The Shield - Complete Seasons 1-7 Special Edition
The Shield is one of those shows that rips you in on the first episode and keeps you coming back again and again. I can't watch TV on Tuesday nights in the Fall without thinking about The Shield. If you're a fan of dark and gritty shows this is the cat's meow. From the very first episode, you are forced to come to odds with Detective Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) the surprisingly likeable anti-hero of the show. Set in the fictional Barn district of LA, it is based around a corrupt gang-task force unit called the Strike Team.
Season One: The first episode is a gut shot. You spend the rest of the season trying to figure out how to like an anti-hero so dark you can't even begin to rationalize his deplorable actions. The deeply disturbing relationship between Captain Aceveda (Benito Martinez) and Mackey's Strike Team forms. Best season of the show, the show and Chiklis definitely earned their Golden Globes. 10/10
Season Two: The second season introduces a wider scope of bad guys for the Strike Team to deal with. It really builds on the anticillary characters and solidifies Mackey's survival instinct and Shane Vendrell's (Walton Goggins) bone-headed nature. The actions of the team in this season cast shockwaves that will last through out the course of the series. 9/10
Season Three: A slower season that deals with the conscience of the Strike Team in the aftermath of a major heist. The once tight family disengrates as the members struggle internally with how to handle their actions. Elsewhere in the Barn, Detective Claudette Wyms (CCH Pounder) begins to make a tustle for reform while Detective "Dutch" Wagenbach (Jay Karnes)takes a disturbing turn into darkness. 8/10
Season Four: With the Strike Team seperated things take interesting paths. Strike Team members Lem, Mackey, and Gardocki try to keep things clean, while Vendrell and his new partner continue the old ways. Vendrell doesn't have the instincts and smarts of Mackey and soon winds up over his head in the employ of drug dealer Antwon Mitchell (Anthony Anderson). Glenn Close joins the cast as Captain Monica Rawling. A fast paced season that leaves you questioning just who to trust. 9/10
Season Five: In one of the most powerful seasons, IA agent Jon Kavanaugh (Forest Whitaker) enters the Barn. Tasked with taking down Mackey, Kavanaugh tears the already fractured Strike Team apart with evidence against Lem. Kavanaugh is Mackey's equal and the two square off constantly to destroy each other. The season finale is dark and disturbing leaving a tremendous aftermath that shatters the already tenenous Strike Team. 10/10
Season Six: After the events of the season five finale, Vic is on the warpath. With one hand he is vengance bound, on the other he is trying to save his career as brass tries to force him into retirment. Vandrell continues to seperate himself from the rest of the Strike Team as he falls in with the Armenian Mob and struggles with internal guilt. Wyms now promoted to the captain of the Barn is deadset on saving it from itself and all those that stand in its way. 7/10
Season Seven: The final season. Vic still set on vengance finally has a true target, while Vandrell goes entirely rogue on the lamb. Wyms and Dutch race against time to finally take down Mackey, while Gardocki and himself go darker than ever - hunting one of their own. Season Seven pits Vic against everyone he loves and tests his survival instinct to its core. In the end, it is a chilling season that should have earned Emmy nods for Michael Chiklis and Walter Goggins. 10/10
The series has its highs and lows, but on a whole remains a powerful piece and one of the best cop shows ever. This a series I've watched over and over again in marathon sessions. I owned all but the final season on DVD and have since given them away when word of the complete series finally came around.
This is a must have DVD collection and my favorite TV show of all time.