The finale of The Shield has fans and critics eagerly anticipating a resolution. Still, don't forget there's a whole season leading up to it. Catherine Dent praised the episodes leading up to the conclusion as well as the finale itself.
Catherine Dent on Upcoming The Shield Episodes
"My husband is a huge sports fan and he's really into football," Dent said. "We have to Tivo the games and he doesn't want to know how the game ends. He wants to be able to watch the game from beginning to end. It's so interesting how people are focused on the finale and I think what people are going to be really gratified about is this is going to be a really good game, all 13 episodes. It's going to be a great game that you're not going to want to know how it ends. You're going to want to watch every quarter, every minute of that game because it's so intense."
Seven years on The Shield has toughened up Dent and her character Danny Sofer. "I basically recreated my family life on The Shield. I always say that my two big brothers made me tough enough to work with these guys. I really did. I grew up in the South and I had a very conventional Southern upbringing. Then my brothers would kind of rough and tumble me up and beat me up. So I kind of learned to be really scrappy and I got to re-create my family life. I loved being on the mean streets and kicking ass."
It was a crash course, as Dent recalls the early days. "My most memorable moment was when we got the cherry popper script. Just to be perfectly frank, it scared the sh*t out of me. I had done bit parts in movies and I had done a lot of guest stars. I had done this sort of conventional television acting and I had been in the conventional television world where it was just sort of look pretty and hit your mark. We had done the pilot. It was a lot of fun. We did it in seven days. We made fast friends and we all had a great time. Then I showed up to do the season. We got picked up and I was all excited on my first TV series and then I got this script, and it literally scared the sh*t out of me. I thought, 'Oh my God, what have I signed up for?' I guess for me it was really a big turning point for me to just sort of trust the writing, trust the actors, trust the venue. I have to say I was terrified at that point of what I had gotten involved with. Now I'm really grateful."
After the run of The Shield, Dent thought she'd hang up her blues, but has since reconsidered. "It was so funny because when I finished and we wrapped on The Shield in November, I was thinking, 'Oh God, I don't know if I want to play a cop again.' Because I was getting scripts and some inquiries about these tough girl roles. I said no, I just want to sort of shed that skin. Then I found out Alan Ball was doing a prison show and I'm like, 'Sign me up. I'll shave my hair.' But no, this was a great experience in my life. I really do feel like these guys were like my big brothers and a couple of them were younger than me. it was the greatest experience and the greatest ride of my life."
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