeding out corruption. Prepping Salcido for release, Dutch asks if he can help him with some housework.

1x04 Mackey and Kern wide

Vic Mackey with Kern Little.

Vic assures Danny that she is now safe before getting a call from Corrine. He meets her at the hospital, where Matthew his bitten his year old sister Megan. Vic assures an unresponsive Matthew that she will be alright. The next morning, Vic and Lem open the shipping container, but only Little emerges. As Lem takes care of T-Bonz's body, Vic and Little stare at the sunrise together. When Vic asks if he is hungry, Little replies that he is starving.

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.

  • Out of Order featuring Lil John - Twerk That Thang (Show a lil mo)
  • Tame One, Copywrite, J-Zone, Cage, Mr Eon, Skillz - All Stars Air Max 95 Remix
  • Los Corales - Ese Es Mi Amigo
  • Abby Dobson - Deeply
  • SX-10 feat DJ Muggs and Ray - Heart of a Rebel
  • Zamp Nicall - The Streets of Iran

Episode Title[]

The title refers to the feud between rappers Kern Little and T-Bonz, with "dawg" being a common slang word among black people to refer to each other.

Notes[]

  • International airdates:
    • Germany: August 25, 2004
    • France: July 4, 2007
  • This is one of only three episodes of the show to not feature the character of Shane Vendrell. At the time, FX Network and Walton Goggins were still finalizing contract talks, so the writers wrote him out of three episodes in case FX decided not to sign him.
  • Despite being the fourth episode of the show, this was the third episode filmed.
  • Guest director Stephen Gyllenhaal and lead actor Michael Chiklis disagreed over how unsympathetically Vic Mackey should be played. Eventually, Chiklis' view won.
  • Real-life rapper Sticky Fingaz plays fictional rapper Kern Little.
  • Jay Karnes is fluent in Spanish, but it was Shawn Ryan's idea to make his character, Dutch Wagenbach, not fluent and have him "butcher" the Miranda rights while arresting Eduardo Salcido.
  • Vic makes a reference to the famous "Rumble in the Jungle" boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, celebrated in Kinshasha, Zaire in 1974.
  • After receiving orders from Captain David Aceveda, Vic says "Knute Rockne he ain't" in reference to the popular football coach of Notre Dame during the early 20th Century.
  • When Vic is trying to settle the differences between Kern Little and T-Bonz, they call him "Judge Judy" in reference to the TV judge that appears on CBS.
  • Rondell Robinson is a fan of jazz. He owns a collection of Blue Note LPs, which was a popular jazz record label. He also tells Vic that he was listening to Miles Davis, a jazz trumpeter and composer.

Quotes[]

  • Vic Mackey: Dutch, how many times I got to tell you, you can't feel up the witnesses.
  • Dutch Wagenbach: Took one in the ass. Bet it's not...
  • Vic Mackey: ...It's not the first time. Good one.


  • Jorge Machado: Don't think me overly generous, David. As you'll discover, I often have ulterior motives. You see, you're actually in a position to help me.


  • Kern Little: I told everybody my first studio gonna be in Farmington. You can't record a hardcore hip-hop song working in Bel Air. You got to keep it in the 'hood, baby.


  • David Aceveda: What would you think of a man who exposed corruption? Brought down dirty cops from inside the department?
  • Jorge Machado: I'd think he was committing professional suicide.
  • David Aceveda: But couldn't you sell him to the voters?
  • Jorge Machado: Absolutely.

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