The Shield: Season 1

In LA, Farmington creates a special kind of criminal. In addition to smaller gangs trying to cash in on the money and prestige to be had, there are the bigger gangs with bigger agendas and individuals with their own problems. This creates dilemmas of all kinds and calls for cops of all calibers to stem this proverbial tide of violence. Enter Vic Mackey, head of Farmington's elite Strike Force and a true force to be reckoned with. Far from the police units that operate within the clearly-divided blue lights of "justice," Mackey operates his force like a cold and calculating mob of his own. This means he has enemies on all sides of the law and that he creates a story that is really worth watching.When it came to The Shield, I was initially hesitant because I really detest the overflow of "Cop drama" on television. I thought I had seen all the different types of dirty cops that the network minds had to offer and I wasn't in the mood for another slice of the shield-toting pie. Then I watched the pilot, saw just how far the strike team - Ronnie, Shane, Lem, and Vic - were willing to go, and reevaluated my priorities. As I continued watching the show I found that it worked on a lot of other levels as well, making me think about the motivations of every person involved and how tempting power like the type Mackey finds himself faced with could really be. A cop with a family, a child with a disability, and a job that doesn't really appreciate the things that are done in its name; that brings up the question of where does prevention end and crime really begin?This isn't to say that the Strike Team is the whole of the tale; far from it in fact. The 13 episodes on the disc are really the story of a lot of people trying to maintain a fine line on a personal and professional level, following two main detectives and a drove of other police officers and showcasing progression as the series goes forward. I'm writing this at the conclusion of the 6th series, too, knowing how much these people start to mean and how many of them lose small things like dignity or larger things like life. Not wanting to spoil things I have to end it there, simply saying that the show will keep giving and that Mackey always has a method in some of most beautiful forms of madness I've watched play out.Just watch the pilot and you'll understand what I mean.About the Set: Full-Frame, Subtitles: English, SpanishEpisodes Included: 1- Pilot. 2- Our Gang. 3 - The Spread. 4 - Dawg Days. 5 - Blowback. 6 - Cherrypoppers. 7 - Pay in Pain. 8 - Cupid & Psycho. 9 - Throwaway. 10 - Dragonchasers. 11 - Carnivores. 12 - Two Days of Blood. 13 -Circles.Also included: commentary, "behind the shield" featurette, a few deleted scenes

Thank God for cable TV!"The Shield" is the most intense new cop series in a decade. The action centers around an proto-experimental police precinct in South Central L.A. The action is violent and intense and pulls no punches. Series lead Michael Chiklis stars as Vic Mackey, leader of an elite squad within the precinct. Mackey is corrupt, amoral, but a great and effective cop. Even when you want to hate him you can't help but root for him. The precinct house's new Lieutenant makes no secret about wanting to bust Mackey as part of his political aspirations, but Mackey isn't going down without a fight. And he certainly has the fight in him.The final scene in the first episode set the tone for what kind of cop Mackey can be. But throughout the whole first season viewers are treated to a level of grittiness and action rarely seen on television. Always intense!One particularly satisfying story arc in the first season centers around one of the precinct's new detectives trying to catch what he thinks might be a serial killer. He eventually gets his man, and some unexpected respect from his fellow officers, but the psychological price he pays is what will resonate long after the case file is closed.And "The Shield"'s visual style (namely the art direction and use of color) is unlike any other cop show you've seen before. That sounds kind of odd if you haven't already seen the show, but it gives the show a distinctive look to go with its already distinctive sound and feel.Watching this show gives me the same charge I got from watching the first season of "N.Y.P.D. Blue" -- the David Caruso season.That whole first season is also available from Fox TV on DVD in early 2003. Too bad the "...Blue" box set won't also contain the first four episodes from Season 2, the episodes that wrapped up David Caruso's character story line through his exit from the show.**** Easy instructions for watching "The Shield - Season One" on DVD: Point, click, buy, watch, enjoy, pick jaw up off floor.

DOES CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!DOES CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!You have been warned, my review contains at least one spoiler!!Good writing, good character development (Officers Vic Mackey, Shane Vendrell, and Julien Lowe immediatley come to mind), and good plot.My only criticisms would be a somewhat week Pilot with a somewhat predictable ending, but after watching the first episode with the commentary (something I recommend for you to do after watching every episode once) it was explained that the show's creator and main writer Shawn Ryan had never worked on a pilot before in his life. Taking that fact into account gave me a whole new sense of understanding.Shane Vendrell might be my favorite character on the show (played by the excellent Walton Goggins, who's now playing Boyd Crowder [another excellent character on another excellent FX show])At times I had to suspend my disbelief (like when Vic and Gilroy place the dead body of a gang member in rival gang territory to make it look like a gang hit, but any forensics team worth their salt would know that the victim died in one location and was moved to another), but these moments were few and far between.I'd say this show is only second to The Wire, a least as far as police crime dramas go, and "The Shield" is definitely an equal to "Breaking Bad" (with perhaps Breaking Bad Ahead by a hair) in terms of basic cable drama.As my title states, this first season was so excellent in that it's made me want to see this series through to its end, and I think that should be every drama's main goal.

I risked buying this set for two reasons. It had Walton Goggins in it, whose acting in "Justified" had impressed me greatly and the reviews were good. Fortunately these indicators were good and paid off. Walton Goggins is excellent as is the first series of "The Shield".If you like gritty realism, morally ambivalent characters and what seems like a very realistic portrayal of life in a poor, gang-infested, drug riddled area of L.A this is for you. This is a far cry from the usual Hollywood perfection and it is not for the squeamish or the idealist but is amazingly engaging entertainment. The characters are complex and unstereotypical which ever side of the law that they are supposed to be on and the plots manage to twist and turn but still surprise and shock as well. However there are still moments of understated humour throughout that give a lot of light and shade to the episodes.American cable television seems to have produced a lot of series, like this one, that have writing and production values that are closer to those of independent film than mainstream television. The camera work on the Shield is exceptional and gives one a real sense of being part of the action and the cynical authorial tone strikes a perfect balance between hard-boiled and human.There are extras aplenty and some illuminating commentaries included with this set which make it great value too. I now intend to get all the other seasons of the Shield as I am definitely hooked and deserve another big box set.

This is an American TV series that is about these corrupt policemen it doesn't feature dramatic music like other TV shows it's like it's filmed in a documentary style. The episodes all follow the policemen doing stuff and them trying to hide the bad stuff that they have done. Most of the American actors were unknown at the time they made this TV series. It became bigger as the series went on though.

An entertaining and darkly humoured cop series. The stories are compelling and the dialogue is slick and intelligent. A real departure from the run of the mill crime dramas. And joy, THERE'S NO SWEARING!!! This series is testament that a well crafted drama doesn't need the cheap trick of effing and blinding to get peoples attention. I fervently hope that the later series don't resort to swearing as I've just bought 2 through 7!!

From the very first episode, "The Shield" became immediately my most favourite TV series and even if later I found that "The Wire" was even better, still I faithfully swallowed all the episodes until the terrifying and grandiose finale seven years later. I own all the seasons on DVD and I will keep them for EVER!I really don't want to provide spoilers, so I will say only the strict minimum about what those extraordinary series are about. Everything happens in the fictional Farmington district of Los Angeles, quite obviously nicknamed "The Farm" and the local police station ("The Barn") is located in a reconverted church. Farmington is possibly the poorest and the toughest district in whole Los Angeles and the level of violent crime there is simply amazing, mostly due to the presence of numerous well armed and extremely violent drug trafficking street gangs. Somehow reflecting the image of the whole Farmington "The Barn" is not exactly in great shape and most of the toilets are frequently out of service, to such a point, that men and women have mostly to share the only facilities left...)))"The Barn" just received a new captain, tough, efficient and extremely ambitious David Aceveda (brilliant Benito Martinez). Although he received a very tough assignment, in one aspect Aceveda was lucky - his most senior detective is Claudette Wyms (wonderful CCH Pounder), a non-nonsense and tough as nails middle aged woman who is possibly the most dangerous (for offenders) criminal investigator in the whole Los Angeles. Another great asset for "The Barn" is Sergeant Danielle "Danny" Sofer (Catherine Dent), another very tough gal who was simply BORN to be a cop and who now, after 15 years on the force, is especially appreciated as trainer of rookies.But the real "heroes" of the series are the four guys who form the "Strike Team", an elite anti-gang unit based on the LAPD's real-life Rampart Division CRASH unit. Detective Vic Mackey (amazing Michael Chiklis) is the leader and the rest of the team is composed of his trusted friends Shane Vendrell (Walton Goggins), Curtis "Lem" Lemansky (Kenneth Johnson) and Ronnie Gardocki (David Rees Snell).Now, from the very first episode one thing is absolutely clear - all the four guys in the "Strike Team" are bad, REALLY BAD COPS! Bad like in corrupt - in fact they are much more dangerous than most of the criminals they put behind bars... However, they do their day jobs pretty well - it's just that they also have a second, very interesting, very lucrative and totally illegal activity (in fact more than one...). And I am not saying more.There are also some other regular characters, two of which provide most of the humour on the series (yes, albeit very dark, "The Shield" contains also tons of hoots): quite competent but somehow pathetic detective Holland "Dutch" Wagenbach (Jay Karnes) and a completely demotivated slacker, detective Steve Billings (David Marciano).Other than the originality of the plot (the "heroes" are bad, corrupt police officers), the main reasons why "The Shield" is such a great show are as follows:- extremely tense and dramatic plot in every single episode, with unexpected twists and clever surprises- absolutely brilliant dialogs (with certainly a lot of strong language)- an absolutely amazing gallery of secondary characters, some of which resurface occasionally in later seasons- a quite realistic portraying of life in poor ghettos of Los Angeles and of all the racial tensions in those areas, with many incredibly cruel and horrible and occasionally also some hilarious, outlandish events (not all of them criminal) described which were actually inspired by real dramas...- an excellent camera work in many action scenes, reminding of footage taken by war correspondents working in the first line of battle- an AMAZING soundtrack mixing gangsta rap, heavy metal and all other kinds of extreme, but mostly very good musicNow, of course the plot is sometimes stretched a little - I cannot imagine that those four guys from "Strike Team" would ever be allowed to continue their murderous criminal rampage for seven years in a real police force. But honestly, I don't complain. In fact I am a little bit sorry, that there couldn't be at least one more season...Bottom line, this is an AMAZING show, ground breaking and still absolutely UNIQUE when the selection of "heroes" is concerned. To buy, watch, cherish, keep and re-watch! ENJOY!

We've just finished watching the first version of The Shield and it is terrific - great gritty LA police series that clearly influenced such later police series as 'Southland' (which is also set in LA and which is highly recommended too).Just one point I want to add: it took us about five episodes to really fall in love with The Shield, so give it a bit of time to work its magic on you. (it took us seven episodes to fall in love with The Wire, another fantastic series).The extras (on the US import I have) include commentaries, about 20 short deleted scenes (also very good) and a good 20 min, 'making of'.We're just about to start series 2 - unbelievably, I got great secondhand US import copies of the first four series of The Shield for about £2 each!