So last week's discussion of whether TV shows run too long had particular resonance for me with the return of "The Shield," a show I dearly love and yet am always vaguely troubled by the extended existence of. My review of the new season:"It isn't your time yet," Vic Mackey is warned by an enemy. "But it'll happen. The universe will take out its trash when it's ready."
This cosmic garbage removal has seemingly been scheduled for Mackey -- the corrupt, charismatic anti-hero of "The Shield" -- for years, and yet the universe remains content to let him draw flies at its curb.
The first time we ever met him, he killed an innocent cop, and in the years since, he's committed virtually every crime in the California penal code. Some have been motivated by justice, others by self-interest (notably the robbing of an Armenian mob money train), but on average Vic has spent more time covering his own behind than he has locking up bad guys -- or, I suppose I should say, other bad guys. He's had the noose around his neck time and again, and time and again he's slipped out of it.
And if there's a flaw to be found in the otherwise riveting new season of "The Shield," it's the knowledge that because it's the second-to-last season instead of the last, Vic will no doubt emerge from the trash pile smelling like a rose at least one more time.
To read the full thing, click here. Passover may get in the way of doing a premiere post-mortem by tonight, so if you want to comment on the first episode immediately after it airs, do it here.
UPDATE: Bumping this one up because I forgot to mention that this episode, as often happens with "Shield" premieres and finales, is about 10 minutes longer than standard, so pad those recordings if necessary.
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