11. Family Meeting (The Shield - Season 7, Episode 13 )
The Moment: Moments after on-the-run corrupt cop Shane Vendrell (Walton Goggins) commits suicide in his apartment, the police run in, and after finding Shane's corpse, also discover the dead bodies of his wife Mara (Michele Hicks) and young son Jackson (Miles Greenberg), who Shane had poisoned before taking his own life. Why It Had To Be Paused: Even though viewers weren't exactly expecting a happy ending for the Vendrell family, this was far beyond what anyone had figured would happen. Easily the most shocking moment in the history of Vic Mackey's 7 seasons of chaos, that Shane had committed an act so deplorable only heightened the emotional stakes of arguably TV's greatest finale, true to its grim nature until the very end. The above haunting image has no doubt stuck with anyone who has seen the episode, a visceral gut-punch that demanded viewers take a quick breather before continuing on with the remainder of the finale (which had plenty more surprises to come).
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
