Television Perfection

NP: The Napster World Music Radio Station

*** Spoiler Alert***

In my post below, I recommended last night's season finale of the Shield. After watching it, I have to say that it is as close to television perfection as you can get. First, the build-up from the previous episode regarding Kavannaugh entering the home of Vic's ex-wife, ostensibly to rape her, was handled very well. They started off just where the last show ended and the tension quickly built. Kavannaugh, at the last second, turned away from the darkside, choosing to leave the house rather than committ the unspeakable. It was very well done and eased the tension at just the right moment.

The pace of the show was also expertly handled. There were so many cross-stories and subplots that the producers had to slow down the pace in places to keep the viewer from turning it off in frustration. The Danny-baby scene was very anti-climactic, but everything else was good.

Finally, the Shane-Lem scene. Oh. My. Goodness. That one should make the highlight shows for best TV scenes of all time. Will Shane murder Lem? Will Lem murder Shane? Will Shane let Lem turn himself in? They did the actual action so low-key that you didn't see it coming. Then the grenade gets dropped and then the cut out to the long shot for the explosion. Wow. Both actors did well in that scene (until the one started apologizing for killing the other one and he overacted a bit). Very tense and exciting scene.

In conclusion, buy the season 5 DVD when it hits and watch them from start to finish. The whole season was much better than the last, when Glenn Close phoned it in, and the IAD character added another level of tension to the show. Hopefully Kavannaugh will be back again next season.