Brutal and Hard Hitting

Jan 7, 2009

by jamesliu

Exclusive to the Lunch Network

Rating:

I recently started watching The Shield because of a friend's recommendation, I didn't expect I would like it a lot since I usually do not like cop dramas, however after watching a few episodes, I was completely addicted to this excellent show.

The shield started with the unthinkable, the main character Detective Vic Mackey, the head of the special gang unit Strike Team, is a corrupt cop who doesn't play by the rules, he uses excessive violence, plants evidence in order to get a conviction, and receives kick backs from drug dealers, and I don't want to spoil the plot, but he did something REALLY awful at the end of the first episode, I hated this character at first and didn't understand how we can have such an asshole as the focal point of the show. However, as the story unfold, you get to know him better and I actually start to like the guy, not because he suddenly shows remorse and become a good guy, but you start to understand him and know why he did some of the things, even though those actions were inexcusable. This really demonstrated the excellent script and character development are for the show, because once I started hating a character, I rarely change my mind, and this show actually made me like somebody that I start out hating his guts.

The atmosphere in The Shield is also very good, it shows the street as it actually is in real life, gangs are depicted as violent and merciless, and most things are shown in shades of gray, there are rarely clear black and white situations. They often have to let a criminal get away with things in order to nail a bigger criminal. Good people sometimes will do bad things, and bad people will occasionally do good deeds, the plot twists and turns and is mostly unpredictable.

The series recently aired the series finale, and I think the ending is very satisfying and a great conclusion to this great series, unlike some of the recent finales that left people scratching their head (cough.. Sopranos).

I highly recommend this series to anyone looking for a realistic and mature drama, The Shield really delivers in all front with flying colors!

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lyssachttr January 07, 2009

Hmmm - not a big cop drama fan either (though The Wire is among the best shows of all time, in my opinion, so I guess I have exceptions). Nonetheless, from your take on this show, there are a lot of parallels to things I love about the show Rescue Me -- so now I'm curious. Thx!

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About the reviewer

James Liu (jamesliu)

I was originally from Taipei, Taiwan, and I moved to the united states when I was 16 years old. I lived in Champaign, Illinois for 6 years before moving to California and have been here since. … more