The Shield and The Sopranos Return
The clock is ticking for Vic Mackie and Tony Soprano, infamously iconic characters who blur the line between hero and villain and yet earn our empathy as they head to their fates. Their landmark series are back, each in top form yet entirely different in impact.
The Shield (returns Tuesday, April 3, 10 pm/ET on FX) is first-rate pulp fiction, blisteringly intense as it grabs you by the throat. The Sopranos (returns Sunday, April 8, 9 pm/ET on HBO) is more like classic literature, achieving a level of artistry with its aching yet witty realism while delivering violent jolts that sneak up on you like a sucker punch.
A melancholy tone haunts these final episodes of The Sopranos. "Is this it?" Carmela wonders aloud as the story resumes. I'm afraid it is, but if the first two episodes are any indication, what a way to go out.
Issues of mortality and legacy loom large. In the opener, Tony celebrates his 47th birthday at Bobby and Janice's lake house, where family tensions build and ultimately explode over a drunken game of Monopoly that's riotously funny and sadly horrific. It's no surprise that Tony plays by his own rules. The Sopranos has always followed a defiantly different beat, rarely delivering traditional payoffs.
The mood deepens in the second episode, as one mobster dies without being whacked, and another is whacked in a way you'll never see coming. Tony, however, is distracted by how he comes off in Christopher's hilarious parody of a slasher/mob movie. "This is the image of me he leaves to the world," Tony mutters, feeling betrayed. Not to worry. In David Chase's hands, the legacy of Tony and The Sopranos among the all-time greats in TV history is assured.
Meanwhile, The Shield has never been darker, grittier or scarier than in its next-to-last season of high melodrama. As the department tries to push Vic into retirement, and his Internal Affairs nemesis (Forest Whitaker) takes criminally desperate measures to bring down this dirty cop, Vic is out for blood. Michael Chiklis is a volcano of festering, vengeful rage as Vic seeks whoever killed his Strike Team buddy, Lem. Little does he know that his own right-hand man, Shane (Walton Goggins), is responsible.
The layers of guilt, grief and retribution lead to all sorts of gut-wrenching twists. As new boss Claudette (CCH Pounder) warns: "The truth may not always lead us down the path we want." But we can't help following wherever these shows take us. This is some of the best TV you'll see all year. The Shield? Sensational and electrifying. The Sopranos? Merely magnificent.
