Sun-Sentinel, FL
March 15 2005

The Shield now Close to perfect

Big-screen star brings her A-game to series.

Published March 15, 2005

What the world needs now is not a female Vic Mackey. But this is what
it will be getting on the fourth season of The Shield.

The nastiest cop show on TV has gotten even better. Michael Chiklis
is already an Emmy winner as renegade detective Vic Mackey. This
season Vic gets a new boss, Capt. Monica Rawlings, played by
five-time Oscar nominee Glenn Close.

The norm would have these two going at each other like Simon and
Paula. But The Shield disdains the safe and familiar, which is why
it’s one of TV’s sparkling gems. Rawlings, who worked her way up from
the street, shares Mackey’s philosophy that right is what works, so
they hit it off like Nick and Jessica.

Chiklis said he doesn’t mind having to share top billing with a star
of Close’s magnitude because it would bring out the best in him. He
was prophetic. Like the series, the very good has gotten better. A
second Emmy could be looming.

Clearly, Close hasn’t loaned her name to the series for a paycheck,
either. She’s brought her big screen A-game to her first episodic
starring role.

A seasoned pro, she knows how to work a scene without histrionics. A
glance here, a raised eyebrow there, perhaps an occasional dirty look
is generally all she needs to assert her authority. She can be more
forceful when necessary without losing self-control. Amazingly, the
normally insolent Vic accepts her without reservation.

It helps that at first encounter she accepts a wink-wink tale that
Vic had to kill an animal because it pulled a gun on him. Rawlings
further endears herself to Vic by exhibiting as little regard for the
outgoing Capt. David Aceveda, who has won a seat on the city council.
She also has a game plan to take advantage of forfeiture rules to let
her cops seize expensive toys for their use.

Still it’s hard to believe this partnership of strong, unbending
personalities will hold, so it should be an interesting season.

Vic needs new alliances. His old ones have crumbled in the wake of
the fiasco involving his band of rogue cops losing the fortune they
robbed from Armenian money-launderers. His former protégé, Det. Shane
Vendrell, has transferred away and their relationship has turned
frigid. Det. Curtis “Lemonhead” Lemansky is still at The Barn but he
has proven too incompetent to be trusted.

Meanwhile, Det. Claudette Wyms is seething that she was passed over
for the position she deserved more than Rawlings. Her partner,
goody-goody Det. Dutch Wagenbach, is also ticked at being treated
shabbily because of his association with Wyms.

The Shield has been able to keep its core cast intact, a reflection
of actors realizing they have been blessed to be part of something
special. CCH Pounder, as Wyms, merits equal billing with Chiklis and
Close. Benito Martinez is on his way out of The Barn but will remain
a commanding presence as the reptilian Aceveda. Walton Goggins
reprises his role as loose cannon Shane. Jay Karnes makes a
sympathetic character of Dutch. Kenneth Johnson returns as Lemonhead;
Catherine Dent is back as patrolman Danielle “Danny” Sofer; and
Michael Jace is her partner, Officer Julien Lowe, a black man
disgusted by the way his colleagues regard minorities as lesser
humans.

The Shield has been appointment viewing since its debut, although
gutter language and racy plotting make it suitable only for adults.
With Close added to the mix and NYPD Blue out of the time period,
it’s now don’t miss TV.

On TV

Program: The Shield
Stars: Michael Chiklis, Glenn Close, CCH Pounder, Walton Goggins,
Benito Martinez

Airs: 10 p.m. Tuesdays on FX.