TVSquad

Remember this scene? It's from the season six finale of The Shield. Mackey is showing Aceveda all the dirt he's got on Cruz Pezuela and the Mexican mob. Seems like forever ago ... and it was. It's been almost a year and we're still waiting for a resolution. FX has been scant with news regarding the seventh season of its trademark show. Supposedly, it's returning in September so that its final thirteen episodes are not competing with the Olympics. It should be coming back sooner if you ask me. I don't really see too much audience intersection between fans of The Shield and fans of floor gymnastics routines.

(S06E10) "...but understand, you are nothing more than a fly on one of my many shits." - Pezuela

The beginning of the end. We've got one more season of The Shield to go and I have to say that I'm pretty excited for what's been set up. It's going to be a lot to cover with only thirteen episodes remaining in life of the series. Then again, this season only had ten installments and look how many different stories came out of it. From the aftermath of Lem's death to the biggest conspiracy the Farmington district has ever seen, we got it all in season six.

(S06E09) "Too many shit-heads. Not enough pillows." - Vic

Despite the fact that I love Vic Mackey, I still laugh a little any time he makes some comment about people in jail. The luck this guy has had! He could just as easily be behind bars. But as this episode taught us, it more often than not just falls into his lap. You'd think karma would have come and bit him in the ass by now, but his good fortune never seems to cease.

(S06E08) "We're not clean in this either. And I'm not spending the rest of my life wearing state property." -Ronnie

I'm gonna make a bold statement that'll probably insult some readers: If you don't watch this show, you're dumb. Plain and simple. Nothing else on TV is as well-written, layered, and intricate as The Shield. There's another well-known cable drama with a prominent anti-hero about to end its run. Something about the Jersey mob and its high strung boss. You know that guy I'm talking about? Well, he can't hold a candle to Vic Mackey.

(S06E07) "He's not going to say anything to anybody because I know everything he's done." -Shane

There it is folks. The one thing that can actually make Vic Mackey look terrified. The knowledge in Shane's (apparently not so small) brain. We knew this was coming though. It's almost like watching an episode of Survivor. An alliance has been broken and now it's every man for himself. Who knows what and how they can use it to gain leverage.

I'll be honest though. Shane is proving to be far more effective in covering his tracks than I would have ever imagined. It almost makes you wonder how many times he's gone over this type of scenario in his head, even before the incident with Lem. The guy has put plenty of thought into his actions and it seems like Vic may have a legitimate reason to worry. How do you stop a guy that knows exactly what you know?

(S06E05) "You ever think about just coming clean? About everything?" -Shane

I suppose I should be used to it by now, but with the ups and downs that most great shows go through, it's weird to watch something and never be disappointed at the end of it. The Shield is just always good and I think it's remarkable.

So if that didn't spell it out, I liked this episode - a lot. Just solid from all points. Plenty of vintage Dutch, a blast from the past with the return of Vic's old partner, and a gut-wrenching confession from Shane made for one hell of an hour.

(S06E03) "This thing's gonna get a lot uglier before it gets better." -Vic

Well... it's official. I'm fairly certain I can't say a bad thing about this show. It's too good. Period. I'll even go as far as saying that it might be one of the finest cop dramas ever to be made and there's still 20 episodes (7 this season and 13 in the final) left before it's over for good.

There's just so many layers and subtle things that make this show so great (this episode in particular), that I know I won't recall all of them. That's how you know a show's good.

So we picked up with last week's kidnapping of Nadia (Guardo's girl) and Vic was forced to go to some extreme lengths to find the peace he's been looking for.

(S06E01) This is why I love TV. This was the second time I've seen this episode (you've got to love press screeners) and I was just as riveted as the first time I saw it. With the way last season ended, people have been waiting a long time for this. It was worth the wait because last night's season six premiere of The Shield was arguably one of the best episodes of the series to date.

Picking up just about a week after Shane killed Lem, the late Det. Lemansky has been buried minus the pomp of a proper police funeral. Turns out that Aceveda and his new political cronies made sure that the city knew Lem was "dirty." Naturally, Vic is not thrilled with that and along with Shane and Ronnie (who now has a much more expanded role), they begin looking for whoever killed Lem.

I'll be the first to admit it. I was a latecomer to The Shield. I'd never watched a minute of it until right before the fourth season started and a buddy of mine let me borrow the first three seasons on DVD. He told me it was the best cop show ever. Wait a second. Better than NYPD Blue or The Wire? Yes. So I watched the three seasons... in one weekend. The phrase "glued to my seat" does not begin to do justice to how mesmerized I was by this show. I mean, damn!

So naturally, when I was approached about speaking with Walton Goggins, I practically blew up with anticipation. However, I'm not the only Shield fan here at TV Squad. Our fearless leader Keith is a die-hard too. So we decided to do something different for this interview -- the first ever TV Squad Tag Team. Walton didn't know what he was stepping into... that is, if he could crack through all the codes to get into our elaborate virtual phone-in conference room. I can't say that I blame him. I got confused too.

Keith: Hey man, thanks for joining us.

Walton: (laughing) I'm in the inner sanctum of some imaginary corporate office right now.

Jonathan: I know, it's crazy! You have to push buttons and number sequences and then some computerized voice announces your name.

Savor it folks. It's been a long time coming, but according to TV Shows on DVD, FOX has finally released the information for the fifth season of The Shield. Check out that box art. Vic looks great, huh?

Here's the bad news. The release date has already been bumped from February 27 to March 27, which confirms that the new season won't be back until April. Notice the box though? It says "Season 5" and not "Season 5 - Part 1." Initially, FX had set season five up as a 21 episode story arc. It would appear that it's now been split. The final ten episodes of what would have been called "Season 5 - Part 2" are now season six. The show was renewed for a final seventh season.

For those who are as impatient as I am, check out this promo that ran during the season finale of Nip/Tuck. The Strike Team can't come back soon enough.

For those of you who don't keep up with Nip/Tuck, then you probably weren't watching last week's season finale. That would also mean that you missed out on seeing the phenomenal new promo for The Shield.

It's lengthy too. At almost a minute long and set to a very cool song ("This Night" by Black Lab according to this message board), the promo takes you through the skies of LA before it settles on Vic and Shane standing in front of Lem's grave. Sends chills down my spine. With Dirt premiering in January though, we probably won't see The Shield return until April. This is the second promo that FX has aired for the new season too. The first aired earlier this year during the premiere of Rescue Me.

Thanks to reader DanMacMan for pointing this out to us. You can watch the video after the jump.