The Shield: Postpartum. Wow.

If you’re a fan of the FX series The Shield, then last night’s episode likely left you in a state of stunned silence, of heartbreak. Sad at what happened to a great character. Sad that the show absolutely feels as though it will be end with its next run of episodes.

And sad that we have to wait a seeming eternity before we find out how it’ll all go down.

IMPORTANT: If you haven’t seen last night’s episode and you plan to, you’ll REALLY want to skip the rest of this article - MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW after the jump.

“Conscience is a killer” is the theme chosen by FX for this season of The Shield, and the show’s writers and producers have outdone themselves delivering on that promise with last night’s explosive season finale. Fans of the show knew something big had to happen; something critical, something that lets us know that everything from here on out will not be the same, that it can’t be the same.

And although I did, in some small way, predict the death of Curtis Lemansky (comment #3) (or perhaps I even recommend it, may Vic have mercy on me), I really never thought, never considered that Shane would be his killer.

At first I thought it was a bit of a cheat, a bit too much of a twist created purely for the sake of The Shock. I thought that Lem’s death would come more as a result of something that Vic had done directly - that Vic would be made suddenly and painfully aware of the part he’s played in the destruction of those around him, especially a relative innocent like Lem.

But clearly the makers of The Shield are smarter than me, and for that we can all be grateful. They’ll probably use the rest of the series’ episodes - 10 or 11 that will air later this year or perhaps in January - to get Vic to that point of realization. They’ll take their time, letting Vic think that Lem’s death is just another case to solve, just another criminal to track down and exact revenge - and he’ll come to understand just how awful the truth really is, as well as his own responsibility for it.

What I find so amazing, so immersive about this show is the way that all of its seasons are connected through their storylines, characters and the consequences of what’s come before. More television should be created like this, with closer attention paid to the results and significance of the events that transpire across seasons, and not only because it’s fun to watch - but because it rewards repeat viewing like crazy, potentially increasing the revenue stream from DVD sales more than ever.

Case in point: at the end of last season, I felt like the storylines were all a bit too simple, that everything had been wrapped up too easily. Antwon Mitchell didn’t come across as menacing as, say, the Armenian mob, and Shane went to the Dark Side…and then came right back too quickly. There seemed to be nothing of real consequence happening. But now I think that all of last season was created as a set-up for this season - and how cool is that? Antwon ends up having much more impact on the storyline this season simply by having been placed behind bars previously! And of course, the death of Terry Crawley in the show’s pilot is the seminal event that has led, over the course of years now, to Lem’s death. It’s that kind of patient, measured storytelling that has set The Shield apart from other episodic television - in a big, wonderfully satisfying way.

And now all we’ve got left is to see how Vic will deal with it. How he’ll come to understand that Shane is just as much his progeny as his own children are - that all Shane ever wanted was to be Vic, to earn Vic’s admiration, by taking action and showing “initiative” in the ways that he thinks Vic would respect. But of course, Shane isn’t Vic; he’s not smart like Vic and he doesn’t think things through. He doesn’t know how to anticipate, spin, and make the inevitable heat that will come work in his favor like Vic can.

Conscience is a killer indeed. So is the excruciating wait for a conclusion that’s been set up as incredibly well, as unpredictably volatile, as this one has.

• Here are some additional Burbanked thoughts from the beginning of this season
• Additional commentary from tvsquad.com
• What will likely be a lively and entertaining discussion on AICN (or you know, you could comment below if you felt like it!)