Ranking the Seasons of The Shield

The Shield is my favorite TV show of all-time, and if you watched it, it would probably be your favorite too.  So having just completed another run-through of seasons 1-7, I thought I would put together a "power rankings" of the seasons.  There is no "bad" season of The Shield, but some are better than others.  It's something to do until football season starts.

SPOILER ALERT



7. Season 6
Season 6 was hurt because of the writers strike.  You can tell there was a lot more story lines they wanted to get into, but they had to cut the season short.  Kevin Hiatt, the guy brough in to replace Vic on the Strike Team, should have had a much bigger role, but he ended up being phased out after a few episodes.  And Julien joining the Strike Team should have been a big deal, but there really wasn't much mentioned about it.  Obviously the big moment of the season is Vic finding out Shane killed Lem, but even that was a bit rushed;  I think it could have waited to the season finale.  Instead, the big event of the season finale was Vic finding the blackmail box, which really wasn't all too exciting.  And the Armenian side story was clearly rushed as well.

6. Season 3
Season 3 is kind of the hangover season, because so much happens in Season 2 that the show clearly needed to slow down and let everything digest.  In the show, the Strike Team decides to be good after robbing the Money Train, which leads to a lot of boredom on their part as they play by the rules.  Unfortunately, it also leads to a lot of boredom on our part, as we just want the Strike Team to be doing something illegal again.  It picks up late in the season, but the Strike Team breaking up in the last episode isn't really all that dramatic, as by that point, we all see it coming from a mile away.

5. Season 7
Season 7 is hard to rank.  The final two episodes of the series are brilliant, and the scene in the second to last episode in which Vic admits to all of his crimes is my favorite scene of the show.  But the season as a whole just feels like one really long episode.  There is the Pezeula/Mexican cartel storyline which runs throughout the season, which honestly isn't the most exciting storyline. And with the Vic/Shane storyline on-going, we would rather watch that than the Pezeula thing.  Julien also continues to be reduced to nothing. Dammit, I want more Julien. But the last two episodes, they make the season.

4. Season 4
Some lists I've seen have had Season 4 as the weakest season, saying Glenn Close was unnecessarily added to the show.  She probably wasn't necessary, but the season as a whole is still really good.  Antoine Mitchell is the show's best villian (well, next to Kavanaugh of course), and it's probably the first time in the show when you think that there's no way the Strike Team will get out of their mess unscathed.  Although they do, the events of this season ultimately begin the steady downfall towards the end of the show.  On the down side, this is the first season in which the secondary characters (Danny, Julien, and Aceveda to an extent), take more of a back seat to the Strike Team, Dutch, and Claudette.  Honestly, since Danny and Julien don't have much to do after season 3, I would have had them be the cops killed in season 4, instead of the two random ones.  It definitely would have made for a more meaningful storyline.

3. Season 5
It's tough to put Season 5 at even number 3 on the list, because almost everything about it is so good.  Kavanaugh is one of the best bad guys in TV history, even though he's not really a bad guy.  And of course, Shane killing Lem is the most shocking moment of the show, something that you really can't see coming until maybe right before it happens.  The only reason it's at number 3 and not higher is because, like season 7, it  feels like one really long episode. There's only one important storyline, but it's still a damn good one.

2. Season 1
Let's get this out of the way first: the pilot episode is the greatest pilot in TV history, I don't think there's anything that even comes close.  The entire tone of the show is set at the end of the pilot.  No matter how many "good" things Vic does throughout the series, he still killed a cop in the very first episode, and that carries throughout to the very last show.  There's also a good balance between Strike Team and Aceveda stories, Dutch and Claudette stories, and Danny and Julien stories.  There are a few episodes in which nothing really happens, but they clearly needed some filler.  The season finale doesn't really blow you away either.  Still, amazing for a first season.

1. Season 2
Season 2 is the absolute prime of the show.  Unlike season 1, there aren't many filler episodes, and there are plenty of storylines to keep every episode fresh.  Like season 1, there's a great balance between characters, and it isn't just about the Strike Team.  The Armenian Money Train, much like Vic's murder of Terry, carries throughout the rest of the series, and really if you follow what happens, it's the downfall of everything for the Strike Team.  Money train leads to Lem burning the money, which leads to Shane leaving the team, which leads to him working with Antoine Mitchell, which leads to Lem having to get the heroin for Shane, which leads to Shane killing Lem, which leads to the fued between Shane and Vic, which ultimately blows everything up.  So there you go.  Bottom line: Season 2 of The Shield is better than anything on TV