No I'm not continuing this just yet, these last few days just haven't been great for me and I needed something a little less heavy that I wasn't going to have to write a lot about. This was great. This is exactly what you could want out of a pilot from a show like this in the sense that it efficiently establishes most of the main characters and provides an episodic plot (many of which will likely be seen throughout the show) that helps you understand them better at once. I've seen a lot of people say that the introduction of the cast here isn't anything spectacular and that it would be nice to see more of Vic's personal life, and while I would somewhat agree, I don't think you can ask for much more considering how sprawling the array of characters is. They have some stellar dialogue, Dutch and Claudette are extremely memorable together, and the dynamics here are already amazing. Dutch seems to be posed as an opposite of sorts to Vic, while Vic favours any means to get what he needs to, Dutch has a more common code of ethics and favours intellect over brutality. I can already imagine how this will become an interesting route for many of the core themes and ideas of the show. Speaking of Vic, he's already an amazing protagonist. Incredibly well casted, the juxtaposition of his outwardly awful and corrupt actions and the charismatic feel of his performance helps make him so immediately memorable. I've heard a little about the shows conception and apparently in the wake of 9/11, network executives were hesitant to depict a character like him on screen because of how it frames police officers in a negative light during such a hyper-patriotic time, but I can imagine he was instead somewhat appreciated by audiences at the time. He poses a pretty bold question to the audience: How justifiable are the actions of a morally dubious police officer such as Vic when he gets his job done and helps keep people safe? While I personally believe that he is very detestable for what he does, the answer to that is pretty dependent on your views and I think it's an interesting idea to convey. His conflict with Aceveda is really compelling as well. At this point there's still a decent amount of ambiguity to Aceveda's motivations, is he truly repulsed by Vic's methods or is he simply trying to take him down for respect and status? When he calls Vic to interrogate the pedophile, does he genuinely want his help or is he simply trying to make an example out of his violent behaviour to his peers? I can already imagine their relationship is going to be an amazing point of conflict and tension throughout the show. [SPOILERS IN THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH] Finally, there's that ending. Genuinely insane way to conclude a pilot. As much as I understood beforehand that The Shield is attempting to dissect corrupt police and is no doubt a ground-breaking show in terms of pushing what was permissible on television, that ending is what truly lets you know just how subversive it is. The idea of the rat let into the strike team by Aceveda slowly trying to build a case against Vic to help take him down was an obvious, almost predictable conflict to establish in this episode, and they completely shut down the idea that they'll take that safe route. They let you know that Vic's team has no moral reservations at all, even with killing one of their own men, as long as they can continue doing what they do. Amazing. [SPOILERS ABOVE] Overall, one of the best pilots I've ever seen, really exciting to continue watching this eventually!!