"The Shield": Basic Cable Groundbreaker Ends as it Began
By Ed Martin TV / Video Download Archives
When a series that has commanded uncommon critical respect and made an outsize impact on television history throughout its run reaches its final episode, it is not uncommon for reviewers to refer to its passing as the end of an era.
But FX’ gritty game-changer, The Shield, deserves something more. After its final episode has been telecast, the era of adult basic cable entertainment that this singularly unique police drama ushered in will most definitely not be over. Instead it will continue to grow and to flourish, as it has since March 2002, when crooked cop Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) and his Strike Team tore through the opening hour of The Shield with a fire and fury and four-letter ferocity that had never been seen in advertiser supported original programming. The season that followed proved transformative, exciting viewers, program creators and advertisers alike and making them all aware of the untapped potential of basic cable to offer something that couldn’t be found anywhere else on television, at least without paying premium channel rates. HBO and Showtime had a ballsy new competitor on deck, while other basic cable networks realized that they would have to step up to remain in the same league. The Shield set the stage for several acclaimed FX dramas to follow, including Rescue Me, Over There, Damages and (in its early seasons) Nip/Tuck. One might argue that it also primed its medium for the eventual arrivals of such unapologetically grown-up series as Sci Fi Channel’s Battlestar Galactica; TNT’s The Closer, Saving Grace and upcoming Leverage; and AMC’s Mad Men and Breaking Bad.
Thinking back on it all, it seems to me that The Shield isn’t so much a series coming to an end as a story reaching its conclusion. The drama that went down in the series’ premiere episode and has remained in recurring play ever since – especially that unforgettable moment at the start when Vic murdered Terry Crowley, a fellow officer who had learned too much about the Strike Team’s illegal actions – is right at the forefront as the characters careen into the series finale. Clearly, Shield creator Shawn Ryan planted the seeds for an explosive ending way back at the beginning and carefully cultivated them for as long as necessary, unaware at the time that his tale would span seven seasons. Room was made along the way for extended related sub-plots, including entire seasons that largely revolved around individual characters (Glenn Close’s chillingly competent Capt. Monica Rawling, Anthony Anderson’s sinister crime boss Antwon Mitchell and Forest Whitaker’s unscrupulous Lt. Jon Kavanaugh) who came, advanced the stories in play (sometimes with tragic results) and then exited, burning holes in the canvas without ever pulling the focus of the drama away from Mackey and his men and the women in their lives.
Ryan’s work throughout hasn’t simply been first-class storytelling. It has been world-class show-running. The Shield has been punctuated with explosive surprises and shocking twists from start to finish, but it never jumped the shark, compromised its characters, became repetitive or changed its direction, as so many long-running series do. Its biggest transgression has been the occasional extreme complexity of its stories, including the sometimes hard to follow business of the Mexicans and the Armenians earlier this season. But its density has never distracted from its overall power or the masterful performances that made it one of television’s best series ever. That electricity has continued right into its final weeks with the nerve-frying extended showdown between Mackey and his trusted friend turned most wanted enemy, Det. Shane Vendrell (Walton Goggins).
The industry took immediate notice during The Shield’s first season of its uncommon quality and promptly awarded series lead Chiklis with an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. I will never understand why certain of his co-stars (or outstanding guest stars Close, Anderson and Whitaker) weren’t similarly honored since that time. I long ago lost faith in the voting members of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences to properly reward this talented troupe, but they are going to look ridiculous if they don’t recognize Chiklis and Goggins with nominations next summer in the Lead Actor and Supporting Actor categories, respectively. As murderous tensions have continued to mount between their characters, no two actors on any television series this season have played off each other with such brutal intensity. Further, I can’t remember the last time I was as riveted to my television screen as during the final sequence of last week’s penultimate episode, when Mackey – after taking a long moment to begin speaking the damning words out loud – confessed all of his crimes (beginning with the murder of Terry Crowley) to a federal agent after being granted immunity. Chiklis was both thrilling and chilling to watch. As he spoke, taking long-time viewers on a disturbing trip down the madness of Mackey’s own memory lane, one could see his face change from dedicated law enforcer and family man to cold-blooded killer and master manipulator and back again. It is one of many scenes from the run of this show that will be impossible to forget in the years to come. What an amazing accomplishment.
Ed Martin
Ed Martin is the chief television and content critic for MediaVillage. He has written about television and internet programming for several Myers publications since 2000, including The Myers Report, The Myers Programming Report, MediaBizBloggers a…
