Letters to the Editor
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Love this show
I've really got to disagree with this comment:
"The only discernable message of The Shield’s infantile morality play would seem to be that the ends always justify the means, and if yee-haw police brutality happens to predominate in the process, so be it. Just so long as loyalty prevails."
The Shield is definitely not a morality play. It's genius lies in the fact that it refuses to moralize on either the side of law and order a la Claudette or for Vic's vigilantism. The sympathy that a lot of viewers have for Vic is because Vic's motives are so understandable. He wants only two things: 1) To cover his own ass and those of his team and their families, and 2) To keep the streets as violence-free as possible. Isn't that what everyone wants? But on the other hand, the show's writer's go to great pains to demonstrate that Vic's plans often result in tragic collateral damage like the man Vic killed as mistaken vengeance for Lem or the very innocent Terry Crowley. It's just that the moral, by-the-books method doesn't always achieve better results.
The Shield does not advocate Vic's methods. It's writers present his methods and show their consequences. They pose a question, but never give an answer. In the end, it is the viewer's job to decide whether Vic or Claudette is right. In an unwinable battle against crime/ violence, who poses the best solution?
I appreciate The Shield's refusal to tell its viewers what to think.
And on another note, I adore to the show's casting directors. The Shield's cast is full of actors that are real world attractive instead of Hollywood perfect. And imo, many of them are sexier than the vast majority of famous leading men-types.