AICN’s main man in the Midwest, “Capone,” has belatedly recognized “The Shield’s” virtues, so maybe there’s still hope for me! A look at the first fresh installment since March 21, 2006:


Could be Spoilers I did not read this article & don't follow the show

Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here, venturing over the other side of the page today and attempting something that only the mighty Hercules and a select few others have every dared to attempt on this site: to preview an episode of a show I fucking worship on the eve of its season premiere. I'll admit, I came to "The Shield" late in the came, but a couple years back FX ran every episode of the brutal cop drama in order late at night over the course of the couple months leading up to the Season 5 premiere. I'd heard it was great, but if you could see the backlog of DVDs and screener in my place, you'd know that going back and renting DVD sets of previous seasons of "The Shield" was not an option.

I'm not going to give any kind of overview of the show and its players. If you're reading this, you probably know the show inside and out. If you don't, get familiar with it immediately. As you have probably noticed, over the last couple of seasons of "The Shield," an overriding theme travels through each season. In Season 4, it was having Glenn Close play the Barn's new captain. She seemed more open to the tactics of Vic Mackey and his strike team, so naturally, she had to be gotten rid of by the higher ups. Season 5 was actually meant to be broken up into two parts (kind of like what HBO is doing with the final season of "The Sopranos"), and it's dark undercurrent was the inclusion of internal affairs investigator Lt. Jon Kavanaugh (the downright scary Forest Whitaker) essentially picking apart every single bad thing the team had done and was still doing to that point.

By my calculations, the last new episode of "The Shield" aired on March 21, 2006, and in that time since then, creator Shawn Ryan has established the highly successful CBS show "The Unit" and has expressed concern that splitting his duties would somehow diminish the quality of "The Shield." Less anticipated was the April 2006 death of director Scott Brazil, who has helmed so many of the show's finest episodes since its beginnings and really shaped the style and atmosphere of the entire series.

The season premiering this week was meant to be the second half of Season 5, which is why some of these episodes had actually been seen (and reviewed) by some critics in mid-2006. But somewhere along the line Shawn Ryan and Co. decided to make this 10-episode run the show's Season 6 , and continue with a concluding seventh season in 2008. I couldn't be happier. I've been trying to track down these Season 6 episodes since last year, and finally in mid-March, the first six episodes landed in my fucking sweaty lap and I watched them all in two sittings over a weekend.

The running storyline throughout this season is Vic (Michael Chiklis) and the team investigating and dealing with the death of one of their own at end of Season 5. As he walked away from the bombed-out SUV containing the mangled remains of his friend and co-worker Curtis "Lemonhead" Lemansky (Kenny Johnson), Vic swore death to whoever did the deed. Little did he know, that his fellow strike team member Shane Vendrell (Walton Goggins) did the dead for fear that Lem has turned on his teammates and given them up to Kavanaugh. He hadn't, and a combination of Shane's guilt and Vic's rage are what fuel this year's unbelievable episodes.

Making a valiant attempt not to provide too much detail or spoilers (but there are some scattered throughout--especially near the end--so be warned!!), here is my breakdown of the first episode of Season 6 of "The Shield.”

Episode 6.1 -- On the Jones
The Strike Team isn't done with Lt. Kavanaugh just yet. Although the previous investigation into their wrong doings over the years is essentially over, Kavanaugh convinces the brass to let him have a desk in The Barn to help Dutch investigate Lem's death. Not surprisingly, Kavanaugh suspects Vic; also not surprisingly, Vic leads his own covert investigation into Lem's death that focuses on the El Salvadoran angle, since they are known to use hand grenades to kill their victims. To distance themselves from Lem's admission to his own wrongdoing, Lem is painted by the brass as a dirty cop and not given a police funeral. Vic attacks Aceveda for his part in Lem's death by making people believe Lem had turned (Aceveda did this at Kavanaugh's prompting). Perhaps in the most shocking moment of the first episode of Season 6, Kavanaugh becomes what he has beheld in order to nail Vic for Lem's death by carrying out some truly deplorable shit. If I ruined these moments for you, it would be unforgivable on my part. Oh, and I think there's a scene where Danny brings her new baby into work (I don't remember this happening, but at some point in Season 5 they must have confirmed who her baby's father is; in case I'm wrong, his identity is revealed early this season).

This season is nothing short of devastating.