DVD Review by DavidBlackwell

DETAILS:  11 episodes (on the first 3 discs), 4 disc set, 11 audio commentaries, 25 deleted scenes, season 6 prequel, 4 featurettes, documentary, tribute to Scott Brazil

STUDIO: 20th Century Fox/ Fox Television Studios/ Sony Pictures TV/ FX Network

RELEASE DATE:  3-27-2007

THE SHIELD has always been a an explosive gritty cop series with it's focus on cops out of a police station in a crime ridden district in Los Angeles.  Some of the cops are part a taskforce known as teh Strike Team.  Their leader, Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis), has a tight team that has went through many rough times as they did things oustide of the law including robbing millions of dollars from an Armenian mob money train.  Now in season 5, the Strike Team is being investigated by Lt. Kaavanaugh (Forest Whitaker) of Internal Affairs (I.A.D.).  He intends on bring the Strike Team down even with methods more dirtier than Vic andhis team have used.  Even the new Captain of the police house, Claudette (CCH Pounder) has it in for Vic (who is becominga better cop since the first few seasons).   The season explodes as one cop is killed at the end of the season setting the stage for season 6 as the hunt is on for the killer.  Season 7 will wrap up various threads that have been running through the series.    Season 5 proves THE SHIELD is far from running out of steam as the series drae to do things that make good dramatic sense and not be in a holding pattern.

VIDEO:  1.33:1 (Full Frame)

AUDIO:  English 2.0 Dolby Surround

Subtitles:  English, Spanish

SPECIAL FEATURES:  25 deleted scenes with optional audio commentary by Jay Karnes and Shawn Ryan are spread out among the 11 episodes while teh 11 episode audio commentaries provide insight from the cats and crew.  Some tracks are more fun to listen than others. 

DISC 4 extras- 

The Season 6 Prequel goes back and forth between a funeral and a police arm wrestling tournment two years ago.  Other things included on the disc are the Delivering The Baby documentary, a tribute to Scott Brazil (a pivotal member of THE SHIELD production crew), a Fox Channel Presents Making a Scenes featureete on THE SHIELD, an I.A.D. featurette, and  TV Panel Discussion with Michael Chiklis, Forest Whitaker, and Shawn Ryan (my favorite thing on disc 4).

FINAL ANALYSIS:  THE SHIELD Season 5 DVD set is a good start for anyone who wants to rev up for season 6 on April 3rd on FX.

this review is (c)3-26-2007 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission (except for excerpts and a link to the review). Look for additional content at http://enterlinemedia.livejournal.com and send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com