FX has the two best dramas on non-premium commercial television, with Nip/Tuck and The Shield. With tonight’s addition of Glenn Close, as Vic Mackey’s new captain, I can only guess The Shield will be even better:

Clearly, Close hasn’t loaned her name to the series for a paycheck, either. She’s brought her big screen A-game to her first episodic starring role.

A seasoned pro, she knows how to work a scene without histrionics. A glance here, a raised eyebrow there, perhaps an occasional dirty look is generally all she needs to assert her authority. She can be more forceful when necessary without losing self-control. Amazingly, the normally insolent Vic accepts her without reservation.

It helps that at first encounter she accepts a wink-wink tale that Vic had to kill an animal because it pulled a gun on him. Rawlings further endears herself to Vic by exhibiting as little regard for the outgoing Capt. David Aceveda, who has won a seat on the city council. She also has a game plan to take advantage of forfeiture rules to let her cops seize expensive toys for their use.