Post by Inside Man on Jun 5, 2007 12:27:43 GMT -5
Great review in today's Chicago Tribune. There are no spoilers.
The Season 6 Media Guide said that Shawn Ryan co-wrote the episode and that Paris Barclay directs, contrary to what she mentions at the end.
ChicagoTribune.com
Shield Season Finale Offers Another Shocker
By Maureen Ryan, Tribune television critic maryab@tribune.com
Published June 5, 2007
You have to wear body armor, or at least a helmet, to be a TV fan these days.
Television writers seem to take a special joy in delivering body blows to us, plot twists that feel like a frying pan upside the head -- but in a good way.
"Battlestar Galactica" regularly delivers game-changing twists; just a week ago the "Lost" finale messed with its timeline in a major way; and even "Project Runway" often dishes up "are you kidding me?" moments.
But no show has pulled more rabbits out of its hat than FX's "The Shield," which brings its taut, stellar sixth season to a close 9 p.m. Tuesday.
Every season, lead cop Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) gets himself into deeply twisted situations, and regular viewers, who've seen him wriggle out of a million dicey situations, start to think that Vic just won't be able to get out of this one, not this time.
This season, Vic's been on the hunt for the killer of fellow cop Curtis "Lem" Lemansky -- and he was shocked to find out that the person who murdered Lem was one of his fellow cops, Shane Vendrell (Walton Goggins). As the season closes, former buddies Vic and Shane are at war, and Shane is trying to feather his own nest by buddying up to some Armenian gangsters.
But Shane is not Vic -- he thinks he has the street smarts that his mentor has, but he doesn't -- and as usual Shane digs himself into a deep hole. And as the season closes, Vic is in big trouble, too -- days from getting fired, in fact.
I don't want to give away what happens, but the last moments of the season will leave your jaw hanging wide open. How Vic slithers out of his latest crisis -- and who ends up as his ally -- well, you may not believe it.
But as written by "The Shield's" excellent Kurt Sutter (and by the way, film director Frank Darabont helmed the finale), Vic's latest machinations are believable -- and gripping. It kills me that the final season of "The Sopranos" is going to soak up so much media ink once again -- no disrespect to Tony and his crew, but "The Shield" has been better than "The Sopranos" for some time now.
But at least we have one more season of "The Shield" to look forward to, thank goodness.
I think she got her Darabont wires crossed.
**** The commas are confusing the link. What's the secret to that? ****
edit: fixed link. click 'quote' or 'modify' to see what I did to make it clickable. -E
The Season 6 Media Guide said that Shawn Ryan co-wrote the episode and that Paris Barclay directs, contrary to what she mentions at the end.
ChicagoTribune.com
Shield Season Finale Offers Another Shocker
By Maureen Ryan, Tribune television critic maryab@tribune.com
Published June 5, 2007
You have to wear body armor, or at least a helmet, to be a TV fan these days.
Television writers seem to take a special joy in delivering body blows to us, plot twists that feel like a frying pan upside the head -- but in a good way.
"Battlestar Galactica" regularly delivers game-changing twists; just a week ago the "Lost" finale messed with its timeline in a major way; and even "Project Runway" often dishes up "are you kidding me?" moments.
But no show has pulled more rabbits out of its hat than FX's "The Shield," which brings its taut, stellar sixth season to a close 9 p.m. Tuesday.
Every season, lead cop Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) gets himself into deeply twisted situations, and regular viewers, who've seen him wriggle out of a million dicey situations, start to think that Vic just won't be able to get out of this one, not this time.
This season, Vic's been on the hunt for the killer of fellow cop Curtis "Lem" Lemansky -- and he was shocked to find out that the person who murdered Lem was one of his fellow cops, Shane Vendrell (Walton Goggins). As the season closes, former buddies Vic and Shane are at war, and Shane is trying to feather his own nest by buddying up to some Armenian gangsters.
But Shane is not Vic -- he thinks he has the street smarts that his mentor has, but he doesn't -- and as usual Shane digs himself into a deep hole. And as the season closes, Vic is in big trouble, too -- days from getting fired, in fact.
I don't want to give away what happens, but the last moments of the season will leave your jaw hanging wide open. How Vic slithers out of his latest crisis -- and who ends up as his ally -- well, you may not believe it.
But as written by "The Shield's" excellent Kurt Sutter (and by the way, film director Frank Darabont helmed the finale), Vic's latest machinations are believable -- and gripping. It kills me that the final season of "The Sopranos" is going to soak up so much media ink once again -- no disrespect to Tony and his crew, but "The Shield" has been better than "The Sopranos" for some time now.
But at least we have one more season of "The Shield" to look forward to, thank goodness.
I think she got her Darabont wires crossed.
**** The commas are confusing the link. What's the secret to that? ****
edit: fixed link. click 'quote' or 'modify' to see what I did to make it clickable. -E