Teeming with gang-bangers, perverts, rapists and killers, The Shield is unabashedly adult TV drama; and even liberal viewers may flinch at plots involving child pornography and serial murder. The first series of this uncompromising police drama focuses on pugnacious detective Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis), whose amoral Strike Team employs dubious tactics in the crime-ridden (and fictional) Farmington district of Los Angeles. Mackey and his maverick partners are at odds with seasoned detectives and beat cops, escalating tensions with precinct Captain Aceveda (Benito Martinez), a Latino with flexible scruples and a political agenda.

The series invites viewers to form their own judgments regarding Mackey's volatile behaviour, which includes killing an undercover cop in the electrifying pilot episode. While each episode stands alone, the arc of the series incorporates Aceveda's campaign to end Mackey's career, the self-loathing of a homosexual rookie (Michael Jace) whose partner (Catherine Dent) is Mackey's occasional mistress, a straight-laced detective (Jay Karnes) yearning for respect, Mackey's compassionate attempt to rehabilitate a crack whore (Jamie Brown, giving the season's finest guest performance), the autism of Mackey's young son and the recklessness of his closest partner (Walton Goggins) and the vigilant stoicism of Det. Wyms (CCH Pounder), who's as sensibly upright as Mackey is corrupted. The Shield is excellent TV for those who can grasp its complexities; all others beware. --Jeff Shannon