'The Shield': One of TV history's great finales
<DL class=byline><DD>November 25, 2008 </DD></DL>THE SHOW "The Shield"
WHEN|WHERE Tonight at 10 EST on FX
REASON TO WATCH The series finale
CATCHING UP Shane (Walton Goggins) and Mara (Michelle Hicks) are hiding out, while Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) gets his immunity deal with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) via a confession - "We had to cut some corners when I was a cop" - and a promise to net drug lord Guillermo Beltran (Francesco Quinn). Unaware of the deal with ICE, Corrine Mackey (Cathy Cahlin Ryan) helps Capt. Claudette Wyms (CCH Pounder) and Det. Dutch Wagenbach (Jay Karnes) lay a trap for her husband. As for Ronnie Gardocki (David Rees Snell) - he's swinging in the wind.
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WHAT TONIGHT'S ABOUT An increasingly desperate Shane tries to save Mara while pressure builds on Vic to reel in Beltran and somehow keep his immunity deal secret from Gardocki. While trying to grasp the enormity of Mackey's crimes, Wyms and Dutch have to battle some complicated issues of their own. And Vic's fate? At the recent press tour, CCH Pounder told critics, "[He] gets exactly what he deserves." Hmmm. The episode is directed by Clark Johnson ("The Wire") with a Hitchcock-like cameo at the end.
BOTTOM LINE Someday far in the future, a graduate student will write about post-9/11 American culture and, after stumbling across shows like "The Wire" and "The Shield," have an "epiphany." Aha! Perfect examples of the apocalyptic mood sweeping the nation, with their inverted heroes and twisted moral wastelands! A word of advice to Mr. (or Ms.) Brainiac. Forget about it. They're just television shows. But what shows they were. Based on a real-world event, the Rampart police scandal, "The Shield" was an enclosed universe which either absorbed you completely or repelled you completely. So tonight: Should repellers watch, too? Your answer: The episode is one of the truly great finales in TV history, and - like "The Shield" itself - a towering achievement for this medium. This closer is so tautly acted and produced that your chest muscles will ache. (I'm sorry, "Sopranos," but this is how endings should end.) So yeah, watch.
GRADE A(+)
<DL class=byline><DD>November 25, 2008 </DD></DL>THE SHOW "The Shield"
WHEN|WHERE Tonight at 10 EST on FX
REASON TO WATCH The series finale
CATCHING UP Shane (Walton Goggins) and Mara (Michelle Hicks) are hiding out, while Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) gets his immunity deal with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) via a confession - "We had to cut some corners when I was a cop" - and a promise to net drug lord Guillermo Beltran (Francesco Quinn). Unaware of the deal with ICE, Corrine Mackey (Cathy Cahlin Ryan) helps Capt. Claudette Wyms (CCH Pounder) and Det. Dutch Wagenbach (Jay Karnes) lay a trap for her husband. As for Ronnie Gardocki (David Rees Snell) - he's swinging in the wind.
<!-- END google ads -->
WHAT TONIGHT'S ABOUT An increasingly desperate Shane tries to save Mara while pressure builds on Vic to reel in Beltran and somehow keep his immunity deal secret from Gardocki. While trying to grasp the enormity of Mackey's crimes, Wyms and Dutch have to battle some complicated issues of their own. And Vic's fate? At the recent press tour, CCH Pounder told critics, "[He] gets exactly what he deserves." Hmmm. The episode is directed by Clark Johnson ("The Wire") with a Hitchcock-like cameo at the end.
BOTTOM LINE Someday far in the future, a graduate student will write about post-9/11 American culture and, after stumbling across shows like "The Wire" and "The Shield," have an "epiphany." Aha! Perfect examples of the apocalyptic mood sweeping the nation, with their inverted heroes and twisted moral wastelands! A word of advice to Mr. (or Ms.) Brainiac. Forget about it. They're just television shows. But what shows they were. Based on a real-world event, the Rampart police scandal, "The Shield" was an enclosed universe which either absorbed you completely or repelled you completely. So tonight: Should repellers watch, too? Your answer: The episode is one of the truly great finales in TV history, and - like "The Shield" itself - a towering achievement for this medium. This closer is so tautly acted and produced that your chest muscles will ache. (I'm sorry, "Sopranos," but this is how endings should end.) So yeah, watch.
GRADE A(+)
