Hey 3.5 readers.
Went on a stroll down memory lane this weekend, way back to the early 2000s, when I was a huge fan of the Shield. FX was new back then, and this was one of the shows that built that network. Tough, gritty, all about the anti-hero who you partially rooted for and partially wanted to fail.
In the first episode, the clock is ticking when a young girl has been kidnapped and every second counts when it comes to her safe return because God only knows where she’s being kept or what condition she’s in.
When a pervert suspect demands a lawyer, all the by the book cops are stymied by procedure, but fear this scumbag will walk while the girl dies in whatever secret dungeon she’s being held in.
Enter Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) who turns the camera off, lays out his torture tools, and proceeds to beat a full confession out of the pervert. The girl’s location is revealed within minutes and she’s returned home safely.
Good Vic.
However, by the end of the episode, Vic suspects a new member of his strike team detective unit is working undercover for his captain, trying to dig up dirt, and so during a raid of a drug dealer’s hideout, Vic shoots said dealer, then shoots said informant in cold blood, then plants the gun on the dealer. Doing so allows Vic and the boys to continue with their long running scam of stealing drugs from crime scenes and selling them to a drug dealer on their take.
Bad Vic.
And thus is the conundrum of Vic Mackey that lasts for nearly a decade of great TV. Vic has a super power in that he’ll bend, break and completely ignore laws that most cops won’t. Many times he does this for good – to save lives, particularly innocent lives – we cheer when he brutalizes psychos and scumbags, murderers and killers and saves innocents but then we are aghast when he commits crimes and murders witnesses in the name of being able to line his pockets with illegal drug money for another day.
Have you ever seen it, 3.5 readers? What say you?
Bookshelf Battle 
Wow….I haven’t seeing this show in quite sometime. I remember watching this movie when it first aired. I think I came into season four and followed it from there (buying the DVDs of the previous seasons). It was definitely a very gritty show before TVs series started that trend. Plus, I do love all the acting talent involved on this project. Might have to revisit this series again sometime soon.
Sopranos and Breaking Bad tend to get all the golden age of cable television credit while The Shield is long forgotten. I watched it from day one and loved it. Rewatching it though you can definitely tell the 2000s were a different time.
Man I loved this show. And yes the pilot episode you knew you were watching a very different type of cop show. This does not get the credit it deserves. Definitely due a rewatch soon. And the ending of the series was also superb.
I appreciate it more looking back. You can see how he uses his bad cop skills for good (beating the girl’s location out of the pervert) or evil (killing Terry). And that first episode ties a lot of the whole series together, coming back again and again. And spoiler alert but it sounds like you saw it anyway. Yeah, what a great ending. Vic stuck at a desk job for the rest of his life really was the worst punishment anyone could have dreamed up for him. This is a rare show that stuck the landing.