The Shield

Once obscure, head writers of TV shows are becoming stars in their own right

I said my piece last week about The Shield‘s spectacular confession scene, so now, as tonight’s grand finale approaches, I’ll recommend the AV Club’s two-page interview with Shawn Ryan, creator of the show.

That was indeed an incredible scene on The Shield where Vic confesses most of his previous crimes in exchange for immunity. It was like a serious, harrowing, gut-wrenching version of a type of scene that’s usually played for laughs: the scene where a character dredges up all the horrible things he’s done or gone through in the course of the series. Remember George on Seinfeld reciting his tragic history in order to beat out a shipwreck survivor for an apartment, or Cartman on South Park: