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BluRay/DVD Reviews

THE SHIELD: SEASON SIX

By • Sep 11th, 2008 •

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The fifth season ended with the boys determined to find out who killed Lem, a member of their strike team, and to then kill that person, not realizing that one of their own group (Shane – Walton Goggins) was the perpetrator. Season Six finds them tying up loose ends. For the first three episodes, Vic (Michael Chiklis) is chasing a false lead, while Forest Whitaker’s character ,Lt. Jon Kavanaugh, is under the impression that it was Vic who killed Lem, so he frames him. However, Kavanaugh’s plot immediately fails, and…I’d rather not reveal any more, but you see where it’s heading.

With time, THE SHIELD has proven to be one of the most brilliant shows ever made for television. Its exploration of society’s underbelly is morally challenging. It’s about people falling apart when confronted with their own evil. Everyone’s losing it this season… including Vic, who nonetheless is handling it better than most, having figured out, and grown comfortable with, his own morality long ago. Everything he touches he corrupts or destroys. The only thing more impressive than Vic’s moral bankruptcy is his familiarity with the rules at play in various criminal undertakings.

The quality of the discs is exemplary, highlighting the show’s lovely, gritty photography. The direction is tight and fast…and unified, despite there being nine helmers, including Chiklis and Frank Darabont. The scripts are as taut and compelling as ever, abounding in fresh ideas. The performances are terrific. Look forward to the triumphant return cameo of Carl (“Apollo Creed”) Weathers, who previously appeared a few seasons ago, as Vic’s mirror image.

Extras abound, including commentaries for almost all the episodes, featuring the actors, writers, and directors. It’s interesting to hear comments from Frank Darabont, who floats back and forth between theatrical features (the great THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION; the good THE GREEN MILE; the good THE MIST) and TV. Producer/screenwriter Shawn Ryan tells how he courted Darabont, and Darabont explains how, using his clout, he transgressed on cable series’ sacrosanct province of the ‘word,’ even after the editor informed him, in post, that cutting dialogue couldn’t be done. Most interesting.

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