The Shield

[Richie]

waaaah??

I can't believe they ended it like that. i know they had to have a big finale, but not like. That was just horrible, and in a bad way.

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Killed by one of his own, by someone he inately trusted, when he needed a friend most and had his guard down.

I used to be as big a fan as anyone. If there is a season 6, i don't think I'll watch it. Can't be the same after that.

[Concept]

I partly agree. But no, I'll keep watching in the hope that

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Shane goes down. Lem was a good guy and it does leave a sour taste in the mouth in the way he died. It was horrible.

[MartyG]

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Lem hasn't completely trusted Shane since the Kill Vic stuff, in fact, since he married that woman

[Concept]

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Likewise, you always got the sense even after they made up, Shane still held bad blood at how Lem burnt the money train stash. The problem with ending it in the way that they have, is that it's hard to sympathise, or relate to the Striketeam now. They did turn on each other... the loyalty is broken now, so the viewer is left asking themselves who do they support?

[John Beaulieu]

the thing is - in the very first episode we saw Maki murder a fellow police officer so regardless of whats happened between then and now, Maki is the bad guy in this show.

Regarding the ending to this season,

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the look Vic gave to Shane just had so much in it, as though Vic knew Shane had done it no matter what he said at the end

A good end to an excellent season, it left a bitter after-taste but that made every episode that's gone before so much better.

[MartyG]

Things in The Shield aren't that B&W. Yes Vic shot the fellow officer, though I don't remember it being in the first episode ever, but he did it to protect the team. Vic's character is anti-hero rather than bad guy. Has he done bad things? Yes. Has he cleaned up and prevented a lot of crime due to his methods? Yes. Is he purely out for himself? No. Vic does have a sense of right and wrong, but it's complex.

That's what makes the show great.

[Dogg Thang]

Yep it was the very first episode - the pilot. It was the guy from Homicide. These are fresh for me as I've just been watching them. You can say he did it to protect the team but that's barely true because they were only just being investigated at the time - overreaction doesn't come close to describing that first killing.

That is the only flaw for me of the entire show - killing a cop so coldly in the first episode and with pretty much no provocation, no 'heat of the moment' excuses meant it was harder to buy Mackey as a cop who does good things but in bad ways. So many of the moral dilemmas in season 2 and 3 really meant little when you take into account that he shot a cop in cold blood. Once you do what he did in the first ep, you really have nowhere to go morally...

[MartyG]

I disagree, that's purely where the first episode started, it's not where the story began. The killing of the guy expands, and has expanded even up to season 5. This is why I don't remember it happening in the first ep, because it has been part of the whole story.

If you had no where to go morally, then you'd not still be rooting for Vic. Who do you dislike more? Vic or Kavanagh?

The Shield isn't B&W it's shades of grey, it makes you think about morals and rights and wrongs.

Edit - you edited that whilst I was replying

[PeteJ]

I'm shaking.

That was incredible, totally unexpected. Ended on such a low and angry set of emotions. The relationships between each character now is just at apocalyptic levels now; every glance, every word now has multiple meanings and subtle undertones.

I honestly don't know how I can wait for season six. I wish they didn't split season five in two like this. I need to know what happens now!

[Mr_Skinny]

How are we supposed to wait for season 6?

I am dead inside.

[Yoshimax]

Jesus CHRIST.

You could tell it was going to happen but it was done in such a brutal fashion - my gf actually said

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grenade

as he walked over with the sandwich.

What's this talk about splitting S5 in half ? I thought 11 episodes seemed a bit tight - is there deffo going to be a 6th ? They can't leave it like that although all that's left is to watch the team rip itself to pieces surely ?

[Chadruharazzeb]

How are we supposed to wait for season 6?

Will there be one? I'm not so sure.

[Mr_Skinny]

I'm pretty sure there will be, but I imagine it will be the last.

[Chadruharazzeb]

Seen ep 11 now. I was shocked and appalled - the trailer voice at the end of ep 10 said it would be a feature lenght double episode and it was only 20 mins longer than normal.

Anyway. It was horrible. Even though I'd inadvertently read the spoilers for the episode it was still shocking and distressing.

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The worst of it being that Lem didn't die immediately and actually summoned the strength to say "Shane!".

Thing is though, I don't hate Shane for it. I was expecting him to moider Lem in cold blood but he was clearly distressed about the whole thing. In fact it's the sort of thing Vic has been doing throughout the series - protect the team at all costs. Lem wasn't going to go the easy way, god knows why not.

What WAS cuntish was to pretend to Vic and Ronnie that Lem was still going to show at the rendezvous.

My god I wanted Vic to slug that Kavanagh ****er at the end.

I really hope there's another series.

[Concept]

There isn't strictly a 'season 6', but they're filming another 12 or 13 episodes to finish off this season later in the year for showing early 2007. They might as well be called a new season because previous Shield seasons have generally only comprised of 11-14 episodes.

Shawn Ryan has hinted to the media that it may be the end of the line after that.