The Shield The Complete Series

usually lead the conversation. But there is a gritty, high-octane masterpiece that arguably did more to shape the modern anti-hero than any of its peers: FX’s The Shield

At its heart, The Shield follows the corrupt Los Angeles Police Department’s Farmington Division, specifically the experimental “Strike Team”—a four-man unit designed to cut through red tape and get guns and drugs off the street. Led by Detective Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis, in a career-defining, slab-of-granite performance), the Strike Team is effective. They have the highest arrest and confiscation rates in the city. the shield the complete series

The upgrade is night and day. The show was shot on 35mm film with a gritty, hand-held aesthetic. The Blu-Ray transfer clarifies the image without losing the "news crew" verisimilitude. The gunshots are punchier in 5.1 surround sound. usually lead the conversation

As we look back on the complete collection of The Shield , it becomes clear that this was not merely a cop show. It was a Greek tragedy dressed in police blues, a high-wire act of tension that has rarely been replicated since. They have the highest arrest and confiscation rates

You do not buy because you want to feel good. You buy it because you want to feel something. It is a brutal, relentless examination of the thin blue line—specifically how that line gets erased by greed and violence.

The cornerstone of The Shield is Vic Mackey, played with ferocious intensity by Michael Chiklis. Before Tony Soprano whacked a guy for stepping on his toes, and before Walter White broke bad, Vic Mackey set the bar for television villainy in a protagonist’s role.