Complaints about the episode count aside, this fifth season of "The Shield" may be one of, if not the, best yet as Forest Whitaker is introduced as Internal Affairs Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh, and his only goal is to take down Vic Mackey (Chiklis) and the Strike Team. Outside of this central storyline you also get the interesting play between homicide detectives Dutch and Claudette and a new story thread with Officer Julien Lowe who now has his own trainee who just so happens to be one hell of a hottie, yet a bit slow on the uptake. One thing is for certain, every element of the plot leads to tension and a high dose of drama. "The Shield" certainly remains one of the grittiest shows on television.
Special feature wise this four disc set boasts audio commentaries on every single episode, 25 deleted scenes with optional commentary, a pretty cool season 6 prequel piece, some behind-the-scenes looks and a cool panel discussion with Michael Chiklis, Forest Whitaker and show writer/creator Shawn Ryan.
Honestly, of the group I didn't dig too deep into the commentaries or deleted scenes and only really enjoyed the season 6 prequel and the panel discussion, which also became a bit silly as well. I can't see any casual fan of "The Shield" getting too excited over most of these features as the show is the real draw here and to go from such a hard-edged show to some watered down making-of features it sort of kills the buzz. However, this season is once again a must own. I now have all five seasons of this show on DVD and can't wait for season six in another year, even if it is only going to be another 11 episodes, it already looks like it is going to be fantastic!