I finally finished watching "The Shield" (SPOLIERS!)

[Wheelz]

Yes, I know, the series finale aired almost a year ago, but I came late to the party.
My brother recommended the show to me during the 4th season, but said it'd be best to start at the beginning. I got a used DVD set of season 1 and was immediately hooked.

So after finally working my way through all 7 seasons on DVD, all I can say is: Holy shit.

The whole series was riveting, but those final two episodes had to be among the most intense TV viewing experiences ever.

Vic's confession, the murder/suicide, Ronny's arrest... I managed to avoid spoilers and honestly had no idea how everything was going to shake out. I was blown away. And Chiklis did an amazing job in that final scene, without words.

I'm a little bit sorry it's over, but the ending was as satisfying as it was heartbreaking. So, any other Shield fans out there? Your thoughts?

[emacknight]

I started late, and one day while watching FX they mentioned the death of a certain some one caused by a certain other some one. I had the then spend the entire season waiting! Kudos to you for missing any major spoilers.

And as a person that left a desk job for a more exciting life, I loved the soul crushing imagines of him in a crappy tie shuffling paper, then getting up and walking out.

[Smitty]

Whole-hearted agreement. Excellent series. The end of the 2nd to last episode of season 7 was one of the greatest scenes ever - When, after Vic finishes his confession and the lady fed says, "Do you know what you've done to me?" and Vic simply replies, "I've done worse."

[aceplace57]

Congratulations. Now you're ready to watch Saving Grace. The Shield's Kenny Johnson (Detective Curtis Lemansky) plays Ham the cop partner/lover of Holly Hunter. Does a great job too.

[Kobal2]

Agreed. Great series. And the boring office job (complete with twinkling neon) as a reward for a lifetime of wheeling and dealing was oh so karmically satisfying.

But one thing about the show always kind of stuck in my craw. And that thing is Shane. The guy is an absolute moron. He's also a bad cop (and I mean that in the sense of being bad at his job, not in the crooked sense of "bad cop"). He's a bigot. He's a real, all around, no holds barred dumbass.
So why oh why would Vic, a very smart guy and, when all is said and done, a good cop (again, his methods might have crossed the line and then put the pedal to the metal ; and he wouldn't know ethics if they beat him to death - but he's got very good instincts and insights) give this loser the time of day, let alone be his bestest friend ever ? It just makes no sense.

[Wheelz]

Originally Posted by aceplace57

Congratulations. Now you're ready to watch Saving Grace. The Shield's Kenny Johnson (Detective Curtis Lemansky) plays Ham the cop partner/lover of Holly Hunter. Does a great job too.

Tried Saving Grace for a season. Not bad, but it didn't grab me anything close to the way Shield did.

I think next I'm going to try watching less TV.

After that, maybe The Wire. I've heard good things.

[Captain Amazing]

No, now you should watch The Commish.

[aceplace57]

Michael Chiklis surprised me in The Shield. I never expected the guy from The Commish and The Three Stooges to be such a bad ass.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a Shield tv movie eventually. Vic will find a way to get back on the streets. Vic will never stop scheming until he dies.

[Wheelz]

Originally Posted by Kobal2

But one thing about the show always kind of stuck in my craw. And that thing is Shane. The guy is an absolute moron. He's also a bad cop (and I mean that in the sense of being bad at his job, not in the crooked sense of "bad cop"). He's a bigot. He's a real, all around, no holds barred dumbass.
So why oh why would Vic, a very smart guy and, when all is said and done, a good cop (again, his methods might have crossed the line and then put the pedal to the metal ; and he wouldn't know ethics if they beat him to death - but he's got very good instincts and insights) give this loser the time of day, let alone be his bestest friend ever ? It just makes no sense.

I always figured that Shane reminded Vic of a younger version of himself and he took it upon himself to become a mentor of sorts. He saw potential and figured he could reign in Shane's dumbassery and point him in the right direction.
Also, friendship isn't always rational. I totally bought Vic and Shane's personal relationship, even if it (obviously) wasn't a perfect professional one.

[Kobal2]

Originally Posted by Wheelz

I always figured that Shane reminded Vic of a younger version of himself and he took it upon himself to become a mentor of sorts. He saw potential and figured he could reign in Shane's dumbassery and point him in the right direction.
Also, friendship isn't always rational. I totally bought Vic and Shane's personal relationship, even if it (obviously) wasn't a perfect professional one.

I buy the relationship too - both actors made it work on screen just fine.

My problem lies with the imagined (since they're longtime partners and friends even in the prequel episode Co-Pilot) origin of the friendship. If we are to accept that Vic got into Shane in spite of his bad cop-ness, then there must have been a quality in Shane that Vic digged enough to overlook the rest. I mean, sure, at the time of the show start, Vic essentialy likes Shane because they have a mutual trust going on (and Vic probably thinks Shane's too fucking dumb to be a threat in any case) - but there must have been some base for the relationship to have gone on before this trust was established.

And, well... there's really nothing to like about Detective Vandrell. He's not witty, he's not funny, he's not likeable, he's not personable. Also, his teeth are scary. To put it plainly, he's not the guy you want to go out and have beers with at the end of the day. He's the jerkass you put up with and pray to be promoted or transfered. He's like an incompetent Dutch, sans serial killer-ness

[ianzin]

I did the same - happened to catch an episode on TV, got hooked, then watched the whole thing from the beginning on DVD. A truly wonderful series, and a great credit to all concerned. Yes, the whole finale story with Shane and his girl on the run, was magnificent, ambitious television that gripped me, moved me and entertained me in a way that very few TV shows have ever managed to do. Major credit to Michele Hicks (Mara, Shane's gf) who was only a minor character up to that point but was suddenly front and centre, carrying a lot of the weight. She achieved a terrific and hauntingly convincing portrayal of a young woman who only wanted to do the right thing, but ended up in an impossible situation.

Vic and Shane... yes, it's a strange and problematic relationship, and there are many times you wonder how they got to be such good friends. The show never ducked these issues, and did convey the depths, the ups and downs, the irrationality of how they 'clicked' together. I think a lot of it was that 'Master and Servant' served both of them very well. Vic needed a right-hand man he could always count on to be there, to cover for him, to do as he's told (no matter what) and to save the questions for later. Until he finally made the break, Shane knew deep down that he was greater as Vic's friend and collaborator than he would ever be on his own. He enjoyed the prestige of working on the Strike Team, and certainly had what it took to be effective on that team, but knew only Vic could be the boss.

[quixotic78]

Originally Posted by ianzin

Major credit to Michele Hicks (Mara, Shane's gf) who was only a minor character up to that point but was suddenly front and centre, carrying a lot of the weight. She achieved a terrific and hauntingly convincing portrayal of a young woman who only wanted to do the right thing, but ended up in an impossible situation.

Oh man, and her final scene, with her and her son laid out with flowers? That worked SO well. I've never seen anything like it on TV before.

Come to think of it, that last sentence of mine could be applied to the entire series. It's amazing. In most series I've watched, there are a few episodes that I don't really like. I don't think that EVER happened with The Shield.

[Ruby Sees]

Originally Posted by Kobal2

So why oh why would Vic, a very smart guy and, when all is said and done, a good cop (again, his methods might have crossed the line and then put the pedal to the metal ; and he wouldn't know ethics if they beat him to death - but he's got very good instincts and insights) give this loser the time of day, let alone be his bestest friend ever ? It just makes no sense.

I think it's a matter of Vic is the big dog and needed some mongrels for his pack. I think he thought Shane was too stupid to ever be disloyal. Also that Shane would never question his authority or want any of his own.

I think he wanted him because he was a loser.

I caught up on the final season a few months ago. I had accidentally read something that made it sound like Shane committed suicide, so I kinda saw it coming.

But I think I would have seen it coming anyway.

I watched the whole season in a weekend so by the time there were just a few left, I knew what was going to happen. It was like I had the best read on Shane and could see right through him.

I was haunted by that last episode for weeks.

Some people think that Vic "got away" with it and some people think that his sentence to desk duty without his family and friends was a bigger punishment than the courts could devise. I'm kind of in the middle. No legal punishment could be doled out that was more just than what he got, as it made him suffer, but he was technically a free man, and I don't like that.

Poor Ronnie. He really did the least wrong out of all them. He didn't blow up Lem, he didn't kill the fed, he got permanently scarred. He wasn't clean, but compared to the rest of them....

[Frostillicus]

One of the best dramas I have ever seen. And yes, I watched all 7 seasons on DVD in about 2 months this summer.

[fusoya]

Another chime in for how The Shield was one of the greatest television shows I've ever seen. Both the pilot and the finale contained holy-shit-punch-to-the-face scenes that I couldn't believe I was seeing.

I also LOVED the story arcs of stealing the $20 million from the Armenian Mob, as well as the follow up story arc of the "we've got the money, so now what?", and the season with Forest Whittacker as the IA agent obsessed with bringing Vic down but only digging a deeper and deeper hole for himself.

While the karma hit that Vic got with him desk job sentence was brilliant, I just couldn't believe that Shane would poison his family, and that Ronnie would be the one character sent straight to prison. I always predicted Ronnie would be the one to eventually rat out the rest of the team and be the only alive & free man in the end, but instead the most decent & loyal guy on the team is the only one who ended up behind bars. Then again, killing off Lem, by Shane no less, was something I didn't see coming either.

[DWMarch]

For what it's worth, I don't think Ronnie would have went to jail. I think he would have had the case against him thrown out for lack of evidence and he would have been reluctantly accepted back at the Barn with the condition being that he bring Vic down once and for all.

One of the ways I know this show will always be awesome: towards the end of season 7 there is an episode where nothing much happens in the way of action. The only action is Shane robbing some people and a confrontation with Tina. Yet the episode is absolutely gripping. It's an hour of people reacting to things that happened years ago plotwise and yet it had me on the edge of my seat the whole time.

I also loved Vic's classic take on fighting crime: "While the men from UNCLE are cruising Elverado looking for Osama, I'm gonna be sweatin' some good old-fashioned trash talking American dipshit!"

[Lethal Babydoll]

when my wife and i got married, we decided each of us would watch a show that one of us loved and the other had never seen.

She chose Friends. I chose The Shield. And both got see to some great TV we had passed on.

Did anyone mention that Walton Goggins, who played Shane, won an Oscar?

It was for producing a best short.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0222675/

[Wheelz]

Originally Posted by Lethal Babydoll

when my wife and i got married, we decided each of us would watch a show that one of us loved and the other had never seen.

She chose Friends. I chose The Shield. And both got see to some great TV we had passed on.

Funny... There are exactly three TV series my wife and I have watched in their entirety on DVD, and these are two of them. (The other was Aaron Sorkin's Sports Night.)

And Yes, Friends was her choice and Shield was mine.

[Ruby Sees]

Michael Chiklis was robbed of an Emmy. I still can't believe he didn't even get a nomination.

His performance in his last shots of the series, the haunted, pathetic look in his eyes? Best acting in the series by anyone by far.

[Argent Towers]

My favorite character on the show was always Ronnie so I was really pissed off at what happened in the end. I wished I could reach through the screen and strangle Vic Mackey to death. Somehow I knew that something BIG was going to happen to Ronnie, that he was going to be the lynchpin of the whole show. The way the writers, very gradually, brought him out of the background to become a major character was really ingenious. He is very much comparable to the character of Carlo on The Sopranos. He was the true "dark horse" of the cast, and I knew he was either going to triumph in the end or something terrible was going to happen to him.

I had the idea that Ronnie, because of how aloof he was and because he was so good at blending into the woodwork and being forgotten, was going to get away clean in the end. That he was going to somehow find a way out of the whole mess and that he would be cruising down some desert highway in a red Mustang with the top down, on his way to paradise, while everyone else got arrested or killed. I was surprised that the exact opposite happened.

It was weird to see him wearing exclusively a suit and tie for the last few episodes. I wonder why this was? He was the only character on the show who underwent any changes in his appearance. He looked different in every season. I wonder if there's some kind of significance to that?

[Reverse]

Originally Posted by Argent Towers

It was weird to see him wearing exclusively a suit and tie for the last few episodes. I wonder why this was?

It's because those last few episodes he was working as a regular detective and, unlike in special units like the Strike Team, regular detectives have a dress code to adhere to, I'd imagine.

On the issue of his ever-changing facial hair: I heard that the actor playing him was a friend of the series creator Shawn Ryan and got in because of this (much like Vic's wife being played by Shawn Ryan's wife). They weren't sure of his acting ability so they just had him mostly in the background, and I guess since he was such a minor character they didn't really have a problem with it whenever the actor wanted to change his look. If he had been a major character from the start they probably would've cared more. This is just speculation on my part, though.

[Frostillicus]

I also LOVED the story arcs of stealing the $20 million from the Armenian Mob

Slight nitpick: They only stole $2 million from the Armenians. Remember, Lemonhead burned all but $60,000 of it.

[TJVM]

Originally Posted by Argent Towers

I had the idea that Ronnie, because of how aloof he was and because he was so good at blending into the woodwork and being forgotten, was going to get away clean in the end. That he was going to somehow find a way out of the whole mess and that he would be cruising down some desert highway in a red Mustang with the top down, on his way to paradise, while everyone else got arrested or killed. I was surprised that the exact opposite happened.

I was really rooting for Ronnie at the end. I always thought he was the smartest guy in the bunch, but just didn't draw attention to himself.

What I really wanted to happen, going into the last episode, was to find out that Ronnie had actually been playing Vic, when Vic thought he was playing Ronnie. The time for the "big bust" would come, and we'd find out that Ronnie had somehow set up Vic to be screwed, and then Ronnie disappears or something.

To the OP: Now that you've finished the series, I recommend this in-depth interview with Shawn Ryan about the end of the series.

[Ol'Gaffer]

Thanks for that link TJVM. That was an absoultely fascinating read.

[woodstockbirdybird]

Just saw they're finally releasing the entire series on DVD.

ETA: Entire series in one set, of course I meant.

[ianzin]

I like the fact that this thread contains SPOLIERS.

Not many threads do. Spoilers, maybe. But seldom SPOLIERS.