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Dramatically speaking, the third season of The Shield is dysfunctional in the best sense of the word. Relationships fester in a quagmire of personal and professional conflict and clashing agendas inspire some of the finest episodes of this volatile series. Detective Mackey (Michael Chiklis) struggles to save his crumbling family (including two autistic children) while his strike team endures internal tensions over their secret stash of stolen drug money. Shane (Walton Goggins) clashes with teammate Tavon (Brian J. White) with near-fatal consequences, and his demanding fiancée tests his loyalty to Mackey. Captain Aceveda (Benito Martinez) suffers unspeakable humiliation en route to city council promotion, engaging Wyms (CCH Pounder) in a battle of wills over proper command of "The Barn." Dutch (Jay Karnes) pursues the "cuddler rapist" case and confronts the dark side of his soul, while Danny (Catherine Dent) revives her career and is re-partnered with Julien (Michael Jace), who suppresses his homosexuality in a desperate quest for conventional marriage and family. After Lemon (Kenneth Johnson) attempts a drastic solution to their "money train" worries, the shaken strike team faces a deeply uncertain future.
As always, The Shield juggles multiple plotlines with relentless pacing and narrative economy, packing substantial character developments into all 15 action-packed episodes. This season's inclusion of a competitive decoy squad offers humour and professional sacrifice, and the pivotal David Mamet-directed episode "Strays" arrives at a shocking conclusion, with Mamet regulars Clark Gregg and Rebecca Pidgeon (Mamet's wife) giving outstanding guest star performances. Series star Chiklis (whose pugnacious mug dominates the DVD packaging) makes his directorial debut on "Slipknot," and eight episodes include informative, entertaining commentaries by the principal cast and crew. A generous archive of deleted scenes illustrates the agonising decisions required by the time constraints of episodic TV, and the making-of documentary offers an intimate look at the series' collaborative writing process. With major developments (including a new role for Glenn Close) in store for Season 4, these episodes maintain the high standard of provocative drama that loyal Shield fans have come to expect. --Jeff Shannon
Synopsis
After scoring big with the money train, the Strike Team plays it cool to avoid arousing suspicion as Dutch and Claudette investigate the robbery and murder of two Armenian gangsters. Tensions are stretched even further when Vic finds himself at odds with his team as they face a bitter rivalry with the new Decoy Squad. But hostilities are quickly forgotten when Captain Aceveda reveals that the Strike Team is the target of an Armenian mob hit.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
The Strike Team are still desperately trying to cover their tracks in the multi million dollar robbery of Armenian drug money, Dutch and Claudette continue to investigate stomach churning rapes and murders and the Farmington gangsters continue to deal and kill one another. You would think The Shield couldn't continue at this intense pace forever but it still shows no sign of letting up in the brilliant third season.
Vic and his team of dirty cops are really starting to feel the pressure. The Armenian mob won't stop until they find their stolen money, Aceveda won't stop until he implicates Vic in some wrong doing and Vics estranged wife still doesn't want him back. Local gang bangers are trying to acquire automatic weapons and the violence on the streets never ends. On top of all this, another specialist unit, The Decoy Team have been sent into Farmington to help regain control of the streets which the Strike Team take as a personal insult.
The stories are still top-notch, the action blistering and the criminals are still the worst kind of scumbags. The Shield remains one of the most intense, violent and brutal shows on TV and I can confirm that season 4 is brilliant too. It's a terrible shame that it took so long to release this on region 2 dvd as so many people are missing out on the best thing on the box.
Like This? Try: The Wire Seasons 1-3
Vic and his team of dirty cops are really starting to feel the pressure. The Armenian mob won't stop until they find their stolen money, Aceveda won't stop until he implicates Vic in some wrong doing and Vics estranged wife still doesn't want him back. Local gang bangers are trying to acquire automatic weapons and the violence on the streets never ends. On top of all this, another specialist unit, The Decoy Team have been sent into Farmington to help regain control of the streets which the Strike Team take as a personal insult.
The stories are still top-notch, the action blistering and the criminals are still the worst kind of scumbags. The Shield remains one of the most intense, violent and brutal shows on TV and I can confirm that season 4 is brilliant too. It's a terrible shame that it took so long to release this on region 2 dvd as so many people are missing out on the best thing on the box.
Like This? Try: The Wire Seasons 1-3
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
'The Shield' goes from strength to strength with every season and manages to pull something out of the hat to impress. In season 3, we start to witness the collapse of the strike team and for many reasons its the turning point of the entire show.
After the Armenian Money Train heist from season 2, Vic and his boys are trying to keep a low profile and not attract the attention of Aceveda, who has chosen to delay his departure from the Barn. But with the arrival of a new "decoy squad", the tension begins to mount, especially when the Strike Team become targets of the Armenian mob.
As usual, individual episodes have their own storylines but the overall arc is much stronger than last the first two seasons. With every episode, the team deteriorates and with Shane starting a family and Lem fearing for their lives, loyalties start to fade. For once, its good to see a show that puts characters first and everything that takes place is done for the benefit of characters rather than for the sake of it. The season finale is emotionally charged and very powerful without the need to resort to loud action-packed sequences.
Also, there are some juicy plots surrounding other characters such as Aceveda who faces a major personal crisis after a frightening encounter with two junkies. Meanwhile, Dutch hunts a serial rapist in one of the best plots on TV and the conclusion to it is compelling to watch. Also, unusually for her, Claudette rocks the boat and makes a controversial decision which could jeopardise her career.
With so many rich storylines going on, and with the benefit of being two episodes longer than usual, Season 3 really ups the ante for the show and breaks new ground in style. Its a shame it took so long to get a region 2 release though, because a lot of fans will have gone elsewhere by now for a copy.
After the Armenian Money Train heist from season 2, Vic and his boys are trying to keep a low profile and not attract the attention of Aceveda, who has chosen to delay his departure from the Barn. But with the arrival of a new "decoy squad", the tension begins to mount, especially when the Strike Team become targets of the Armenian mob.
As usual, individual episodes have their own storylines but the overall arc is much stronger than last the first two seasons. With every episode, the team deteriorates and with Shane starting a family and Lem fearing for their lives, loyalties start to fade. For once, its good to see a show that puts characters first and everything that takes place is done for the benefit of characters rather than for the sake of it. The season finale is emotionally charged and very powerful without the need to resort to loud action-packed sequences.
Also, there are some juicy plots surrounding other characters such as Aceveda who faces a major personal crisis after a frightening encounter with two junkies. Meanwhile, Dutch hunts a serial rapist in one of the best plots on TV and the conclusion to it is compelling to watch. Also, unusually for her, Claudette rocks the boat and makes a controversial decision which could jeopardise her career.
With so many rich storylines going on, and with the benefit of being two episodes longer than usual, Season 3 really ups the ante for the show and breaks new ground in style. Its a shame it took so long to get a region 2 release though, because a lot of fans will have gone elsewhere by now for a copy.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This is like consuming a quart of strength-6 Javanese coffee and a pack of 20 high nicotine-yield. At the same time. Quickly. Indeed these can be the only accompaniments to watching the Shield.
If the Wire is a theme-developing symphony, the Shield is pure punk rock.
Murderously addictive, breathlessly elliptical, dizzyingly filmed, one of the Shield's virtues is it makes all other cop shows (especially British ones - "New Tricks" anyone?) feel yawn-makingly tame and pedestrian. The Bill on ITV - not such a bad programme really - has recently tried to adopt the Shield's Steadicam technique to sex up its appearance. But it doesn't work because ...it's not the Shield.
Its other attribute is it knows "issues" are born out of excellent drama, not drama out of issues. There is more examination of contemporay societal subject material in the Shield than the whole of the BBC's "drama" output in the last decade, but the writing and storyboarding lead you to reflect on and question your own ideas by their quality, not by grandstanding and set piece speechmaking.
The only minor flaw with this DVD is the commentaries. A lot of them are insightful and sometimes funny, but a little too often the actors lapse into self-congratulation and cosy back-slapping. Just watch the episodes. Back to back. Rapid fire. It really is the best hit you can get.
If the Wire is a theme-developing symphony, the Shield is pure punk rock.
Murderously addictive, breathlessly elliptical, dizzyingly filmed, one of the Shield's virtues is it makes all other cop shows (especially British ones - "New Tricks" anyone?) feel yawn-makingly tame and pedestrian. The Bill on ITV - not such a bad programme really - has recently tried to adopt the Shield's Steadicam technique to sex up its appearance. But it doesn't work because ...it's not the Shield.
Its other attribute is it knows "issues" are born out of excellent drama, not drama out of issues. There is more examination of contemporay societal subject material in the Shield than the whole of the BBC's "drama" output in the last decade, but the writing and storyboarding lead you to reflect on and question your own ideas by their quality, not by grandstanding and set piece speechmaking.
The only minor flaw with this DVD is the commentaries. A lot of them are insightful and sometimes funny, but a little too often the actors lapse into self-congratulation and cosy back-slapping. Just watch the episodes. Back to back. Rapid fire. It really is the best hit you can get.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
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Blood has to be gory and take away Chinese
They are definitely packed with action in that Los Angeles precinct of the PDLA. But it is not law enforcement they want and look for. Read more
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Thoroughly entertaining!
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Published 19 months ago by mr b grocott
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Watched the first three seasons of this then stopped...it is good but I thought there were better shows out there, and as I only had a limited amount of time, I switched to the... Read more
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