Based on Elmore Leonard's written work, Justified revolves around the US Marshal Rayland Givens. Rayland is the lead character in the books 'Pronto', 'Riding the Rap', the short story 'Fire in the Hole' and is best described as a cowboy sheriff thrust into the modern age. Timothy Olyphant stars as Rayland in Justified, bringing the character to life with a great deal of ease; as Timothy is, of course, no stranger to playing the part of a sheriff - his performance as Seth Bullock on Deadwood is an integral part of that phenomenal series.

After a semi-controversial shooting of a button man named Tommy Bucks and the ensuring bad publicity Rayland is reassigned back to Lexington, Kentucky, a place he swore never to return to. There he's placed under the command of Chief Deputy Art Mullen (Nick Searcy) working alongside Rachel Brooks (Erica Tazel) and Tim Gutterson (Jacob Pitts), reconnects with his ex-wife Winona (Natalie Zea) - who also swore never to return to Kentucky - and becomes involved with the Crowder family in various degrees after Ava Crowder (Joelle Carter) shoots her husband Bowman Carter, while Ava's ex-brother-in-law Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins) and past friend of Rayland proves to be an exceptionally dangerous individual after blows up a church and then shoots his accomplice dead.

Justified is a mixture of old west philosophies and modern day life, Rayland has many of the traits of the old classic small town sheriff, the most obvious of which are his hat and his ability to quick draw, he also shows a great deal of old school ethos in his dealings with criminals and civilians alike. So it is more than fair to draw comparisons between Justified and the western genre as a whole - it's not just Art Mullen's poster of the fantastic movie Tombstone that evokes the feel of the old west.

Timothy Olyphant is magnetic as Rayland Givens - he's had a great deal of practice playing a forceful and strong lawman in the past and in some ways his portrayal of Rayland is a natural extension of his past experiences as Seth Bullock - I know if you've enjoyed watching him in Deadwood you'll enjoy him here. The remainder of the cast are all solid, they give believable supporting roles - Erica Tazel is wonderfully understated and Joelle Carter is just adorable as the sweet-but-tough Ava. But the strongest performance amongst the cast belongs to The Shield alumni Walton Goggins, watching his abilities as an actor go from strength to strength on The Shield was a delight and I'm pleased to say he's a great fit here in Justified as Boyd Crowder as he's given an interesting and challenging role as one of the primary antagonists.

Structure-wise Justified is a mixture of standalone episodes and a serialised storyline that is built during the pilot episode and builds momentum in the latter part of the season. The pilot episode is fantastic, but the standalone episodes vary in quality, the earlier ones are only middling to decent at best but the later ones are pretty great and when the show gives way to its serialised story in the final few episodes and everything comes to a head it's just fantastic, ending with poise and grace that is almost poetic at times.

Justified is the very definition of a grower, at the start it's a solid, thoughtful piece with some great dialogue and fun moments but as the series progresses it becomes an elegant take on the modern western with characters who evolve and grow as the series does. As such, I'm certainly looking foward to the second season.
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Over the past week I've spent just over nine hours catching up with the third season of the Glenn Close tour de force that is Damages. As I mentioned previously I have a great deal of respect and enjoyment for the first season, but I felt that the second season - despite some excellent performances from the cast - wobbled more than a few times and came dangerously close to falling over thanks to weak plotting and poor editing choices.

It wasn't a deal breaker, but I was concerned that the third season would also suffer from similar issues.

Spoilers, it doesn't. In fact it's everything the second season wanted to be and more. Damages continues with it's own indomitable style; strong female leads, non-linear plotting, twist revelations, shocks and high stakes in the world surrounding the law courts.

This time the show focuses on the Tobin family, who are involved in a ponzi scheme that has bankrupted everyone who was involved in it. Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) and Tom Shays (Tate Donovan) are given the task of recovering the money for the various victims while Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne), now working for the DA's office, is involved in the criminal side of the investigation.

Sadly the adorable Anastasia Griffith does not return as Katie Conners, but Ted Danson does as Arthur Frobisher, and he's not the only familiar face who graces our screens as the plot moves along by touching on events from the past. There's also a host of superb guest stars, including Campbell Scott, Martin Short, Len Cariou and my all time favourite actress Tara Summers - who I can unashamedly say is utterly brilliant in every moment she is on screen.

Performances are throughout, superb, in particular I have to praise Rose Byrne - who previously has struggled to bring any real emotion or rounded characterisation to her performance as Ellen Parsons, something I've often felt was caused by her need to maintain a US accent (she's from Australia). She's more comfortable with the new, slightly evolved, Ellen - and she's able to play someone who's learnt about the manipulation game from the best. Yes, that's right - Ellen is becoming a schemer of epic proportions in her own right, a much warranted and superb development for the character. In fact, every core character gets some deserved character development, we delve further into Patty's past while also gaining a broader perspective on both Ellen and Tom's lives.

The third season of Damages is everything you've come to expect from the show; it's dark, exciting and clever with strong characterisation layered on top of a plot so twisted you might as well call it a pretzel. It's one of the current cream of the crop drama shows out there and it's one of the few running a genuinely serialised plot over it's thirteen episodes. In fact the serialised nature of the show makes it a better experience on DVD than when it's shown weekly, you can dive into the murky depths of Patty's world and only come up for air when you choose to. As such I can highly recommend picking up a copy of the boxed set and settling down to enjoy a dark tale of deception, embezzlement, lies, fraud and more than a few murders. It's Damages and it's great.


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For a review of the first season go here. Be warned there will be spoilers about events from the first season in this review.

Damages had a first season with an exceptionally unique style of show, I personally appreciated the ambiguity in characters, their goals and personalities not being a clear cut case of Good/Evil but having instead greyer shades. Yes, by the end of the season we had clearly defined villains and a heroine but the journey there was far from straightforward and the last episode of the season is one of my favourite episodes of all time.

The second season then needed to build on the original season's style by evolving its use of non-linear narrative and ambiguous characterisation without straying too far from the format. It's a tall order, because if the season just re-treads old ground you'd end up with something that doesn't engage and if you deviate from the established format you risk losing established viewers. Not an easy line to walk.

So, Damages brings in more big names capable of fantastic performances - joining the returning cast of Glenn Close, Rose Byrne, Tate Donovan, Anastasia Griffith and Ted Danson we get the fantastic selection of William Hurt (A History of Violence, Dark City and so much more), Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood), Marcia Gay Harden (Royal Pains), John Doman (The Wire) and Clarke Peters (The Wire, Treme). A huge wadge of quality talent descending onto our screens and promising great performances.

Following on from the fantastic season finale the second season sees Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) now cooperating with the FBI in an investigation into Patty Hewes (Glenn Close). Ellen naturally has good reason to be involved in this after Patty attempted to have Ellen murdered. Ellen is not only using her position to investigate Patty, she's also maneuvering to expose Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson) as the man behind the murder of David Conner, Ellen's fiancé. Ellen has plenty of reasons to remain close to Patty at this time.

Just like the previous season the show is divided into a past storyline that builds up towards the shocking present 'teaser' storyline. The 'teaser' storyline in this case initially opens with Ellen pointing a gun at an unknown person or persons and talking before pulling the trigger twice. It's a marked change from the Ellen of the first season and the film noir undertones of the scene are nicely played. As before, the past storyline pushes forward towards the teaser while the teaser expands on events and gradually reveals more of the situation to raise more questions for the viewer. It was an exeptionally effective ploy in the first season, but if I'm honest it's not as well done here - the performances from the actors are superb, but the editing is very ham-fisted, in particular the music used for certain moments is completely mood breaking.

In all, despite the superb cast, the second season is not as strong as the first one - watching it on DVD was a superior experience to watching it 'live' (one episode per week), just like the first season Damages is a show better watched in bursts rather than one part at a time, but the second season shows a poor choice of direction by the editing and directing staff. It's rare that a superb cast cannot overcome technical and plotting issues, but in the case of the second season of Damages it has happened. Fortunately I'm now watching the third season on DVD and I can say that many of the problems and issues the second season has are resolved.

So Damages Season Two is something that needs to be taken at value, yes it has flaws, yes it is not as good as the first season, but it is an enjoyable experience and it is most certainly worth watching.
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Damages was one of those shows that crept up on my radar after I discovered that Glenn Close and Ted Danson were appearing in it. Both actors who have exceptional pedigres on screen, I had most recently enjoyed Glenn Close's performance in the fourth season of "The Shield" and Ted Danson was, of course, fan-flipping-tastic in "Cheers" back in the day, so I was keen to see how he'd perform in a serious drama.

The show focuses around the dynamic between titanic lawyer Patty Hewes (Glenn Close), a young associate named Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) and their class action lawsuit against the wealthy Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson). Frobisher is accused of lying to his employees and attempting to profit from insider trading.

The series is most notable for it's unusual use of time, the vast majority of the show's scenes are set in the past - with only a few key scenes being set in the present time. These present day scenes are used as 'shocking' teasers designed to raise questions for the viewer while also teasing unthinkable events and placing characters in bizarre situations. It's an interesting concept that demonstrates just how important the journey can be when you're understanding how someone got there, not entirely original in the media of film (Memento being the classic example for playing with time and the perception of it).

Patty Hewes is a sharp, dangerous litgator at the top of her game, she's aided by her right hand man - Tom Shayes (Tate Donovan) and her Uncle Pete. As time passes Patty comes to allow the young Ellen Parsons further and further into her business and her life, with events that suggest (given the unusual timeline in the show) a bad end for Ellen and her fiance David Conner (Noah Bean).

Damages is an intense, fun ride of a show through a twisty plot that barely enters the courtroom at all. It's somewhat surprising at first, but despite being a legal drama very little of the action takes place in the courts. The show instead looks at the surrounding work involved in building a case, especially when dealing with someone as powerful, clever and duplicitous as someone like Patty Hewes. The show racks up the tension with every passing moment and thanks to clever dialog and brilliant characterisation it works beautifully. Cumulating in a stunning season finale that brings everything to a head, answering the questions you will have had along the way and then leaving you wanting more while wondering 'what's next for these characters?'

Particular praise must be lumped onto Glenn Close, her performance is key to the show and she really excels in the role. Damages came into being after her appearance in The Shield's 4th season and I think it is fair to say her observations and experiences near Michael Chiklis's blistering (and career defining) portrayal of Detective Vic Mackey have had some influence on Patty Hewes. At times she manages to display the same duality of purpose and even on occasion she holds similar facial expressions to Vic's. This is not to take anything away from Glenn herself, she's an accomplished and quite brilliant bunny boiler - but like any great actor she's capable of cribbing from others and improving on her game.

Ted Danson is likewise fantastic, his performance as Arthur Frobisher is a long leap from the bartender Sam but he handles it with aplomb and poise. He walks a fine line between being a detestable cartoon villain and being a reasonable (if unpleasant) human being with understandable objectives and believable motives. I know Frobisher is one of the outright bad guys of the piece (being the target of the class action suit etc etc), but I still can't help but appreciate the guy.

One of my favourite cast members is Anastasia Griffith whom I think is just wonderful as Katie Conner, but the powerhouse performances come from Glenn Close, Ted Danson and the brilliant Zeljko Ivanek (as Ray Fisk). Zeljko in particular is a favourite of mine from the superb 1990s show Homicide: Life on the Street and I'm thrilled to say he's as good in Damages as he was in that show, but it's hardly surprising as Zeljko tends to be superb whenever he's on screen.

In fact the only cast member I'd say feels a little out of her depth is Rose Byrne, she's adequate as Ellen - but at times her performance is a little wooden. As she's often in a reactive role this isn't too bad to deal with, but occasionally I do find myself feeling unengaged with her character because of it. I'm not sure if this is an intentional performance or just caused by a lack of experience as a leading character in a TV series, but it is a shame at times.

This minor grip aside, the first season of Damages is a whistle stop tour of a story told through time, space and the world of lawyers. It's an awesome experience that will get the blood rising and leave you wanting more.

It also has one of the best (and most appropriate) TV Themes of all time. So what are you waiting for? Hurry up and check out the first season of Damages, otherwise - by the time I'm through with you, there won't be anything left!



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Originally I wanted to write about just Dragonchasers, it's an episode worthy of a review/analysis all by itself, but my previous entry in the Urban Jungle series didn't include the episode Throwaway, so initially I'm going to write a little about that episode before moving onto Dragonchasers - the most important episode of the first season after the pilot episode.

Throwaway is the first episode that has the Strike Team dealing with a mess that isn't created by Shane, in this case it's Lem's **** up, shooting a man who turned out to be both a) unarmed, b) completely innocent and c) brother to a hot latina hairdresser. He shoots the man because he believes that he's armed with a gun and about to shoot Vic; this is the start of the pattern for Lem, he tends to get into trouble when he's protecting the people he cares about. In this case it's Vic, the man Lem considers to be something of a brother and a father figure. Lem himself has little family outside of the Strike Team and as such more than any of the others he considers the guys to be his family.

It is also the first episode to give Claudette (side note: Claudette was originally scripted to be a man, C.H. Pounder's performance convinced Shawn Ryan to change the characters gender with minimal other changes - one of the reasons Claudette is the strongest female personality on the show by a long margin, she's given the dominant role in the Claudette/Dutch relationship). It's also the moment where the Julien/Danny rift comes to a head, only resolved when Acevada himself steps in and breaks their heads against each other (figuratively) to force a resolution to the situation. For these two this is something of a turning point, the episode allows them to move forward and cements the foundation of a strong working and personal relationship. Julien and Danny working together is an important part of the show, they're often required to provide the story that contrasts with the Strike Team's high energy acts and Dutch and Claudette's tendency to journey in really dark places.

Mix into this a fantastic heist/set up performed by the Strike Team and Throwaway is a solid episode that works well and develops some of less well developed characters somewhat. Learning more about Claudette, especially Dutch's reactions towards her father, is welcome and entertaining; likewise having Julien and Danny come to some form of balance in their relationship as trainer/trainee is very important as it sets up one of the key elements in the following episode.

Dragonchasers is one of the episodes of The Shield where I experienced a television revelation, the very first episode was, of course, Pilot which stepped over the line of what was considered acceptable to show on television by having the lead character murder a fellow police officer at the culmination of it. As I've mentioned in earlier posts, The Shield then takes some time to distance itself from the pilot episode showing the return to normal that occurs after a fellow officer is killed on the job. Now, you'd be forgiven if you thought that considering the fact that Terry was murdered was going to be a large part of the shows initial thrust, but the truth of the matter here is that with only two people knowing the truth and a solid cover up clearing the evidence for every character in the show Terry's death looks exactly like it does on the surface - the bust went bad, Terry got killed. Police Officers die in the line of duty, everyone at the station knows that is a fact and they've all experienced it before - so they move on and back to the daily grind.

I've digressed, so I'll return to Dragonchasers and why it is the second episode in The Shield that changed the way I perceive television and raised the bar for what I accept as good story writing. Dragonchasers contains two monumental story lines in it, but for the first time neither one belongs to the Strike Team - instead the storys revolve around Julien and Dutch.

Up until this point in the series I considered Dutch to be little more than light relief and Julien to be a secondary character. Julien's antagonistic relationship with Danny (and being set against Vic for a while) made it difficult to access him as a character and Dutch for a long time had little more in the way of defining characteristics outside of "stereotypical nerd-cop".

Dragonchasers changes the game for both of them, for Julien the episode brings together his conflicted and angry emotions about being gay along with his new found resolve to do right by his patrol partner Danny. After a transvestite (played by Jazzmun) bites Danny (attempting to give her HIV - which he blames the police force for) Julien eventually agrees to throw the perp a 'blanket party' - a savage tradition where the perp is covered under a blanket in the back of a police van and then beaten with nightsticks. Julien not only cuts loose here, but his conflicted emotions over his own sexuality (and his commonly misguided notion that transvestites are the same as homosexuals in general) results in his turning the perp into himself in his mind. The resulting violence is exceptionally harsh, while the scene doesn't play out in graphic detail, the damage caused by the beating (as described by Danny) show just how far Julien went over the edge.

The real meaty story though belongs to Dutch, bringing to a head the 'face down' serial killer mini-arc, the initial thrust occurs when Julien and Danny happen upon a man masturbating in an alley - they let him go with a warning, but when mentioning the anecdote to Dutch he makes a connection most wouldn't. The man was jerking off near where one of the serial killings occurred (or at least where the body was dumped), this fits with the profile he was considering for the killer.

After first scoping Sean (the suspect) out Dutch has him come in, not to charge him with anything, but to sound him out and try to see if the man has any levers he can push. What follows is a tour-de-force performance from both Jay Karnes and Michael Kelly (as Sean), Dutch is quite literally broken apart by the intuitive and merciless Sean who disassembled every part of Dutch's personality in an exceptional level of mental bullying and showboating. Dutch himself sits there, trying to regain purchase and being humiliated - this humiliation is compounded even further when the rest of the station start watching Sean's performance for their own entertainment. You're left wondering why on Earth Dutch is willing to sit there and take this kind of abuse, is his obsession with finding the serial killer that large? Is he so desperate that he'll put up with anything to achieve this?

The revelation comes in the eleventh hour, when (watched by almost the entire force via CCTV) Dutch admits that he only took this tirade of abuse and humiliation with the intent of buying time to get a search warrant for both Sean's house and his aunt's. Once found out Sean soon changes track, admitting to everything and laying claim to his body count. The rest of the force watch as Dutch nails Sean and bags himself one serious serial killer - he walks out of the interview room to the sound of applause from his fellow officers. All of them are impressed with what Dutch did.

This just makes the closing scene of Dragonchasers all the more poignant, Dutch - still being congratulated - heads to his car and sits down inside before breaking down in tears. He may have scored a decisive victory (not just for Sean's victims, the public and the law in general, but also for himself and his status in the station), but Sean's attacks and how close they cut to the truth of Dutch's life, took their toll on him. Dutch may stand victorious but was it worth the price?

This entire storyline is amongst one of the best that Dutch and Claudette have, it's a great piece that portrays a lot about a man without needing to spell it out in a simplistic and 'dumbed down' fashion. Dutch doesn't need to vocalise his pain, it's all there for you to see in his actions and expressions.

Quite frankly it's a stunning performance and that's why Dragonchasers is one of the best episodes of The Shield (and possibly one of the best procedural episodes in the genre, it's certainly in a similar league to Homicide's Three Men and Adena).
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I recently got my Wii set back up and it's now become my standalone BBC iPlayer. I suppose I could use it for other things, but I can't really figure out what else it would be any use for (having grown tired of the balance board that came with it). Fortunately for me the BBC iPlayer works pretty well on it and as such I've been using it to explore the various BBC programs that are on offer. On Demand viewing is pretty much my preferred viewing method these days, I don't want to be tied to watching the television at a fixed day and time, I want television to suit my lifestyle and my choices. If I want to go out for a cycle or an impromptu gathering I don't want to go through the hassle of having to remember to record any shows I miss.

Sure, I could set up series links and what have you, but again that doesn't suit my temperament. I prefer to look at a list of shows and pick one to watch immediately rather than draw up a list of shows that I want to record in order to watch at some point. I can now dip in and out of shows, taking a chance on things like Cowards, Mongrels (more on this one next week for sure) and returning to shows such as My Family and Armstrong & Miller whenever I feel like it.

This is how I came across the BBC 2 show Vexed; something about its entry in the comedy section of the iPlayer made me decide to click the play button. I'm pretty sure it wasn't the synopsis provided - "Police detectives Jack and Kate have very different approaches to the job and life in general. In fact they disagree on everything" - that just sounds, well bloody awful. And I know it wasn't the cast - I've never heard of Lucy Punch, Toby Stephens, Ronny Jhutti, Roger Griffiths or Rory Kinnear before and looking at their imdb entries it's not really surprising - none of them have performed any monumental roles, though they've all appeared in episodes of shows I have watched.

Vexed is best described as a comedy/drama/police procedural with an irrelevant sense of humour. It's a mild spin on the old cop buddy format with two somewhat disparate partners pushed together - in this case you have the talented and dedicated but somewhat neurotic DI Kate (Lucy Punch) partnered up with a man who seems to be permanently stuck in the 1970s with his misogynistic, womanising, lazy, cut corners attitude - DI Jack (Toby Stephens). It's an old formula and while it's not really a stretch for a show to partner a woman with a misogynistic pig it is one that works. The relationship provides a lot of bounce between the characters (as long as the man isn't too much of a tw*t).

Vexed has just three episodes at this time and with its production company Greenlit Right Productions in administration (or greenlit for termination as The Shield would have it), it's hard to say if there will be any more episodes - especially given the mixed critical reaction. I know that Dan of Dan's Media Digest had a rather adverse reaction when I tweeted about liking Vexed - I believe he threatened to unfollow me! Certainly many critics and reviewers have had negative things to say about the show, in particular about Toby's performance as Jack.

But frankly I disagree, I felt the show had a certain charm from a police based television series that I hadn't seen since Police Squad - Vexed is certainly grounded more in reality than Police Squad was, but DI Jack has a Frank Drebin feel to him - an ironically charged, ham-fisted performance that is over the top - but it's still pretty darn hilarious to watch him in the same way it's hilarious to watch Frank over act in every single scene. He's supposed to be charming and great with the ladies, but instead he tends to come across as ignorant, useless and piggishly chauvinistic and I think we all know those are traits that some women are drawn to like moths to flame. (I said some ladies, I didn't mean you of course!)

Lucy Punch's performance as Kate is the more grounded of the two performances, she's a lot of fun - a mix of a strong woman combined with a neurotic wife desperate to keep her home life together. She's the smarter of the pair by a long margin and tends to use her head in problematic situations - Jack instead seems to rely on a mix of intuition and dumb luck, he's a man who can't remember how to plant a tracking device properly, carries a gun without training (and then loses it) and electronically stalks women to pick them up. An awful piece of work if you met him in real life, but pretty darn hilarious on screen.

It is more than likely that Vexed won't have any more episodes after the third one, the combination of critical panning and the large factor of the production company being in administration seems the right mix to result in it being killed off before it has a chance to develop and that's a shame in my opinion, because there's a lot right about Vexed. It's something different enough to get my interest and it's one of the few new British shows that I found myself enjoying - it's energetic, crude, offensive and born in a timeless fashion that makes it feel like it would be just as much at home in the 1970s or 80s as it is in this day and age.

The three episodes that have been recorded cover a trio of cases - the first involves a serial killer hunting single women, the second a depressed banker under threat of assassination (in a rehabilitation clinic) and the kidnapping of Gemma G - a member of a girl band. Each episode is 60 minutes long and self contained.

In all I'd say you should consider giving Vexed a try, it's an uneven show that is in its infancy but there are times where the dialog and characters shine out with sheer genius and show what it could grow into. Jack/Toby and Kate/Lucy have some solid on screen chemistry that bubbles up in exceptional ways at times, especially when they are dealing with Jack's general incompetence. It's a fun show and something a little different - so spend three hours of your time and give it a go. I'm glad I did.
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The middle stretch of The Shield's first season is an interesting selection of stories. They establish just about everything you need to know about all of the core characters and their motivations. Dawg Days is a rather fun episode that demonstrates how difficult it can be for a police officer to work as the "landlord" to drug dealers, things get out of hand when one of Vic's "informants" Rondell Robinson opens fire at a party where Lem and Danny are both moonlighting security. Lem knows to keep his mouth shut about Rondell's involvement but Danny - as a good, straight cop - implicates him. This results in Vic having to call in some favours with Danny, playing on the intimate relationship between them to get Rondell out of trouble. Dawg Days is also notable as the first appearance of the character Kern Little (played by " Sticky Fingaz") Kern will make multiple appearances in many seasons and remain important to Vic for a long time. His introduction here is particulary memorable, mostly due to his exit from the storage container near the end of the episode.

Blowback can seem less important on the first viewing, but it's actually one of the major start points for the show - the introduction of the Armenian gangster/foot fetishist Margos Dezerian (played by Katey Sagal's husband Kurt Sutter creator of The Shield's sister show Sons of Anarchy), "The Dezerian" and his Armenian cohorts eventually grow to be major parts of the show, especially in seasons 2, 3 and 7. Dezerian himself would go on to make just three appearances, but he remains one of the most memorable criminals of the show and the Armenians themselves eventually became one of the greatest potential threats to Vic and his boys.

It also helps that Margos is one heck of a creepy character. Blowback is also one of the episodes where the Strike Team come close to exposing themselves after they steal two bricks of heroin from the Armenian bust but are seen doing so by Julien. The interplay between Julien, Acevada and Vic continues throughout the entire run of these episodes, ending in Cupid and Psycho when Vic blackmails Julien into changing his story.

Cherrypoppers is a journey into one of the sickest stories The Shield ever touches on, dealing with a ring of people involved in 'Cherrypopper' movies - films that involve young girls and lets just leave it at that. The Shield often attempts to move Vic towards the role of protagonist by having the people he's set against seeming far worse than he is. Cherrypoppers is one of those episodes (like the pilot) dealing with sexual predators hunting after and abusing young girls. It's a primal form of manipulation but it does work well, you have to understand that many people eventually 'forgot' just how dark, twisted and criminal Vic actually was. In the end some of them even began to mistakenly think of Vic as a 'hero' rather than the cop killing, brutal drug lord with a badge that he was.

Shane's racism, which was touched upon back in The Spread, flares up in a more prominent fashion during Pay in Pain, as mentioned earlier Shane's racist attitudes would often become a major problem for the Strike Team, especially for Vic. Vic doesn't care what skin colour someone is, he only cares if they're an asset or a threat to him, so Shane's "un-business-like" (and frankly backward) attitudes towards non-Caucasians is a problem. The general Strike Team attitude is 'doesn't matter where you're from if your money is green and plentiful', so Shane is a problem. Of course, Shane being a problem is something of a reoccurring issue in The Shield and Pay in Pain is not the last time it will surface.

Julien continues to struggle with his homosexuality, something that stands at odds with both his spiritual life and his work one. He's drawn to Thomas, but he's also repulsed by who he is and he's deathly afraid of being discovered by his colleagues. The police force is (as we're reminded by Danny) a brotherhood, and there's quite a few things that can get you ostracised from it, being a rat or being gay are two of them. Julien has managed to be both of these and it's Cupid & Psycho where these two issues come together - in the hands of Vic Mackey.

But Vic continues with the information in the way he always does, it's a tool to be used. He actually doesn't care that Julien is gay, not one bit - but it is a lever he can use to get Julien to drop his testimony against the Strike Team on the drugs, he plays a fantastic game and pushes Julien all the way to recanting - no matter the consequences. Afterwards Vic turns it on it's head by suggesting that Julien 'did Vic a favour' and now Vic has his back. It's a classic case of manipulation and Vic won't go telling people that Julien is gay as long as Julien isn't a threat to him. Vic even goes as far as to consider Julien a 'buddy' now that he has control of him.

It's a just another example in the way that Vic manipulates people and uses them as resources, if you're in someway of use to Vic he'll keep you sweet, if you're of potential use he'll manipulate the situation until you're in his control, if you're a threat he will eliminate you one way or the other. Ultimately everything Vic does is about control and protection for himself.

These episodes also establish a further driving motivation for Vic apart from his sociopathic consequentialism. His son Matthew is diagnosed with autism, a serious issue for a young child and an expensive one for any family to deal with, Matt's autism fast becomes one of the major driving forces behind Vic's all consuming need to get money and as much as possible. It also legitimises his actions both in his mind and in the minds of many viewers. He might do bad things, but he's doing them to ensure his son gets the life he deserves.

Of course, things are not perfect at this point, the lack of early character development due to that "missing season 0" (The season pre-Crowley's shooting) means that some of the relationships between the characters feel a little forced. Vic and Gillroy is a great example of this, it feels like Vic is nothing but a problem for Gillroy so you're left wondering why on Earth the man protected Vic at any time, his announcement that he's removing any assistance he might give Vic during the end of Cupid & Psycho seems almost redundant, why he helped Vic and the Strike Team up till now seems almost impossible to understand.

David Acevada is given some exceptional character development during this period, he goes from being 'the man after Vic for some reason' to a politically ambitious man who desires advancement in politics, exposing Vic is one of the fastest ways he can secure the popular vote - something Terry Crowley alluded to in the pilot episode. Now his hard on for Vic becomes something more understandable and his anger over Julien's retraction all the more vivid.

Dutch is also given some extra focus and direction, his obsession with catching the 'face down' serial killer continues and escalates when he asks for the assistance of the FBI. His frustration at an inability to succeed here, something that is compounded by two lads using the police force to play a practical joke on each other, pushes him towards using a psychic for help. It won't be the last time his obsession with serial killers will take him to unusual places.

Dutch also gains some personal growth from an unusual source during the Claudette/Vic, Shane/Dutch pairing, Shane's advice on how to land some 'hot widow' action is very offensive and immature, but Dutch is desperate enough to give it a go and in Cupid & Psycho it pays off, giving Dutch his first relationship of the show. You'd be right if you thought that anyone listening to Shane is desperate, but the world is full of desperate people just looking to make a connection with someone, anyone, and Dutch is one of those people.

These five middle episodes for the first season give us a taste of what the show is like during 'business at usual' hours, it's energetic, fun and filled with scrapes that almost get the Strike Team into trouble. Almost like a grim and gritty version of The Three Stooges, but it's also capable of going to profound places, surprising you with a revelation about a character or showing you an insight into one member of the force - often through physical means. Some of the looks and shots of the characters show exceptional depth, expressing more than their words or even their actions do, this is a hallmark of Clark Johnson's work and it's his deep influence that is felt right across the show with the long wordless moments that convey an ocean of emotion.

While the plots of The Shield are quite often breakneck and thin (due to the number of stories in a single episode) the characterisation in the show is of exceptional depth. Especially when you're dealing with key characters like Acevada, Shane, Lem, Dutch, Claudette and of course, Vic himself. It's these powerful performances that make re watching the show such a deligh as there are hidden depths to every scene.
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The pilot episode is the defining point of The Shield, it's the bang on which the entire series is formed, and while it is one of the most important episodes in the show it's not a great character piece. As I mentioned previously it's a piece that's crammed full of characters and has to rush along at a breakneck pace towards an almost inevitable conclusion. As such it falls into the hands of the following two episodes to give us some extra character depth and development in order to allow us, the viewer, to connect with these characters on a deeper level.

"Our Gang" follows on from the events of the pilot episode with the barest of moments elapsed. Most of the Farmington District Police Force is outside the hospital where Terry Crowley was taken. That's the first real mule kick from this series, Vic's bullet wasn't even a clean kill - Terry dies in hospital in the following episode. Despite shooting for the head Vic couldn't even manage to be certain his problem was dealt with cleanly, Terry does die without waking up and being able to tell people what happened, but the entire situation is a great example of how messy things could have been (and will be).

The reactions outside the hospital during the cold opening are also great; Vic manages to look cold and almost like he is in shock, unable to grasp what's happened - but he's always in complete control of his actions, especially his closing comment "I'm responsible." A comment that serves two purposes, first of all it creates a "Did he just confess?" moment for the viewers (a moment that is extended a little by the opening credits) and secondly in the context of the situation it actually serves as a calculated move. By admitting a form of guilt he's able to make whatever signs of guilt he and Shane might have look natural and also by starting with such a bombshell he's heading off any accusations that might suggest he's responsible for Terry's murder. Even in a situation like this Vic is looking for the higher ground to take the advantage. He's that sociopathic.

Shane on the other hand is obviously afraid of being caught, he looks sick and close to breaking throughout the scene. He's fortunate that he's not questioned at this point in the episode because he would probably have broken (later on, when he's had time to compose himself and fabricate a story with Vic he does manage to keep it together, just). Lem and Ronnie on the other hand wear their innocence on their sleeve, especially Lem who takes the whole incident personally, for Lem the Strike Team will always be his family and the loss of their newest member is like losing a young brother. He lashes out in the only way he can, breaking a van window and cutting his hand up. You notice here that the innocent member of the Strike Team lashes out in anger, whereas his two guilty team mates remain relatively calm and collected. Ronnie on the other hand - the reasons behind the way he reacts become clearer once you've seen the seventh season.

A huge section of the rest of "Our Gang" deals with the mental landscape of Vic Mackey, through a series of flashbacks we're shown Vic's mental process in an abstract manner. Gradually we see him reconcile his dissonance over the act, almost breaking during the weightlifting scene but finally coming back out of it as collected as he's ever been. It's almost an act of birth (or rebirth) for him, (there's certainly a lot of pushing involved in the sequence, that's for sure.)

"Our Gang" also confirms one of the major antagonistic relationships of the show, the one between David Acevada and Vic Mackey. David's pursuit of Vic, which is somewhat hollow and unconvincing in the pilot episode "I just want to get a dirty cop off the street" reaches a new level of purpose. He's convinced that Vic is behind Terry's death and while he cannot even come close to comprehending the truth and instead suggests that Vic set Terry up and sent him into a death trap (which is why he doesn't manage to break Shane - he's just far enough away from the truth that Shane can deny with certainty). It also brings Gilroy fully into the equation, a man who currently has Vic's back but will eventually become the piece that (temporarily) unites Vic and Acevada against him.

While "Our Gang" represents a transition past the abnormal events of the pilot episode, "The Spread" represents business as usual. It's the first real insight into the capering shenanigans of the Strike Team and lets you experience what things must have been like before the show started. It's a lighthearted episode that could almost make you forget what transpired in the two episodes previously, it's certainly at odds with them.

The Strike Team perform a little light corruption by detaining a star basketball player and thus determining the outcome of a match before it happens. It's betting time. This storyline gives the guys a chance to spread their characters, showing Lem to be quite an amiable fellow, and revealing Shanes racist attitudes in a well acted manner. Walton Goggins manages to look very uncomfortable at appropriate moments, showing some deep seated racist attitudes buried inside Shane's persona - something that will pay off in a later season (in one of the moments I kind of wish never happened). Ronnie still remains something of a background extra at this point.

Throughout the first few episodes it's the Dutch/Claudette stories that can provide the tension and the laughs when things look bleakest. "The Spread" is no exception, the main thrust of the story is pretty grim, there's a serial killer/rapist on the loose. But the discovery of a naked man, and the fact that he keeps jars in his fridge full of *Dutch sniffs them* "That's not mayonnaise"... wait for it. Semen. Is a classic moment of black humor, Dutch's reaction is just hilarious as he tries to leap away from the jar, dropping it and getting the man juice on his shoes.

In fact pretty much the whole of "The Spread" is a relatively lighthearted affair, but it remains important because it does set up the start of the serial killer storyline for Dutch and Claudette. A storyline that contains one of the more brilliant moments of the season, the one where I took my opinion of Dutch and turned it 180 (it's in the episode "Dragonchasers" which I consider to be the second huge moment of The Shield). It's also the first episode to really play up Julien's struggle with his homosexuality, the point where Julien begins to become more than just 'the rookie cop who makes mistakes'.

"The Spread" is also a great example of what the show could have been like if they'd run a season prior to Terry Crowley's murder. The hi-jinks of The Strike Team are exactly the kind of thing he could have been involved in, something a little underhanded and dirty but not overtly criminal. It's another one of those episodes that makes me wish there had been a prequel season (so to speak), but it's not worth dwelling on again this season as the rest of the episodes coming up pick up the pace and move forward.

With the completion of "Our Gang" and "The Spread" The Shield has mostly got past its initial crunch point and is looking to move forward with an eye towards developing a long term story line. The show would never manage to escape Terry's shadow, but at this point it had at least performed a cathartic ritual and bought some breathing space so it can expand beyond the 'original sin'.
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Pilot episodes are probably the most important episode in any television series, they set the tone and pace of the show while also letting the audience (and network) decide if this particular show is for them. As such most pilot episodes attempt to come out swinging with a couple of huge blows that's going to make the people watching go "Wow, I can't believe I just saw that. What's next?"

Without some kind of hook in this day and age it's quite probable that the average viewer will forget about a series and not return to watching it. So many pilot episodes include highly charged and memorable incidents that often attempt to be unique in an effort to crystallise themselves in the memory of the viewers. Some great examples of this include Six Feet Under's brutal car accident involving Nathan Sr; BSG's nuking of civilisation (in a mini-series sure, but still), Rescue Me's ghosts and West Wing's revelation of the identity of Martin Sheen as the president. The objective is to create talking points that will keep people going until the following week's episode.

Pilot is one of the most extreme examples of this concept as right from the gate The Shield sits down and tells you exactly what kind of a show it's going to be. It's a hard hitting show that isn't afraid to deal with unpleasant crimes and police brutality. Pilot sets the style, tone and pacing for the entire series and lets you know exactly what you're going to be seeing from the show in the future. Personally I think this is a great construct, if you don't enjoy the pilot episode then it's clear you won't enjoy the rest of the show - it's a fantastic sampler of the coming storm the show provides.

There are a few fantastic decisions that were made during the creation of Pilot the most significant of which was the casting choices. Looking past the core cast it's the role of Terry Crowley that was the real stroke of genius. Reed Diamond was a relatively well known face linked to procedurals at the time due to his involvement in Homicide: Life on the Street and it's clear that it worked because Reed's role as Terry (despite appearing in just three episodes) is iconic and has become one of his best known roles on television - an impressive feat considering the low episode count, but Terry is that important to the series.

Add to Reed's "stunt casting" the decision to try and frame Terry as a lead role, including putting Reed's name into the opening credits and the way the plot attempts to promote him as one of several leads in an ensemble piece and you end up with a show that does it's absolute best to set up Terry as an important character in order to make his subsequent murder by Vic at the climax of the episode as surprising as possible. Reed was even heavily featured in the adverts for the show before the pilot's airing.

There is one thing that has to be made clear here, the reason we don't see anyone plotting to murder Terry in advance isn't a case of misdirection by the writing, it's because Vic doesn't plan to shoot Terry when he heads into Two Time's apartment - things just fall into his hands and he takes an opportunity to eliminate Terry because he knows Terry's snitching on him and his team. Terry's murder is the 'original sin' of the series (and Vic) but it's not a planned thing and though it doesn't seem like it as time passes, Vic's actions do actually prey on him - it just takes a long time for it to surface.

Pilot isn't perfect, it's an exceptionally dense episode with a lot going on and possibly too many characters to follow; There's Acevada, Vic and the Strike Team (Lem and Ronnie take a back role at this point, which is important because they're also the pair not involved in Terry's murder - but Shane is more active in the episode and he's the only witness to Vic's actions at the end), Claudette & Dutch and Danny & Julien - that's four separate story lines which only interweave at on occasion when the characters meet up.

The best intertwining is between Vic and Claudette/Dutch - where Dutch's interviewing techniques come up short and Acevada makes the call to allow Vic to torture a suspected paedophile. The addition of torture, paedophilia and police brutality make it clear to the viewer that this show is going to go to some dark places, but it can also make it seem like the show is trying to hard to shock. In some ways, Pilot is trying too hard Shawn Ryan and company wanted to really shock and surprise viewers in a similar way to the method Six Feet Under used before (Six Feet was one of the first shows to really bring death into the equation outside of procedurals, and they went for it in a big way). So it is more than possible some people would look at this episode and think "it's just a shock jock video nasty type show" before passing on it, and if they're thinking that then the show probably isn't for them, but for the people who stick with it and move on there's a wealth of subtlety and psychological insight of the darkness in the human condition to be gained over the passing seasons.

There is another point where I do feel that Pilot comes up a little short, and it's only with the hindsight of seven seasons. Pilot attempts to do too much and it's not until you watch the later episode Co-Pilot (an episode I'll certainly write about later on) do you realise where The Shield could have benefited from a slower burn at the start. In short, with hindsight I think the first season of The Shield would have been better served if Terry had been established and followed as one of the principle leads for at least half a season, perhaps ending the first season with the events of the pilot episode. Now I do know this would have shocked many viewers even more than Pilot did, and it could have actually turned away far more people, but in the overview of the entire series it would have worked a lot better. As it is these characters explode onto the scene with Terry's blood on their hands and we have little to go with, as time passes we do come to know (and even love) the characters, but initially there's a real disconnect that doesn't quite go away.

At this point in the show as well very few characters are painted in apart from the broad strokes. We have Acevada as the politically ambitious police captain, Dutch as the shrewd but over confident detective who's the target of the stations bully (Vic), Claudette as Dutch's world weary, jaded and cynical partner and Vic as the corrupt cop straight out of the stone ages of policing. Everyone else has very little depth (and even those four aren't exactly rounded out); Danny and Julien are involved in little more than light relief (their case involving the tyres slashed by Lamar works quite well as a balance to Dutch and Claudette's dark investigation).

Vic does have considerably more characterisation than the other members of the cast during this episode; he's already portrayed as a somewhat complex character, while bringing in Lonnie for questioning over the murder of his partner he shows concern about the children left loose in a drug den and right after fleecing the pimp Dimitri he ends up handing Connie (a hooker) a fair bit of money so she doesn't have to work tonight (and for her son). Vic's concern about Connie is a constant thing in the early part of the show.

There is also some strong symbolism present in the episode; Acevada's speech about cleaning up the town contrasts deeply with the Strike Team's actions on the street. Vic's first act in the show is to beat a perp for running and the rest of the episode does have strong ties with the plotting of the film Serpico (with an alternative outcome for the Serpico-like figure of Terry). The other major symbolic object of note is the men's room toilet - it's blocked and remains blocked for most of the series. I'm not 100% on what this stands for, but the only period where it is unblocked is during the fourth season (when Monica Rawlings is in charge and things look like they're going to get a lot better in Farmington). I'd hazard a guess that it is to do with the arrested development of the male characters in the show and their tendency to remain 'blocked' at a more primal state, but it also could be a reference to The Strike Team and how The Barn is unable to get rid of it's unsightly "waste".

When you take the whole episode into context there are flaws to it, but as an opening to the series it's close to perfect. It's completely faithful to the way the rest of the show would unfold and it sets up the incredible feat of a seven season story line that does pay off in full (in the most spectacular and emotionally draining fashion). There's no other show that manages to have the concepts and constructs of it's pilot episode remain relevant for seven seasons and still echo across the final few episodes. So Pilot is one of the most important episodes in the series, and it's actually more important than most other shows' pilot episodes are. There's no doubt that Pilot is one of the greatest pilot episodes in television history and it's something that any television aficionado should watch - it's a great appetiser for the rest of the series.

Trivia:
Ponyboy Harris (the man selling VCRs) is none other than Max Perlich a Homicide alumni (like the director of this episode Clark Johnson), it's a bit of a blink and you'll miss it cameo role. Sadly he doesn't reprise it.

You can purchase the T-Shirt worn by Vic at the BBQ online, I have a pair of them (one blue, one black) it's a nice design.

It's quite possible that Acevada is responsible for the dog crap in Dutch's desk, not Vic.

Homicide's influence on the show extends quite pervasively, not only is Clark Johnson the director of this episode (and Max's appearance) but Shawn Ryan himself has credited Homicide as one of the key inspirations behind the show.

Claudette is quite accepting of Vic's ways - at least initially, but seeing him act on the interogation room camera with Dr Grady is the start of what becomes a major part of the series.
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As I'm sure you're aware I've had a bit of a writing lapse over the past few months. Now I don't know exactly what the cause of this is, but in an effort to push past this I've decided to go back to a few basics, in particular I plan to revisit The Shield (aka my favourite show) in its entirety over the next few months. Now I'm not going to write about every single episode; instead I'm going to pick out key episodes, moments, characters and observations and write about them in this series I've decided to title "Urban Jungle".

For those of you who haven't seen The Shield I can't recommend it enough - it's a dark, brutal, unforgiving walk through a world of corruption, violence and lies. A story that spans eighty eight episodes over seven seasons as it charts the times of a small elite force of policemen and the other officers who surround their lives.

I've cited it as my all time favourite show on many occasions and while I do accept it's not for everyone - the dark nature of the show means some people may find that it's too much, but for those who are willing to step beyond the grim exterior there is a world filled with complicated characters, ambiguous situations and various types of unpleasantness.

My revisit to the series starts on Friday with a look at the Pilot episode, what it tried to achieve, what it brings to the show and why it had such an impact on myself and forced me to re-evaluate all television as a consequence.
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The final season of any show often feels like the last leg of a marathon to myself, it needs to be the season which brings everything to a head and closes the stories it wants to close (not all stories have to be closed, sometimes it's more interesting to leave threads hanging open). The Sopranos Season 6 Part 1 (here to referenced as Part One) in some ways manages to walk into this while also avoiding it. I'm not sure exactly how it gets away with being the first half of the last season, pacing and story-wise there's no doubt that it is half of a construct that is only completed with the second part. But it's also a dominant season with exceptionally strong moments that stand alone.

At the end of the last season Tony fled from Johnny Sack's home as the feds closed in on the head of the New York family. The final season opens with the episode 'Members Only' and delivers one of the biggest moments of the show - Junior Soprano - who started to slip with Alzhiemer's last season - takes a huge step further into his illness by shooting Tony at the end of the epsidoe, making this the second time Tony has been shot during the series. His coma, his experiences in it and the attitudes of the New Jersey crew form a huge part of early episodes.

One of the other main threads of the season follows the gradual decline of Johnny Sack and the rise of Phil Leotardo as a dangerous threat to Tony and his boys (Philly still unwilling to let Tony Blundetto's killing of Angelo go as he was unable to extract revenge from Tony B because Tony S had already killed him to spare the man being tortured to death - and to try and close the issue between New York and New Jersey).

Another character brought to the front of the season is Vito, one of Tony's highest earners - he moves from being a supporting character with a few unusual, interesting and notable traits (his rapid weight loss and suppressed/concealed homosexuality being the primary two) into the limelight when he is outed. I was rather surprised by the expertise and skill involved in the entire story. Vito comes across very strongly as a sympathetic and likeable individual during his time away from New Jersey, which is not to say that you'll forget this is the man who killed Jackie Jr. But you do come to appreciate him a a rounded personality.

The show is as tight and superb as ever, this season has a stronger direction than any before as it's building up towards the final block of episodes. Providing plenty of foreshadowing, metaphors and hints at the storm brewing between the New Jersey and New York families in the final part.

It's a great season that is followed by an amazing one.
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The fifth season of The Sopranos marks the moment where that legend of an actor Steve Buscemi (seriously, name something he's not good in) steps out from behind the camera and onto the screen. Taking the role of Tony Soprano's cousin Tony Blundetto. He'd been involved in the show previously - directing the episodes Pine Barrens and Everybody Hurts. Tony B's story is one of the major arcs of the fifth season, the man did grow up alongside Tony Soprano and, as it turns out, went to prison at least partially because of Tony S.

Tony B's story is a pretty interesting one, for those of you who've seen the season before and need a refresher I do recommend the wikipedia article on it (here) - as long as no-one has amended it to mention that Tony B was in fact an intergalactic time traveller from Vogon 6 who came to Earth in order to determine the secret of making really good cheese. (Unlikely as, let's face it, Americans don't know how to make decent cheeses - they'd be better off snooping on the British or French). Tony B's story is also strengthened by Steve Buscemi's unholy Acting Talent, (did I mention how good Steve is in his performances? I did, well let's mention it again). Fortunately for The Sopranos the show is filled with accomplished actors providing charaters that are deep, meaningful and very real - so Steve's performance as Tony B fits into the show like Cinderella's foot in the glass slipper (such a daft fairy tale) - he doesn't overwhelm the plot, instead he remains a low key prescence who gradually grows, changes and becomes more significant in an entirely natural fashion.

The rest of the season continues in the solid, real and above all else, brilliant style you should have come to expect from The Sopranos by now. Tony is dealing with his seperation from Carmella in the only way he can, by persuing Dr Melfi, Meadow and AJ are dealing with their parent's break up in their own ways. And Uncle June begins to show mild, early signs of Alzheimer's disease - which would be a tragic (if somewhat fitting) end for a man who lived a life that was pretty dispicable in the terms of normal society.

The mounting tension between the New York families provides another thrust of season five's plot - the struggle naturally has a great deal of influence on the lives of the New Jersey crew as they (in essence) live in the shadow of the "New York Mobs". And when other events begin to strain the relationship between the two groups things really begin to break out.

There's an awful lot to like about the fifth season of The Sopranos, it's on par with the fourth one in terms of quality and is a fantastic piece of television in it's own right.
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I was a little mixed with my feelings on the third season of The Sopranos, it had some great moments - but it was uneven enough that as a result The Sopranos won't ever be surpassing my perennial favourites - The Wire and The Shield - in my top ten. But that said it was still light years ahead of most (non-HBO) television.

The fourth season, I'm happy to report, was a far more solid and coherent piece of quality entertainment. The family is struggling with tough economic times (sound familiar?) Uncle Jun is heading for trial and Tony himself is still struggling with his internal conflict.

I could repeat myself here by gushing about the performances, as across the board they are enchanting. In particular James Gandolfini's performance as Tony - he has this one particular expression which looks like a mix of a shark that scents blood and a toad at the bottom of a deep putrid well. There's something completely predatory and unwholesome about it, and it's always a delight to see him use it to express Tony's reaction to the situation. It's almost like he draws a foggy curtain over the front of his mind and retracts back the humanity, leaving only an animal in place.

I'll leave a further look at Tony Soprano for a later post, one which takes a look at some of the more... unpleasant leading men in television and compares/contrasts them. Suffice to say Tony's in the top tier, especially after his performance in this season (the horse incident is just superb in the way it blindsides you and then reminds you just how brutish Tony really is - if you haven't seen it, don't worry calling it 'the horse incident' is not a spoiler ;).

As with series three, series four has a handful of episodes which outshine the rest by light years - this time the vast majority of them revolve around the always entertaining Ralphie Cifaretto who initially joined the show in the third season and fast became a hugely entertaining arsehole of epic proportions. Whoever Did This is one of the greatest episodes of the show I've seen so far as is The Weight. Both of which owe a great deal to Ralphie's presence and general douche-baggery.

I think at this point it's also worth giving large props to Tony Sirico's performance as Pauile Walnuts - I've always had a fond soft spot for the character since the start of the show - and that grew a great deal after the quite brilliant 'snow' episode in the third series (Pine Barrens). He goes from strength to strength in this season; I especially enjoyed his completely inappropriate overreaction towards Christopher in Everybody Hurts - you can almost bank on Paulie getting himself into some trouble that's entirely his own creation any time he makes a decision.

I think it's fair to say that the fourth series of The Sopranos is quite excellent, I still feel that the first two seasons pulled off the strongest story lines - but there is no doubt that number four is a more complete and enjoyable entity than number three was.

The Extras:
Audio Commentaries on four episodes.
Episodic previews and recaps (for the REALLY hard of memory)
Recaps of series 1, 2 and 3 (For those of you who want to get someone up to speed quickly without having to rewatch the previous seasons).
Cast/Crew Biographies
Interactive Menus (Seriously, this is listed as a bonus feature. I wonder what the non-interactive version is like, maybe it tells you that you're not allowed to watch the show.)
Scene Access (...words fail me)

The Details:
Audio: 5.1 Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
Languages: English
Rating: 18
Region: 2
Run Time: 11hours 48mins
Subtitles: The box only says English, but I found German, Italian and French amongst others.
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I've been meaning to write about the third season of The Sopranos for a while now, I'm actually close to watching the end of the fourth season at the moment of writing this. But I've been putting it off and it took me a while to understand why.

Now there is no doubt in my mind that The Sopranos is in the top 1-5% of television in history, and it's been utterly fantastic to watch. In particular the additional depth provided by the ongoing psychiatric treatment of Tony Soprano makes it a delight to watch. James Gandolfini (in addition to having a most excellent surname) continues to bring us a character who's both compelling and completely sociopathic - there is no doubt that he's brought Tony to life with such completeness that the character is amongst the greatest of criminal protagonists to have graced our screen. He's a likable monster who can make you forget the terrible crimes he's committed at times much like Vic Mackey, Shane Vendrell (The Shield), Stringer Bell (The Wire) and to a lesser extent characters Dexter Morgan (Dexter) & Walter White (Breaking Bad). He really is a complete human being, even if he's from the more loathsome side of humanity.

Likewise performances across the board are fantastic, to name everyone who puts in class work would be effectively naming the entire cast one after another. Returning (surviving) faces and new ones alike they're all spot on what they should be - even if that's annoying, amusing, disturbing or some mixture of negative traits. It's almost impossible to find fault with the performances as even if you dislike a particular character it's because you're supposed to dislike them.

The thing about the third season is this, while it's consistently better than (approx) 99% of everything shown on television, this season just doesn't feel better than the two seasons before it. The cardinal rule of seasons here at Rev/Views is "each season must be better than the one which came before it" and if I'm honest I enjoyed the first two seasons a lot more than this one. Don't get me wrong some episodes were amazing - Employee of the Month, University and Pine Barrens in particular blew me away with their stories - but a lot of the rest just felt par for the show, not terrible but also not great.

[Incidentally I found Employee of the Month a very difficult episode to watch, but the final scene in it was just superb. To take a character on such a terrible journey like that, and then to give them the power back is one thing. But to have a character so ethically strong as to not then use that power - it was just great.]

Additionally, the end of the season didn't have that same feeling of release as the first two seasons. They both built up to moments which blew me away and left me feeling justified for the investment of time. This season at the end instead felt more like things were just happening and it was setting up for the fourth season - there was no real over arcing plot to properly serialise the show. It was mainly life, happening one day at a time.

Maybe this sounds rather negative, and if so I do need to clarify that I was still enthralled by the show and it is no doubt one of the best shows in the medium of television - all time - it's just I was left feeling a little "that's it?" at the end.

Fortunately, the fourth season has been nothing short of fantastic so far. So seriously, if you're not watching The Sopranos (and haven't already seen it)... What's your excuse?

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Breaking Bad is a relatively young show, with just two seasons behind it (and a third coming soon) - it stars Bryan Cranston (Tim; King of Queens, Dr Tim Whatley; Seinfeld and most famously Hal; Malcolm in the Middle) as Walter H. White - an ex-researcher turned chemistry teacher. He has a relatively normal life, and by that I mean the whole mundane domestic thing, complete with his beautiful wife Skyler (Anna Gunn - Deadwood) and son Walter Jr (RJ Mitte). He's a pretty average teacher, average husband and well an average guy all round - but his world is rocked to it's foundations when he finds out that he has lung cancer.


Walter soon runs into an ex-student of his, one Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul - Big Love) who now makes his living dealing meth. And from here the show charts Walter's path as he begins to 'break bad' and the pilot episode pans out in a pretty spectacular fashion with some vivid and iconic moments for the viewer. I'm not going to go into major specifics any further here, instead I'm going to write about what it is that makes the show so good.

The centrepiece of the entire show is of course Walter himself - he's a character who's been driven off the road by a mixture of the unfairness in life/society, his own impending demise, his desire to see his family provided for once he's gone and what can only be described as "the straw that broke the camel's back". Now as Bryan himself has a background mainly in sitcoms you could be forgiven for assuming that he might struggle a little with such a turnabout character. Instead of playing a supporting, lighthearted fun character he has instead taken on a heavyweight role with depth and darkness to it.

It sounds like quite a challenge, but it's one which has been achieved before by none other than Michael Chiklis who transformed himself from the happy go-lucky Commissioner Tom Scali in The Commish and Chris Woods in Daddio (both shows light sitcoms) into one of the darkest and most complex individuals to grace our screens Vic Mackey. Now I draw this comparison for a good reason, Breaking Bad has many parallels with The Shield and the two characters - Walter and Vic - have similarities in their characters as well. I also draw this comparison to express the respect I have for Breaking Bad, being compared to The Shield in a favourable fashion is a high compliment from myself as that show is pure gold.

So, as I think you've guessed, Bryan Cranston is more than up to the task - giving us a character who has depth and strength to him as he travels further off the road of society and into territory which is quite frankly criminal - overtly so at times. It's one of the biggest draws of the show and Bryan nails it. Giving us a compelling portrait of a man who's got nothing left to lose and is willing to embrace and follow his desperation. He's also a character with duality to him, on one side you have this loving family man who is struggling with his illness and trying to do what's right for his wife, son and upcoming baby. But sat on the other side you have a man who doesn't seem to have any boundaries left, you push him and he shoves back all the way - he'll just keep going in his desperate search to provide for his family. He is a bit like Paul Kersey in that respect (Charles Bronson in Death Wish for those of you who don't recognise the name) there's no telling what he'll do to achieve his goal.

So the core of the show is a solid lock, Bryan delivers the performance he needs to (and then some), which is absolutely vital because if he wasn't good the rest of the show would crumble. Still, no show is a one man band (except for this film) and the supporting cast are just as important. Fortunately they deliver and in spades. RJ Mitte is great as Walter Jr and I hadn't even suspected his lack of acting experience until I checked his entry on the imdb and Anna Gunn is so fantastic as Skyler that I fell in love with her a little. But the two people who really nail things down for me are the aforementioned Aaron Paul as Jesse - Walter's semi-streetwise (in his own mind) "partner in crime" and Dean Norris as Hank the DEA Agent. They're both fantastic characters, Jesse for bringing a little lightness and fun into the deeds he and Walter perform and Hank for giving us a solid extra piece of the world to follow - he's loosely connected to Walter both as law enforcement and as his brother-in-law. Something which just has to lead to a confrontation at some point, and who knows what will happen then.

Tonally Breaking Bad is a dark show, it's filled with quite visceral moments and some memorable scenes which push the boundaries at times. Things like bathtubs, RVs, removing your pants and even good old boring high school chemistry just won't seem the same after you watch this show. I know a few of the moments from the first season (I've not seen the second at this point) have stuck with me and will do for quite a while. It's a show which isn't afraid to go to unpleasant places and bring you along with it, it's a show which greatly reminds me of my perennial favourite - The Shield.

And that is close to the highest level of praise I can give it.

Breaking Bad, if you haven't seen it - you should.
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Procedurals are something which I have a rather torn opinion on, there is no doubt in my mind that the style of show in general is frankly lazy television which appeals to the laziest and lowest common denominator of television viewer. Many of the shows in the genre seem to follow the old maxim which was best stated in Futurama by Fry (ironically) - "At the end of the episode, everything's always right back to normal."

Looking back at earlier shows in the history of television we can see this maxim being applied over and over, especially in the genres of drama and situation comedy. The two genres I prefer over any other. Now I couldn't say with certainty when the procedural was spawned, but the 1950s seem to be a likely spot - at least in the medium of television.

Now fine, it is important for an episode to hold self contained moments in it - or at least it seems important - as this makes it easy for the casual viewer to dip into an episode at almost any point in the series and enjoy it. That makes it easy to captivate channel flickers and hold them until the end of the show. Sprinkle in a few occasional two or three parters and you have something which fills up time and entertains without ever breaking outside of it's own boundaries.

There is a place for the procedural, in truth there are some exceptional shows which have used the format - many sitcoms hold up well with this structure (Seinfeld for example), because their relatively short episode length leaves little room for anything else. But is it really an acceptable standard to be used for dramas? I'm not convinced at all, especially not the the area of police procedurals - a sub-genre which has spiraled out of control so far that it's managed to spawn a sub-genre of it's own, the medical procedural (House - which is a great show, but that's in spite of it's procedural nature).

Looking at our screens and schedules these days reveals an absolute glut of these shows; we have the CSI and Law & Order franchises, Bones, House, Psych, Lie to Me, Cold Case, Criminal Minds, NCIS and The Closer to mention just a few. And the past is even more damning, with a huge swathe of these shows running all the way back to Dragnet (and perhaps even before). Is there really a need for this many shows in the genre? What on earth distinguishes one from the next? The characters I suppose, that's certainly the appeal in Bones and House. Or perhaps it's the identical structure of the episodes, watching a procedural is like putting on a comfy pair of slippers, you know exactly what to expect from them and exactly what they'll do (keep your feet warm, rubbish to wear in the rain, fall off when climbing up stairs).

Maybe that's it, that's the big secret. Perhaps I'm barking up the wrong tree when I go watching clever shows that employ an ongoing storyline like The Wire. Perhaps even the hybrid shows I adore - shows with self contained episodes AND ongoing story lines (like The Shield, The Sopranos and Arrested Development). Perhaps I should just forget about these kind of shows, because it's clear that the viewing public has become conditioned towards receiving their stories in neat self contained packages, all wrapped up in a bow and fuzzy edges. Maybe it's to much to expect that viewers want to be challenged by what they're watching - it's clearly too much effort and discomfort to try and remember what happened from one week to the next isn't it?

I think that my main gripe with the Procedural is not exactly it's existence, but the sheer quantity of them. It just feels so lazy, here we have this incredible method of performing one of the oldest ways of human socialisation - storytelling - and instead of using it to explore new directions and challenge humanity the networks are taking the same framework and slapping different paint on it before feeding it to us. And the worst part is we just lap this shit up like it's gravy. We just can't get enough of it, and the networks can't get enough of our adoration.

I often picture how pitches must go for new shows, the creator of the show turns up for the meeting and after sitting down and engaging in a little small talk he begins his pitch. Painting a picture of a show with a sweeping story arc that runs across the entire season and builds up into a climax which leaves the viewers amazed and asking questions. The network exes nod sagely and ask "but is it going to get them off their tractors?" The creator defends his work for a while and then realises that it's a lost cause. The exes ask him if he has anything else and he replies "how about a police show with a detective who solves a different crime each exes are more interested in this and "ask what's the hook?" The creator mugs for a moment before responding he's blind and his partner is deaf. I call it 'See No Evil, Hear No Evil'.

Instant hit.

Bleah.

On the flip side though I do have to admit that there are some exceptional procedural shows out there, shows which manage to transcend the rather pathetic design of the procedural and give us something which is genuinely special. The strongest example for myself is the 1990s show Homicide: Life on the Street - a show which was definitely a procedural show in structure but managed to play around with it's format and result in something which was a little less predictable. This wasn't a show which always delivered easy answers at the end of each episode, at times there would be hanging cases left unsolved or the criminals would get away with their crime. This uncertainty makes the show more enjoyable for myself because it's the outcome isn't a forgone conclusion, there was always a little doubt when watching each episode that everything would turn out OK in the end. This, added to the generally dark and pessimistic tone of the show resulted in a rather unique experience - many procedurals like to shock with visual "darkness" (autopsies, violent deaths and so forth), but Homicide went with a bleak tone that just made everything feel more real and more hopeless.

But the greatest triumph of Homicide lays in the two shows it spawned; both of which are the two shows I hold dearest to my heart. Shows which are the kind of innovation in the procedural I wish was more prevalent. The first is Homicide's direct descendant, the other Baltimore Cop Show - The Wire. Spinning the procedural show out by basing an entire case over a season rather than an episode. Allowing for a (more) realistic portrayal of the work involved in building a case against high level criminals. If you look at the ebb and flow of the episodes in each of The Wire's seasons they are structured like a procedural (and a novel), but the time line of events is played out in a more natural, less condensed (and less condescending) fashion.

It results in an experience which can be difficult to 'get into' and is impossible to pick up partway through a season, but it's a rewarding show which challenges the viewer and rarely offers the easy way out.

And if you're willing to buy into that theory it's also part of the Dreams of Tommy Westphall. But that's a discussion for a different time and place - so just enjoy this visual depiction of all the shows caught in Tommy's dream and note how incestuous the world of police procedurals actually is.

The second show Homicide spawned was The Shield; but in this case the show was partially inspired by Homicide rather than being directly descended from it. (As long as Clark Johnson's character "Handsome Marshall" wasn't actually Meldrick Lewis - which is a vague possibility). The Shield also perverts the nature of the procedural, this time by blending multiple story lines into the show - some of which take place over the entire season and many of which span just the one episode. While Vic and the Strike Team provided the main ongoing continuity it was Dutch and Claudette who gave us the 'crime of the week' story lines. This makes The Shield an easier show to dip into for the casual viewer (if you can stomach the material, which it seems many weak willed people can't), while still maintaining the 88 episodes combined into movie style of the show.

I raise The Shield here for two reasons, first - I unashamedly adore the show, enough said there. Second, and more significantly, The Shield offers a medium between the serial procedural and The Wire. You can have a show with contained story lines within the episodes and still provide an over arcing storyline. But you need to build it in from the start (Bones has attempted to do this - but falls a little short) and even if you don't know exactly where the story is going to end up you should at least be content that some plot threads will dangle for a while and get picked up later on in the shows run.

So I've meandered my way along in this and I've not really hit any genuine conclusion about procedurals, I do know that I feel they are a lazy way out for both television and the people who watch it. But there is also no doubt that the style of show has spawned some fantastic television as well.

I think I'd settle for less standard format procedural shows and more shows which attempted to push the boat out and take it in unusual directions. True these attempts might fail but there is uncharted territory out there and that could result in the unique shows I want to see on our screens.

Failing that I'll settle for less David Caruso, a lot less.

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