ben

The Shield is a gritty telling of the chaotic lives of the Strike Team, a dysfunctional band of brothers working out of Farmington PD in Los Angeles. This show is intense, an icon of mid 2000s police tv. With a complex cast of characters that you can never really trust, this show takes you on a ride through the eyes of LA’s most corrupt. Vic is a monster, through and through. Spoilers ahead. Seeing Vic screw Ronnie at the very end sealed the deal for me, and how I wish they traded places. I would’ve loved to see Vic behind bars, but he essentially is now anyways. I wish Shane had some semblance of a happy ending. After everything he’s done, even to Lem, that was a rough way to go. To take the entire family with him, what a twist. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. This show is a telling of tragedy start to finish with no happy ending. But goddamn was it good.

Lem didn’t deserve this, any of this. Long live

Peter gon be alright

Oz is a gritty, grimy, bloody representation of hell on earth. Following the story of Beecher, we see a man institutionalized; branded, beaten, and broken. Yet his story is not unique, Oz is filled with a colourful cast of characters with their own thrilling stories. Get past the insane violence, assaults, and straight up torture and murders, and you’re in for a realistic ride through the American prison system of the late 90s and early 2000s. I loved all of the characters in this show, the good ones at least (for the most part). Agamemnon (what a goated name) and Rebadow had such a great dynamic. Watching the bond between Ryan and Cyril had me praying he wouldn’t actually get the chair, I hoped they would’ve got out together one day. And honestly, Augustus didn’t need to die. I’m glad they kept him around for commentary. A man truly changed. I pray to never end up in a place like this. At the hands and mercy of men at their wits end, corrupt hacks ready to make a quick buck, and with the only hope of ever going home being a probation board that has already decided you’ll never get back there. It was at times so hard to watch I had to look away. I’m surprised they were able to put half of this on TV even back then. I didn’t know what to expect, I picked this up mostly because JK Simmons was in it (didn’t expect him to play a nazi) but I’m glad I finished it. The payoff was definitely worth it. Fuck Schillin-ger. Rip Cyril. 9/10 would shit on Schillinger’s face again.