Thoughts on Season 2 of "The Shield"

 Spoilers on Season 2 of "The Shield" Below:

If The Shield was really good in its first season; then its second season strived for greatness, and didn’t stray too far from it. The series stepped up to match season one … and then some. I didn’t think it possible, but Vic found himself even more embattled than ever before, and this allowed for even better television.

The series had made things blow up in Vic’s face before and it had cornered him before. But it had never stacked the deck so thoroughly against him like it did in the second season. The more Vic pushed back; the more things just seemed to get worse and worse. His wife had run off with his kids. An auditor was scrutinizing Farmington. The Strike Team was selling drugs on the side without his knowledge. His CI Theo was killed, and the drug kingpin who had him burnt to death was out for vengeance. When Vic began beating the hell out of Armadillo in the second episode “Dead Soldiers” out of total frustration at how much had gotten out of his control, I was tempted to give him passing approval. Vic was starting to lose his sense of self early in the season. Without his family to anchor him with a sense of purpose, he was facing a major identity crisis. On one level, Vic does what he does for the sake of his family. 

Taking things out of the characters’ control brought out the best in the show. Not just out of Vic, but all the major characters. The Dutch’s failures to save a victim brutally physically, and sexually violated by suspects he let go, caused him to sink down into a pit of self-doubt and despair. Danny found herself harassed by the wife of a man she was forced to shoot when he drew a gun on her (all the more complicated because he was an Arab-American who was being racially profiled by his neighbor). First, It costs her the chance to be a sergeant. To make matters worse, to save Vic from being ratted on by Armadillo, Shane and Curtis are forced to sneak in a knife to a person she brought in in order to kill Armadillo, thus getting Danny suspended. She just couldn’t catch a break this season; I felt terrible for Danny. She didn’t seem to deserve this treatment. Eventually she would even get fired over the knife incident, and it was the icing on the cake of a season where she was treated like the writer's proverbial punching bag. Vic and Acevada have earned whatever moral comeuppance is due for them, but Danny (if you disclude her affair with Vic, which is more on him than her) has done little to nothing wrong. 

The series put its characters into wonderful conflicts that highlighted the actors and writers’ strengths. Claudette was pushed to the limits as both Mackey and Aceveda blocked her every attempt to track down the man, Armadillo, who raped a twelve year old. After Julian continued to deny his homosexual orientation, and proposed to a woman he barely knew. Even as Danny attempted to convince him that he shouldn’t hide his feelings, he continued to suppress what he knew, and take reorientation services. (The scene where Julian tell his fiancé about being gay is Michael Jace’s performance at its finest). Covering up his gay identity continued to be a problem within his personal and professional life, and the last image we see of Julian is him lying bloody on the ground having been beaten up by officers who lost their job by harassing him for being gay. Acevada was so concerned for his political career, and still facing backlash after the riot that he found himself constantly working with Vic and allowing him to get away with more than usual. The interplay between the two as Acevada lets Vic take him down increasingly slippery slopes, feeling he has no other choice, created a welcome change of pace in the two characters’ relationship, and opened up some wonderful conflicts (particularly how it brought out the best in CCH Pounder’s great portrayal of Claudette).

CCH Pounder’s Claudette had always been my favorite supporting character. The kindhearted, steadfast detective who’s hopeful but incredibly realistic and grounded. She had always turned a blind eye to Vic and the Strike Team’s questionable activities; she had some inclination as to what they do, but the streets were clean and it hadn’t caused roadblocks for her investigations. That is, until now. Episode 2’s “Dead Soldiers” found her caught between the scheming of Acevada and Mackey, who screwed over every attempt to solve her investigation. Her monologue to the two of them where she lets them know that she’ll solve the case even if she has to get around their machinations is a season two highlight and some fine acting work by Pounder. Claudette ends up one of the few characters to survive the season unscathed. As new police captain to Farmington, I look forward to seeing how Vic manages to finagle his machinations past her scrutiny. 

Season 2 saw the series become more creative and inventive than ever, taking risks and acting with confidence not many series would have in their second season. The brilliant episode “Carte Blanche” had Vic going undercover as a “corrupt cop” to solve a case. The series felt as if it was making a shrewd, meta-commentary on the very nature of it premise. “Co-Pilot” was a structurally ambitious episode midway through the season that jumped the narrative back 14 months to the formation of the “Barn” and the establishment of the Strike Team. The season established drug kingpin Armadillo as the antagonist of the season only to kill him off in the 8^th episode.

Whatever my complaints may have been (and they were few), The Shield has built enough good faith in me and provided enough compelling, memorable drama to set it apart from many other series I’ve watched before and am watching now.