For the previous reviews in the Homicide series check here:
The Complete First Series (Seasons One and Two)
The Complete Second Series (Season Three)
The Complete Third Series (Season Four)

I'm trying to push on and finish reviewing the last of the two Homicide DVDs currently released in Region 2 before the Fall season hits and reviewing old DVDs becomes a thing of the past. I've only been doing it this summer because it's a slow time for television; there's been precious little to talk about apart from Burn Notice, Psych, Middleman and the excellent Generation Kill.


Starring:
Richard Belzer as Detective John Munch
Yaphet Kotto as Lieutenant Al Giardello
Kyle Secor as Detective Tim Bayliss
Clark Johnson as Detective Meldrick Lewis
Andre Braugher as Detective Frank Pembleton
Reed Diamond as Detective Mike Kellerman
Melissa Leo as Sergeant Kay Howard
Michelle Forbes as Dr Julianna Cox
Max Perlich as J. H. Brodie

The fifth season of Homicide marks the debut of a single new character the new chief medical examiner Dr. Julianna Cox (Michelle Forbes) and the promotion of J. H. Brodie (Max Perlich) from reccuring guest to main cast member. Additionally Megan Russertt (Isabella Hofmann) moves down to reccuring guest star as well.

Set a while after Pembleton's dramatic stroke during the final episode of the previous season he's returned to duty but is currently confined to his desk. Andre Braugher is one of the powerhouse actors in this series and his performance as the still stroke impaired Frank Pembleton is hauntingly powerful. At times it's genuinely uncomfortable to watch him struggle along with things he used to do with ease (mind you, he does recover very quickly and is back up to his original strength - which is a huge break from realism for the show - but it was done because of poor audience reception to the change. )

It's business as usual for the members of Baltimore's Homicide unit as the season runs through the usual mix of cases; including a hostage situation in a school, a prison riot, investigation into Mike Kellerman on charges of corruption and we discover a previous member of the Homicide unit's ultimate fate...

The fifth season continues the standard of exellence raised by the previous seasons and is also the one with the least disruptions when it comes to cast changes, as such the third, fourth and fifth seasons hang together exceptionally well. It's a great set of episodes from a stunning show.



Packaging:
I've always had a slight love/grip relationship with the region 2 Homicide sets from Fremantle Media Enterprises and series four is where the balance tips and my opinion slides off the edge of the see-saw and wallows around in mud and sewage. I do like the members of my boxed sets to sit on the shelf and hang together as a series. I know that not everyone cares about this as much as I do, but I don't think it's too much to ask for a little polished presentation in the product. Some pride you know?

Fremantle on the other hand obviously don't care about getting this season out with any kind of pride. Now I can almost forgive the switch in packaging style to using the generic plastic book style. It's a cost cutting exercise, but it does mean that the newer sets are nearly a full inch shorter than the older three. But they also decided not to include a cardboard dust sleeve, which means that not only are they smaller but they also look completely different on the shelf.

Additionally the back of the boxed set boasts not one, not two but three pictures from entirely the wrong seasons.


From top to bottom you have in picture one Stan Boulander (Ned Beatty) and in picture two Beau Felton (Daniel Baldwin) both of whom left before the start of the previous season and the third picture features both of them and Crosetti (Jon Polito) who left after the first season. Additionally the blurb on the back claims to have "All 22 Episodes of Season 4..." Seriously, Season 4? Do they not have anyone who fact checks this stuff before throwing it out to the printers? It's season 5...

This is all a shame because I actually feel the black and neon styling used on the box art is superior to the American version. It's just a lack of consistency that lets the side down.

Extras:
None. See previous reviews, I shan't complain again here.

Details:
Run Time: 1056 mins approx
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Audio: 2.0 Stereo
Languages: English
Colour: Colour/PAL
Subtitles: English

Price:
This time it's HMV who win the price wars with a staggering offer of £11.99 for the complete fourth season. That's the lowest I've ever seen and it comes out at 1.13ppm, that's a new front leader in the highest amount of footage for your money and we're talking about quality footage here, Homicide is one heck of a good show. Seriously, wow. At that price I can ignore the packaging farce and just enjoy the quality of the show.


I'm torn in two directions by this, the show itself is an undoubted work of art; there's not a single duff episode amongst the lot and it's everything a fan of Homicide of police drama could wish for. But the product put out does not reflect the same standard of excellence. Now the old saying is, never judge a book by it's cover and it holds up here. But still, it's hard to be content with the final product when it has so many annoying gaffes.


Direct Link

For the previous reviews in the Homicide series check here:
The Complete First Series (Seasons One and Two)
The Complete Second Series (Season Three)


Starring:
Richard Belzer as Detective John Munch
Yaphet Kotto as Lieutenant Al Giardello
Kyle Secor as Detective Tim Bayliss
Clark Johnson as Detective Meldrick Lewis
Andre Braugher as Detective Frank Pembleton
Reed Diamond as Detective Mike Kellerman
Melissa Leo as Sergeant Kay Howard
Isabella Hofmann as Captain Megan Russertt



The Complete Third Series of Homicide contains all 22 episodes of the fourth season of the show as originally aired in 1995. Homicide is very much the spiritual predecessor to The Wire and is also an amazing show in it's own right. The fourth season brings with it some cast changes; Beau Felton (Daniel Baldwin) and Stan Boulander (Ned Beatty) both leave the show before the season starts and it introduces Detective Mike Kellerman played by Reed Diamond (Terry Crowely - The Shield). The season also introduces one of the major kingpins/foils/recurring villains for the show in the form of Luthor Mahoney (Erik Dellums), who's presence both on and off screen is almost palpable.

Over the course of this season a huge range of events would rock the department; from a gas pipe explosion, the second crossover episode with Law & Order ("For God and Country), sniper attacks and even marriage. It's a stunning season filled with the gritty, understated brilliance that you come to expect from the show. There's a good reason why Homicide is critically considered to be such a brilliant, pivotal and influential show; watching it you can't help but appreciate why.


The UK version is produced by Fremantle and is the last of the UK editions to be packaged stylishly in my opinion. There is a rather questionable photograph used on the back cover as it's clearly taken from the first two series - Crosetti (Jon Polito) is in it along with Lewis (Clark Johnson) - which is just poor quality control. Crosetti is not in the fourth season at all; but he still appears three times on the artwork for this boxed set. Seriously Fremantle, who's in charge of double checking this stuff? It's such an obvious and irritating mistake and it's a shame because the rest of the product is ace.


Outside of this gaffe it's a superb piece of work; it's a fold out cardboard book contained within a cardboard dust sleeve. The entire thing oozes with style and matches up exceptionally well with series one and two. It's a pity I can't say the same about Series 4 and 5 but more on that later...

What extras? Fremantle decided to again deny the Region 2 viewers any of the amazing extras that the Region 1 viewers get. Yes, I am bitter about this. If you want the extras I'd recommend getting a region free DVD player and purchasing the Region 1 versions instead. Enough said about that matter.

The Details:
Run time: 1100 mins
Aspect Ratio: 4:3 Full Frame
Audio: 2.0 Stereo
Colour: Colour/PAL
Subtitles: English - Hard of Hearing

Price:
The winner by absolute miles is sendit who have it at £17.89 (with free delivery as always) and that's a pretty insane 1.6ppm. I can't recommend picking it up enough at that price; especially if you enjoy police procedurals. In fact at that price I'd go as far as forgiving the lack of extras and the box art gaffe.

Additionally HMV occasionally put the Homicide boxed sets up for £15 a piece, but it's for limited periods. Just check your local high street store occasionally and you might even be able to get all of the series currently released for £15 a pop.

Season Three was were Homicide really began to hit it's stride, but season four is every bit as capable; it's a testament to how strong the writing and acting is when two major characters are lost but it doesn't even miss a beat. The problem with this boxed set are the exclusion of extras, the lack of attention on packaging art (tbh that's a minor gripe) and a sudden major change in packaging style which occurs with the next two series boxed sets. But I'll cover those later.



Direct Link

This is a continuation of what I'm loosely calling "Shield Fever" on my part, first of all before I get into the thrust of what I'm going to talk about today there's a post over on Alan Sepinwall's blog which has spoiler free thoughts after the experience of watching episodes one to eight of the final season (Direct Link). As these have been released to critics it seems inevitable that they will all get leaked onto the Internet within a month or so (which is what happened to episodes of The Wire's final season), but I doubt we'll see the final episode of the show make it up in advance because that's under serious wraps and not even the cast are talking about it (but some of them obviously want to). This means I might not run ahead and watch all of those episodes even if I get the chance. But I might watch them a day or two early so I can review on a Tuesday instead of a Wednesday (which is often an incredible busy day for me).

Anyhow, first of all a general request to other TV bloggers out there, if you come across stuff about The Shield's final season that doesn't contain spoilers please, pass it on to me. Thanks.

Today I'm going to look at the various characters as they approach the final season, look at the situation they're in, what they have gained so far, how they've developed and what they have left to lose. Because let's face it, the final season of The Shield is going to be all about the losses. That's the mythos of the show - personal loss and dealing with it...

More beyond the link...

The Strike Team:

Detective Vic Mackey:

Since the very first episode of The Shield the stakes have been high for Vic. His shooting of fellow police officer Terry Crowley is the single largest crime he's committed and the one he hasn't really paid for in any shape or form yet. There are people with suspicious out there; David Acevada at the forefront but as IAD have failed to make a case twice against him for this it's likely that Shane is the one who'll end up dropping the ball and landing Vic in it if anyone.

Vic is one of the greatest examples of duality in modern media; he lands on both sides of the law at the same time. Willing to go to extraordinary lengths to protect and serve it's this attitude which probably slid him into the life he's involved in now. He's willing to break the law to bring criminals into justice but he's also willing to break the law to protect himself or his men. This duality of character continues into his personal life; he loves his family with such a passion and just about everything he does is ultimately for his kids. The money he steals mostly ends up funding tuition for his two younger autistic children and he's clearly a loving - but misguided - father. But Vic is also a terrible adulterer, he's just unable to help himself when it comes to other women and as such he's managed to lose close contact with his wife and his family. Even Danny Sofer - the mother of his illegitimate child - is unwilling to let him be too closely involved in her family life.

Vic has already lost almost everything in his life and he's in an intensely dangerous position at the start of the third season. Shane has not only arranged for a release of information if he ever dies - thus trapping Vic into protecting Shane or at least not killing him - but he's also gotten into bed with the Armenians, who are easily the most vicious members of the criminal community in The Shield and told them too much.

It's unlikely he's going to get off scott free given the nature of the show, but I'm not totally convinced that killing him will happen either. Now there are several suitable candidates for finally overturning Vic and I'll mention who they are in their relevant entries. I see four possible ways this could go; Vic being shot by a fellow cop - ironic, Vic retiring in disgrace and living his life alone separated from his children with nothing left - unlikely due to the blackmail material he has, the Armenians catching up with Vic and ending him for the money train heist and Shane's evidence being released, which would result in prison and most likely execution.

Ultimately I think that the line which may predict Vic's fate was uttered by Kavanaugh in season six.

"One day, the Universe will take out its trash."

The end of the show will spin around Vic's final fate and I love the character so much that I'd like to see him survive, but I'm not convinced it's possible. Still, there is one other possible outcome - Shawn Ryan has indicated in one Q&A session (on the Season 5 extras) that Vic might (and I do mean might) just walk away from everything and leave it all behind. I think I could appreciate an ending like that. But we'll have to see.

Shane Vendrell:

Shane is the second member of the Strike Team directly linked to Terry's death; while he did not pull the trigger he is responsible for conspiracy because he was the only other person present in the room at the time Vic pulled the trigger. Initially he did show remorse about this but as the show has progressed Shane evolved into the villain of the piece. This is one of the crowing achievements of the show, the biggest monster on it is the best friend of the lead character. Ironically the Shane of the later seasons is almost entirely a creation of Vic's influence; but the catalyst for the changes in his character is his wife Mara. After Mara came into the picture Shane became exceedingly selfish and has evolved into a grotesque caricature of what he pictures Vic as. The first major signs of this was the Tavon incident, where Shane cost the team a man who could have become one of their own given time and this is just the first in a long series of screw ups that Shane lands himself and the rest of the team in. In season four he gets in too deep with Antwon and has to be bailed out by Vic and Lem, which lands Lem under IAD investigation, which means Shane mistakenly believes Lem has turned and kills him, so Shane then spends a lot of time trying to avoid being discovered by Vic and when he is found out he runs to the Armenians for protection which once again lands Vic, Ronnie and Vic's family into the picture. A long chain of actions and reactions that were all triggered by Shane's actions.

Shane constantly attempts to emulate Vic, but suffers a lot because he's nowhere near as intelligent. The reason he consistently lands in hot water is because he just doesn't have the mental vitality of imagination, both to see the potential consequences and to maneuver his way out of problems. Vic is capable of political machination of a high degree, Shane is just capable of getting himself and his friends killed.

Ultimately Shane is very unlikely to make it out of the show and honestly doesn't deserve to. Just about every bad event that hits the Strike from the fourth season onwards can be directly traced back to Shane's actions. Something Vic himself realises once Shane reveals the truth about Lem's murder.

"I had the chance to pull the trigger on you once before; I didn't do it, and Lem lost his life because of it!"

Ronnie Gardocki:

Ronnie has always been something of a dark horse in the Strike Team and the viewers have learnt little about him beyond his work life. It's clear that he's intensely loyal to Vic and while he initially showed some doubts about breaking the law he's proven time and time again that he can take to it like a duck to water - unlike Lem and Shane who were tortured by the murder of Terry - Ronnie was only upset that Vic didn't tell him because if he'd known he could have helped protect Vic. Fans originally felt that Ronnie was in the show just to be killed off, but that belief has already been used to great effect when his face was burnt by Armadillo. He's also the only original strike team member left alive who's not directly involved in Terry's death and while he could go down for a lot of charges of corruption and the like as far as I know there's nothing linking him to killings... yet.

With the termination of Kevin Hiatt Ronnie is now in charge of the Strike Team and it will be interesting to see how things develop for him. As the seasons have progressed he's taken a larger and larger role in the show and I suspect the seventh season will either be the making or unmaking of him. He's certainly a level head as shown when Shane sets up his incriminating documents and reveals Vic's murder of Terry Ronnie's reaction is to side with Vic but attempt to look for a peaceful method of solving the problem between the three. Hopefully Vic will cut Ronnie lose to save him from any devastation and he'll have a chance to either start over or walk down the same path as Vic.

Julien Lowe:

Julien is the one current member of the Strike Team who's on the level, but even he isn't completely immune to the corruption that infests the Barn. His past struggle with homosexuality (he 'fought' against it due to religious reasons) has brought out something of the brute in him. In the past his desire to conceal his sexual orientation even sparred Vic when he caught the Strike Team stealing cocaine during a bust. On the whole Jullien knows that Vic, Shane and probably Ronnie are not clean. But it's Vic who he has the most ire for. It's this distrust of Vic combined with a violent temper and past history that means he would probably shoot Vic if the situation warranted it. I think he'd prefer a clean shooting if he had the chance, or a legitimate arrest, but ultimately Julien just wants to see the back of Vic one way or the other.

Tavon Garris:

Tavon is worth a mention here because he is confirmed as returning to the show for the final season. Tavon is the second biggest lost the Strike Team have suffered after the loss of Lem, both of which were facilitated by Shane. It's difficult to speculate any further with regards to Tavon. Last we saw he was seriously injured; possibly to the point of forced retirement, and he had been convinced that his injuries were caused by an accident.

Tavon was a capable and brilliant cop who would have fitted right in with the rest of the Strike Team given trust and time. While it's hard to tell if he would have gone over the line all the way he was happy to be involved in illegal wiretaps and often eager to dish out justice through any means necessary. His involvement in the final season is going to hinge on if he recalls the fight with Shane and Mara, if he does then he's going to be a serious issue for Shane to deal with.

Either way I welcome the return of the character as I was very fond of Tavon.

The Officers:

Claudette Wyms:

Claudette has gained so much in the show as the seasons progressed, she's moved from a successful detective career into a well deserved Captaincy and she's not once compromised her sense of ethics or morals and has always remained firmly on the side of the law. No matter what it's cost her in the past she's always been a completely straight arrow, even when Kavanaugh had Vic bang to rights with some planted evidence Wyms refused to use it because she was unwilling to use fake evidence, even if it would mean bringing down a dirty cop for good. There are no compromises with Wyms and in a show of such moral ambiguity she's the one true beacon of justice.

What the seventh season has in store for her I don't know, the Barn is in trouble and if that goes down she could lose her Captain's rank. She's also a serious candidate for dealing with Vic once and for all and if someone was going to bring him down legally I'd have her or Dutch as the front runners.

Holland 'Dutch' Wagenbach:

If any character has managed to evolve over the seasons it's Dutch, but his path has never been straight and true. He's certainly been more corrupted by events than his past partner Claudette, but it's departmental/political maneuverings that involve most of the more underhand tactics he's employed. He has a serious history with Vic and the two have something of a playground relationship; with Vic being the bully, Dutch the target of his cruel taunts. Dutch also has a tendency to ride on Vic's coat tails with regards to women, he's often expressed interest in women who've also dated Vic.

If anything Dutch is closer to the line than any other detective, he seems to spin along the edge of the line between law and crime like a penny which hasn't stopped yet. Dutch understands killers, he spends hours dealing with them in the show and this interaction has taken it's toll on him. The cat killing scene in particular was a very disturbing low for him and while it didn't go much further there has always been a question mark over him. How far would/will he go? Would he pull the trigger on Vic if he had to? Will he manage to find out that one thing which ends Mackey's reign?

The sixth season ended with him kissing Danni, a pursuit that's almost as old as the show itself depending how this turns out it could make a huge difference on events. There is the irony of Dutch ending up raising Vic's child with Danny and that's quite a delicious concept...

Steve Billings:

Billings is a genuinely underhanded wretch of a man, not only content with fleecing the department members via his own vending machines; he's also stood by while a murder occurred, set Dutch up to get hurt by paring Tina with Haitt then arranging for Dutch to see the whole thing and at the end of the sixth season he announced he was suing the department itself for injuries sustained when a brawl between Kavanaugh and Vic caused him to hit his head on a desk. The injuries seem genuine, but Claudette doesn't believe so and suspects him of attempting to defraud the city. Given Billing's character this is very possible.

Now he has left the barn, but Billings's law suit has major potential to affect everyone in the Barn as such a high profile lawsuit could spell the end for the project. It may well be the straw that breaks the camel's back and causes the end of the Barn.

David Acevada:

David has stood the test of time as a foil to Vic, but he's never quite proven himself strong enough to win a decisive victory. As it stands now Acevada is in quite a predicament, the oral rape from season three still hangs over his head and while he could have spun it in the past to his advantage, his actions that followed - shooting Ricky and having Juan murdered by Antwon's men - have dug him into a hole that Vic is more than happy to manipulate and Vic is a master of manipulation.

Despite initially noble intentions Acevada has become heavily corrupted by both his desire for success in politics and his contact with Vic. As such he's now in a precarious position, disposing of Vic would be ideal for him, it would serve to cut all ties with the past and allow him to move on towards the Mayor's offive. But it's going to be very difficult to manage due to the sheer amount of blackmail material Vic now has on him and other politicians.
Direct Link

As the most macho - no make that MACHO (is that macho enough?)- show on television is returning for it's final season next week I thought that this would be a good time to take advantage of all the watching those DVD reviews involved and recap the show before it grabs it's viewers by their nether regions and twists until it's all over. If you've not watched the show at all I'd recommend you don't read beyond the link as it's going to be exceedingly spoiler heavy, instead check out my 'Why You Should Watch... The Shield' feature and if you like the sound of the show play catch up by watching the DVDs instead (first season here for £9.99, sorry I don't know enough American stores to be able to suggest a good place to start over the pond). The show is so good that you really don't want to go spoilering events in it before watching.

For those of you who have watched the show up to the end of season six the rest lays beyond the link...


Starring:
Michael Chiklis as Detective Vic Mackey
Walton Goggins as Detective Shane Vandrell
Kenny Johnson as Detective Curtis "Lemonhead" Lemansky (Seasons 1 to 5)
Benito Martinez as Captain David Aceveda
CCH Pounder as Detective Claudette Wyms
Catherine Dent as Officer Danielle "Danny" Sofer
Jay Karnes as Detective Holland "Dutch" Wagenbach
Michael Jace as Officer Julien Lowe
and David Rees Snell as Detective Ronnie Gardocki

Guest starring:
Glenn Close as Captain Monica Rawlings (Season 4)
Forest Whitaker as Lt. John Kavanaugh (Season 5 + 6)

Season One:

The first season introduced us to the LA district of Farmington, it's police headquarters - nicknamed 'the Barn' and the radical anti-drug squad called 'The Strike Team'. The Strike Team consisted of the team leader Vic Mackey, his number two Shane Vandrell, Curtis "Lemonhead/Lem" Lemansky, Ronnie Gardocki and Terry Crowley (Reed Diamond). In the pilot episode the first important plot point occurs, Terry is covertly investigating into the Strike team for Captain Acevada on accusations of corruption. But at the climax of the episode Terry is shot by Vic (who was tipped off by Assistant Chief Gilroy) with only Shane as witness to the murder.

The remainder of the season deals with the fallout from Terry's death and Aceveda's suspicions. While Detectives 'Dutch' and Wyms track down a serial killer and Officer Sofer is assigned new recruit Julien Lowe to train, training which is complicated by Julien's struggle against latent homosexuality.

The season ends with riots breaking out and Acevada forced to co-operate with Mackey (a theme which reoccurs often in later seasons) both to quell the riots and to deal with Gilroy's attempts to pit them against each other.

Season Two:

The main thrust of Season two deals with the Armenian Money Trail Heist, this is the second of the major events to occur in the show and it plays out over multiple episodes. While the Armenian's appeared in the first season it's the appearance of the shows first kingpin - a sadistic feet loving individual by the name of Armadillo - who positions them into a serious place in the storyline. Armadillo directly attacks the existing drug trade in Farmington which has a knock on effect on the Strike Team, who support certain members of the local drug trade to supplement their income. As they investigate into the Armenians they discover the existence of the money train and the plan begins to fall into place, but it doesn't run entirely smoothly - especially after Vic burn's Armadillo's face and as a consequence get's Ronnie's face burnt in retaliation. After this an additional member is brought into the Strike Team, one Tavon Garris and he remains part of the team until events in the third season hospitalise him (well Shane does)
Eventually Armadillo is caught, but he escapes...

Elsewhere in the Barn Gilroy skips out on bail after illegal estate scamming and is smuggled out to Mexico by Vic, Dutch and Claudette continue to investigate cases and some of them begin to take their toll on Dutch's strength of character, Acevada continues to struggle between proving Mackey's corruption and working with him while Sofer and Lowe continue to patrol the streets and deal with more domestic cases.

The season ends with the heist going off successfully and the Strike Team making it away with a huge amount of cash.

Season Three:

But no-one can expect to steal that amount of cash and not have consequences. In this case the Armenian response is visceral and the body count in Farmington begins to spiral out of control. This is a serious problem for the Strike Team who have decided to play things by the book from now on as they're sat on a massive amount of cash and set for life if they play things right. This is a problem for Tavon who feels that he's not a part of the team and they're excluding him from something. It's a shame because Tavon is ideal 'real' Strike Team material and if he'd joined them earlier the team would have had another co-conspirator to share the burden. Eventually Shane and his shrew of a wife Mara seriously injure Tavon and hospitalise him, ending his role in the series... Actually, that's not the case - I can reveal that Tavon will be returning for the seventh season in some way.

Acevada brings in the Decoy team - another specialist task force - with the intent of replacing or reducing the influence that the Strike Team have and begins to make maneuvers towards a place on the city council. Armadillo realises that the Strike Team will eventually find and kill him, so he surrenders to the police instead, but Vic arranges for a prisoner to get a shiv and Armadillo is killed. Which has a major impact on Sofer's career, because she was the one who searched the prisoner and as such is held responsible.

Wyms and Dutch discover that a D.A. was a heavy drug user; information which makes all of her cases questionable and while Dutch is willing to suppress this Wyms isn't, which puts her in the s**thouse and really compromises her chances of further promotion. But this is typical of Wyms who is one of the straightest characters in the show, she follows the letter of the law and to heck with the consequences.

There is also another event which has major repercussions along the way, during a raid on a drug house Acevada remains behind alone and is attacked by two gangers, Juan and Ricky. Juan forces Acevada to perform oral sex on him at gun point and the pair are set to kill him when the Strike Team arrive and save him. He covers up the facts of the rape immediately.


By the end of the third season poor Lem's nerves have had enough with all the pressure and the final episode ends with him taking the only action he can think of to save his only family (the Strike Team) from both the Armenians and any investigations; he cracks and burns most of the money in a furnace that the Strike Team had used earlier in the season. The rest of the Strike Team fail to stop him in time.

Season Four:

This season brings major changes to the landscape, not does Acevada leave the position of Captain and become a councilman but the Strike Team has disbanded and Vic is left a shadow of his former self in his job. This season introduces Detective Billings (who is an underhanded yes man) and Captain Monica Rawlings (Glen Close) who is determined to turn things around in Farmington. Meanwhile Acevada continues to try and deal with being a rape survivor by taking revenge on the two who were involved (killing Ricky in a shoot out robbery and arranging for Antwon to kill Juan after he's arrested and attempts to blackmail Acevada).

On the street the One-Niners have risen back up to the top of the pile with the help of one Antwon Mitchell. Who has Shane (now in Vice) and his partner 'Army' over a barrel, potentially in the frame for murder as Antwon used their guns to kill a young girl named Angie.

The main important events of this season are based around the reforming of the Strike Team and Lem going the extra mile for Shane but putting himself into a seriously bad situation when doing it. He illegally confiscates a block of heroin while trying to lever information about the location of Angie's body and it's noted and swapped with a fake by an investigating officer sent by Rawlings.

Eventually Antwon is brought down and imprisoned; Shane is in the clear (but Lem has a price to pay for this), Rawling's controversial search and seizure plans end her career, Dutch passes up a chance to become Captain of the Barn out of loyalty to Wyms and things appear to be looking solid for the Strike Team in the future.

Season Five:

After Captain Rawlings retired Billings rose up to fill the Captaincy after Dutch refused to become the 'yes man'. Throughout the season it becomes clear that Billings is not the right man for the job, so eventually Claudette Wyms is given the position she deserves and the Barn gets it's second female Captain.

The major thrust of this season returns to two things; Lem's confiscating of the heroin without handing it into evidence control and Terry Crowley's death. Both of which are being investigated by Internal Affairs Detective John Kavanaugh, who intends to use Lem's charges as leverage to break him and get Mackey over Crowley's death. But Lem is completely loyal to his family and genuinely ignorant of the truth in Crowley's death (as is Ronnie). As the season progresses Kavanaugh grinds into Lem and mounts more and more pressure towards the Strike Team. The season is very much a charting of the fall from grace of Kavanaugh as it is the downfall of Lem. One of the major points in this is Lem actually saves Kavanaugh's life from a stray grenade, showing how good a person Lem actually is - because if Kavanaugh had died the invesigation would have been over. Eventually Kavanaugh realises that Lem would never crack and is somewhat ashamed over his actions, he comes to like and respect Lem.

In the midst of all this Julien becomes the training officer for a pretty young policewoman named Tina Halon - who flirts with Dutch all season and Danny is pregnant but won't reveal who the father is.

The final episode of The Shield is the single most tragic episode in the entire run; at the climax of the episode a harried and stressed out Lem is blindsided by Shane, who kills him with a grenade as he's afraid Lem has turned on the team (something Lem would never do). This holds all kinds of irony, Lem saved Kavanaugh from a similar fate earlier in the season (if Kavanaugh had died Lem would have been in the clear and safe) and also even more tragically Shane has killed Lem because Lem saved Shane's career. If Shane hadn't screwed up so badly in the fourth season Lem would never had moved outside the lines and would still be alive.

Vic's snarled words to Shane and Ronnie set the tone for the next season:

"We're gonna find whoever did this, and we're gonna kill 'em."

Season Six:

Season Six was originally intended to be the second part of season five, but it was broken up and turned into a separate season. It deals mostly with the fallout after Lem's death and charts the final fall of Kavanaugh, who becomes corrupt himself in his rabid pursuit of Mackey. Something that he confesses to Claudette Wyms, who despite her misgivings about Vic remains true to her morals and arrests Kavanaugh for planting fake evidence. Wyms remains the pillar of morality in this show (and is a serious candidate for toppling Mackey in the end)

The rest of the season deals with Vic and Ronnie's tireless pursuit of Lem's killer and Shane's attempts to at first conceal his actions and then later set things up to avoid Vic taking vengeance on him. (I think Shane might do well to watch out for Tavon coming in from the left field as well...) There is a new detective brought in to replace Vic (who's facing retirement still) and Julien is promoted into the Strike Team as well. Billings continues to manipulate things while working with Dutch, twisting the knife into both his now partner Dutch's back and the Barn.

Vic discovers about Acevada's rape and uses it to form an uneasy alliance between the pair, with the intent of allowing Vic to keep his job.

Worst of all, Shane continues to act in a stupid fashion that endangers everyone around him as he gets into bed with the Armenian mob.

That's it, you should be entirely up to speed with everything that matters in The Shield and you should be ready to get going for the final season's gut wrenching fallout...

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(There's no Burn Notice reviews for a few weeks after this one because BN is going on hiatus while the US Open is on. But there will be two more episodes after that.)

This week Michael is reunited with a previous client and is asked to help retrieve some anti-viral medication for a children. It's a pretty "burn notice" light episode; in that it deals more with the events of the case and less with the ongoing search for who burned Michael and why...

More after the link...

Direct link to the Crimespree Cinema short review here.

This week I'm trying to cut down on the length of my review, because it was getting pretty out of hand. When I realised that I'd written near on three thousand words last week I thought I should try and scale back a little. Hopefully this one will be a little more concise and less of an essay to read.

Unlike previous weeks where the plot has felt a bit 'bursting at the seams' this weeks episode deals mostly with the events of the client case and has just a small (but entertaining) sideline set of scenes dealing with the sniper rifle from the previous week. Michael is meeting up with an arms dealer called Seymour (Silas Weir Mitchell - most famously known for his portrayal of Haywire on Prison Break, but also from Dexter and My Name is Earl), Seymour doesn't seem to quite understand (or maybe want to understand) what Michael is there for. He spends most of the episode using Michael as kind of a bodyguard and the scenes with them both in are particularly entertaining, just like Valentine (Method Man) and Victor (Michael Shanks) from last week's episode he's an interesting enough character that would be nice to see reoccurring occasionally.

Speaking of reoccurring characters, this week's episode features one. Virgil and you'd be forgiven for saying 'who?' because I'd pretty much forgotten all about him myself. He's an Ex-Navy Seal with a bit of a thing for Madeline and he'd previously appeared in the first season episode "Unpaid Debts". He's played ably by Chris Ellis, but obviously he'ss not that memorable an actor because I'd completely forgotten about him until this episode brought him back (mind you I forget about most clients quickly because Burn Notice doesn't really refer to it's history/backstory/previous episodes much).

The triangle of interactions between Michael, Virgil and Madeline provide some of the lighter moments in the episode. But at times the interaction is a little stretched and doesn't feel realistic. It's a fine line between the two and Burn Notice doesn't always quite hit the right note here.

On the other hand, the scenes where Virgil is working with Michael and/or Sam are fantastic, especially the golf shop scene where a little 'creative golfing' piles enough pressure onto the store owner which gets him to reveal that a criminal named Gerard is behind the original anti-viral heist.

In comes Sam Axe as Chuck Finley! Which is always a delight, as I adore the scenes where Bruce gets to dress up in a suit and act like some big shot. He really sells it all the way to the market and back. This episode is no exception and Sam's scenes with Gerard are just top notch, he's pitch perfect with his delivery in these scenes and it really shows how much Bruce needs to be given another show all of his own (or a 4th Evil Dead Movie, I'd go for one of those). Anyway, Sam finds out that the gang is too late to try and set up a buy for the medication, it's already been sold - but it hasn't been shipped yet.

So the gang come up with a plan, but they need an inside man for a fake heist and as usual Sam volunteers Michael for the job. So the persona of 'Jackson' is created (it's possible this is a reference to Daniel Jackson - Michael Shank's character on Stargate) and Jeffrey gets a chance to showcase some acting skills. Jackson is a cowardly, asthmatic and timid chemist who's unwilling to get involved unless he's forced. Jeffrey's performance as Michael is excellent; he stammers all over the place, physically changes the way he holds himself and overall shows that he's got more in his acting range than just Michael and bad accents.

Virgil poses as the target for the operation, a boat courier/smuggler who's transporting "steroids on steroids" and things are looking pretty smooth. Except that Gerard is pretty tight lipped on the information and it turns out the only way to find out where the medication is being stored is by actually going through with the heist. Because Gerard won't let 'Jackson' out of his sight Michael has to interrupt Fi's date plans (with a mysterious paramedic who's probably Victor) to get a message across to Sam and Virgil. It looks like the heist will have to become a real one and actually happen.

So we're treated to some great scenes where Sam and Virgil doctor up some fake canisters with a selection of special effects and commandeer Michael's fridge to transport them. Then it's off to sea with Michael, Gerard and some mooks. But there's another hitch, it turns out that Gerard (in a scene where he's vocally channelling Brock Samson) plans to ensure there's no witnesses. Michael thinks fast and manages to weasel his way into getting his hands on a gun. Which is soon uses to fake shooting Virgil before tossing him overboard (with a handy explanation that Navy Seals can hold their breath for a long time). There's a great moment in amongst this where Michael realises that the fridge being used is his own one, he doesn't look to impressed at it.

Then back at the warehouse where the new meds are stored Michael discovers two problems, it's huge and the other meds are spread all over the place in locations that Gerard refuses to reveal. So it's time for Chuck Finley to make a return appearance!

This is a great little scene where 'Jackson' turns up and starts blubbering about how Chuck Finley is some kind of Keyser Söze and how he's going to take all the meds and then kill everyone. So Gerard and the crew move in, which is when Sam strikes while Fi ensures the police will be there on time.

Finley rolls in right during the unloading with a truck while Jackson surmises that there must be men in it. So Gerard's men turn the truck into Swiss cheese with machine guns and while they're distracted Michael drops his facade, fells one of Gerard's men, shoots the truck (where explosives are mounted) causes it to blow up and takes off with the meds in the truck. Gerard and his men end up getting arrested, but they're still alive - which makes a change for this season.

Finally we're treated to one last scene with Haywire Seymour and Fi. Throughout this entire episode there's been quite a bit of tension between Fi and Michael over her date; it's been nicely understated as well, present if you look for it but not so obvious as one of them outright talking about it. There's a great little moment before the door where Michael tells her she looks beautiful and they both pause awkwardly before Seymour's bodyguard-dude opens the door and lets her in. In a tense scene we find out that there was a place in Miami where someone could get a high powered Russian sniper rifle calibrated (was being the important word there, fire tends to make things go up in smoke) and Michael leaves with a name.

After previous episodes which felt sometimes overburdened with stuff it was nice to have one which scaled back a little on the burn notice part and instead gave us a little character development for Madeline (with Virgil) and some good wholesome fun in the style of the first season. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the way this season has managed to marry the brun notice metaplot with client cases (this time last season there was narry a whiff of the burn notice plot) but it is nice to have an episode where one can relax and just enjoy things without masses going on at once.

I enjoyed it a lot and I'm happy to give it a 3.5 for classic Burn Notice and reoccurring characters.



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On general release in the UK on the 25th of August (yes, that's right I'm actually reviewing something before it comes out for once.)

Starring:
Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester
Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester
With:
Jeffrey Dean Morgan as John Winchester
Jim Beaver as Bobby Singer
Katie Cassidy as Ruby
Lauren Cohan as Bela Talbot



I talked a little about Supernatural previously; mostly it was about how apprehensive and unsure I was about the series. I liked the concept of the show but I was concerned about the cast (very small with two exceptionally photogenic/pretty boys) and I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy it. But I managed to pick up a copy of the first season cheaply and was very quickly hooked into it.

When Sam and Dean were young, their mother was killed in a fire. But it was no ordinary fire; this fire was of a supernatural origin and nearly killed them as well. But their father John Winchester (The awesome Jeffery Dean Morgan) managed to save them. Over the years John raised Sam and Dean to be hunters and fighters; champions against the unnatural, eventually Sam rebelled against this life while Dean continued to fight alongside his father.

But; one day that old life comes back to haunt Sam, it turns out there's no escaping it and alongside his brother the two of them seek to find their father and avenge their mother's death.

The first two seasons of the show were fantastic and the third season of the show has raised the stakes once again, I was worried that a show with such a small core cast couldn't threaten it's characters effectively. But I was wrong about that, while Sam and Dean have a somewhat jaded, brazen and 'been there, done it' attitude towards many of the creatures they encounter - which in itself is quite hilarious at times - there are things and events which effect them hard. The finale of the previous season was one such set of events and the third season is based around dealing with them; literally.

Something that always impresses me about the show is how well it manages to combine a sense of realism with a tongue in cheek understanding that the show is a bit silly. The characters themselves often make reference to things that viewers will have noticed as well, including the strange weaponry they use:

Here's an example of this from the second season, this is in the excellent episode "Hollywood Babylon" where Sam and Dean have been drawn to a Hollywood set where a crew member was found dead. The conversation directly references the actual methods used in the show; but it highlights the absurdity of the notion. If you think about it for too long it stops making sense, so you just accept shotguns loaded with rock salt because they look cool.


It's touches like this that make the show something special.



Consistency is the name of the word when dealing with the packaging of Supernatural, each season looks very similar in design, the spines of each set are almost identical and the layout of the front and back is kept in a similar template with varied box art. I'm a stickler for how DVDs look on the shelf and I'm always pleased when they look good together as a set. Season three is a five disc set containing fifteen episodes (writers strike cut it short) with the discs placed in slimline (not slimeline!) dvd cases. There's a mildly amusing bit of quality control failure as the third set apparently contains discs 5 (plural?) and while that's a minor error at best it's still a little disappointing to see things going out with mistakes like that on them.

Extras:
There is a nice selection of extras in this set:
From Legends to Reality - a look into the special effects in Supernatural
Supernatural Impala - which gives viewers a closer look at the Chevrolet Impala used in the show (nicknamed the Metallicar by many viewers)
A Closer Look - Segments that showcase favourite aspects of specific episodes
Ghostfacers! Confessionals - A Minifeaturette Gallery
and a Gag Reel

Edit: Just to confirm for those people coming from TWoP all of these extras are present and accounted for on my Disc 5 of the UK release. They all also work as I watched them today. I would post this myself on the forum, but my registration hasn't cleared yet.

Price:
It's available now from Play.com for only £17.99 and it runs for 624 minutes. That's 2.9p per minute, which is very respectable for a brand new release. But of course it won't stay like that for long. So grab it while it's hot.


Supernatural is one of those shows that on paper seems like a really silly idea, two handsome young brothers travel around in a car solving mysteries and fighting monsters. But, as I said; I'm thoroughly impressed with Supernatural and I'm glad I gave it the chance to prove my initial doubts completely wrong. It's brilliant fun and worth watching for anyone who previously enjoyed shows like Angel or Buffy, horror films/novels or for people who just enjoy good solid drama with a dark sense of humor that doesn't take itself too seriously.

4 TVs for the third season of Supernatural, great stuff!
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In 1972, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. In 1995 Charlie Crews was sent to prison for a crime he didn't commit, for twelve years he struggled as an ex-cop in prison until he won his appeal and was cleared of all charges. His settlement is substantial; including a large amount of money and reinstatement as a detective in the LAPD.

Now is an excellent time to get into Life as it's about to start it's second season with a relaunch "pilot", this is to provide an entry point for those of you who missed the first season. This episode will be launched on the 29th of September, so if you're inclined you can get up to speed in the five weeks you have left quite easily.

But what is Life about? Well, as the introductory paragraph suggests it's a police procedural drama centered around one Charlie Crews (Damian Lewis - Band of Brothers). A man who's spent a considerable amount of time in prison after being framed. After being released thanks to the tireless efforts of his lawyer Constance (Brooke Langton - Melrose Place, Friday Night Lights) and has had his job in the LAPD returned to him as part of his settlement. Charlie returns to the world a changed man - having absorbed many teachings of Zen Buddhism - but he's very unwelcome in the police force as many of them feel he is in truth guilty. Charlie is placed under the supervision of Lieutenant Karen Davis (Robin Weigert - Deadwood) and partnered up with Detective Dani Rees (Sarah Shahi - Teachers, The L Word, Alias). The LAPD cannot fire Charlie for any old reason, but Davis makes it clear that they will use anything as an excuse to get rid of Crews. Detective Rees is also not keen to be partnered with Charlie as she's both suspicious of him and finds him annoying.

Life follows a mix of typical police procedural cases; many of them interesting - a personal favourite being the episode where a man is found "standing" dead next to a fridge in an almost empty house without his legs - and an over-reaching metaplot where Charlie attempts to find out who framed him and why. It's this gradual voyage of discovery that keeps the hooks running from one week to the next, but it's not the primary reason to watch the show.

Lewis is powerful and commanding as Charlie Crews; he brings an intensity to the screen that portrays a man divided. Charlie is driven by a thirst to discover 'why'; but he also attempts to follow the teachings of Zen, which tells him to let go. He's an outdated man who's been unable to keep up with developments in the world and has emerged into an almost alien world filled with high tech computers and mobile phones. He has been compared to House and Monk in some reviews as there are echos of that style of character in him, but he's not a clone of them - just similar.

The supporting cast all give excellent performances themselves. Sarah Shani is excellent as Dani Rees; she portrays a gradual acceptance of Crews with great skill and provides a good partner for him on screen. Adam Arkin as Ted is fantastic as well; Ted met Charlie in prison and now handles his finances. He provides a level head for advice and Charlie trusts him completely with his money, despite the fact that he's an ex-con.

Robin is almost unrecognisable when compared to her role in Deadwood, before she was the drunken slurring Calamity Jane. Here she's a hard nosed piece who's been stuck with the bad penny and she's been given orders to get rid of Crews if possible.


Life is a slick and enjoyable show to watch; it's not the most sophisticated show out there, but it is entertaining. Damian Lewis is the main reason to watch this; he's intense and captivating, but there's plenty more to like.

The show started out strong and is still young, so while it's not got the hype of Heroes, Lost or Dexter it is still worth putting on your radar. Especially if you're a fan of Lewis or Police dramas.

I for one will be looking forward to the premiere of the second season and will probably be recapping events in it periodically.
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For reviews of previous seasons see here (spoiler potential for each season in the reviews):
Season One
Season Two
Season Three
Season Four
Season Five
A Why You Should Watch (I recommend reading this if you want to know a bit more about the show without spoilers) and a direct link to the short entry for the show in My Top 50 Shows.

Complete review after the link:

Starring:
Michael Chiklis as Detective Vic Mackey
Walton Goggins as Detective Shane Vandrell
Benito Martinez as David Aceveda
CCH Pounder as Captin Claudette Wyms
Catherine Dent as Officer Danielle "Danny" Sofer
Jay Karnes as Detective Holland "Dutch" Wagenbach
Michael Jace as Officer Julien Lowe
David Rees Snell as Detective Ronnie Gardocki
Alex O'Loughlin as Detective Kevin Hiatt
and Forest Whitaker as Lt. John Kavanaugh


Following on directly from the earth shattering events of the previous season, season six gives us a world in turmoil. The department has refused a full funeral for Lem and Claudette has been ordered to hold all officers in overtime so they cannot attend, Vic is determined to find Lem's killer and bring him to justice, Shane is attempting to hide the truth about his actions, Kavanaugh is driven to bring Vic down, a mass murder in Farmington has Dutch and his new partner Billings distracted from investigating Lem's death and new blood is recruited into the strike team.

The season is as intense as it's ever been; Vic is battling against grief, anger, Kavanaugh, forced retirement and Shane. He's determined to find and kill whomever caused Lem's death, but he's not yet aware that Shane is the guilty party. Kavanaugh's fall from grace becomes complete this season when he plants evidence in an attempt to bring Vic down for good.

Meanwhile Julien is promoted to the Strike team along with Detective Kevin Hiatt who is drafted in to become the new Strike Team Captain. This brings additional pressure to the Strike Team as it becomes harder for Vic, Shane and Ronnie to communicate. Shane in particular spirals out of control with grief; his actions become more and more wild as the season progresses and you're left wondering when he's going to crack. Needless to say, by the end of the season he's placed everyone in such a dangerous situation.

It's rather interesting the way Shane and Vic progress in this season, Vic starts out completely unhinged - willing to throw his life away if it means he'll bring justice to Lem's killer - but as the season progresses he regains control of his emotions and by the end he's relatively composed (considering the situation) able to maneuver a long time enemy Acevada into an alliance. While Shane loses control more and more as the season progresses until he's painted himself into a corner with the worst possible bedfellows - the Armenians.

This season is shorter than most of the previous seasons because it was initially intended to be shown as the second part of season five. This does mean that the season feels a little lighter than expected and it runs by with incredible pace, at the end of the final episode you're left feeling a little 'is that it?' Which is a shame, but when you realise that this is really the second half of a season it's understandable.

It's still a fantastic set up for the events of the final season. Thirteen episodes starting September 2nd!


After the strange and frankly terrible colour scheme used for Season 5 we're fortunate that the style is back closer to the original four seasons. While there are differences the predominate theme is white text on a black backdrop. The spine fits perfectly with the rest (See the post on season five for an example) and it's a lot better than the early art that was bandied about...

Seriously, while that shot is a fantastic piece for style and mood it's utterly spoiler-tastic - that's obviously Lem's face! I'm not sure if the R1 boxed set actually has this front piece or not, but it's pretty bad news for someone who's watched the first four seasons without seeing season five. There are enough spoilers in this age of the Internet without the shows spoilering themselves unintentionally. But thankfully R2 users get a less spoiler-riffic shot that shows a clearly grief stricken Vic in a slightly ambiguous pose.

Now there is was a second problem with this set being bandied about and it's about the wonderful people at Sony's editing room. Not content with cutting about thirty minutes from the previous season finale it was thought that they had cut more material from the sixth season. But I can confidently deny this now, the run time for the season is 9 hours and 52 minutes for ten episodes; that's what it should be. So don't worry about that, while we did lose stuff from the previous season finale and that sucks hard we get all of this season. It's just shorter than the previous seasons by a few episodes.

Extras:
There are not a lot of extras in this season boxed set. There are a total of four featurettes and that's it. Which is a bit of a 180 compared to previous seasons and most annoyingly there's no commentary here; which is a real shame because I do enjoy watching stuff with commentary on at least once. There's not much else to talk about, the featurettes are good - but it's not enough.

Price:
Amazon win out this time @ £14.97 (Play are next @ £16.99 and HMVfont> have the best 'street' price @ 17.99). This is 2.5p per minute, which is very reasonable but not surprising because the boxed set has been out for about a year now.


While not as stunning as the previous two seasons, season six still delivers it's punches well and stands like a giant above most other television. It's proven time and time again that it can twist the plot in directions you wouldn't expect and it's been consistently able to raise the stakes every season. Which is no mean feat when you consider the set up of the first few seasons.

It's not the best season, but it does include some of the best moments and it's every bit as essential to watch as the rest are.



4.5 for the overall package; both the season and the DVD itself are a little below standard. But that means they're still well above most other shows out there.
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Starring:
Michael Chiklis as Detective Vic Mackey
Walton Goggins as Detective Shane Vandrell
Kenny Johnson as Detective Curtis "Lemonhead" Lemansky
Benito Martinez as Captain David Aceveda
CCH Pounder as Detective Claudette Wyms
Catherine Dent as Officer Danielle "Danny" Sofer
Jay Karnes as Detective Holland "Dutch" Wagenbach
Michael Jace as Officer Julien Lowe
David Rees Snell as Detective Ronnie Gardocki
and Forest Whitaker as Lt. John Kavanaugh

For reviews of previous seasons see here (spoiler potential for each season in the reviews):
Season One
Season Two
Season Three
Season Four
A Why You Should Watch (I recommend reading this if you want to know a bit more about the show without spoilers) and a direct link to the short entry for the show in My Top 50 Shows.

Right, I'm going to round off reviewing The Shield's previous seasons before the final season starts, first of all I'm placing this one behind the cut because this season has a lot of impact on the final two and it's impossible to talk about it without spoiling events for people who want to watch the series from the start.

Full review after the link:


Final warning here, this is not for someone who hasn't already seen this season.

The Show:

"Remember, the Team comes First" - Detective Vic Mackey

The fifth season of The Shield raises the stakes of the show even higher and sets in motion events which will finally come to a head in the final (seventh) season. Tensions in the Barn are high when the Internal Affairs cop Lieutenant John Kavanaugh (Forrest Whitaker) arrives with the intent of bringing down Vic Mackey. This harks back to the shooting of Terry in the pilot episode and also links with Lem's illegal confiscation of heroin during the fourth season. Things may have been gone for a while, but they're not forgotten.

Kavanaugh is a driven man, obsessed with taking down Mackey and willing to go to any lengths to manage this. A large thrust of the season is about Kavanaugh's fall from grace as he attempts to take down Vic, it seems he's willing to go to almost any lengths in an attempt to expose Vic for what he is. But in doing so he plays directly into Vic's hands, turning the game into one that Mackey is a pro.

Elsewhere in the Barn things are equally strained, Claudette and Dutch's partnership breaks down, Danny is pregnant but refuses to reveal the father and Julien has to deal with a new rookie for a partner. All of this; with Kavanaugh's actions on top bring things to a boiling point and it looks like something has to give.

It does, Kavanaugh's one serious hook into the Strike Team is Lem; he has the man bang to rights on a charge of confiscating heroin without checking it into evidence. This happened in the previous season while Lem was attempting to assist Shane by locating the body of a young girl named Angie. The girl had been killed by Antwon Mitchell (see season four) with Shane and Army's guns; forcing them to work for him.
Kavanaugh uses this as a lever to try and force Lem to turn on the rest of the team, because “...cops always give it up at the threat of jail… always.” But Lem shows the strength of his character throughout this, even saving Kavanaugh's life from a grenade during a bust by throwing it away seconds before it detonates.

Lem never turns on the rest of the Team, even when arrested and threatened with jail. Kavanaugh sinks to an even lower level by apparently arranging for Lem to be locked up with Antwon, who will clearly have Lem murdered if he gets the chance. But eventually Kavanaugh realises that Lem would never turn on his fellow officers and is impressed with the strength of character Lem shows. Sadly by this stage it's too late and Vic arranges to meet up with Lem in order to help him escape the country.
But Shane, thinking mistakenly that Lem has turned on the team meets up with him first and in the most gut wrenching scene of the show kills Lem with a grenade. Lem survives just long enough for Shane to realise and regret what he's done, but at this point it was too late.

Later when Lem's death is discovered Kavanaugh taunts a grief stricken Vic (one of the few times he cracks in the show) Vic loses it, attacks Kavanaugh and after being torn away from him vows to Shane and Ronnie that they'll find Lem's killer.

I've gone into this in more detail than I normally do because this is the season which affected me more than anything else in television. I was left stunned for a long time afterwards and I still struggle to watch it. There's no doubt that it's a storytelling masterpiece; it charts the fall of John Kavanaugh and Lem with great care and attention. It sets up an incredible sixth season and marks the end of hope in the Strike Team, if it can happen to Lem - the conscience of the group - all bets are off for everyone.

The Other Stuff:

"Until now I've tolerated you. Come near my men again... I'm gonna lose patience. " - Detective Vic Mackey

While the material in the fifth season is probably the finest level of gut punching brilliance you'll get in the show. The UK release of the DVD is subject to quite a few strange decisions. For a start the standard colour scheme used for The Shield's boxes is black, white with heavy yellow/gold - this evokes the feel of the show plus the broken brass badge logo - but unfortunately someone in marketing or design decided to use the image styling you see at the top of this post. It's almost a negative image of the standard set. This means it looks terrible on the shelf when placed with the rest...


...and it also signals just how ground shaking and significant the season is when compared to the rest. You know straight away that something massive has to happen in this season, and in my opinion that's a pretty poor decision to make for the box art. Especially when (as you can see) the sixth season returns to the standard spine style.

The second, even poorer decision made is in the editing, the UK version is missing a full 30 minutes from that earth shattering finale and it's not just inconsequential events that are cut, there's some major stuff in there that is relevant in the following season. It's a completely inexcusable decision made and as such it's hard to recommend buying the UK/Region 2 version of this boxed set. I'd go as far as recommending you purchase the American version instead - while it still has that strange colour choice at least you get the full experience as originally aired...

These two strange issues aside the fifth season brings a lot of extras, you get:
Commentary on all episodes from a wide range of people involved in the show
Featurettes
Deleted Scenes with optional commentary
The prequel for season 6 (and final hurrah for Lem)
Special Behind-the-Scenes featurettes

These extras are up to the standard set by the previous lot and at times exceed them. The Shield never skimps on it's extras. Ever.

The Final Word:

The fifth season of The Shield is the show at it's finest, it even manages to excel ahead of the previous season by giving solid continutity, cause and effect delivered in a way which hits the viewer in the hardest place possible. Of all the strike team members, Lem is the hardest one to lose outside of Vic and certainly the least deserving. He's always been the conscience of the team, the one who looks to the rest as his family and to have Shane - the one who's always been the problem case in the team - actually perform the deed makes it even harder to take.

On top of this you have the excellent Forrest Whitaker providing a stunning foil to Vic, the way he plays Kavanaugh's fall from grace in this series is stunning. Vic corrupts everything he touches and Kavanaugh is no exception.
It's stunning season of television and it's just a shame that poor choices on the part of Sony have marred the final product somewhat.

Price wise the winner is sendit who have it up for £12.89. It runs at 468 mins so that's 2.7ppm. Impressive. But if you're an avid fan with a region free dvd player (like me!) I'd seriously consider the US version which is 498 mins @ £19.99 (ish) 4ppm (but you get the extended final episode).

The Final Score:

4.5 - I want to give it more; the season deserves a 5, but the boxed set brings it down.


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