The Shield
Tar Baby
TV Flash files “Tar Baby” as hour 46 of 88 in the TV Flash guide — The Shield (2002–2008) on FX, season 4, episode 5, aired 2005-04-12, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S04E05: listed hour 46 of 88 in the The Shield guide, hour 5 of 13 in season 4. It aired 2005-04-12 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Doghouse” (S04E04). Next is “Insurgents” (S04E06).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
As Monica is forced to defend her crime-fighting tactics, Vic's pursuit of a killer creates problems for Antwon, while Dutch's secret deal with the D.A.'s office gets him and Claudette assigned to a murder investigation.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Tar Baby sit in the The Shield guide?
S04E05 is listed hour 46 of 88 — hour 5 of 13 in season 4, season 4 episode 5.
When did The Shield S04E05 air?
Tar Baby aired 2005-04-12 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Where should I start The Shield?
The pilot. Its climax is the show's thesis: the Strike Team's corruption is the engine, not a late reveal.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Shawn Ryan's dirty-cop antihero still hits like a brick through a precinct window: Michael Chiklis as Vic Mackey, a Strike Team whose corruption is the operating system, FX growing fangs in 2002. Meaner, leaner, less interested in your forgiveness than the cable decade that followed.
The first useful cut is not a badge. It is the pilot climax that tells you Vic Mackey's Strike Team is already the racket. Shawn Ryan's *The Shield* premiered on FX on March 12, 2002, and spent seven seasons — eighty-eight episodes through 2008 — refusing the late-twist alibi: theft and brutality are the operating system, not a reveal you earn in year four. Michael Chiklis is bald, volatile, and still the camera's gravitational center. Walton Goggins as Shane Vendrell, CCH Pounder as Claudette Wyms, and Benito…
Filed against
- Michael Chiklis as Vic Mackey
Michael Chiklis’s Vic Mackey hit The Shield like a brick through a precinct window — Shawn Ryan’s dirty-cop antihero, a Strike Team whose corruption is the operating system, FX growing fangs in 2002. Meaner, leaner, less interested in…
- Walton Goggins as Shane Vendrell
Walton Goggins irradiated antihero cool as the Ghoul on Fallout and snaked through The White Lotus as Rick Hatchett — vault satire, wasteland Western, then HBO appointment tourism with a body count in the brochure. Character-actor…
- CCH Pounder as Claudette Wyms
CCH Pounder played Claudette Wyms on The Shield — Shawn Ryan's dirty-cop antihero hitting like a brick through a precinct window, Michael Chiklis as Vic Mackey, a Strike Team whose corruption is the operating system. FX growing fangs in…
- Benito Martinez as David Aceveda
Benito Martinez’s David Aceveda tried to govern The Shield’s dirty-cop operating system — Shawn Ryan’s FX 2002 fangs, Michael Chiklis as Vic Mackey, a Strike Team whose corruption is the weather, meaner and less interested in your…
- Jay Karnes as Holland Wagenbach
Jay Karnes’s Holland Wagenbach brought a straight spine into The Shield’s dirty-cop operating system — Vic Mackey’s Strike Team, FX growing fangs in 2002, meaner and leaner than the cable decade that followed. TV Flash files him as the…
- Kenny Johnson as Curtis Lemansky
Kenny Johnson's Curtis Lemansky rode The Shield as Strike Team loyalty with a fuse — Shawn Ryan's dirty-cop antihero hour, FX growing fangs in 2002, corruption as the operating system. Meaner, leaner, uninterested in your forgiveness. TV…