The Shield

[Theodore O Jackson]

> I don't like cop shows, so haven't watched it.  What's so good about it?

Basically that the good guys aren't always good, and the bad guys aren't
always bad.

Huh?  I've watched every episode, and EVERY bad guy was a 100%
asshole.  As were the cops too, except for Claudette...



 The central character, Vic, and his team kill a cop during the
first episode, basically because they're crooked and he's been sent to
spy on them (these aren't really spoilers). 

That said though, Vic and his pals do manage to achieve some good as
they use police work to enrich themselves. The question is raised as to
whether, though rough methods and undercover work, they can achieve more
good than those cops who won't stray from the straight and narrow. The
storytelling is easily clever enough to have viewers rooting for Vic and
his boys.

The good cops, and politicians, are shown to have their own flaws
(laziness, ambition, etc). Meanwhile some of the truly bad guys are
shown to act with honour once in a while. 

We must have watched different shows.  The only positive thing you
can say about the villains on that show is that some of them subscribed
to a sort of 'honor code,' but you wouldn't want any of them babysitting
your kids!



This shades-of-gray approach permits some fantastic storytelling and for
once, the cop-with-family-troubles cliche is stood on its head as those
become an integrated part of the plot.

Week by week the story builds. Each episode seems to have Vic juggling
too many balls in the air and his, and the team's comeuppance seems
inevitable. Yet the storytelling takes twists and turns so that this
doesn't always happen in expected ways, and the tension is ratcheted up
and up again.

It's violent and no two ways about it. In fact for the first half-dozen
episodes, Lucy and I weren't sure we'd be able to watch it. After that,
the storytelling itself gripped us. It really is a tribute to the skills
of the best in the business over in the US. We're about to get the last
ever episode of seven series here and I'm still agog to discover how it
all ends (I MEAN this: no spoilers on that...)


I think you'll like the way things turn out.  I would have liked a little
more on Dutch and Claudette, and Julian gets pretty short shrift, but in a
big ensemble cast it's hard to cover everyone's exit...