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DVD The Shield - The Complete Second Season
Everything good about the first season of The Shield is intensified in the second. For detective Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) and his amoral strike team, these 13 episodes follow "the money train," a stockpile of Armenian mob money ripe for the taking. Mackey's team plots to steal this criminal fortune while under pressure from Capt. Aceveda (Benito Martinez), whose political campaign is threatened by a civilian auditor (Lucinda Jenney) assigned to uncover corruption in "the Barn." The uneasy alliance between Aceveda and Mackey provokes the suspicion of Wyms (CCH Pounder), whose by-the-book vigilance is rewarded while Dutch (Jay Karnes) endures a slump that worsens the Barn's sullied reputation. After being horribly disfigured by Mackey, a vile Mexican druglord (Daniel Pino) plots a territorial coup, prompting the strike team's finest police work while Mackey struggles to save his failing marriage. Post-9/11 tensions erupt when beat cop Danny (Catherine Dent) justifiably shoots an armed Arab civilian, and newlywed Julien (Michael Jace) copes with (literal) gay-bashing following his church-sponsored sexual reorientation.
As always, The Shield supports these plotlines with gritty casework, including a brutal kidnapping, homicide, and gangland warfare. Every episode (shot in grainy 16mm) meets the series' high standard of excellence, but "Greenlit," "Homewrecker" (featuring the death of a recurring character), and "Dominoes Falling" are standouts, while the controversial "Co-Pilot" offers a retrospective look at the Barn's volatile origins. Writing and direction are consistently superb, and Pounder deserves honorable mention among the brilliant cast, striking a stoical balance of world-weary wisdom, procedural diligence, and righteous indignation.
Bonus features comprise a virtual film school for anyone seeking a career in television. While the commentaries explore the nuts and bolts of series development, the "Directors' Roundtable" (with creator Shawn Ryan, Scott Brazil, Peter Horton, and Paris Barclay) is a revealing, frequently hilarious study of the rigors of fast-paced production; "Sound Surgery" presents a track-by-track analysis of sound, music, and dialogue; and "Wrap Day" is a celebratory tribute to the series' hard-working cast and crew. It's all good, and guaranteed to stoke anyone's appetite for Season Three. --Jeff Shannon
Review(s): DVD The Shield - The Complete Second Season
It Just Gets Better and Better!
Watching a TV series on DVD where you have the whole season to go through at whatever speed you wish, is a delightful treat. I was hooked by the First Season DVD and almost felt post partum depression when it's episode 13 finished and I realized I didn't have the Second Season on hand to keep following the adventures of Vic Mackey and all of the others at The Barn in Farmington. That was quickly remedied with a one-click on Amazon and two days later I had the second season in hand. During this season you are brought up on the quest to hijack The Money Train by the Strike Team, Capt. Acevada's quest for a City Council seat, the
further marital problems of Vic Mackey,the Civilian Auditor's report and the fallout from that and many, many sub plots that continue to swirl through this amazing series. There is no disappointment in the Second Season. Once again, I found myself watching the 13th episode and wondering where the time had gone and then scurring to the computer right after it finished to order the Third Season. The series is probably not for everyone. There is considerable violence, much bad language, and some conversations about sex and sexual orientation that are not for young ears, It is adult fare and it comes at you like a runaway freight train. It is also compelling and fascinating. I have never seen anything like it on TV.
The Shield
This got great reviews when it was on TV so tried it out on the DVD's. This series starts very slowly, the first two episodes were not of the same quality of the first series but once the narrative is established the series really took off. One episode thrown in half way through looked like an abandoned series opener for series one but that was okay. The rest of it ripped along with great pace and energy. All the sub plots were equally good. One warning, there is some graphic violence in parts of it but if you can get over that the series is as sensational as the first one.
It's not better or worse than Season One; it's "more." Which is perfect.
Trying to compare this to the first season is pointless...they are clearly parts of an amazing whole. It's not better, nor worse. It's "more." Which is perfect.
What you need to know is that the stellar acting continues unabated; you are just less amazed about it. Chiklis is the white-hot centerpiece. Everybody else maintains their excellence, Benito Martinez and CCH Pounder somehow are even better.
The plot and dialogue are still amongst the best on TV; again, you've come to expect that. These stories hurtle along at breakneck pace. I almost hold my breath watching them. The new bad guy, "Armadillo", is a wonder.
The plot surprises and developments are still whoppers (many will simply blow you away); but you watch this show for that exact reason.
The cinematography...the sets...the LOOK of the show remains a singular creation.
You get thirteen excellent hours of television, period. Just what you're expecting.
"The Shield" continues on in it's unfettered, gleefully decadent, morally ambiguous glory.
Related DVD's The Shield - The Complete Second Season
On March 12, 2002, The Shield burst onto the FX network like an incendiary grenade, and basic cable TV would never be the same. Creator Shawn Ryan's uncompromising police drama pushed the limits of basic-cable permissiveness, bridging the relative discretion of NYPD Blue and the HBO liberties of The Wire. Without exception, these 13 episodes justify their hype, focusing on pugnacious detective Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis), whose amoral Strike Team employs dubious tactics in the crime-ridden (and fictional) Farmington district of Los Angeles. Mackey and his maverick partners are at odds with seasoned detectives and beat cops, escalating tensions with precinct Capt. Aceveda (Benito Martinez), a Latino with flexible scruples and a political agenda.
The series invites... More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 07 January 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Dramatically speaking, the third season of The Shield is dysfunctional in the "best" sense of the word. Relationships fester in a quagmire of personal and professional conflict, and clashing agendas inspire some of finest episodes of this volatile series. Det. Mackey (Michael Chiklis) struggles to save his crumbling family (including two autistic children) while his strike team endures internal tensions over their secret stash of stolen drug money. Shane (Walton Goggins) clashes with teammate Tavon (Brian J. White) with near-fatal consequences, and his demanding fiancée tests his loyalty to Mackey. Capt. Aceveda (Benito Martinez) suffers unspeakable humiliation en route to city council promotion, engaging Wyms (CCH Pounder) in a battle of wills over proper command of "The... More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 22 February 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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With the addition of Glenn Close to its already excellent cast, The Shield entered its fourth season with tensions high and tempers flaring. Aceveda (Benito Martinez) has gained political clout on the City Council, and former Farmington district officer Monica Rawling (Close) is introduced as the new Captain of "the Barn," where she immediately confronts a maelstrom of personal and professional turmoil. His strike team now splintered, Mackey (Michael Chiklis) has returned to routine detective duty, while Shane (Walton Goggins) and new partner "Army" Renta (Michael Peña) are neck-deep in trouble with Farmington's "untouchable" drug-lord, Antwon Mitchell, a new villain played to perfection by actor/comedian Anthony Anderson. This seemingly traitorous predicament places Shane at... More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 26 December 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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After one episode of The Wire you'll be hooked. After three, you'll be astonished by the precision of its storytelling. After viewing all 13 episodes of the HBO series' remarkable first season, you'll be cheering a bona-fide American masterpiece. Series creator David Simon was a veteran crime reporter from The Baltimore Sun who cowrote the book that inspired TV's Homicide, and cowriter Ed Burns was a Baltimore cop, lending impeccable street-cred to an inner-city Baltimore saga (and companion piece to The Corner) that Simon aptly describes as "a visual novel" and "a treatise on institutions and individuals" as opposed to a conventional good-vs.-evil police procedural. Owing a creative debt to the novels of Richard Price (especially Clockers), the series... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Daniel Attias DVD Release Date: Released the 12 October 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Facing an indeterminate sentence of weeks/months/years until new episodes, fans of The Sopranos are advised to take the fifth; season, that is. At this point, superlatives don't do The Sopranos justice, but justice was at last served to this benchmark series.
James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano in a not-so-nice mood
For the first time, The Sopranos rubbed out The West Wing to take home its first Emmy® for Outstanding Dramatic Series. Michael Imperioli and Drea de Matteo also earned Best Supporting Actor and Actress honors for some of their finest hours... More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 07 June 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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