f13.net forums - Television Review: The Shield S3E3

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April 20, 2024, 07:32:32 AM

we're back, baby

So, I'm trying to figure out what the point of this show is. I mean, cop drama, yeah, except the cops are all evil. Or maybe they're just ruthless. Or maybe they're just dramatically interesting, or conflicted, or misunderstood. I don't know. Whatever they are, they certainly are very determined in being it.

Regardless, it's a damn good show. It's a bit predictable (Come on, who didn't see the ex-rapist trying to rape the woman coming), but it's predictable in the way that a tragedy is – you can see the horrific things coming a mile away, and half the fun is waiting for them. The other half of the fun is watching Vic and company completely and utterly beat people down.

This lets the show be fun in two different ways. For those of us who already tend to regard the police with suspicion and mistrust, the show satisfyingly confirms that mistrust. It shows cops as the corrupt scumbags we tend to assume they are, and we get to watch it in the hopes that Vic and company will eventually get what's coming. On the other hand, for those of us who believe that cops take a lot of shit they shouldn't have to, and that justice demands that criminal fucks get the shit beaten out of them a bit – especially if they're otherwise going to scam the system – the show is equally satisfying. Sure, Vic's relationship with the law is a dodgy one to say the least, but he gets the job done.

Ultimately, the show's brilliance comes from how it manages to have it both ways. On the one hand, it is very satisfying to see the whiny whore forced to suck off Vic's gun as he threatens her. On the other hand, Vic is a fucking asshole, and I eagerly await the episode where he's finally brought down. The show confronts us with what, frankly, many of us know to be the truth about how big city police forces operate. But it also confronts us with the fact that, frankly, we like it that way.

The show's one failing is the emotional moments – frankly, the characters are all just too cruel and too dislikable for any of the scenes that are intended to have emotional resonance and character building to work. This episode, frankly, had too many. The show works when it makes us choose between Vic's methods or allowing criminals to walk. It works when we're loving every second of it, and hating ourselves for liking it. When it tries to make us care about their families… not so much.

The Shield airs almost constantly on F/X.

I don't know if you've watched the show since the beginning or if you are just picking it up. I think you've missed one thing in the whole series.

Sure, Vic is an complete fucking asshole. But there are moments in the show where he comes off as a completely sympathetic character. You WANT to root for him to turn it around, take it straight, or at least succeed without spiraling even farther down the shithole. And sometimes he does, but the character just can't seem to control his darker urges. He's probably one of the consumate examples of the anti-hero. Chiklis has deserved every accolade he's gotten for making the character not only dislikable, but sympathetic at the exact same time. A lesser actor would not have been nearly as successful in the role. He's the "guy you love to hate, or hate to love" and he does it very well.

I am not sure how long they can continue to walk the line on the show without capping one of the main characters. Last night's episode with Tevan (Tavan?) and Shane at the end was electric. The Shield has succeeded at giving us a character we can like and trust, then slapping us around like a bitch for liking and trusting the character. I give it 5 seasons tops before it gets old, but what a set of seasons.

I just picked it up, so if Vic is sympathetic, I haven't seen it yet. Still, I enjoyed it enough to keep watching, if not to throw down money on the DVDs of the first two seasons.

I really would suggest the DVD's. There is a very strong set of character arcs that have been going on for a while now. There's Acevedo's election campaign, Vic's flirtations with corruption/salvation, the Vic marriage disintegration, Dutch Boy and Weems' arc, Julian's struggles with homosexuality, etc. I'd imagine a lot of the events you see in each episode have an origin somewhere in the past two seasons. It isn't so strong that you can't get understand a single viewing, but it does flesh out the characters so much more.

Many of the parts about Vic's relationship with his family help add to the sympathy we feel for the character, as well as his relationship with the hooker who got killed that was referenced in the episode you watched.

I'd like the DVDs. It's just this food thing I need to eat periodically that gets in the way. =/

Damn hunger. It gets in the way of my entertainment all the time.

Netflix has the... hint hint

You absolutly have to watch the first 2 seasons. It makes the show much more enjoyable. Once you really start to know the characters, even a look from Vic can be outright comedy.

I have religiously watched this show since the very first episode, and it is the very top of my TiVo lists.

IMHO the only show that comes close with such good characters is Nip/Tuck.

They both have the guy you "hate to love". In Vics case he is a total badass, and at the same time trying to be a good father, it is a great struggle to watch unfold on the small screen.

I've seen the entire first season, and a handful of random episodes after that. I really like the show, but television is a pretty low priority for me. I either simply forget to watch it, or have to work, or am doing something else. If I'm flipping through and it's on, it stays on, but that's about the best any TV program can hope for from me.

I did talk my mother into watching it a while ago. After she'd seen a couple we talked about it, and I think she summed it up perfectly when she said, "I don't get it. Is he a good-guy or a bad-guy?". I really have no answer, which I think is the major draw for me. The main character does some pretty shitty things, but many things I applaud. The show often makes me wax philosophical, and argue with myself over when The End Justifies The Means and so forth.

Great show.