The Shield
Stuck the LandingFinale "Family Meeting" scored 9.7, one of its highest-rated episodes.
Antihero leadA protagonist doing bad things you can't stop watching.This show: 10/10GrittyRaw, unglamorous realism in both look and subject matter.This show: 10/10Morally grayNo clean heroes or villains anywhere in sight.This show: 10/10SerializedContinuous arcs where every episode builds on the last.This show: 9/10Dark toneShadowy mood and subject matter, a shade short of outright bleak.This show: 9/10Gut punchWilling to devastate you, and remembered for it.This show: 8/10CynicalDeeply distrustful of institutions and human motives.This show: 8/10Criminal underworldOrganized crime, gangs and the criminal life seen from the inside.This show: 8/10
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Starring
Michael ChiklisMichael JaceJay KarnesCCH PounderBenito MartinezWalton Goggins
Written by
Shawn Ryan
Starring
Michael ChiklisMichael JaceJay KarnesCCH PounderBenito MartinezWalton Goggins
Written by
Shawn Ryan
Ratings per Episode
Votes per Episode
The Shield Episode Ratings Heatmap
| Avg | E1 | E2 | E3 | E4 | E5 | E6 | E7 | E8 | E9 | E10 | E11 | E12 | E13 | E14 | E15 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S1 | 8.2 | 8.6 | 7.8 | 7.6 | 7.7 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 7.9 | 8.0 | 7.7 | 8.7 | 7.9 | 8.3 | 9.0 | |||
| S2 | 8.2 | 8.1 | 8.7 | 8.1 | 8.0 | 8.1 | 8.2 | 8.0 | 8.3 | 7.3 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.2 | 8.8 | |||
| S3 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 7.8 | 7.7 | 8.4 | 8.5 | 7.8 | 7.9 | 8.0 | 8.1 | 8.4 | 8.4 | 7.8 | 8.4 | 8.8 | 9.0 | |
| S4 | 7.9 | 7.6 | 7.4 | 7.5 | 7.6 | 8.2 | 7.8 | 7.9 | 8.1 | 7.9 | 8.4 | 7.8 | 8.2 | 8.4 | |||
| S5 | 8.6 | 8.4 | 8.1 | 7.9 | 8.3 | 8.9 | 8.0 | 8.4 | 9.0 | 8.2 | 8.8 | 9.4 | |||||
| S6 | 8.3 | 8.5 | 8.6 | 8.4 | 8.0 | 8.2 | 8.9 | 7.9 | 7.7 | 8.1 | 8.7 | ||||||
| S7 | 8.7 | 8.5 | 7.8 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 7.9 | 8.7 | 7.9 | 9.2 | 8.4 | 8.7 | 8.4 | 9.5 | 9.7 |
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About
"Watching a bad cop's sins finally catch him"
Vic Mackey runs an elite anti-gang unit in a rough LA precinct, and from the first episode he crosses a line that can never be uncrossed. What follows is a slow-motion unraveling of loyalty, corruption, and consequence among cops who started out believing they were the good guys. The show is tense, morally filthy, and propulsive, shot with a grainy handheld urgency that makes every raid feel dangerous. Michael Chiklis anchors it with a performance of real menace and charisma. It rewards patience through some uneven middle stretches on the way to one of TV's most satisfying endings.
Watch it for
the slow, merciless tightening of consequences around a cop who thinks he's untouchable.
Maybe skip if
you need clearly likable protagonists or find sustained moral ugliness exhausting to watch.
Written by our AI editor to help you decide, spoiler-free by design.
All Seasons
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Season 12002
8.234K1310h
Vic Mackey is the leader of an elite Strike Team unit, a group of cops effective at eliminating crime while operating under Vic's set of rules that sometimes cross the line between legal and illegal. The precinct's new captain doesn't like Vic's tactics, and wants to bust him off the force.
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Season 22003
8.228K139h 54m
After a rocky start, Vic and Aceveda have formed an uneasy alliance that Claudette is determined to destroy. Vic's personal life is in shambles and a new nemesis on the street forces the Strike Team to risk everything in the pursuit of one last big score for their "retirement fund".
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Season 32004
8.231K1511h 23m
After scoring big with the money train, the Strike Team plays it cool to avoid arousing suspicion. Tensions are stretched further when Vic finds himself at odds with his team, but hostilities are quickly forgotten when Aceveda reveals that the team is the target of an Armenian mob hit.
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Season 42005
7.925K1310h 5m
The Strike Team has dissolved. Vic and Shane are assigned to regular detective duty, while Aceveda is leaving to begin his new job on the City Council. Although Vic often clashed with Aceveda, he quickly realizes that new captain Monica Rawling also has her own agenda.
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Season 52006
8.625K119h 2m
As the Strike Team battles racial tensions in the city, friction inside the Barn escalates with the arrival of Jon Kavanaugh, a dogged Internal Affairs lieutenant obsessed with taking down Vic.
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Season 62007
8.321K118h 46m
Vic and the Strike Team are distraught over Lem's death. After Vic learns from Claudette that the Chief plans to force him into early retirement, he vows to wreak bloody vengeance on Lem's killer before losing his badge, while Shane, overcome by guilt, becomes reckless and suicidal.
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Season 72008
8.729K1310h 28m
Pressured to take down Pezuela, Vic's skeletons finally come tumbling out of the closet as he faces threats from all directions—primarily from damaged protégé Shane.
Full Cast & Crew
Cast
Michael Chiklis Detective Vic Mackey
Michael Jace Officer Julien Lowe
Jay Karnes Detective Holland 'Dutch' Wagenbach
CCH Pounder Detective Claudette Wyms, Captain Claudette Wyms
Benito Martinez David Aceveda
Walton Goggins Detective Shane Vendrell
Catherine Dent Officer Danny Sofer
Cathy Cahlin Ryan Corrine Mackey
David Rees Snell Detective Ronnie Gardocki
Kenny Johnson Detective Curtis 'Lemonhead' Lemansky
Crew
Shawn Ryan
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