A Tantalising Final Act not to be missed!

Singapore, 5 March 2009 – In this concluding season of The Shield, Time Magazine has declared this ‘groundbreaking cop show’ as the Top TV Series in 2008, hailing it as one of TV’s most influential dramas with its potent blend of ‘police brutality’ and ‘emotional violence’. Not just a straightforward cop drama, The Shield grabs you by the throat simply with the shocking depth of complexity its characters are endowed with - at times admirable, at times downright despicable – leaving viewers torn between their loyalties and gasping for more.

What more can one expect when The Shield’s protagonist, Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis), is THE anti-hero antidote: a hard anti-gang policeman who, along with his Machiavellian Strike Team of efficient cops, believes that the end justifies the means. Whether the means entail turning dogs loose to maul suspects for information and retribution, murdering teammates to protect his job, framing suspects for murder and drug use and extorting money from dealers; all’s fair in Mackey’s law, especially if it lets him continue being devoted ex-husband and father to his autistic children.

Pitting vices versus virtues, will the world’s version of justice finally catch up with this self-serving renegade? Will he rise like a phoenix out of ashes or meet his downfall? Mackey’s outcome in The Shield’s final act definitely makes it the show of the year you can’t miss!

Swarming with viciousness, violent shades of grey and a dizzyingly controversial justice, The Shield is undoubtedly a show ahead of its time with its brazen and explicitly dark and daring programming direction, paving the way for many other top-tier crime dramas in recent times. Not only a hit with a huge cult following but also the critic’s favourite, this smouldering series won a Golden Globe for Best Television Series and with Michael Chiklis clinching both an Emmy and Golden Globe for his portrayal of the self-serving yet suave Mackey.  This strong nomination was seconded by Entertainment Weekly which proclaimed that The Shield “almost always makes other cop shows look like rookies on the beat".

Of course, the success formula for such a compelling TV series lies not just with superb scriptwriters and an exceptional lead actor, but also the brilliantly-cast supporting roles. Along with Chiklis, the New York Times paid tribute to Shane Vendrell (Walton Goggins) and Captain Claudette (CCH Pounder) who “make up one of the best ensembles in prime time." Indeed, Shane, as Mackey’s ex-right-hand-man-turned-enemy, rivets with his portrayal of a desperate schemer who gets in over his head with the Armenians, in a bid to break away from Mackey’s circle. Captain Claudette shines as the sole female force among the men and acts as the voice of morality, despite being plagued by her lupus condition for several years.

This season, Mackey fights back after the Chief enforced an early retirement on him and will resort to any means to get his badge reinstated. The bad blood between Shane and Mackey takes a turn for the worse, even as they conspire to pit the Armenian Mob against the Mexican Cartel, for their own agenda.  Never could Mackey imagine that someone even closer to him will render him that deadly stab in the back - his ex-wife Corrine (Cathy Cahlin Ryan) who attempts to turn him in.

As Mackey once again employs his unorthodox tactics to excavate yet another narrow escape route, things start to go wrong and close in on him, with the full weight of seven seasons worth of sin. Will this rogue cop cop out in the end? This final season will see the series complete its sensational swan song with an ending which has been described by TVguide.com as “so much more satisfying than the self-consciously artsy finish of The Sopranos' abrupt crash to black”. Don’t miss the final act of The Shield this March only on AXN!
 
                            The Shield Season 7 premieres 12 March 2009
                                        First and Exclusively on AXN
                 Every Thurs @ 10pm (SG, MY, PH, TH), 11pm (HK), 9pm (JKT)