10 TV Shows Where The Villain Kills The Hero
3. The Shield
Few TV shows have blurred the line between hero and villain as persuasively as The Shield, which in its very first episode delivered a stunning gut-punch that totally upended viewer expectations.
The pilot episode introduces audiences to Detective Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) and his Strike Team, who take down prominent drug dealers albeit through highly morally dubious means - often while skimming drugs and money off the top.
In order to catch wind of their actions, Captain David Aceveda (Benito Martinez) installs new detective Terry Crowley (Reed Diamond) in the Strike Team as an informant of-sorts, much to Mackey's disdain.
At the end of the pilot episode, however, the Strike Team's drug bust ends with Mackey turning and shooting Crowley in the face, killing him after being tipped off about Crowley's status as an informant.
It's a supremely shocking moment that confirms Vic isn't merely a morally ambiguous cop who will cross the line to get the job done, but a man who will do anything to protect himself and the team, whether they deserve it or not.
Crowley's murder has a ripple effect throughout the rest of the series, culminating in Vic's undeniable true villain turn in the show's later seasons, where he and the other members of the Strike Team are finally reckoned with for their actions.
It's fascinating to consider Crowley's role in all of this: he may have ultimately been a self-serving opportunist who only agreed to spy on Vic in order to further his own career, but compared to Vic and his team he was practically a saint.
That the show even included Terry in its marketing and implied he would be a primary character only made his first-episode murder that much more brilliant.