NETWORK: FX Networks
AIR DATE: September 2, 2008
STARRING: Michael Chiklis, Walton Goggins, David Rees Snell, CCH Pounder, Cathy Cahlin Ryan, Benito Martinez, Catherine Dent, Michael Jace, and Jay Karnes
CREATED BY: Shawn Ryan

"Just be grateful you got another month of Mackey to firm up your stats."

Shawn Ryan's The Shield has been a top ten show for years but never quite rose to that "best show on television" level because it had the occasional off-year or because another show like 24, Lost, or The Sopranos was just a little bit better. Thus it seems oddly appropriate that the final act of The Shield - one more season of thirteen episodes - can finally claim that crown. I know there are four months left in the year and that top ten shows like Dexter, 30 Rock, Entourage and Pushing Daisies still have episodes to air, but I'm willing to go out on a limb and say that the seventh and final season of The Shield is the best show of 2008. By far. Unlike a lot of series that faded away, The Shield is prepared to burn out in a blaze of bloody glory. I've seen the first eight episodes of the final arc and have just one piece of advice for fans of the show - strap yourselves in. It's going to be one hell of a ride, and you don't want to miss a minute of it.

The seventh season of The Shield picks up almost immediately where the sixth left off. With so much television-time between the end of the series' last ten-episode arc in 2007 and this one, you might want a refresher, so perhaps pick up the sixth season on DVD, available this week in an excellent four-disc set from Sony. Four DVDs for only ten episodes is a bit of a stretch, but the episodes look and sound great and come with a wealth of extras including 36 deleted scenes with commentaries on most episodes, two good behind-the-scenes featurettes and the following commentaries - Shawn Ryan, Marie Brazil, and Catherine Dent on 6.1 ("On the Jones"), Ryan, Jay Karnes, Scott Rosenbaum, and Cathy Cahlin Ryan on 6.2 ("Baptism By Fire"), Karnes and Michael Chiklis on 6.3 ("Back to One'), Chiklis, Walton Goggins, Glen Mazzara, David Marciano, and Michael Jace on 6.5 ("Haunts"), Ryan, Goggins, and director Frank Darabont on 6.6 ("Chasing Ghosts'), and Ryan, Kevin G. Cremin, Benito Martinez, Ryan, Rosenbaum, and Jace on 6.10 ("Spanish Practices"). If you're reading this review, you're probably already Shield fan, but, believe me when I tell you, the sixth season DVD is a must-own.

Back to the new season. When the sixth season ended, the Strike Team was in deadly disarray. Vic and Ronnie learned that Shane killed Lem, and the reckless Shane made it clear that if they did anything to his career or his family, he would blow the whistle on all the nasty stuff they've done as cops who do their job in the gray area between right and wrong. Meanwhile, Farmington was being taken over by a Mexican drug cartel run by Cruz Pezuela, a man with a box full of incriminating information about a number of high-ranking city and Federal officials. Aceveda got his hands on the box, but wanted to use it to help in his run for Mayor. Mackey had other plans and stole the box for his own means, trying to use it to keep his job from being taken away from him by a police review board. To make matters more complicated, Shane revealed to the Armenians that it was the Strike Team that was responsible for the robbery of the money train a few years ago and that made him practically their slave. The theme of the sixth season was that information influences activity. The blackmail box, the knowledge of what really happened to Crowley, the identity of Lem's killer, the information that the Armenians wielded over Shane - they all were as important, maybe more, than cold hard cash. Ronnie itched for revenge. Shane tried to fix the problems he caused, which led to him having to kidnap Vic's wife and daughter for their own safety. Claudette battled Lupus. Dutch battled his lazy partner, Billings. And Danny battled with being a mother and a cop.

This season opens with many of the same issues still in play. It's practically a straight-up continuation of what we saw last year. The blackmail box is a central focus of the first eight episodes as Vic uses it to get himself out of two situations - the possible loss of his badge and the possible loss of his life. What's the best way to distract two enemies? Pit them against each other. So Vic and his guys use the blackmail box to, essentially, start a gang war between the Mexicans and the Armenians. The gray area that is The Shield gets even grayer. Vic is trying to save not only his life and career, but the lives of his wife and family. Is that justification for a gang war? Meanwhile, the drama between Shane, Ronnie, and Vic is FAR from over.

Everyone wants to know - Does Vic survive the final season of The Shield? Does he go to jail? I've long thought that The Shield would end where it began - with a cop being killed by another cop. There would be dramatic justice in that cop being Vic, but I'm not sure if that will happen. One of the many brilliant things about the last few seasons of this show was the murder of Lem. In that amazing premiere episode, creator Shawn Ryan asked us to root for a cop who shot another cop in the head. Vic killed Crowley for his own safety. Was what Shane did to Lem that much different? He killed him because he knew he would go down if he didn't. And yet, we don't root for Shane. So why root for Vic? Why root for either?

There are many things that elevate The Shield above all other programming in 2008, but the main one is what is still the foundation of all good television - writing. The first eight episodes of "The Final Act" are some of the most densely written, detailed, rewarding hours of TV in a long time. Those of you who have stayed loyal to this show since it debuted six years ago will marvel at how Ryan and his writing team effortlessly weave themes from the entire series into the final season. The writing is SO dense. The overarching theme of The Shield as a series seems to be that actions have consequences, and all of the actions from the first six seasons appear to be rearing their heads in the first arc of the final season. The Armenians, Tavon (the former Strike Team member who went through the car window), Lee (the child that Vic had with Danny), Aceveda's ties to corruption, Claudette's health, Dutch's obsessive behavior, and tons of other familiar behaviors and plotlines play big roles in this final act. And it all comes down to Vic's two families - the fellow cops at the Barn and his biological family, who could actually be a huge part of his eventual takedown.

But don't get the impression that the final arc of The Shield is just about the ghosts of what came before. It would be rather predictable for a final season to spend all of its time tying up loose ends from seasons past. Trust me - nothing is predictable about these eight episodes. There are wonderful surprises, especially in the tenderness of Dutch and Claudette's friendship and the dynamic between Vic and his daughter (and what that does to Danny and Vic's other child). The writers realize that it can't be all "crazy sh*t" and give Dutch some interesting story-arcs and allow Danny some solid screen time. But it does all come back to the Strike Team, and the way that material - the war between Shane, Vic, and Ronnie - is handled is consistently riveting. The eighth episode of the new season - "Parracide" - is the most edge-of-my-seat hour I've seen since the finale of The Sopranos. I can't wait to see the final five. Like Vic Mackey himself, The Shield continues to defy the odds of television, ending with the best two seasons in the already-great show's history. One of the best shows on television rises to the top this Fall. Don't miss it.