The Shield

So today is shipping war day.  gabrielleabelle  has a good post on why shipping misses the point.  I'd add that the other reason it's silly is because BtVS is polysemic.  (I'm still having a love affair with that word, it means capable of different interpretations).  We all really can win here.  I thought #34 was very nice for someone with my sensibilities.  People I disagree with strongly think that #34 was very nice for their sensibilities.  So why all the screaming?

Anyway, I just finishing watching seven seasons of The Shield, which really isn't polysemic (that I've noticed, anyway), but is really quite good.   It's gritty LA cop stuff, which I mostly don't like.  I can never keep track of how all the drug deals work.  But it delivers a remarkable character: Vic Mackey, who has some genuinely heroic traits, who also cuts corners in pursuit of the good and goes terribly terribly wrong as a result.   For the most part the show does a good job of not dialing back on either the heroism or the villainy so at least for me, I hit the finish line both loving him and hating him.  There's more to be said -- below the cut with full spoilers for all seven seasons.

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