I am addicted to The Shield

[Kevin D]

Don't think I've ever felt so emotionally drained by anything else in my entire life like I was after finishing this.

 

A very, very close second to The Wire for me.

 

Agreed.

 

Although the letter reading can't be matched in terms of quality , this was my favourite scene:

 

[YOUTUBE]ACMzFXcq9Cw[/YOUTUBE]

 

The way Vic, almost regretably, says " I was too good". It's as if he needed someone to save him from himself and his baser instincts, because as he got deeper his desire for self-preservation trumps absolutely everything. In persecuting him, Aceveda et al failed him, in a way; to protect himself Vic could justify just about everything and with that any morality he may have possessed eroded over time . He needed someone as resourceful and clever as him to be unequivocal and tell him this far and no further.

[Section_31]

 

The episode 'co-pilot' is fantastic and gives immense exposition because it shows you how they became corrupt. Vic and Shane wanted the gig because they felt they'd been sidelined career-wise. Vic says 'my whole life is going by'. He tells his mrs it's more money and more overtime but he'll be away from the kids, and she says 'you have to do this'. In a later season she remarks to Mara how Vic 'wasn't always like this', the job made him hard'.

 

Once they got the gig they were under unreasonable pressure to deliver results from empty suits like Aceveda, who had limited street experience and didn't really know police work, but was a political animal who'd probably been brought in to soften the face of the department after OJ Simpson and Rodney King, but who still 'needed' results for his own career to take off.

 

In co-pilot, pressure was put on the Strike Team for that reason, but they could only do it by planting a weapon on someone who they knew was guilty in that episode, the first time they'd done anything like that by all accounts - fairly late on in their careers. Vic says to Shane 'it was easy wasn't it?' and he replies 'yeah, a little too easy', again Vic later says to Ronnie 'Shane wasn't always like this, I've got to own that'. And Aceveda shows in the pilot he's willing to live with Vic's methods if it delivers results.

 

But then, when things go tits up with Lem, the department turns on them and wants to hang them out to dry for a PR 'win'.

 

In those circumstances, dealing with that level of crime and with that kind of selfish bureaucracy crushing you, it's easy IMO to see how someone would want to cut corners and grab a little something for themselves.

 

It's worth noting that the real team the Strike Team was based on, CRASH, was corrupt as fuck and was taken down. But its loss was seen as one of the reasons the El Salvadoran gang MS13 took over vasts tracts of that part of Los Angeles.

 

It's a complicated city, in a complicated country, in a complicated world!

[Kevin D]

 

The episode 'co-pilot' is fantastic and gives immense exposition because it shows you how they became corrupt. Vic and Shane wanted the gig because they felt they'd been sidelined career-wise. Vic says 'my whole life is going by'. He tells his mrs it's more money and more overtime but he'll be away from the kids, and she says 'you have to do this'. In a later season she remarks to Mara how Vic 'wasn't always like this', the job made him hard'.

 

Once they got the gig they were under unreasonable pressure to deliver results from empty suits like Aceveda, who had limited street experience and didn't really know police work, but was a political animal who'd probably been brought in to soften the face of the department after OJ Simpson and Rodney King, but who still 'needed' results for his own career to take off.

 

In co-pilot, pressure was put on the Strike Team for that reason, but they could only do it by planting a weapon on someone who they knew was guilty in that episode, the first time they'd done anything like that by all accounts - fairly late on in their careers. Vic says to Shane 'it was easy wasn't it?' and he replies 'yeah, a little too easy', again Vic later says to Ronnie 'Shane wasn't always like this, I've got to own that'. And Aceveda shows in the pilot he's willing to live with Vic's methods if it delivers results.

 

But then, when things go tits up with Lem, the department turns on them and wants to hang them out to dry for a PR 'win'.

 

In those circumstances, dealing with that level of crime and with that kind of selfish bureaucracy crushing you, it's easy IMO to see how someone would want to cut corners and grab a little something for themselves.

 

It's worth noting that the real team the Strike Team was based on, CRASH, was corrupt as fuck and was taken down. But its loss was seen as one of the reasons the El Salvadoran gang MS13 took over vasts tracts of that part of Los Angeles.

 

It's a complicated city, in a complicated country, in a complicated world!

 

I'm on S4(that's something the Shield has over any program, it's extremely watchable and hard to watch just one episode at a time) and the seizure policy highlights that Farmington is essentially a war-zone. It reminds me of Bunny Colvin's speech about how the street you're meant to be policing can turn into occupied territory; in that context it's pretty logical for Vic to make deals with the local warlords. That's how international affairs have been handled for centuries.

[Kevin D]

I was hoping I'd be able to figure Kavannaugh out this time, but he still remains an enigma to me; anybody get a read on him?

[Section_31]

I was hoping I'd be able to figure Kavannaugh out this time, but he still remains an enigma to me; anybody get a read on him?

 

A big part of him is a genuine headcase I feel. He's a predator and he's ambitious. He corrects people who call him 'detective' reminding them that he's a 'lieautenant' and he got a spot on IAD after turning in his own partner. His previous stint in robbery homicide (an elite unit) shows that status alone isn't his driver, so catching specifically corrupt cops must be a big part of the juice.

 

It's worth watching the extras on season 5, the behind the scenes Q&A with Sean Ryan makes it clear that a big part of Kavanaugh's character is Whittaker, he brought a lot of the mental, somewhat sinister feel to the role. Apparently he was written as much more of a straight shooter, to the point where the writers wnated to make the viewer feel like they didn't know who to root for - Vic or Kavanaugh.

 

It's credit to whittaker really that he's one of the most memorable characters of all time.

[Kevin D]

He's got an uncanny knack for making me feel uncomfortable and is a massive weirdo. Even that juicy fruit shtick, in his hands, is unnerving. I just watched the episode with his ex-wife again and that's just added to my confusion.

[Skidfingers McGonical]

He's got an uncanny knack for making me feel uncomfortable and is a massive weirdo. Even that juicy fruit shtick, in his hands, is unnerving. I just watched the episode with his ex-wife again and that's just added to my confusion.

 

His ex wife was a mistress to his real love, the job.

[Kevin D]

Is that as profound as it sounds?

[Skidfingers McGonical]

Is that as profound as it sounds?

 

Not at all.

[Section_31]

Kavanaugh: This is notice that I'm going to be setting up shop here.

 

Billings: You've gotta be kidding me?

 

Kavanaugh (smiling): Most of the time, just not this time.

 

Awesome.

[Iantn]

Some quality posts on this page here.

 

Co-pilot is arguably one of the best 40 minutes of tele ever. How it changes perceptions and gives you a completely different view point without ever changing anything is just pure brilliance.

 

As for Kavanaugh, there isn't much I can add to the above. He is boss at playing that weird, creepy but ultimately good guy. It is the perfect character to go head-to-head with Mackey.

 

The 'pissing all over us' scene is just some engrossing shit and shows so much about the character himself.

[Kevin D]

Billings: I love the smell of underage sexual-assault in the morning. I didn't mean that the way it came out.

[Kevin D]

Vic: I would have spared Lem.

 

Shane: And I stepped up and put Lem down so you could go to bed every night believing that.

[Kevin D]

[Stouffer]

Watched seasons 5, 6 and 7 in work this week and have literally just finished Season 7.

 

Wow.

[Kevin D]

Going to start Season 7 tonight. I'd really like to take the scenic route and savour the tension and quality of both the writing and acting, but I know after watching one episode I'll be compelled to watch another then another, until it's 8 in the morning and my weekend has disappeared.

 

Saw Marlo's boy Monk was in the 1-9ers in the last episode of Season 6.

[Section_31]

Going to start Season 7 tonight. I'd really like to take the scenic route and savour the tension and quality of both the writing and acting, but I know after watching one episode I'll be compelled to watch another then another, until it's 8 in the morning and my weekend has disappeared.

 

Saw Marlo's boy Monk was in the 1-9ers in the last episode of Season 6.

 

Fruit's in one episode too, non-speaking part though.

[Kevin D]

Vic is a lot more honest and self-abasing than I remember him being. I think this season(7) has been his most endearing. I just watched the episode Shane's man botches the hit on Ronnie, the word is used repeatedly when discussing the show, and quite rightly, it was mind-blowing. Just as Two-man takes the bait in the interrogation and is about to implicate him, you can see Shane in the background staring at the back of Vic's head with this resigned semi-smirk on his face.

 

Another thing that starts to become more and more apparent, is that Vic's family don't have the acting ability to keep up with the rest of the cast once they all turned it up a level.

[Kevin D]

Fingerspitzengefühl - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Kevin D]

Would Vic have taken the ICE deal if Corrine hadn't been arrested?

[Section_31]

Been watching it again and I think pound for pound it has to be the best show ever made. I love dialogue, and the Shield is just super dense with absolutely brilliant dialogue, I don't even mean the big 'one liners' we all remember from our favourite shows, I mean everything, virtually every word. Wherever the writers could put something simple, they don't - they put something better in.

 

"Listen darlin' right now my nuts are in a meat grinder and I don't like it when someone cranks the handle."

 

"Mamma-san just bawled all over me."

 

"Let's see if any of Diega's girls are spreading for a gringo."

 

"Let's go and do the three-ball squeeze" (when they're on the way to checkout a pawn shop fence.

 

Was watching the episode where Antwon Mitchell has sent some bird to talk to Mackey about Lem, and he says 'Antwon wants to fly a kite? Let her rip." All the writers had to put there was 'what does he want?', but they don't - every single line is dripping quality.

[Dan]

wonder does SAXON like the shield??

[Guest The Chimp]

Been watching it again and I think pound for pound it has to be the best show ever made. I love dialogue, and the Shield is just super dense with absolutely brilliant dialogue, I don't even mean the big 'one liners' we all remember from our favourite shows, I mean everything, virtually every word. Wherever the writers could put something simple, they don't - they put something better in.

 

"Listen darlin' right now my nuts are in a meat grinder and I don't like it when someone cranks the handle."

 

"Mamma-san just bawled all over me."

 

"Let's see if any of Diega's girls are spreading for a gringo."

 

"Let's go and do the three-ball squeeze" (when they're on the way to checkout a pawn shop fence.

 

Was watching the episode where Antwon Mitchell has sent some bird to talk to Mackey about Lem, and he says 'Antwon wants to fly a kite? Let her rip." All the writers had to put there was 'what does he want?', but they don't - every single line is dripping quality.

 

Agree with all of that. It's absolutely addictive watching. The pace is unrelenting, the acting and dialogue superb. My favourite by quite a bit out of the 'big three'.

[Kevin D]

Watched the finale last night, after that thing with our friends in red, and it didn't really have the same impact the second time around; however, everything leading up to it is a lot better on the rewatch. It can't be overstated just how terrific an actor Googins is; I still don't understand why I felt so bad when I don't even like Shane(the racist, pathetic, corrupt idiot he is) and that's down to Googins and Sutter.

 

The Marshall who relocates Corrine and the kids is Gus from The wire.

 

 

]Been watching it again [/b]and I think pound for pound it has to be the best show ever made. I love dialogue' date=' and the Shield is just super dense with absolutely brilliant dialogue, I don't even mean the big 'one liners' we all remember from our favourite shows, I mean everything, virtually every word. Wherever the writers could put something simple, they don't - they put something better in.

 

"Listen darlin' right now my nuts are in a meat grinder and I don't like it when someone cranks the handle."

 

"Mamma-san just bawled all over me."

 

"Let's see if any of Diega's girls are spreading for a gringo."

 

"Let's go and do the three-ball squeeze" (when they're on the way to checkout a pawn shop fence.

 

Was watching the episode where Antwon Mitchell has sent some bird to talk to Mackey about Lem, and he says 'Antwon wants to fly a kite? Let her rip." All the writers had to put there was 'what does he want?', but they don't - every single line is dripping quality.[/quote']

 

How many times is that, out of curiousity?

[Section_31]

The Marshall who relocates Corrine and the kids is Gus from The wire.?

 

He's done a lot of work on The Shield behind the scenes, he directed the pilot and finale, he's a director by trade these days. He wrote himself into the script as 'handsome FBI agent'.

 

 

How many times is that, out of curiousity?

 

 

No idea to be honest, off the top of my head probably five times, this is going back to about 2006 though.

 

I'd started at the second seaosn last time and have gone back to the first again. It's striking how much more dislikable Vic is in the first seaoson, especially the pilot, he's an out and out bully and an arsehole. They mellowed him a lot as the seasons went by.