5/5 "How the Mighty Have Fallen.."
  by J from NY (New York)
How Sean Ryan managed to pull this off on a channel as relatively tame as "FX" is beyond me. Since Season 1 of this bloody, Shakespearean epic, Vic Mackey and Company have done some most unpleasant things--the first thing that comes to mind would be Vic frying a murdering drugdealer's face on a stove burner, the mistaken torture and execution of Guardo in Season Six, etc etc. I am more than sure that Ryan had to work a lot harder than David Chase or David Simon (imagine trying to squeeze an hour of real art between commercials for Enzyte.)

"The Final Act" comes extremely close to transcending anything I have ever seen on television. Learning just who Victor Samuel Mackey, and that's his full name, really was felt both exhilarating, dirty, exhausting and in the end, horrifying. He is not the alphamale wolf who protects the clan. He is not the complex, mysterious father figure to Shane. He is not a righteous vigilante cop in the tradition of "The Punisher".

He is a bald headed demon from hell who sucks the life out of those under his satanic influence or destroys them entirely. And he is particularly apt to do so when it is his neck on the line. How he came to be this way and whether he knows it or not are questions we will never know (Ryan was right not to answer them, actually: the feel of this show, which is kind of like dropping Raymond Chandler into "Training Day", does not allow for warm reminiscence). As the aged ICE agent who listens to Mackey's horrifying confession which seals his immunity asks Claudette "Exactly what kind of detective did you *raise* here?", it would be interesting to know that indeed.

In the end, though, speculation is immaterial. When Lem got shafted by Shane with a grenade, whatever tincture of a conscience Vic Mackey possessed in the first place went right through the window. Lem was the first Sacrifical Lamb, one of Vic's own who died because of his deluded belief in his own intelligence, and Ronnie was the second. Time heals all wounds, I guess, because it was easier for Vic to sell his friend out so blatantly to save his own skin. None of that anguish or rage he had when searching for Lem's killer, who was always at his back, only a begrudging and slightly pained willingness.

When Claudette finally confronts Vic in the last episode to see what he's made of, to see if there is anything remotely human left in the man, we have perhaps one of the most disturbing sequences in TV history. The "Hitler act" with Shane poisoning his wife and children with the threat of prison hanging over his head
(Goebbels did the same thing when "the great man" withdrew his affection in suicide) ultimately does not affect Vic. He looks at the awful picture of Shane with his head blown to bits, his wife and child clutching a toy and flowers, and sits for a moment. He blinks, represses a tear, and grins. He is a sociopath. If he so wills it, these kind of things will not hurt him. The reaction to Claudette trying to probe him is akin to the Devil himself: tearing the camera off the wall with that cobra-like loook in his eye, as though to say "You dare to judge me?" and swaggering out of the interrogation room.

Watching Ronnie go down was the worst for me. Though it is possible that Vic was going to tell him that he was screwed, it's pretty clear he didn't care that much. When he screams "RONNIE!" as the police approach to take him straight to hell, it is only to save face in the mirror of his cracked identity. The heated dialogue between them tells you a lot about Mackey. He tries to tell Ronnie that he believed Karin, his wife, was "loyal"--loyal?? Like Vic was loyal? This is not a titanic figure at all, but a "twisted and sick man" as Olivia puts it. He didn't really have any idea where all this was going and "the team" was BS as soon as he lost the feeling for it.

One of the best television series in history.


1/5 Where is my DVD???
  by Melissa Elliott (Australia)
I would love to say that I am enjoying this DVD but unfortunately I am still awaiting its arrival!!!!!!!!!!!

3/5 The abscence of the writers was apparent
  by Paul Ponder (St, Louis, Mo)
On the cover it says "The most brilliant Finale I've ever seen" I'm not sure what this guy was smoking but it was obviously something that made his tv seem brighter than reality. I really wished they would have waited for the writer's strike to end before they did this. The finale was a major disappointment. In the final scene I watch Vic sitting at a desk for about 5 minutes wondering if he's going to shoot himself and then he holsters his gun and walks out with this look on his face like he just stepped in dog crap. That's the "brilliant" finale. The last 5 minutes of "The Wire" was the most brilliant finale I've seen. It had an intense montage that showed us what are characters are doing and implied would be doing long after the series. It wrapped every little detail up.
The main thing that made no sense at all was this Danny/Vic feud where in one episode she loves because she feels threatened by Vic she actually packs up her place and then inexplicably for no reason at all she reappears a few eps later leaving her and her son the ONLY THING VIC HAD LEFT!!!!! Except for Corrine how witness relocates to the Bay Area a whole 300 miles from LA!!! That's a 5 hour drive people!!! It would have been much more believable had it been Columbus OH or something very far from LA
The thing with Shane affected me so much that I could not believe what I was seeing I just did not see that coming. But for the conclusion of the series and a very frustrating season I needed more I needed shock after shock after shock instead shock and Nothing more emotional than the deal with Ronnie. It was a good show per se however it wasn't the satisfying conclusion I was promised. If the real writers had been there I probably would still be losing my bowels even a year later.

5/5 Its a love hate thing
  by Jimmy Morelli (South Boston, MA)
I have followed the series since it first aired. It was a different breed of a cop show series, it went much further than most cop shows go and it was a anti hero series, that's why I liked it so much, it was much different then the other crap out there. This entire series, including the last, season 7 kept you glued to the TV, and the DVR's programed. These cops are the guys you love to hate and they just get worse as the years role by. If you haven't seen the show before, START!!! from the beginning and do it justice, if you like cops shows you'll love this. This isn't your lame duck NYPD Blue or Law and Order where the cops are the good guys and they face the same stuff show after show, good vs bad. In The Shield the cops are the bad guys.

Honestly every season was great. The one thing that I didn't like about the 7th and final season was the ending. I waited 7 years to see that cop killing son of a [%$] Macky get killed or sentenced to prison and what happened, he walked. After the mayhem he has caused it was a bit of a let down to see it end that way.

Buy this or buy whole series if you have never seen it. It was a great series, well worth paying for in my eyes.

5/5 BETRAYAL
  by Umut Gokce (Turkey)
Spoilers ahead...Other than repeating or referring to some excellent reviews I would like to here elaborate on a specific act took place in the final episode of final act. Nevertheless still a couple of words are needed to mention. Is this final season like previous ones demanding to be watched in exhilarating emotional atmosphere begging to know what is next? Yes indeed. Is the final satisfying? Yes but it would give different feelings to different people based on their view of characters and series as a whole. But not perfect. Here the main point of this review is one of Mackey's acts towards the end. And this is what he did to Ronnie. He betrayed his fellow friend next to him until the very end in a twinkle of an eye. I never had sympathy for Vic Mackey' acts or deeds but at least, despite his brutality and lack of conscious, he was loyal to his friends and Ronnie was loyal to him too. It just doesn't mesh with his past and character. I understand the events overwhelmed him and made him felt he is coming to a full circle but again just his wife's somewhat minor crime did not suffice on my side to send his -cop-friend into lifetime prison life. AND he mentioned to run many times together or alone. Even at the very end he could have warned him to run. Still such a magnificent writing and I cannot fully hold responsible of Vic's betrayal under the extreme circumstances. Furthermore Gardocki deserved such a fitting end. Vic, however, proved tt almost nothing virtuous remained with him. He cut links with his conscious which he had to and went on his life. No way could he have handled what he had done otherwise. A lost soul.. With that said I also lost my connection to the character.. 5 stars nonetheless for objective scoring. I watched the series with my girlfriend and I was so hooked up unlike with any other shows. Thanks guys, to all whose endevours helped for such a brilliant show...