I always think of The Shield as a show no one watched. But searching online after hitting “publish” on that last post turned up a ton of kudos for that finale. The one at the LA Times was good, and has an interview with some of the actors. However, this made me literally laugh out loud:
Martinez: Glenn was brought into our world to play on our court, and she had to come up to our game. As it were, it was part of adding to the team. It didn’t diminish or alter the team.
“Martinez” here is Benito Martinez, who was by far the weakest regular actor on the show. The level dropped every time that guy was in a scene, and I was happy to see his character Aceveda get “promoted” out of the precinct.
Going off shift at ‘The Shield’
The actors agree that it was team chemistry that fueled FX’s police drama. But, not surprisingly, there are a few disagreements too.