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Finally got seasons 1 & 2 in front of me, lookin to start the first series this coming week - id seen pieces with :misty: and was pretty interested. Junker says he's tired of civil service job-shows, but he's just a whiny bitch, cause this looks awesome. Any fans? Sell me some hype.

 

Amazon says:

 

On March 12, 2002, The Shield burst onto the FX network like an incendiary grenade, and basic cable TV would never be the same. Creator Shawn Ryan's uncompromising police drama pushed the limits of basic-cable permissiveness, bridging the relative discretion of NYPD Blue and the HBO liberties of The Wire. Without exception, these 13 episodes justify their hype, focusing on pugnacious detective Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis), whose amoral Strike Team employs dubious tactics in the crime-ridden (and fictional) Farmington district of Los Angeles. Mackey and his maverick partners are at odds with seasoned detectives and beat cops, escalating tensions with precinct Capt. Aceveda (Benito Martinez), a Latino with flexible scruples and a political agenda.

The series invites viewers to form their own judgments regarding Mackey's volatile behavior, which includes killing an undercover cop in the electrifying pilot episode. While each episode stands alone as groundbreaking drama, the arc of the series incorporates Aceveda's campaign to end Mackey's career; the self-loathing of a homosexual rookie (Michael Jace) whose partner (Catherine Dent) is Mackey's occasional mistress; a straight-laced detective (Jay Karnes) yearning for respect; Mackey's compassionate attempt to rehabilitate a crack whore (Jamie Brown, giving the season's finest guest performance); the autism of Mackey's young son and the recklessness of his closest partner (Walton Goggins); and the vigilant stoicism of Det. Wyms (CCH Pounder), who's as sensibly upright as Mackey is corrupted.

 

Teeming with gang-bangers, perverts, rapists, and killers, The Shield is unabashedly adult; even liberal viewers may flinch at plots involving child pornography and serial murder. Chiklis deservedly won an Emmy for maintaining the series' delicate morality; Mackey's a hero squirming in his own ethical quicksand. This daring edginess makes The Shield unique, and generous DVD supplements explore Ryan's creative impulse. Two featurettes offer behind-the-scenes overviews, while the all-episode commentaries allow extensive insight from every member of the series' principal cast and crew. Audition tapes prove that the cast was primed for ensemble excellence, and deleted scenes further demonstrate the series' challenging ambiguity. The Shield is excellent TV for those who can grasp its complexities; all others beware.

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Not a popular thread...

 

Just finished the pilot, gettin further into the series - shit, it starts out with a low-budget Training Day angle, but takes it somewhere else entirely by the pilot's end.

 

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Just finished season 1 the other night, lookin forward to season 2...shit, i cant believe how bad things got by the end though.

Its clever - changing loyalties, crazy suspense to see if Mackie's gonna get away with something even crazier than last time and such. Its obvioulsy older than Rescue Me, and that shows with things like the soundtrack and some production, but characters are developing and the plot gets pretty fucking intense - this show is making cop-work (or, specificially, crime special force shit) look really cool.

 

I love how Vick's so far outta line, but its like the early bits in Training Day cause you can see he's doing it to keep people safter - "I agree to let you deal here on the condition that you dont have my block looking like the gaza strip..." - but along the way it just gets darker and darker, but you still see him as redeemable for his intentions, he's a great character.

 

What's this one up to now? Shit, between this and Sopranos season 4 i got a lotta catchin up to do.

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Im finishing season 2 tonight - nobody else wants to talk bout this shit? I thoght for sure at least Signal'd be a fan....

Ly, it didnt do it for you? I should be gettin season 3 by tonight, then 4 next week to help get caught up (i think theyre on 5 now?)

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Oh, so youre gonna mock cause of Family Guy's movie, eh?

 

Yeah? well, i got a listenin' problem.

 

I love how ths show keeps pushing ehtical boundries; i really wanna agree with what Mackie's doing, even when he clearly goes too far.

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I just haven't finished catching up. It's a pretty ok series, it just didn't get me like say, firefly (then again what does? That series was fucking awesome). I'll end up catching up on The Shield sometime soon. I do like the complexity of the characters, though.

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Yeah, im a few episodes into season 3 and theyre constantly building characterization; the flashback episode in season 2 really helped too.

I saw hype about Glenn Close being the new captain in season 4, lookin forward to that. Any idea what theyre up to now, season 5 right?

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Yeah, im a few episodes into season 3 and theyre constantly building characterization; the flashback episode in season 2 really helped too.

I saw hype about Glenn Close being the new captain in season 4, lookin forward to that. Any idea what theyre up to now, season 5 right?

Afraid not. I'm pretty far behind, too.

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mackie: "Police offer's wife and child were murdered last night."

dealer: "You see me cryin'?"

mackie: "No, but we only just got here."

 

Season 3's knocked out, onto 4...this shit really went insane last season, i cant believe no one else's watching this. Fucking awesome shit, i never enjoyed even Sopranos this much.

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Season 5 is ridiculously good so far, and im only haflway through - 4 had Mackie with Glen Close as his captain, but this one, Forest Whitaker as the Internal Affairs detective trying to take him down. I havent seen drama like this play out - much less on TV - in a long, long time.

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Just watched the finale for season 5...

ive never seen anything that intense on TV> Im still in shock at how dark this show got, and how far it pushed it this episode. Looks like # 6 is gonna be the finale, and i cant see it ending well from here.

 

Someone's gotta watch this so i can talk about it.

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  • 4 weeks later...

that's exactly what he does here. the stand off with mackie just builds until the finale, and then...seriously man, you gotta see it, between being a fan of Whitaker and this show, youll love it. If i still had the downloaded episodes idve put em to a disc and just sent them to you.

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