Season 7 is the final season of the Shield, and it’s clear from start to finish that the series hasn’t lost any of the hard-hitting, gritty realism, that’s had fans hooked since early 2002. The stories are as edgy as ever, there’s plenty of action, brutality, and a plot that twists and turns so often that once you start watching, you won’t be able to stop. It’s also the most shocking series yet (fans will know that’s a pretty bold statement to make), as there’s about ten or eleven episodes (out of a 13 episode series) with cliff-hangers so surprising that not only will they make any viewers jaw hit the floor, but leave them with only two thoughts; “wow!” and “what’re they going to do next?”

The Shield was created by Shawn Ryan (writer for Angel, showrunner for The Unit, and co-wrote Terminator Salvation) and revolves around the exploits of the L.A.P.D. within the fictional Farmington District. The series’ main protagonist is Detective Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis), who heads the Strike Team; a four man unit that deals solely with gang related crimes, and aren’t above planting evidence on suspects, beating confessions out of them, and even occasionally raising the bar to outright murder and other questionable activities used to keep peace on the streets and supplement their income.

The main issue presented by the series is the use of force, and corruption within the police department, as the actions of Vic and the rest of the Strike Team are not only vicious, but immoral and downright illegal, yet they always seem to do more good than harm; granted now and again they ‘forget’ to turn in a brick of heroin to evidence, or make back-room deals with drug dealers and murderers, but all the beatings, murders and stitch-ups they ever conduct are against people that are truly deserving; serial rapists, paedophiles, murderers, pimps or drug dealers; and because of this no viewer can truly hate Mackey or the Strike Team as a whole.

In the pilot episode Mackey was referred to as “Al Capone with a badge” but as another detective pointed out, as long as people feel safe, and crime is down, as far as the public are concerned “it’s don’t ask, don’t tell,” and while most people may agree with that in real life, we have not only been told, but shown the actions of the Strike Team for the past six years, and as this is the last ever season fans were itching to find out if Mackey would finally get his comeuppance, or what depraved acts he would have to commit to escape scott free.

The next section of the series review should only be read by people that have seen at least the first six series of The Shield, as while it contains no real Season 7 spoilers, it does refer to events from earlier series. People that haven’t seen the earlier series’ should skip ahead to Acting/conclusion, Picture/Audio quality, Extras and the Bottom Line.

Season 6 ended with Shane (Walton Goggins), once again, being in way over his head with a gang; the Armenians, which led to him letting slip that Vic had ripped off the money train, and even kidnapping Vic’s wife and children to protect them from an Armenian hitman. Season 7 kicks off with a bang, as within the first few seconds Shane’s wife is bound and gagged, and Shane is receiving a beating from Vic and Ronnie (David Rees Snell) and is forced to tell them about the Armenians and just how screwed they all are.

From that point Vic, Shane and Ronnie are again forced to work closer together, and the season’s early episodes focus on the efforts to catch and kill any Armenians that know of their involvement in the money train robbery and could, by association, be a threat to their families. Shane is trying to find the Armenians before Vic and Ronnie, in order to keep his involvement in their predicament under wraps, and once more tries to redeem himself for killing Lem back in season 5.

Vic and Ronnie (him especially) aren’t too forgiving; they want to end the Armenian threat, find out how involved Shane is, and if not to avenge Lem’s death outright, to at least cut all ties with Shane. Inevitably tensions boil over, and the surprising actions of some of the main characters shift the story in a totally new direction. Without giving too much away, the remaining members of the Strike Team find themselves in more trouble than they have ever been in before, it’s clear that at least one if not all of them are going down, either to prison or the morgue, and the team’s inevitable descent to hell comes extremely rapidly from that point onwards.

The shift mentioned occurs in episode 8 (titled “Parricide”) and it is possibly the finest episode of The Shield ever produced; it has some of the best writing, best acting and most nail-biting moments of the series entire run. It is an episode that will not only have viewers on the edge of their seats, but holding their breath for the full 45 minute episode simply willing certain characters to do/not to do certain things, and this episode (more so than most, yet all in this season are brilliant) is a perfect example of why The Shield has been so beloved by fans, why the first season gained the most Emmy nominations for a basic cable drama, and just what an all-round brilliant show it was.

Unfortunately however, The Shield has now ended, and most people reading this will be interested in one thing above all else, ‘was the finale any good?’ and in short, it was unexpected. That comment shouldn’t be taken too negatively, as there are many things about the final episode which would more than please the shows legions of loyal fans; the fact that it was written solely by Shawn Ryan (shows creator and sole writer of the pilot episode), that references and even appearances are made by supporting cast members from earlier seasons, and most importantly of all, that every major storyline is satisfactorily and realistically closed.

Spoilers End

Realistic is a word that perfectly describes the series’ ending; as whilst it may not be the ending that most fans were expecting, it’s one that would probably have happened, had the events of the entire series been real; and on reflection, it was truly a piece of writing genius to end the series in such an unexpected, realistic and still shockingly powerful way.

As one would expect, the finale is tied up almost entirely with the fate of Vic, and it’s one of many episodes that keeps you guessing right until, and even past, the episodes closing scene. It’s an extremely powerful episode that will memorize just about anyone watching, there’s unexpected twists even at such a late stage in the game, and it is acted so well that the emotions of all key characters can actually be felt by the people watching, an example would be any one of several scenes where the camera holds steady for 30-40 seconds on a close-up of Mackey’s face, with no background noise or anything but his expression to convey the complex emotions felt by the character, and they are all scenes which Michael Chiklis pulls off exceptionally well.

The acting in this series is nothing but superb, Michael Chiklis is as convincing as ever as Vic Mackey, the tough cop that believes he is trying to do the right thing, and effectively carries the wider range of emotions needed to be conveyed by his character this series; having to show sadness, empathy, and convey a feeling that he knows he is taking things to far, and is disgusted with himself, but is unable to stop.

However it isn’t just Michael Chiklis that deserves all the credit, as the acting from the supporting cast is also exceptional; Walton Goggins, as Shane Vendrell, had to carry his character through some especially dark times during the season, and despite being an extremely difficult character to like, he was convincing and created a character that was easy to hate, yet deserving of an innumerable amount of empathy. David Rees Snell has the finest season of his Shield career as the third Strike Team member, Ronnie Gardocki, and it’s a season described in the commentary as the corruption of Ronnie because in several episodes Ronnie is forced to commit acts worse than he has ever done onscreen before. He’s an extremely likeable character, and it’s nice to see him get more screen time than has been awarded him in the past, and while David’s acting might not be as critically praised as that of Michael Chiklis or Walton Goggins, he easily matches their stellar standard and his performance far surpasses simply being believable, making it easy to feel for his character.

The rest of the regular cast also have their fair share of screen time and decent stories this series, Billings’ law suit reaches its climax, Dutch (wonderfully played by Jay Karnes) becomes involved in a disturbing case regarding a potential teenage serial killer, and the extent of Claudette’s (a character played to perfection by CCH Pounder) illness is made clear, and Aceveda (Benito Martinez) edges ever closer to the mayors desk.

To sum up, The Shield is, and has always been, a magnificent series, and season 7 is impressive enough to not only contend with but even surpass some of the earlier series’. The acting from all regular cast members, guest stars and even those reappearing in smaller supporting roles (the return of Tavon was a personal highlight) is as near perfect as possible, the stories are just as shocking and powerful as ever, with Vic barely hanging on through most of the series’, and the individual tragedies that befall a number of key characters are enough to move viewers to tears.  This is one of very few series’ that can be classified as essential viewing, as the writing quality, the show’s style and overall impression of the show haven’t failed to disappoint for seven years.

Picture:

The Shield has always been known for it’s gritty look, and as with all earlier series’ you can expect a good deal of grain on this transfer, something which is so noticeable that it even warrants a mention in the season openers commentary. However, grain here isn’t the result of a bad transfer, but rather a reflection of the series’ on-the-fly style of filming, and use of handheld cameras that provides a near documentary style look to the show. For that reason alone it should not be put down, and the fact that contrast remains consistent throughout and the picture looks a good deal better than the earlier series’ mean that whilst being far from perfect, the picture quality is more than adequate (actually adding to the realistic feel of the show), and doesn’t distract from the edgy storylines contained in each episode.

Audio:

Audio on previous Shield boxsets has been pretty limited, with seasons 1-6 having only 2 channel mixes, and unfortunately whilst online info states that season 7 has a 5.1 audio track, it only played in standard 2 channel stereo, with no options to change to 5.1. It’s understandable that the fast paced nature of the show, use of handheld cameras and the crews style of filming, would make it difficult creating a full 5.1 track during filming, but The Shield is a show that could really benefit from some decent surround sound; there are numerous action sequences, scenes on city streets and even quiet moments where the low hum of fluorescent lights being heard through the rear speakers would provide another level to the show and help to further immerse the viewer; however this isn’t the case, and season 7 of The Shield still has the same tired audio quality of the first season. A track that will be far from impressive, but boasts clear dialogue, ambient, and action noise levels throughout, and while it will not heighten the experience of the series, neither will it distract from the compelling story.

Extras:

As with all previous The Shield boxsets there are deleted scenes for every episode (51 scenes in total) with optional commentary by creator Shawn Ryan, and while the scenes themselves may prove interesting (but brief) the commentary really isn’t needed, as it generally consists of ‘this was a good scene but we cut it for time’ and little else.

There is also episode commentary on every episode, with commentators changing from main cast members, to writers, directors and crew, and they are surprisingly easy to listen to and informative. The commentaries conducted solely by the writers can become somewhat tedious, but the ones with directors and cast (particularly the finale) are interesting enough to please both fans and casual viewers alike; as they are littered with stories about the decision making processes, behind the scenes antics, banter between cast members, interesting question posed to one another and funny anecdotes, that all prove worthy of a listen.

Finally there are two making of featurettes: “Last Call: The Final Episode”, which is only really for real fans, as it mainly consists of the cast giving small speeches and heartfelt goodbyes to one-another, and “Nobody Expects to Lose, Nobody Expects to Die: The Shield’s Final Act”, which is more of a traditional making of, with some interesting cast and crew interviews conducted before, during and post filming, behind the scenes shots, and recapping the final season and showing how the ending was reached.

The most puzzling extra(s) of all come on the final disc, as there are ‘deleted scenes’ from the final episode, that seemed strangely familiar, because they were in fact only deleted in the U.S. and anyone who watched the finale on Channel 5 would have already seen these scenes. The scenes even appear in the episode when watching them on the DVD, the only difference being that in the deleted scenes section, they have worse picture and audio quality. Even more baffling, is the ‘bonus episode’ which is the U.S. version of the finale, which is exactly the same as the one that aired here, but with the ‘deleted scenes’ actually taken out, and unfortunately the only way to watch the two-part finale as a whole is to view the ‘bonus episode’ with removed scenes.

In short, a nice collection of extras, with many interesting deleted scenes and commentaries and a nice making of featurette, although the ‘bonus episode’ really wasn’t needed.

The Bottom Line:

Summing up, season 7 of The Shield is pure television brilliance, it’s the perfect (even if rather unsettling) ending to possibly the best show on television and has lost none of its impact since its hard-hitting pilot first aired. All major stories are summed up powerfully well, there’s a closing montage that’s brought many viewers to tears, and no-one could argue that there could have been an ending that better suited the characters and situation that they found themselves in. Granted the picture quality is far from perfect, but that’s a stylistic choice rather than a transfer issue and actually adds to the realism of the show. The audio also isn’t up to scratch with most new releases, but that shouldn’t put anyone off when there’s a plot this intricate, gripping and truly shocking. Season 7 isn’t the place to start if you’ve never seen The Shield, because events from not only seasons 2-6 reach their culmination, but so does the storyline first opened up in the shows pilot episode. If you already own seasons 1-6, then 7 is a must buy as it rounds everything off brilliantly, otherwise the soon to be released, excellently presented, complete box set, comes highly recommended.

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The Shield Series 7, DVD Review

The Series:

ITV1 drama usually concerns itself with crime, family difficulties or the odd period piece, however lately they’ve been moving into new territory with shows such as Moving Wallpaper (fictional show about producing another fictional TV show) Primeval (a show where a team of scientists battle prehistoric and futuristic creatures that have entered our time-space) and the focus of this review, Demons, which centres around a small band of demon hunters.

Demons aired earlier this year, to slightly mixed reviews and declining ratings, but with the DVD and Blu-ray release just around the corner is this six episode series worth picking up?
 
The show revolves around Luke Rutherford, a London teenager who learns from his godfather that he is the last descendant from the Van Helsing Line, and it’s his job to put and end to all the demonic and ghoulish goings on in and around London, whilst also trying to live a normal teenage life consisting of exams, parties and girls. The general plot is stupidly unrealistic, far-fetched and downright absurd, but it mirrors a string of successful American counterparts such as Supernatural, Angel and almost exactly mimics Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as she found out she was the latest in a long line of vampire slayers thanks to help from a guardian and also battled vampires and demons whilst trying to lead a semi-normal life.
 
British networks have tried for years to create a supernatural series that could rival those in the states, and whilst we tend to get the basic idea right, the shows never last. Take HEX (which happens to be made by the same production company as Demons), it had a short two series run on Sky1 and had a similar concept; a girl at an English school finds she is a descendant of a line of witches and must battle demons; it was never episodic, yet the arc felt purposely stretched, the effects were poor and the departure of both lead character and lead demon didn’t help improve ratings for the second series. Problems that affected HEX and other like-minded shows generally all boil down to one thing, money. Unlike the Americans, we simply don’t spend enough on decent television, which is why we lose all our best writers, actors, editors and effects producers to the states.  The latter being especially important, as a supernatural series such as this relies heavily on creating believable effects.

 
As British shows don’t have the budget for blockbuster, or even block-denting, effects they tend to do two things, gear even more to youth culture (by showing exams, parties and boozing) and go overly ‘quirky’ in order to create a ‘unique’ selling point. Thankfully Demons refuses to go down the same path; yes there is a driving test and one or two scenes set in a college, but then the hero is only a teenager, and as for quirks; granted there’s quite a few, including the odd semi-bullet-time fight effect that’s likely to make you cringe, and villains that look like they have just stepped off a panto stage, but they’re generally in good fun and the show doesn’t seem to take itself too seriously.
 
Whilst the villains may look they belong in panto, they don’t act like it, and most are played very well with a darkly comedic and ruthless edge; Mackenzie Crook’s (Gareth from the Office) Gladiolus Thrip being a perfect example, as despite the ridiculous costume he manages to still appear threatening. The costumes were a stylistic choice that I disagree with (especially the inclusion of a very unconvincing rat/man), but the style carried by the rest of the show is inspiring; it produces a London that is stylish, gothic, dark and yet youthful and real all at the same time. The Stacks (underground library and teams HQ) looks like any old library, aside from the hobbit hole front door and the fact it’s based in an underground passage, yet is a safe place that any viewer would love to have a nose around.
 
Addressing some of my misgivings about British television, the effects department have done a terrific job on this show, the Demons make up is done exceptionally well, and the shows effects are surprisingly stunning in some parts, with the main let down being a fully C.G. monkey/gremlin in episode one. The high standard is achieved as the show seems to know its limits; it doesn’t try and recreate dinosaurs, show shape-shifters or any other especially tricky elements, instead confining the C.G. work to mainly fast shots that are perfect for the show.

The stories are another area where Demons surprised me, they are pretty generic and you’re likely to have seen them a dozen times, but they are still well told (for the most part) and the real gold lies in the writers ability to tie classic stories into the modern context; with the Series’ best episode being directly related to characters from Bram Stoker’s Dracula (thankfully the big man himself does not appear). It’s a darker episode than most with, with elements taken from Angel and Blade (but don’t expect Blade levels of gore on a 12 Certificate), some good action and genuine character moments.
 
For the most part characters in this series are simply there, not to be disliked or cared for, but there are some points where emotions boil and you do care for them. Christian Cooke is just what you’d expect as Luke, the pretty hero who doesn’t exactly know what’s going on but always manages to dispatch enemies with ease and still go to college. One of the most perplexing things about his character was the ease with which he took the news that he was destined to fight demons; barely batting an eyelid at the thought of facing supernatural creatures and death for the remainder of his life. Holly Grainger plays Ruby (a carbon copy of Xander from Buffy) who also took Luke’s news surprisingly well, she often saves the day but only sticks around to help fight Demons because she is secretly pining for Luke’s affection. Philip Glenister (Gene Hunt from Life on Mars) plays American Rupert Galvin, Luke’s protector, mentor and godfather all in one. He embodies the emotionally scarred, gruff hero, and while the accent is different, the coat’s a different colour and there are demons instead of criminals, the role isn’t that different from Gene Hunt, so it’s one you know he can do well. Rounding off the main cast is Survivors star Zoe Tapper as Mina Harker, the blind piano player with psychic abilities that has been helping Galvin for a number of years. Zoe’s performance is adequate, but rarely more than that, and is not helped by her occasionally forgetting to act blind.

There are also guest appearances from actors such as Mackenzie Crook (playing one of the Series more perilous demons), Richard Wilson (Victor Meldrew) plays a brilliant part as Father Simeon, a helpful yet eccentric zombie priest, and Father Ted’s Mrs. Doyle as a psychic fraud.

The first episode of the series, is as expected, typically British, somewhat cringe-worthy and suffers from the worst effects of the series, but as the series progresses it begins to find it’s own becoming slightly darker and much more watchable with some decent (but mostly unoriginal) stories. There’s the usual banter between characters providing a small element of comedy and of course the demon battling scenes, which when absent of bullet-time(ish) effects are choreographed fairly well, however afterwards even a mild scratch seems to find the heroes in need of medical attention. The last episode however, despite possibly setting up a new intriguing enemy for the second series, was a bit of a let down, feeling rushed and out of place, attempting to go too big too soon.
 
Despite the average to disappointing bookends, the series delivers exactly what it is supposed to; it’s simple family light entertainment, an easy watch that’s perfect for the kids. Is this a British Supernatural? No. Is it a British Blade? No. It’s Doctor Who with demons and a library instead of Cybermen and a time machine. But for fans of any episodic show following a similar format, or people looking for an easy show that will impress the kids, this is it.

Picture:
If I were to be generous to this transfer I would describe it as bad. This 1080p transfer is not up to the job and suffers from noticeable grain with picture quality having obvious differences between not only episodes but scenes as well. By the end I may have grown slightly accustomed to it, but the picture seemed noticeably better on the final episode although still not great. Watching closely you can tell this is a high definition disc, and should be higher quality than the DVD version, but if you are buying this don’t expect a reference quality disc by any means.

Audio:
Similarly disappointing is the disc’s two channel audio, as this is a series that really could have boosted it effectiveness by creating some subtle rear channel soundtracks to heighten the uneasy feeling of some of the darker scenes. What sound there is however is clear, well balanced and well placed, and Jack C Arnold’s series score is particularly impressive being worthy of a big budget film. The theme tune (Eyes of the Night by Starlight Mints) is also noteworthy as it is fits the show perfectly being modern, upbeat, memorable and likely to get stuck in your head for hours.

Extras:
Demons contains no extras whatsoever, aside from the obligatory interactive menu (which actually looks rather nice) and the option to turn subtitles on and off.

The Bottom Line:
Demons is an average series, more mature/gore hungry viewers should look elsewhere (possibly at Blade: The Series, or Supernatural for something in-between), but this is perfectly suited for Saturday night family entertainment. The stories are far-fetched, acting mostly average and some scenes are laughable, but it’s true to form and provides good honest fun.  If you’re a fan of Doctor Who type shows, this is a must buy, but being only six episodes long, having poor picture and unmoving audio quality it may be worth settling for the standard DVD, or even waiting until that comes down in price. Also if you were planning on buying to catch up before the next series airs, there’s little need as Philip Glenister has announced that he will not be returning, and has put the shows whole future in doubt.

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Demons, Blu Ray Review

Episode 1

Alex and Helen share a night of casual sex. The day after, back at work, Helen is handling it well, but Alex seems to want something more and stalks her around London trying to explain why he’s ready for another relationship.

Episode 2

In an attempt to move Alex’s attentions on from her, Helen posts Alex’s details on a dating website. This is no ordinary dating website though, it’s for emotionally damaged individuals. Alex, who is at first not keen, soon perks up when he’s left 48 messages from willing women, one of them university ex-girlfriend, Sarah.

Episode 3

A legendary agent has died. CMA’s boss, Stephen, wants all his agents to attend the funeral to try and poach his clients. This is Helen’s first funeral since her fiancés so she heads to the off-license for some liquid courage and ends up in a drunken conversation with the vicar over God’s existence and whether she should be Godmother to her dead fiance’s niece.

Episode 4

Helen is stuck with her baby Goddaughter for the day but knows nothing about looking after a baby. To help out she turns to Alex, an experienced baby wrangler with two kids of his own. Alex has his own agenda however and is trying to get a look at his wife’s new boyfriend.

Episode 5

Alex arranges a surprise birthday party for Helen, secretly hoping that she’ll get drunk and sleep with him. To get her out of the flat he’s fixed her up with one of his, bit-part actor, clients, who’s written a script. It all backfires on Alex when Helen brings him back to the flat, and the party and ends up in bed with him.

Episode 6

Alex and Helen’s boss Stephen is getting married again (for the ninth time!). This time he’s got it sussed and is marrying a woman who runs a brothel. Alex is designated as best man and is dragged off to Stephen’s fiance’s brothel for the stag night. Both Alex and Helen start to realize their true feelings for each other, but Alex has moved in to his ex-girlfriends spare room and had sex with her. Is it all too late?

This is described as a black comedy and it certainly is. There’s not a normal character amongst them. They’re all screwed up in some way, which then leads to a lot of the comedy, but also gives us some serious angst to work through as well. The closest to normal is Helen. It’s been a while since she lost her fiancé and she’s beginning to put her life back together. Alex’s pain is fresh. He’s only just split-up with his wife and he’s not handling it very well. As a character, Alex comes across as way too needy and pathetic. It’s difficult to see Helen being even remotely attracted to him but the interaction between them provides the back-bone to the program and is quickfire and witty.

There is one character who steals the show however. The CMA boss, Stephen (Anthony Head) is a foul-mouthed, sexual deviant and doesn’t try to hide it. You might think this is a bit of a leap for an actor who we saw as sophisticated and suave in the coffee ads and bookish and boring in Buffy The Vampire Slayer, but Anthony shows his acting breadth and totally pulls it off. He utters pretty much every expletive you can think of and references pretty much every sexual practice you’ve ever heard of at some point in the show so if you’re easily offended stay away. If not then he’s the best character in by far, he injects another comedy element, crude and rude, which alongside the witty banter between Alex and Helen makes this a very decent show.

I don’t usually go for black comedies, I usually prefer mine light hearted and easy going, but this is one that I hope gets a second series. If you missed it first time round then I recommend the DVD.

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Free Agents Series 1, DVD Review