The Shield

Not S.H.I.E.L.D., mind you. This is the first one. The dirty cop one. The one that seems to have spawned most of the good things in television these days (the ones that are up and coming, at any rate - Kurt Sutter of Sons of Anarchy and Mazzarra of Walking Dead both started here, and, you know, Terriers came after). I'm already through the fifth episode of the second season, so we won't be LPing this (if we insist, I've still got The Wire kiestered, since I figured I'd save that for later - maybe June), but it's too good for me not to talk about it from time to time, so I guess maybe I should put it in a place where other people can laugh at me and/or enjoy it or chime in or whatever the hell.

Two things have occurred to me thus far in the second season (which has been neatly compartmentalized from the first in a way that other shows could learn from):

1. Okay. This is admittedly stupid, but who the hell moves to Los Angeles to be a policewoman (Catherine Dent, who isn't named Lucy and deserves to be referred to by her name and not as Vick's Side Piece, but I'm blanking)? I'm kind of hoping we get some exposition on that.
2. Can somebody tell me why we're still having problems with Armadillo? Shouldn't Squad have just killed him in the first place after shit got out of hand? Particularly given the fact that the guy that the show has gone out of the way to show is the biggest pussy of the lot has called for it.

And, as a general comment, I am absolutely baffled at how well this show and these writers and this cast have gotten me to care about Vick Mackey. That's impressive. Again, shows could stand to learn from this. For one thing, giving him villains who are unquestionably worse than he is thus far (I'm not sure how well they can keep it up - I mean, they already had to reach all the way to baby rapist at the top of the second season, though I'm guessing the mob will start to play a bigger role) was a pretty good call.

So who else loves this and/or wants me to shut up about a show that's been off the air for a plural number of years?

It's kinda past the time that I can remember very specifically all of the undertones and symbolisms and ironies in the show, but I remember that there is enough of that, combined with mostly believable gritty LA scenery, that adds up to The Shield having legendary status for a lot of people including myself.

It also drives itself strong for an impressive 5 or more seasons, and didn't start dropping off into "OK stop doing this already it's stupid" land until season 6, but it also has the best ending episode on television ever. I wish more shows would learn how to properly and dynamically grow and change the relationships between characters you care about.

This is a truly great show, IMO despite some meandering in the middle-end phase. It really is worth it to watch it all the way through, both for the best series ending in TV IMO, plus also a bonus appearance by a Hollywood star I will refrain from naming who has a fairly short stint on the show but owns every scene he's in (and those who have watched know who I mean.) Also, although Michael Chiklis gets all the best scenes, Walton Goggins displays some truly impressive chops in this series.

What season was that? I can't even remember this so I need to look it up.

God, I loved the fuck out of this show when it was on the air. Even when this show was stupid or had the characters do stuff that pissed me off, they managed to justify it in a way that I couldn't fault them in the end.

Up through Season 3, Episode 11 (Riceburner). Random observations follow:

This is, hands down, the assiest show I have ever seen. And I'm including True Blood in that list. And also some pornography. Christ. It's kind of shocking, just in terms of sheer volume of ass that gets tossed up on the screen every other episode. I'm guessing that Oz would beat it if I ever bothered to watch it, but....nah. God damn that is so many ass though.

This is also a much rapier show than I was expecting, but it's also not the worst about it. In particular, a dude getting raped in his face was not something I was expecting from this show as a significant plot point.

Shane's quasi-realistic degree of racism may become a problem for me on Justified, however. At any rate, it might if they ever try to go back to the cartoonish ultra-racism well.

Wow, I don't remember the ass or the facerape. I guess that's a good thing?

I'm surprised. It was kind of a big deal for Aceveda.

Through Episode 2 of Season 4. Alright, Ryan. I'm inclined to give you some room with this bullshit vaccines to autism crap you're nosing around, but if you fuck this up and go full McCarthy, I may be out.

And through the first episode of Season 5.

I understand why Close had to go (she had her own show on the network starting up that, yes, I also have not watched), but I wish she'd been around a little longer. It was nice to have somebody in charge that Vic actually wanted to work with.

However, I'm dangerously close to the exit at this point with the bullshit accumulation (the fact that I'm more than halfway through is now weighing heavily in the show's favor). They skated by on the Jenny McCarthy bit, but failed in that it presented both positions as though they were in any way equivalent (they're not - one is correct and one is clearly incorrect and there's no real middle ground), but then capped off the season with a grand foray into polygraph theory, which, you know, whatever, but their expert who taught them how to supposedly beat the machine should have just said, "Yo - clinch your anus before most or all of the questions." That's how you beat a lie detector, and it's the primary reason why they're effectively useless. Maybe Shawn Ryan needs to stay away from controversial topics adjacent to science.

It was nice to encounter Antoine as not a comic figure (assuming that I'm remembering the correct person and not being a horrible racist, but I'm pretty sure that I've only seen him in any sort of memorable comic role). He did that pretty well. I may be done with Benito Martinez forever after I finish, and I might never be able to take whatshisnuts (the guy that showed up as a detective in the fourth season and is now the acting captain in the fifth) seriously again on Homeland, but I'm still positive on the show.

Hang in there Seiler. You've slogged a long way and only have one more weakish season to go before the big finish. Season 6 has some good stuff but starts feeling like filler. However, if you hang on until season 7, hold onto yer butts! Season 7 pays back the investment in the show. Season 7 is awesome, right down to the end, which is probably IMO the best ending episode of a series ever. (EVAR!!)

Oh man, that happened. Thanks for the reminder.

Oh, yeah I await Brian Seiler's glowing fucking review chock full of amazingly thoughtful insights of The Shield when he's finished with it. That's definitely going to happen.

I did not make enough progress before the season started. Nonetheless, I keep going at a snail's pace. Through the season five episode named after Whittaker's character whose name I will misspell if I try. Two things come to mind. First, some bits of the series lose a little of their bite when you know that there are two more seasons after the one you're watching. Second, maybe it's just a combination of having recently seen him in Battlefield Earth on an unrelated issue and having seen him in that Criminal Minds spinoff a couple of years ago, but I swear I can see the man's eye getting weird as the season progresses. It kind of looks like the series is giving him a stroke.

Gina Torres, however, kicked the living shit out of her part (at least so far). I'm still ever so slightly annoyed that she's doing a role on Suits that she could trade with any number of other people when she could instead be doing Michonne as nature clearly intends, but I think I'm gaining some appreciation for her as an actor, and maybe I'm starting to warm up to her taking the opportunity to play an actual character with a personality and discernible motivations instead of an unexplained be-dredded ninja. She might be too good for that role now (or, at a minimum, too good for that writing). I'm not sure what it is about what she did in this episode of this show that turned me around so hard, but I guess that's probably to her credit.

I just rewatched the Torres/Whittaker interrogation room scene. She chewed that scene up.