Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2593 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-01-28
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 4
• Running time: 603 minutes

Amazon.co.uk

Shane... oh, Shane... what have you done? "Conscience is a killer" is the catchphrase that made season 5 of The Shield the most intense season of the series to date. These 11 tightly scripted episodes comprise the first half of a 21-episode arc, with series creator Shawn Ryan referring to the sixth season (broadcast in 2007) as "Season 5.1." This is The Shield at its finest, culminating in a climactic 11th episode ("Postpartum") that ricochets the series toward a complex range of dramatic complications. Jumping the shark? Not a chance, pal--not when you've got soon-to-be Oscar-winner Forest Whitaker in his outstanding guest-star role as Det. John Kavanaugh, the upright, tormented Internal Affairs cop determined to destroy Det. Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) and his corrupt LAPD Strike Team. As Kavanaugh mounts an obsessive campaign to reveal Mackey's shameful secrets, conscience is a killer in the Strike Team's midst: Ronnie (David Rees Snell) maintains a stoical voice of reason, but as Mackey recruits (and seduces) a savvy lawyer (Laura Harring) to defend against Kavanaugh's harassment, Curtis "Lemonhead" Lemansky (Kenneth Johnson, never better) desperately protects the Strike Team with a sacrificial gambit that provokes Shane (Walton Goggins) to commit a crime that's both shockingly tragic and dramatically ingenious, since it forcefully propels The Shield toward a bold and unpredictable future.

Supporting-character arcs are equally fresh and involving: Officer Danny Sofer (Catherine Dent) is eight months pregnant with Mackey's child; Wyms (CCH Pounder) struggles with a disabling case of lupus before assuming Captaincy of "The Barn"; Dutch (Jay Karnes) is reluctantly teamed with the ethically challenged ex-Captain Billings (David Marciano), leading to a perfect blend of comic relief; and while Aceveda (Benito Martinez) is frantically wedged between Mackey and Kavanaugh, beat-cop Julien (Michael Jace) copes with an eager but incompetent rookie (Paula Garces) who benefits from Dutch's self-serving mentorship. And while season 5 dishes up plenty of crime-fighting action, it's Kavanaugh's presence (and Whitaker's offbeat, intimidating performance) that keeps these 11 episodes focused with laser-like intensity. (Kudos also to Cathy Cahlin Ryan for her superb work as Mackey's anguished but cool-headed wife.)

As usual with The Shield, the DVD bonus features are outstanding, emphasizing the series' cast and crew as a close-knit family, deeply affected by the departure of a major cast member and the death (on April 17, 2006, from complications of Lyme Disease and Lou Gehrig's Disease) of veteran director/producer Scott Brazil, whose contributions to The Shield were nothing less than essential. Beloved by all, Brazil is honored with a memorial featurette, and the powerful 88-minute documentary "Delivering the Baby: The Making of Episode 511" intimately chronicles the production of "Postpartum" and its emotional impact on everyone involved. Audio commentaries for all 11 episodes add to the series' rich familial history (these rank among the best TV-related DVD commentaries ever), and the "TV Academy Panel" is a well-moderated Q&A (by Entertainment Weekly reporter Lynnette Rice) with Chiklis, Ryan, and Whitaker. In the "I.A.D." featurette, The Shield's police consultants analyze Whitaker's character and the essential role of the Internal Affairs Division, and a wealth of deleted scenes prove, yet again, that The Shield maintains its excellence even on the cutting-room floor. No doubt about it, season 5 will leave you begging for season 6. --Jeff Shannon

Synopsis
Transgressing the seemingly rock-solid boundaries of regular television programming, The Shield refuses the strictures of black-and-white depictions of clear-cut moral dilemmas in favour of an ambiguity that will challenge even the most jaded viewers. Detective Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis, The Commish) leads the elite Strike Team in the fictional L.A. district of Farmington, employing dubious but effective crime fighting methods as a tough, successful, but corrupt cop. Series five sees Internal Affairs cop Det. John Kavanaugh (Forest Whitaker in an astounding performance) attempt to bring down Mackey and the corrupt Strike Team. Mackey recruits a lawyer (Laura Harring) to defend him against Kavanaugh's determined efforts. But will it be enough? The charismatic Mackey strikes just the right pitch so as to be the least sympathetic antihero television has yet seen, while the controversial themes and violent nature of the content manage the effect of making audiences really think about what they're watching. This collection presents the fifth series in its entirety.

Customer Reviews

A vice like grip
With the withdrawal of Glenn Close's no-nonsense Captain anti-hero Vic Mackey finds himself friendless amongst those at the top. His situation goes from bad to worse as Forrest Whittakers single minded IAD man Kavanaugh moves in to take down the strike team & in particular Mackey. Zeroing in on Mackeys wife & the weak link in the strike team, Lemansky & he turns the screws until something has to give. Lemansky sweats & panics as the net tightens, Mackeys wife is charmed without knowing whats happening, former captain David Acevada see's an opportunity to stab Vic in the back & the clueless Billings provides comic relief as a completely useless stand-in captain.
Amongst all this Claudette & Dutch drift apart, Danny is pregnant & wont reveal who the father is, Julien struggles while training a hotheaded rookie & Antwon Mitchell's grasp extends beyond his prison cell to pile on the pressure.
Unsurprisingly Vic Mackey continues to scheme,plot & do whatever is neccessary to survive but he manages to exceed even his own previous excesses as he becomes increasingly desperate.
This series just keeps getting better & this is the best so far. Superb writing, acting & pace all contribute to a class leader that 5 seasons in still shocks, excites, humours and leaves you sitting in your seat blinking at the end wondering how 9 hours could pass so quickly, impatient for the next seson & asking what the hell just happened?
If this review doesn't make sense to you then start at the beginning & all will be revealed, just bear in mind that this is a no compromise programme that does not pull it's punches, you have been warned. If you've seen the other 4 seasons then settle in for a few more sleepless nights as you watch one more episode!

Great show but...
...the season finale Post Partum was cut down from 70minutes to 48 minutes. Why I don't know, but the originally aired episode is 70minutes long and so is the version on the US DVD. Advertising this release as "the complete fifth season" is quite frankly misleading as it is simply NOT true. Shame on Sony Pictures.

If you can, buy the Region 1 DVD Box!

What happened to the last episode?
Like most of the reviewers, I believe season 5 is an excellent addition to a brilliant series.

So why the 1 star? The reason is the season finale has been seriously edited on this DVD release. The original version that aired in the US was 90mins long, take out the add breaks then it should be about 70mins. However, the version provided on this "complete" box set is only 48mins in length.

One event that is mentioned on online episode guides, and the printed episode guide included with this box set, is "Danny confronts the father of her baby". There is even a still shot of this on the episode menu for the final episode on disc 4. But it is nowhere to be seen in the episode. This is a MAJOR omission. What else is missing?

So I ask, "why have Sony felt the need to commit these heinous edits?" and "why have I just spent £24.98 on an incomplete box set that I have been waiting to be released for months?"

I hope Sony are going to release this episode in full on future releases, and send a complimentary disc to everyone who was eager enough to buy this set as soon as it was released.

Sorry for the rant. Everything apart from the editing on the last episode is magic.