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JasonX

The Shield

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Thread for season six of "The Shield", which debuts on April 3rd:

 

First off, www.bud.tv has a special online season six prequel for viewing: you have to register with the website to watch it though but it's a nice 15 minute mini-episode that feature's Lem's funeral and a farewell flashback for the character, set inbetween seasons two and three.

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Looking very forward to this season. Is this the last one? If so then it might not be a bad idea, the show is still great and I'd hate to see it slip and then go out.

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I've been randomly going through the first four seasons in anticipation of my purchase of season five coming out later this month. Shane threatening to rape Freeway's girlfriend in season two if she didn't dime him out is some harshly awesome shit.

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Or you could link the video without us having to register? :D

 

Can't do that; the website is set up so that you have no choice but to register to see the video due to the fact that Bud.tv supposedly paid a huge amount of money for the right to show the mini-episode on their website.....

 

Looking very forward to this season. Is this the last one? If so then it might not be a bad idea, the show is still great and I'd hate to see it slip and then go out.

 

We got two seasons left; Ryan has said that season seven will be the last one.

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God, I love this show, and I actually have some trepidation about what's going to happen. I don't worry the show's going to be good, that, to me, is a given.

 

I wonder if Forest Whitaker will be back (I sure hope so), I wonder if Dutch will ever triumph, and I have this fear that the only possible way this show can end is with Vic dying.

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I'm been living "The Shield" for the past two months. I bought every season when Best Buy had them for 20 bucks a little while ago, and it's amazing to watch the progression of the characters. Season 1 is kind of a shock to watch after watching 2-4, only because it shows Vic and the Strike team actually HAPPY. Ever since the money train, the team as been on the downward slope.

This is how I'd rank the seasons. Keep in mind I haven't seen Season 5 yet.

 

4-Slow start, but Glenn Close and Anthony Anderson owned this season, while giving Vic and Shane some nice storylines to shine.

2- Money train, Mexican guys burning faces, and the beatdown of Julian. This is where the show started gaining some steam in terms of long term storylines.

3-Close tie with season 2. You have Acavedas rape, Julian with the tough partner, Vic banging that hot K9 girl. Not to mention money train fallout.

1- An excellent season, but in the grand scheme of the show, this is all setup.

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Four picked up near the end but it was tough to watch for the first while because of the Strike Team not being together and Lem only being around sporadically. Add in the fact that Rawlings wasn't exactly Aceveda in terms of opposition to Vic and I'd probably call this the "worst" of the seasons, which of course means it still rocked but nowhere near as much as the others. Though I would put Antwon Mitchell behind Armadillo in terms of the best heel the show has ever had. If Margos had stuck around longer he might take 'Twons spot but he didn't.

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My rankings...

 

Season 5

Granted, I should probably watch the entire season again once the DVD comes out later in the month, but having watched a portion of the episodes when FX replayed them last fall, I think this will probably stand as my favorite. What I loved about this season was that it felt like each and every episode was really important, whereas some of the seasons had a little more filler in between the big storyline. The last couple episodes where insane. This is the season that first hooked me into the show and made me go out and buy all the other seasons on DVD.

 

Season 3

Fallout of the money train, Tavon vs. Shane, Strike Team vs. Margos & the Armenian mob, Aceveda's rape, Lem stealing/burning the money, etc. Just like season 5, the last couple episodes got insane. In this case, you finally had the Strike Team going after the Armenians while dealing with the tension in the team due to the money.

 

Season 2

Armadillo's entire story arc is awesome, especially when Vic ends up burning his face off in only the second episode. I'd put him at the top of the list of best villians. My only disappointment would be how they handled his death, as I think Vic should've had more to do with it, but it was still interesting nonetheless. The money train heist in the finale is awesome stuff.

 

Season 1

This might be interchangeable with 4, but I think I remember liking this more, even though this really lacked a central storyline like the other seasons.

 

Season 4

I think Curry basically covered everything above. It started out slow, but it really built up into some intense TV by the end. Just because I rank it last doesn't mean it's bad by any means. It's still awesome. I like how they freshened things up by having Vic actually get along with Rawlings as opposed to being against the captain. Antwon rules it.

 

Yeah, I can't wait for season 6.

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The worst season of the Shield is better than almost everything else on TV. I honestly cannot rank the seasons, they're so much about every one of them that I loved. ALTHOUGH I would probably agree with 4 being the weakest

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What would you consider Kavanaugh? A face, heel, or tweener? I would say tweener.

 

Antwon Mitchell was by far the best heel on the show, Anthony Anderson was just so convincing in his role. Antwon blasting that little girl who snitched him out infront of Shane and his hispanic partner was the most gangsta thing I've seen on a primetime TV show.

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I'd say tweener for just about the first 3/4 or so, but as soon as he decided to send Lem to the same jail as Antwon to likely be killed, he was officially heel.

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Watched the first two eps of season 3 last night, weird seeing some scenes when ya know what's coming. Especially the scene when they're bugging Garza and Vic leaves leaving just Shane and Lem in the car, kinda eerie.

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Dutch would need a "Vic"-esque character to help balance him out. Part of what makes him so great is that he's almost the anti-Mackey.

 

BTW, I watched "Strays" again last night and I think I might have to thrown it down for Episode of The Series so far. The culmination of the Cuddler Rapist storyline is a thing of beauty and the ensuing conversation between Dutch and Will is spellbinding to watch. And the ending........still hits like a ton of bricks.

 

Dominoes Falling and Back In The Hole would also be up there for me.

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Guest ICHIBAN~!

This show is glorious TV. The last two episodes of season 5 are the pinnacle of TV storytelling. The finale builds really well, like a fine wrestling match. It starts off real slow, then before you realize it, you're caught.

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I think I just need to buy all these seasons to have them whenever I want them. This is the kind of show I always wish I could just throw in for an episode or two. Can't wait for season 6 to start up.

 

I remember the talk of season 5 getting extended from 13 episodes to 21, and then those last 8 being delayed to be season 6. Does anyone know if that's what we're getting here, or if we're getting a full run of episodes?

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Bumped this since having finished season five in a less then 24 hour time span I'm ready (with the help of my PVR) to actually devote myself to watching a season of The Shield when it airs on TV.

 

And goddamn, I'd need to look over some things from previous seasons but five right now is my favorite. And the ending....fuck. I'd read about it, I'd watched the scene with Shane dropping the grenade but I wasn't prepared for the final scene with Tina crying like a bitch, Claudette and Dutch in shock and the reaction of Vic and Ronnie when they find the body.

 

And I LOVE LOVE LOVE the notion hammered home that Ronnie is the smartest person in The Barn.

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Guest ICHIBAN~!

You know the original poster is the actor who plays 'Ronnie', right?

 

Was Tina the rookie chick? She was annoying. Less of her please.

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That is fucking awesome.

 

Season five really took any shine that Vic had on him over the years right the fuck off. It held a mirror up to our faces as fans of the show and made you say "Wow, do I really want to cheer for this guy?". Not too many shows can do that.

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Guest ICHIBAN~!

Especially when they contrasted his behaviour towards Lem with Kavannaughs. Kav was friendly, knew his birthday etc and mostly wanted to help him (aside from jailing him.. he was a cunt then.)

 

Ah fuck, this show. It really shows the characters as people with equally positive and negative aspects. Far more real than almost any other show on television. I mean, hell, even Kavannaugh's intentions were good from the outset (in his opinion.)

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My local paper's TV guide had a cover story on The Shield which was good. I think the headline was "Shocking revelation: Season Six's premier of The Shield will be violent." Heh.

 

Anyway, a good article. Has a nice quote from Michael Chiklis about how Kavenaugh is an 'anti-villain' to Vic's anti-hero: a guy you should be rooting for, but you just can't. Also, Dutch got almost equal time in the article to Vic, so it looks like he should be playing a really big part in this season. (Yay!)

 

Also the cover: Shane, Ronnie, Vic, some new scruffy-looking guy, and Julian. (Interesting choice, Julian on Strike Team? Nah.) Thing is, I didn't recognize Ronnie at ALL. It wasn't after I read the caption with the actor's names that I realized it. Still, I couldn't recognize him without the 'stache.

 

As to season ranking's? I couldn't really tell you. I can think of shows with higher highs and lower lows, but not a drama show that was so consistently good.

 

Season 4 is my least favorite, probably because though Glen Close's character was terrific, I really couldn't invest in it because you just knew she would be gone. Also a little bit of blue balls from with the Strike Team slowly getting back together after the overriding paranoia of season 3. Still, the usual caveat applies, a terrific season from a terrific show.

 

I guess I would pick Season 2 as best, just because I thought Armadillo was such a great, scary villain. The same reason people pick Season 4 for Antwon Mitchell

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