Post-Mortem: The Shield: 2002-2008

“Good cop and bad cop have left for the day. I'm a different kind of cop.”
-Vic Mackey, The Shield “Pilot”

Loose canon cops have been fodder for movies and TV shows for a long time. Who cares about the cop who just does what he’s told? It appeals to that desire to rebel against authority and pursue our interests. At first glance, where Vic Mackey’s roughing up drug dealers, The Shield feels a lot like that, a wish fulfillment of seeing the worst of society be punished by someone with the power we lack. However, in the pilot’s closing moments Vic, having just shot down a drug dealer, takes the dealer’s gun and murders fellow Officer Terry Crowley, who was working with David Aceveda to take down Vic’s corrupt team. Vic Mackey wasn’t going to be a typical loose canon, and The Shield wasn’t going to be the typical cop show.

Much like The Sopranos helped build HBO into the place for quality, literate drama, The Shield built FX into the place on basic cable for boundary pushing entertainment. It paved the way for the graphic surgeries and sex of Nip/Tuck, the self destructive anti-heroes of Rescue Me and the Seinfeld on crack antics of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The Shield also proved to the premium snobs that quality drama works on basic cable. In the years since, cable networks have stepped up with high quality shows from FX’s offerings, the burgeoning AMC’s Mad Men & Breaking Bad and Sci-Fi’s Battlestar Galactica franchise. It’s going to be interesting to see how FX fares without its flagships shows or whether it’ll dip like HBO has lately.

The Shield took advantage of what might’ve been considered a deterrent: the limits of basic cable content. Because there is a perception of more limits of what to show on basic cable, The Shield is more shocking on FX than if it were on HBO (a similar case can be made towards South Park on Comedy Central). HBO would have to go pretty far to produce something genuinely shocking now. When the series premiered, I remember ads proudly promoting The Shield as the show networks were too afraid to produce, and it worked as a launching pad for the series and the network as a whole.

Premiering six months after 9/11, it was risky to pick up a show about crooked cops when the public eye was so focused on the heroism of the profession, especially as it’s the network’s first attempt at a major drama. However, that issue seemed to disappear quickly, although I’m sure there were plenty of police continually offended by some of the portrayals seen on the show. There was a clear effort to show these were fictional cops and not a scathing expose on how police operate. On the show the cops wear their shields on the wrong side, and aren’t exact reproductions of the shields real police wear. The biggest divider between fiction and reality is that never in the series’ seven years do they mention LAPD, instead focusing on the fictional Farmington district in Los Angeles. Of course, that won’t stop some people from making that connection since the LAPD doesn’t have the best reputation.

As the series progressed, the question often brought up seeing Mackey rough up the bad guys is how much are we willing to put up with to feel safe. In the pilot, Claudette remarked that most people don’t care if a cop beats up someone in the ghetto, so long as those who commit the crimes are caught. The Shield went to the extreme, showing Vic burning a child rapist’s face against a stove place, almost drowning another in oil and tying up and brutalizing the man he believed to be behind a colleague’s murder. This became increasingly relevant in the wake of prisoner abuse scandals in the War on Terror.

Of course, this leads to comparisons to another law enforcement official on TV, 24’s Jack Bauer. A lot has been written about Bauer torturing suspects to get information, including some from people who argue as if he were real, but that’s another topic altogether. Bauer’s methods go as far as they can for network TV, but Jack never faces the scrutiny for his actions the way Vic has. He may get verbally reprimanded, but the results he provides are more than enough to justify his means. This may simply be a result of the format of 24, where Jack’s tactics reinforce the urgency facing whatever threat Jack is trying to avert and the constant crisis doesn’t allow much for legal consequences. Jack’s actions have been portrayed more favorably than Vic’s, but both have suffered major consequences for their actions: Jack has also lost most of his friends and family.

The other character worthy to compare Mackey to is one of his likely inspirations: Tony Soprano. Soprano opened the door for Mackey, as well as the plethora of anti-heroes that have been on TV in the subsequent decade. Placing him on the other side of the law gives him more of a moral code than Soprano. While the oft-maligned and maybe misunderstood Sopranos finale was harshly criticized for its lack of closure, the fates of Soprano and Mackey are very similar: both survived close wars with rivals that devastated their status quos, but survived to live with the consequences.

Unlike its fellow shows on FX, The Shield didn’t have any significant dip in quality. As a serialized show, it’s one of the few to have a definite beginning, middle and end point, something few of them end up doing. Thanks to its hybridization of the arc and case of the week stories, the show didn’t get too bogged down in its story, save for the second half of season six and the first half of the final season. Often that can make rewatching early episodes difficult knowing a satisfactory end isn’t there (X-Files). However, that doesn’t apply here. The series gets strong as it progresses and ends satisfyingly. My favorite season, the fifth, is a huge turning point in the story when the end game begins to be clear. How many shows can claim their best season was the fifth?

While Michael Chiklis’ brilliant portrayal of Detective Vic Mackey, one that gave him the first Emmy for a basic cable show, is certainly worth all its commendations, the rest of the cast is certainly deserving. On top of ones mentioned in the series finale review, there’s Jay Karnes’ Dutch, the nerd who could always be counted on to crack the worst cases; Kenneth Johnson’s Lem, the conscience of the Strike Team whose murder was the beginning of the end of the series; Benito Martinez’s David Aceveda, a politician with dreams of reform that erode as the series’ progresses. Then there are the recurring special guest stars, each of which could’ve been mere stunt casting, but rose above it. Glenn Close’s turn in season four as reform minded Captain Rowling turned into a comeback role, leading to her acclaimed performance on FX’s Damages. Forest Whitaker, a year before he won his Oscar in The Last King of Scotland proved a worthy foil to Vic in the season five cat and mouse game between them. The most surprising turn, however, was Anthony Anderson, previously best known for goofy comedies, as bloodthirsty kingpin Antwon Mitchell. This role was a turning point in his career, and lead to him landing roles in dramas like K-Ville and the Law and Order franchise.

Really, the series should be delved into deeper, and someday I hope to do a more in depth discussion of the series’ arc, perhaps seasonal overviews because a few pages isn’t enough. That’s one reason why it’s taken so long to get this review out.

2008 saw the end of two significant crime dramas, this one and HBO's The Wire (coincidentally, both series’ pilots and finales were directed by actor Clark Johnson). With a glut of TV shows about cops and detectives, especially of the CSI variety, both stood out with their bold styles and stories. Some have even compared the two shows. However, both shows have a different mission statement. The Wire was a defiant social commentary about political corruption and urban decay. While there was plenty of corruption, urban decay and epic tragedy featured on The Wire, The Shield was a character driven, action-adventure show. The Shield wasn’t about how the streets became what they are and why they stay that way. Regardless, both shows leave a huge void in the TV landscape. There will always be cop shows, but CSI: Miami won’t cut it until the next brilliant one comes along.