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Partners

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Partners
Season 2, Episode 03
Airdate: January 21, 2003
Actual length 46:39
Production Code: 5012-02-203
Written by Scott Rosenbaum
Directed by Guy Ferland
Previous: "Dead Soldiers"
Next: "Carte Blanche"


"Partners" is the third episode of Season 2 of The Shield and the 16th episode of the series as a whole. It was originally broadcast on January 21, 2003. The previously on segment is voiced by Jay Karnes.

Synopsis[]

An amputated arm sends Dutch in search of a sadomasochistic killer; Vic sets out to help his old mentor on the force get revenge against the thug whose complaint forced him into retirement.

Plot[]

In shock, Vic Mackey abandons the Strike Team at Armadillo Quintero's house while Claudette Wyms stays late at the Barn, looking over photos of Armadillo's victims. Vic returns home and washes the blood off of his clothes. The next morning, David Aceveda campaigns for city council outside his headquarters and notices gang activity across the street. A man, Pedro, walks into the Barn and takes a woman's severed forearm out of a bag, placing it on Dutch Wagenbach's desk.

Claudette approaches Vic, noting that she went to Armadillo's place but found him gone with signs of a fight, and that Theodore Osmond called Vic before he died. Vic claims that he was with the Strike Team when T.O. died. A medical examiner determines the arm was severed a few hours ago and that clotting indicates the victim was alive at the time. Dutch theorizes that it was part of a masochistic torture session and orders the fingerprints run.

Claudette tells Vic that she talked to Shane Vendrell, who said Vic was out when T.O. died. Vic reluctantly reveals he was with Gordie Liman and refuses to elaborate on what he was doing. Claudette insists she will help him with whatever he needs if he just helps her with T.O. and Armadillo, but Vic refuses. Aceveda asks Vic what happened, but Vic ignores him. Pedro takes Dutch to the dumpster where he found the arm. Believing the woman may have been tossed in with it and her body picked up by a garbage truck, Dutch orders the truck that emptied the dumpster recently found. Julien Lowe passes Dutch the phone calling the office, who claims to be backed up, and Dutch points out that the victim may still be alive and to prioritize this. He orders the nearby officers to go door to door around the dumpster and ask if anyone saw anything.

Vic asks Shane why he didn't lie to Claudette and warns him to keep his mouth shut around her. He informs the Strike Team that he let Aceveda command them for the day to take care of the gang. Aceveda enters as he leaves, telling them to meet in five minutes. Having identified the fingerprints as Kayla LeSeur's, Dutch interviews her roommate Latonya, who was out at her boyfriend's the night before and last saw Kayla around six o'clock. Dutch asks if she walked anywhere close by because her car was still in the garage, and Latonya asks if Kayla is dead because "our rent's due next week."

Vic meets with Liman, who has intercepted a call from Ludwig Morgal and found Corrine Mackey's location. Vic intercepts her carrying Megan Mackey to her car and begs her to come back, but she insists she needs to keep their children safe from the consequences of his illegal actions. Vic insists that Matthew Mackey needs to go back to his school and promises to move out if his children can have normal lives. Corrine is unsure, and Vic leaves. Danny Sofer asks Julien Lowe how his meeting with IAD regarding her shooting of Zayed Al-Thani went, and he claims it went fine but is not allowed to talk about it. Going door to door to talk to Kayla's neighbors, Dutch knocks on the door of Bob Lindhoff and his younger wife Marcy. She claims that they saw Kayla arguing with a man and they agree to come in for questioning. As Bob goes inside to grab his jacket, Kayla is shown tied up and naked in their bathroom with her arm wound in a tourniquet.

As the Strike Team review Aceveda's assignment, ex-officer and Vic's mentor Joe Clark turns up to meet Vic for lunch. As he greets the team, Vic arrives and they leave together. As Aceveda orders the team to get moving, Danny asks after Clark, and Shane and Curtis Lemansky explain that Clark was fired after he brutalized a man who tried to punch his former partner. Clark asks why Vic called him, and he admits that he has been thinking of retirement. Clark insists that he shouldn't give up his badge, and Vic asks if he feels like he ever went too far as an officer. Clark agrees that he did, but claims it was necessary and that "we're always doing more good than bad, right?" The Lindhoffs identify a photo of a "Jordan Arnold".

Despite Vic's insistence that he should get back to the Barn, Clark asks him to take him somewhere. Claudette goes to Aceveda with T.O.'s phone records and his ledger, knowing that Vic's name was all over them and he lied about how often they talked. She is shocked when he refuses to look into it, and they are interrupted by IAD coming to talk about Danny. Lanie Kellis offers to help her, only for Dutch to approach asking for assistance with Kayla's case.

Clark has Vic drive him to Fleetwood Walker's house, the man who he beat up and got a million dollars from the city in a lawsuit. Walker notices and mocks Clark while recording him, prompting Vic to search him and take his phone. As Walker leaves, Vic agrees to help take him down. Aceveda informs Danny that things seem okay, despite Julien being in Alene Carmichael's apartment when Danny shot Al-Thani and not being a reliable witness. As Dutch finds that Arnold's alibi clears him, Claudette informs him that she ran a background check on Kayla's neighbors, finding that Bob had an attempted kidnapping charge. The Lindhoffs load Kayla into their trunk as Bob beats her unconscious. As they pull out of their driveway, Dutch and Claudette notice them and the former flags them down, asking if they can come back to the Barn to identify a supposed suspect.

Clark finds that Walker's records are clean, while Vic runs the names in his phone and finds that he has several felons in his contacts. Aceveda warns Vic that Claudette has T.O.'s ledger and wants to run his payments against Vic's financials. Vic tells him that she can, and he warns him that Clark cannot be in the building. The Strike Team discuss Clark and Shane insists that they are smarter and more careful than him, which Vic overhears. They argue, and Shane insists that Vic uses him as stress relief whenever his life is going poorly. As he threatens to transfer, Clark breaks them up and he and Vic leave. Dutch and Claudette interrogate Bob about the kidnapping charge, where he was dating a high schooler half his age and took her on vacation without telling her parents.

Shane finds a visibly disquieted Danny in the break room and asks what's going on, and she admits she is angry at Julien for not helping her "after all I've covered for him." Shane asks what she means and Danny ducks the question. He confronts Julien and tells him that Danny should be more important than the truth to him. Vic and Clark intercept Taylor Orrs, a man in Walker's contacts who sells stolen goods, and coerce him into signing a confession.

Dutch and Claudette show a horrified Marcy Kayla's arm, and Dutch guesses that Bob was her first boyfriend. He points out that Bob went to medical school and would know how to keep someone with their arm severed alive, though Marcy insists Bob didn't do anything. Outside, Dutch concludes that Marcy is submissive to Bob and he enjoys dating women he can control, though Claudette feels he is only looking at the surface. Dutch goes back into the room and violently interrogates Marcy, though she continues to insist that Bob is innocent, leaving Dutch somewhat convinced of his innocence. Orrs meets with Vic and informs him that Walker is selling stolen goods again, forced to by the confession. Aceveda gives Claudette authorization to check Vic's records.

Vic visits Clark's run-down apartment, finding that his family has left him in the wake of his firing. Vic reveals that Walker has a warehouse of stolen goods, planning to arrest him and sell half the stuff to Orrs, letting Clark have the money. Clark resists until Vic presses him, and they tail Walker to his warehouse. Before they can enter, Vic gets a call from Corrine, who has taken the kids back to their house. Vic agrees to come see them after he finishes with Walker, then walks in on him stashing a new gun. Vic pulls his and tries to arrest them, only to get into a gunfight when one of Walker's friends shoots at him. Vic is shot in the chest as Walker flees, and he pursues and hits the shooter as he tells Clark to flee and call an ambulance. The shooter reaches for his gun as Vic holds up his, but dies before he can pick it up. While the Strike Team play cards, Lem gets a call and informs the team of what happened.

Marcy asks Dutch if they can leave, and when he says to wait a little longer, and she continues to profess Bob's innocence. The Strike Team runs up to Vic on a stretcher, and he informs them that Walker is responsible. He asks Shane to catch him as he is wheeled away. Danny informs Claudette that Ray Carlson called her, having encountered a homeless man with a bloodstained machete near Kayla's apartment claiming to have killed someone. Claudette asks her to tell Dutch to meet her there. Dutch arrives to find Carlson and Claudette holding the deranged, knife-wielding man at gunpoint, claiming to have killed several major politicians, and they realize he is simply unstable. Carlson shoots him with a bean bag round, and Dutch reveals he released the Lindhoffs, having been convinced of Bob's innocence by Marcy.

Aceveda and Corrine arrive at the hospital, where Vic begs to see his children. He hugs Matthew and Cassidy Mackey, pretending to not be injured, before Aceveda calls him back in. The Strike Team break into Walker's house, and they find Veronica packing a suitcase for him. When she resists questioning, Shane herds Lem and Ronnie Gardocki out of the room before undressing and threatening to rape her until she confesses that Walker is at his warehouse. Clark finds Walker loading up his wares and pulls a gun, claiming he is there to kill him. They fight, and the Strike Team arrives as Walker gets the upper hand and arrest him. While searching the Lindhoffs's apartment, Julien finds a hole in their bathroom wall that looks into Kayla's. Dutch orders an APB put out on their car.

Clark visits a recovering Vic, apologizing for getting him involved. Vic insists that they did the right thing, and Clark tells Shane that he should talk to Vic despite his hesitance. Dutch pulls up at a gas station to find the Lindhoffs being detained. He and Claudette open the trunk to find Kayla dead inside. As Bob is taken away, he insists that Marcy wanted her dead because of the way he looked at Kayla, and the arm severance was her idea. Dutch asks her why she kept this from him, and she mockingly says "sorry, daddy" as she is taken away.

Shane goes to see Vic, who speaks to him cordially. Claudette goes over Vic's records, while Danny joins Shane in his room. Dutch heads to the Barn's bathroom and slams the stall door closed in frustration.

Episode credits[]

Cast[]

Starring[]

Guest starring[]

Co-starring[]

Uncredited[]

Production staff[]

Featured Music[]

Running in order as they appear by scenery

  • Tantric - Breakdown
  • Jade Esteban Estreda - Bella Morena
  • Zamp Nicall - Fifty Second Street
  • Gil Bernal - Easyville 1954
  • Outlawz, Jayo Felony - Rockin
  • Zamp Nicall - Faces In the Crowd
  • Black Toast Music - Down With Me
  • Debemos Creer - Bye Sami
  • F.Y.N.E - Make Ya Head Pop Off
  • Diana Lee - My Man
  • Michael Penn - The Whole Truth

Episode Title[]

The title refers to the relationship between police partners. While Vic Mackey reunites with his old partner, his relationship with his current partner, Shane, is still fractured. Also, Dutch and Claudette disagree in their case, while Danny and Julien's partnership is put to test.

Notes[]

  • International airdates:
    • Germany: February 18, 2006
    • France: August 16, 2007
  • After examining a severed arm, Detective Dutch Wagenbach calls the act "domination and control Dr. Mengele experiments", in reference to Josef Mengele, a German physician that did numerous brutal experiments in Jews during World War II.
  • Fleetwood Walker drives a 2002 Chevrolet Avalanche with a "FLTWD1" license plate.

Quotes[]

External Links[]

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