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The Shield: 43 seconds of Emmy worthy silence.

DevoutlyApatheticDevoutlyApathetic Registered User regular
edited July 2010 in Debate and/or Discourse
Once upon a time a jolly police commissioner went about his family and professional life and happily managed to resolve any problems in a convenient one hour time frame. Perhaps sometimes two, I was young and don't really remember. He was so jolly most people probably just told him they'd been very naughty and begged forgiveness from his Santa Claus-like demeanor.

Just look at him:
C1.jpg
Jolly as the day is long.

Then the Commish got canceled despite his jolliness. The commish got angry. To deal with his anger issues he lifted things. He lifted a lot of things. Now he's jolly but for a whole new reason. He's jolly because he knows he can horribly hurt anybody who ever thinks of canceling him ever again.

s1.jpg

The Shield is a serial cop drama in which the cops are the protagonists but they are not heroes. The show repeatedly makes you love and root for Mackey only to brutally remind you that in the grand scheme of things they may be the worst criminals in the district. Yet I still like them. I can't think of a single episode that didn't make me want more or left me feeling disappointed in how it was written/acted. It is flat out amazing to me.

Please remember the importance of spoilers. Huge events happen in the early seasons of the shield so let's respect those who haven't seen it yet. Label your spoilers as to the season. You might want to mention if it happens at the very end of the season or right at the beginning. Examples (Real Spoilers):

Early Season 1:
VIC SHOT TERRY!

Late Season 5:
SHANE BLEW LEM!

The new season starts on the 3rd. I was excited. Then I saw the 15 minute promosode. At this point I'd kill somebody for the season to start right this instant.

Pre-Season 6
The Promosode features Lem. Lem being awesome.
"All meat no heart." God I'm going to miss Lem.


Updated Season 7 links:
There is some promo-web stuff up here.

In reference to the new title a round table discussion about who thought they were going to be capped in the series.

Nod. Get treat. PSN: Quippish
DevoutlyApathetic on
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Posts

  • HacksawHacksaw J. Duggan Esq. Wrestler at LawRegistered User regular
    edited March 2007
    I want this to start now. I'm tired of Dirt wasting my Tuesday nights. Fuck you, tabloids, I want my police brutality!

    Hacksaw on
  • hoodie13hoodie13 punch bro Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    After 3 years of waiting I finally started watching this past summer.

    I can't wait.

    hoodie13 on
    PSN: HoodieThirteen
    XBL: Torn Hoodie
    @hoodiethirteen
  • ElkiElki get busy Moderator, ClubPA mod
    edited March 2007
    Hacksaw wrote: »
    I want this to start now. I'm tired of Dirt wasting my Tuesday nights. Fuck you, tabloids, I want my police brutality!

    Man, why do you watch that? I saw the pilot, and that was it. It's just no good.

    Elki on
    smCQ5WE.jpg
  • ZzuluZzulu Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    I really really like this show.

    Zzulu on
    t5qfc9.jpg
  • mcdermottmcdermott Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Elkamil wrote: »
    Hacksaw wrote: »
    I want this to start now. I'm tired of Dirt wasting my Tuesday nights. Fuck you, tabloids, I want my police brutality!

    Man, why do you watch that? I saw the pilot, and that was it. It's just no good.

    For I second I thought you were talking about The Shield, and I thought I was going to have to cut you.

    I had no idea what was even playing in the timeslot...I looked up at some point when the new season started, burned it into my memory, and have been (somewhat) patiently waiting since...aside from The Shield I don't think I ever even turn to FX.

    Also, loving the OP. I used to actually watch the Commish. I remember the first time I saw a preview for The Shield (aka Rampart) my first thought was, "Hey look...it's the Commish! Oh fuck...the Commish looks pissed!"

    So yeah, start already new season. With both The Sopranos and The Shield gone, I've been totally missing my moral ambiguity fix.

    mcdermott on
  • hoodie13hoodie13 punch bro Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    I've heard chatterings that this is the last season. Can anyone confirm this?

    hoodie13 on
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    @hoodiethirteen
  • DevoutlyApatheticDevoutlyApathetic Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    mcdermott wrote: »
    Also, loving the OP. I used to actually watch the Commish. I remember the first time I saw a preview for The Shield (aka Rampart) my first thought was, "Hey look...it's the Commish! Oh fuck...the Commish looks pissed!"

    This is exactly why I started watching The Shield. Someone pointed out it was The Commish looking all badass like that and I watched the pilot to see this spectacle. Then the pilot was incredible.

    Thanks on the compliment. This is my first "grown-up" OP. I wished I could have found a better new image for him. GIS came back some that'd have been nice but couldn't find the real images.
    hoodie13 wrote: »
    I've heard chatterings that this is the last season. Can anyone confirm this?

    Wiki claims that it's definitely been contracted for a final seventh season. The ending should be intense.

    Random speculation:
    I bet rocks fall, everybody dies.

    DevoutlyApathetic on
    Nod. Get treat. PSN: Quippish
  • HaikiraHaikira UKRegistered User regular
    edited March 2007
    WOW!!! Been dying for more shield, thanks very much for details. = D

    Haikira on
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    PSN:Hakira__
  • deowolfdeowolf is allowed to do that. Traffic.Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Yeah, great OP. Sweet mercy, I'm so excited for this season.

    deowolf on
    [SIGPIC]acocoSig.jpg[/SIGPIC]
  • DrezDrez Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    One of the best shows ever. It really is painful to have to wait like nine months between seasons.

    Drez on
    Switch: SW-7690-2320-9238Steam/PSN/Xbox: Drezdar
  • Dublo7Dublo7 Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Oh fuck. Give this to me now.
    I hope something really bad happens to Shane.

    Dublo7 on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • DrezDrez Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Dublo7 wrote: »
    Oh fuck. Give this to me now.
    I hope something really bad happens to Shane.

    I can't see how the show can end without (don't read unless you've seen EVERY season or don't plan on watching earlier ones):
    Shane either dying or behind bars, probably dying.
    Vic dying or going to jail.

    People seem to forget that Vic did the same fucking thing Shane did in episode one. Sure, the guy was a mole, but so what? He killed a guy in cold blood. He's been trying to atone in his own semi-amoral way since then, but that action will linger for good.

    Drez on
    Switch: SW-7690-2320-9238Steam/PSN/Xbox: Drezdar
  • siliconenhancedsiliconenhanced __BANNED USERS regular
    edited March 2007
    If Vic isn't on his own personal island and they end it with him being booked into a prison facility, I'm going to be pissed as hell. I'd love for him to make a getaway.

    siliconenhanced on
  • DrezDrez Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    If Vic isn't on his own personal island and they end it with him being booked into a prison facility, I'm going to be pissed as hell. I'd love for him to make a getaway.

    It's tough. I bet they haven't even written the ending yet. I dunno. This is the second-to-last season, right? There's going to be a Season 7, I believe?

    For myself... (again massive spoilers)
    I find Vic unredeemable, and I think this is going to be reiterated when he finally discovers that Shane is the one that killed Lem. Shane is going to cry to Vic..."but I had to, man. I didn't want to. I loved Lem. He was like a brother, man. I didn't want to. But my kid...my baby...I had to, for him. You understand. You...we killed Terry for the same reasons. He was going to bring it all down. And now I have a kid, man. I couldn't let it happen."

    It probably won't sound exactly like that, but I can definitely see such a plea coming from Shane halfway into the season, or perhaps in the conclusion to the season. And I can see Vic fucking kill him anyway.

    The thing is this: the whole show is about Vic's evolving morality. The show begins with an original, unmistakable cardinal sin: murder and betrayal. We cannot forget that ever. Vic killed one of his partners. Regardless of what that partner was doing, Vic outright ended his life in cold blood.

    He's done a few redeemable things, but I think, in the end, karma is going to catch up with him. Can you really say that helping Connie, or his misguided opinion that what he does is ultimately good for the citizenry of Farmington, or any of the other semi-decent things he's done can redeem that first sin, the first crime that began the season?

    I don't. This is a drawn-out tragedy, and Vic will get his. It's hard not to empathize with him. But I think that's the point. I think, in the end, it's going to come full circle. You couldn't help but be disgusted by Vic in the beginning. You couldn't help but respect him for most of what we've seen since then. But you can't forget that, in the end, he did something inexplicably awful and that he hypocritically holds others to standards he, himself, doesn't follow.

    Drez on
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  • siliconenhancedsiliconenhanced __BANNED USERS regular
    edited March 2007
    I wasn't disgusted by Vic. I thought he did the right thing, killing a rat. Terry wasn't outing Vic because it was the right thing to do, he was doing it because he thought he could get ahead faster.

    So while I agree with your analysis from your point of view, I don't think Vic needs to get his "comeuppance".

    siliconenhanced on
  • NeadenNeaden Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    I don't think killing a guy because he was going to the authorities about all of your illegal activities classifies as the right thing to do. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure its pretty much as far from the right thing you can do as possible. Vic is a bad man, maybe he'll get away with it, maybe he won't but he's a selfish ammoral bastard and I wouldn't have him any other way

    Neaden on
  • mcdermottmcdermott Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    I wasn't disgusted by Vic. I thought he did the right thing, killing a rat. Terry wasn't outing Vic because it was the right thing to do, he was doing it because he thought he could get ahead faster.

    So while I agree with your analysis from your point of view, I don't think Vic needs to get his "comeuppance".
    See, I'd buy this better if we were talking about criminal ratting on his fellow criminals...at that point by their moral code what he did would not have been wrong. But Vic was a fucking cop. Hell, part of the reason he was able to shoot Terry is because Terry probably didn't expect that after being outed as a rat he'd be shot in the fucking face. That act showed from the very start, to me at least, that Vic was more criminal than cop...regardless of how much good he managed to do.

    I mean, yeah...you don't rat on your fellow cops. But unless I'm way out of touch with the unwritten rules of being a police officer, I'm betting you also don't shoot them in the fucking face.

    EDIT: Despite all that, I'm still rooting for him to make a getaway. Go figure.

    mcdermott on
  • nexuscrawlernexuscrawler Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Man they need to come out with season 5 on DVD already. I need to catch up.

    nexuscrawler on
  • TiemlerTiemler Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    I was way into it for a while, but stopped following it a couple seasons back. I've kind of followed it from a distance reading spoilers and stuff. Mostly as an epilogue, since I rarely get back into a series I've dropped.

    Dutch was my favorite character, from 'Dragonchasers' right up until I tuned out.

    Tiemler on
  • DevoutlyApatheticDevoutlyApathetic Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    I'm rewatching the series from the start in anticipation of the new season.

    Something I never caught before (Season 1:3)
    Vic is supposed to do a warrant sweep, serving a large number of warrants on people, when they run into a professional basketball player. They decide to hold on to him to swing the game. Shane asks what they're going to do about the remaining warrants and Vic replies "I took care of it." Cut to a scene of a dude turning himself in by saying "Vic Mackey called and told me to turn myself in."

    That's a bad ass motherfucker move.

    DevoutlyApathetic on
    Nod. Get treat. PSN: Quippish
  • mcdermottmcdermott Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    I'm rewatching the series from the start in anticipation of the new season.

    Something I never caught before (Season 1:3)
    Vic is supposed to do a warrant sweep, serving a large number of warrants on people, when they run into a professional basketball player. They decide to hold on to him to swing the game. Shane asks what they're going to do about the remaining warrants and Vic replies "I took care of it." Cut to a scene of a dude turning himself in by saying "Vic Mackey called and told me to turn myself in."

    That's a bad ass motherfucker move.

    God, I remember that one. Fucking awesome.

    mcdermott on
  • SentrySentry Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Hey can someone spoiler season 5 for me? I missed it (I know, I know, shoot me) and I really want to start watching season 6 when it comes on.

    Sentry on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    wrote:
    When I was a little kid, I always pretended I was the hero,' Skip said.
    'Fuck yeah, me too. What little kid ever pretended to be part of the lynch-mob?'
  • mcdermottmcdermott Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Sentry wrote: »
    Hey can someone spoiler season 5 for me? I missed it (I know, I know, shoot me) and I really want to start watching season 6 when it comes on.

    No. Just no. Go fucking watch it. It's only like 13 episodes, you can knock that out in one day off.

    mcdermott on
  • nexuscrawlernexuscrawler Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    just found out the dvds for S% come out tommorow

    nexuscrawler on
  • SentrySentry Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    mcdermott wrote: »
    Sentry wrote: »
    Hey can someone spoiler season 5 for me? I missed it (I know, I know, shoot me) and I really want to start watching season 6 when it comes on.

    No. Just no. Go fucking watch it. It's only like 13 episodes, you can knock that out in one day off.

    Didn't realize it was being released Tuesday.

    Sentry on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    wrote:
    When I was a little kid, I always pretended I was the hero,' Skip said.
    'Fuck yeah, me too. What little kid ever pretended to be part of the lynch-mob?'
  • DevoutlyApatheticDevoutlyApathetic Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Sentry wrote: »
    mcdermott wrote: »
    Sentry wrote: »
    Hey can someone spoiler season 5 for me? I missed it (I know, I know, shoot me) and I really want to start watching season 6 when it comes on.

    No. Just no. Go fucking watch it. It's only like 13 episodes, you can knock that out in one day off.

    Didn't realize it was being released Tuesday.

    Forrest Whitaker's (sp?) performance is so bloody awesome it demands to be seen.

    DevoutlyApathetic on
    Nod. Get treat. PSN: Quippish
  • muninnmuninn Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    I am really intrigued how the serial killer and Dutch plotline will be resolved...

    muninn on
  • mcdermottmcdermott Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Sentry wrote: »
    mcdermott wrote: »
    Sentry wrote: »
    Hey can someone spoiler season 5 for me? I missed it (I know, I know, shoot me) and I really want to start watching season 6 when it comes on.

    No. Just no. Go fucking watch it. It's only like 13 episodes, you can knock that out in one day off.

    Didn't realize it was being released Tuesday.

    Forrest Whitaker's (sp?) performance is so bloody awesome it demands to be seen.

    Academy Award Winner Forest Whitaker now. Wonder if they'll plaster a sticker across the boxed sets.

    mcdermott on
  • muninnmuninn Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    mcdermott wrote: »
    Sentry wrote: »
    mcdermott wrote: »
    Sentry wrote: »
    Hey can someone spoiler season 5 for me? I missed it (I know, I know, shoot me) and I really want to start watching season 6 when it comes on.

    No. Just no. Go fucking watch it. It's only like 13 episodes, you can knock that out in one day off.

    Didn't realize it was being released Tuesday.

    Forrest Whitaker's (sp?) performance is so bloody awesome it demands to be seen.

    Academy Award Winner Forest Whitaker now. Wonder if they'll plaster a sticker across the boxed sets.


    Such a likable guy and yet he is amazing at playing such assholes....

    muninn on
  • NeadenNeaden Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    See thats what I loved about Whitakers character and the shield in general, here he is, doing the right thing and we're all rooting against him. He's trying to put someone away for crimes we know that he's guilty of, horrible things that he has done, and he's the bad guy. Thats some damn good writing.

    Neaden on
  • DrezDrez Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Neaden wrote: »
    See thats what I loved about Whitakers character and the shield in general, here he is, doing the right thing and we're all rooting against him. He's trying to put someone away for crimes we know that he's guilty of, horrible things that he has done, and he's the bad guy. Thats some damn good writing.

    Yeah, exactly.

    Drez on
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  • NorayNoray Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Neaden wrote: »
    See thats what I loved about Whitakers character and the shield in general, here he is, doing the right thing and we're all rooting against him. He's trying to put someone away for crimes we know that he's guilty of, horrible things that he has done, and he's the bad guy. Thats some damn good writing.

    I was rooting against him because he was a fucking snake. The condescending way he talked to everyone and always had to have the last word pissed me off. Sure he was doing 'the right thing', but he was still a cock. Vic is an asshole to assholes only.

    Noray on
  • nexuscrawlernexuscrawler Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    I must watch this season.....

    nexuscrawler on
  • mcdermottmcdermott Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Noray wrote: »
    Neaden wrote: »
    See thats what I loved about Whitakers character and the shield in general, here he is, doing the right thing and we're all rooting against him. He's trying to put someone away for crimes we know that he's guilty of, horrible things that he has done, and he's the bad guy. Thats some damn good writing.

    I was rooting against him because he was a fucking snake. The condescending way he talked to everyone and always had to have the last word pissed me off. Sure he was doing 'the right thing', but he was still a cock. Vic is an asshole to assholes only.

    Like I said, I've been missing The Shield as my regular dose of tasty moral ambiguity.

    mcdermott on
  • Professor PhobosProfessor Phobos Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Noray wrote: »
    Vic is an asshole to assholes only.

    Except for
    Terry Crowley, Aceveda, Dutch, Tevon...

    Vic hurts the people around him as often as he helps them, and he does things as much for himself as he does for anyone else. He's a bad guy.

    But we love him anyway.

    Professor Phobos on
  • ArdeArde Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Vic's the poster boy for anti-hero. :)

    Arde on
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  • DrezDrez Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Noray wrote: »
    Vic is an asshole to assholes only.

    Except for
    Terry Crowley, Aceveda, Dutch, Tevon...

    Vic hurts the people around him as often as he helps them, and he does things as much for himself as he does for anyone else. He's a bad guy.

    But we love him anyway.

    I'll spoiler this because I don't believe there is any real statute of limitations on spoilers, but it's Season Two talk, so relatively safe and unrelated to anything going on right now:
    Vic actually gave Dutch the most validation he'd ever gotten, at least at the precinct. I think it was season two, episode five (I might be off), but I still think it's my favorite. It's when that serial killer keeps analyzing and insulting dutch and Vic gets everyone in the barn to gather around and watch Dutch's final interrogation, but Dutch proves the killer was, indeed, the killer and shuts him the hell up. Then Vic and everyone stand up and - here's where my memory is fuzzy - but they either clap or Vic praises him and then everyone follows suit.

    Then Dutch plays it off, walks to his car as if nothing special happened, gets in, and starts bawling like a schoolgirl.
    I thought that was awesome.

    Drez on
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  • Blake TBlake T Do you have enemies then? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Noray wrote: »
    Vic is an asshole to assholes only.

    Except for
    Terry Crowley, Aceveda, Dutch, Tevon...

    Vic hurts the people around him as often as he helps them, and he does things as much for himself as he does for anyone else. He's a bad guy.

    But we love him anyway.

    Vic hurts people who are in his way. He didn't do anything to Tevon, all he did was protect Shane who was again being a dick.

    Saying that though. Shane is my favourite character in the show. He's such a selfish stupid redneck arsehole that he really adds to the show.

    As much as I don't want (S5)
    Claudette to be Captain, I'd actually like it if the Captain would hang around for more than one season for a change.

    I thought (S3 or 4 I forget)
    Glen Close was fucking brilliant and it was a shame that she left after only one season.

    Also what were you guys talking about with Dutch and
    Serial killer? I thought he's caught everyone? or are you talking about his cat strangling fettishes?

    Blake T on
  • TiemlerTiemler Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Jesus.

    Yahoo just spoiled the living hell out of The Shield for anyone who hasn't been keeping up. Right on their front page.
    "Why the producers kill off Lem..."

    Tiemler on
  • mcdermottmcdermott Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Tiemler wrote: »
    Jesus.

    Yahoo just spoiled the living hell out of The Shield for anyone who hasn't been keeping up. Right on their front page.
    "Why the producers kill off Lem..."

    Not unlike Fark and BSG recently.

    mcdermott on
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