Return of The Shield

So how cool was that season premiere of The Shield? I had almost forgotten how much I love that show. But from the opening scene where Shane gets a brutal (and well-deserved) beat-down, Vic Mackey & Co. showed they're back with a vengeance. The plot points in the hourlong buzzsaw were dizzying -- Vic and Acevedo's newly acquired blackmail files (the scenes between the two of them are amazing), grisly gang "blood lines" being painted on city streets (the severed leg was a nice touch), Dutchboy's super awkward, post-coital exachange with Dani (I had totally forgotten about that!), Armenian mob power plays, Mexican developer power plays, a hot ICE agent, Ronnie passing the point of no return, a dead hitman suddenly missing his feet (Shane. . . dude. . . wow), a lazy cop getting his comeuppance (couldn't happen to a more weasely guy), a shootout punctuated by Vic plowing his car into the middle of it all and a tense truce between Shane, Vic and Ronnie that you just know won't last. Oh, and the Strike Team stoking an all-out gang war between the Mexicans and Armenians.

Now that's how you kick off the fall season.

If there had been any doubt before, The Shield just re-established itself as my No. 1 show. I'm already salivating for next week's episode.