The Shield/Co-Pilot

Co-Pilot
Season 2, Episode 9
Airdate	March 4, 2003
Production Number	5012-02-209
Written by	Shawn Ryan and Glen Mazzara
Directed by	Peter Horton
← 2x08 Scar Tissue	2x10 → Coyotes
The Shield — Season Two

Co-Pilot is the ninth episode of the second season of The Shield, and the twenty-second episode overall.

Starring: Michael Chiklis (Detective Vic Mackey), Catherine Dent (Officer Danielle "Danny" Sofer), Walton Goggins (Detective Shane Vendrell), Michael Jace (Officer Julien Lowe), Kenneth Johnson (Detective Curtis "Lemonhead" Lemansky), Jay Karnes (Detective Holland "Dutch" Wagenbach), Benito Martinez (Captain David Aceveda)

and CCH Pounder (Detective Claudette Wyms)

Guest Starring: Jamie Brown (Connie Riesler), John Diehl (Assistant Chief Ben Gilroy), Ray Baker (Detective Tom Gannon), Reed Diamond (Detective Terry Crowley), Cathy Cahlin Ryan (Corrine Mackey), Walter Emanuel Jones (Rondell Robinson), David Rees Snell (Detective Ronnie Gardocki), Richard Yniguez (Jesus Latigo)

Co-Starring: Karlton Johnson (Mayfield), Dayo Ade (Lionel), Terry Wilkerson (Ringo), Cynthia Graham (Neta), Marcio Rosario (Otto), Jules Fleming (Clerk)

Featuring: Michael Auteri (Desk Sgt. Nathan), Rina Fernandez (Kidnapped Woman), Cesar Garcia (Happy Sandez), Juanita Guzman (Witness), Keith Davis (Kenyon)

Uncredited: Gabriel R. Martinez (Perpetrator)

Plot Overview

14 months earlier...

As the Farmington precinct sets up shop in an abandoned church, Assistant Chief Ben Gilroy gets an experimental anti-gang task force together. Unfortunately, they are under pressure to get results.

Detectives Ductch, Claudette, and Gannon work to bring in kidnappers who are abducting illegal immigrants.

Notes

Music

• Black Uhuru - "Justice"

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• The Farmington precinct establishes its station in an old church. Detective Gannon refers to it as the Barn.

• The Strike Team is put together consisting of Vic, Shane, Lem, and Ronnie.

• The Strike Team builds a relationship with Rondell Robinson.

• The Strike Team try to play by the rules, but under pressure to show results, they begin making things fit to get them, promising that stop once their the team is security is established.

• Gannon is responsible for damaging the men's room.

• Aceveda gets Terry Crowley installed on the Strike Team.

Characters

• Julien is partnered with Danny as his training officer.

• Dutch becomes the station's rube.

• While Dutch is initially on the outside, he and Claudette begin working together.

Trivia

The Show

• The entirety of the episode is a flashback to the events before the pilot, making it the only episode to disrupt the chronology of the series.

Behind the Scenes

• This episode was developed in part to the makeup department more time to come up with Ronnie disfigurement, as they were having difficulty with it.

Quotes

• Vic: Maybe we need to squeeze a guy in Lionel's outfit. Make him produce some evidence for us.

Shane: It'd speed things up a bit.

Lem: What, produce as in plant?

Vic: Hey. We all know that this guy's an asshole in the first degree. It's for goddamn sure this isn't the first body he's responsible for.

Lem: I don't know, man.

Vic: Just hear me out. A high-profile bust gets us credibility out on the street and with the bosses. Once we get our feet on solid ground, get a couple wins under our belt we go back to doing it the right way. Hey, we need this. Just this once.