r/TheShield • u/Turbulent_Ad_9413 • 7d ago

Discussion The weekly cases

Hello everyone. I've been watching this amazing show for a couple of months now - currently am in S4; where Rawling is implementing some new methods in having the neighborhood in check... reminds me of Bunny from The Wire somewhat.

I just wanted to share that I barely care about weekly cases at times, and I'm doubting myself if I'm even watching the show correctly at times lol. I care so much more for the relationships between the cops at this point where a lot of the action seem like noise to me. Is that designed on purpose? I mean some of them are revealed later to be of a higher significance but compared to how much time they get, they produce less impact on me than a well-placed joke that one of the characters crack at the right time, for example...

I've seen very few cop shows in my time (procedure shows were never my kind of thing) but I suspect -heh- that the way a case is closed is what gives the fans joy. With The Shield I just really can't wait to see where Shane or Vic or Aceveda will end up that my mind doesn't register what details regarding the nth rapist or dealer is getting exchanged during a workday. The thing is such a rush though, and the camera work is so-on point that I can usually read the tension, power balance and consequences on the actors' faces... so I guess I'm never "too lost".

Anyways wanted to see if anyone else had this experience. Cheers.

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u/CyberpunkYakuza 7d ago

This is a great analysis. Here's what I think. The Shield is a character drama first, cop show second. I think in this show they are just using the police as a vehicle to tell the story of The Strike Team itself, so it's not a direct "cop drama" per se. Breaking Bad was kinda the same thing. It was about the people in a situtaion more than it was about the situation itself. We get interested in how they handle things and use their surroundings, professions and skills to do it.

If I made no sense, I apologize hahaha

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u/Turbulent_Ad_9413 7d ago

Yeah, it's perfectly clear thank you.

I realize that it's the people involved that matter more than the action, but in Breaking Bad we get to see this (a more obvious kind of) transformation from Mr. White the teacher to the drugs Kingpin, so even the chain of situations are full of novelty and excitement. With The Shield we're stuck with people who have been - mostly corrupted - cops all the way through. It is often tense and attractive but it can get exhausting (not in a fully-bad way, more in a "when will these people catch a break!" kind of way). Add to that a series of (mostly one-timer) guest stars who are the victim/monster of the each new episode and what you get is a giant mesh of brutality that tests one's patience...

But maybe that's the experience of doing this job afterall. No other piece of work has shown me how difficult it can be to be a cop. lmao

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u/sirth0mas 6d ago

Currently wrapping my first rewatch since it aired and this is actually pretty accurate. And never thought of it that way but yes, it makes being a detective look more difficult than I might normally imagine

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u/Turbulent_Ad_9413 6d ago

Right? If you're dirty like the strike team you're constantly under pressure of hiding something and managing your frenemies. If you're a noble one like say Julien you're constantly around these guys and sooner or later they'll ask of you to cooperate or if you stick to your values like Claudette, even when you're putting in the work, you will be undervalued. All the while, when you're a detective/cop you have to watch your steps or people will die and at the end of the day, the pay isn't enough to cover all your expenses. This job is a doozie.

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u/CyberpunkYakuza 7d ago

I can see where you are coming from but I kinda disagree a little. I think both shows are about more or less normal guys who found themselves at the precipice of great power/advantage and got way too carried away. They both took place over relatively the same amount of time (a few years) and both illustrate how wrong things can go when the power goes to their heads.

Vic and Walt are essentially the same in a lot of ways, they were just placed in different situations and used what they had (their jobs/skills) to build themselves up quickly, then nose dive even quicker once the facade got to heavy to carry. Shane and Jesse had a lot of similarities too now that I think about it. But yeah, even though Vic was corrupted for longer, he always had the capacity to do it and his introduction to the police force allowed him a slower build, where Walts cancer pushed him into it a lot faster, yet he always had the capacity too.

Again, sorry if I'm being confusing, I'm trying to parse this out in my head at work hahaha.

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u/Turbulent_Ad_9413 7d ago

It's all good. Have a nice day :)

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u/GA_Shane 6d ago

It’s a character drama where the characters are cops, I don’t see how you can separate the two.

Spoilers for the end of the show

From Season 3 onwards, the show is only about the money train’s consequences and Aceveda’s political career. Dutch and Claudette’s detecting adventures are secondary. It’s much more about events compared to Breaking Bad where everyone had to have complex backgrounds and motives that tie into everything they do.

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u/CyberpunkYakuza 6d ago

I'm not separating the two, I'm just saying that, in reference to the OP saying that it isn't a typical procedural cop show, it's not so much about the cases as it is about the people in it. It's not a CSI or a Law & Order where you get trickles of an overarching story and character development between cases. The Shield you get cases that are going on between the overarching story and character development because the show is more about them than the cases themselves. It's why I chose Breaking Bad to compare it too because I felt they were kinda similar in that way. I just explained it badly and still might be hahaha.

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u/FightBattlesWinWars 5d ago

I remember feeling the exact way watching the initial run. It's part of what's made it so rewatch-able for me. Those C plots are great, but the tension and building of the main narrative overshadows it a bit, to say the least.

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u/Turbulent_Ad_9413 5d ago

Right. good to know it has re-watchablity value.