(POSSIBLE SPOILERS)
As with any medium you familiarize yourself with, you are gonna hear about the specific fancies within that medium. The stuff that people go crazy over. Now, I didn't have to be the TV series addict that I am now to know what the hottest new shows were. TV series' are advertised heavily on their given networks; they develop freakishly large or reasonably modest fandoms; they are talked about in magazines, by people, on the entertainment news programs. Such examples would be modern television addictions like Glee, Modern Family, and Big Bang Theory. Ones that are addictive for the more intellectual and substance craving viewers would be ones like The West Wing, The Shield, or the topic of today's review, The Wire. I tend to watch shows that fall sort of in between. I like shows with a great deal of substance, craft, and talent; they are the ones that make me think, while also having a good percent be of the quality of silly fun entertainment: Breaking Bad, Supernatural, True Blood, Dexter, and the late Lost. All shows that are essentially just very well told good stories.
The Wire is on it's own plane of intelligence, honesty, and storytelling. I realized a lot of people had nothing but good things to say about this show. I Wikipedia'd it, as I often do most things, and found that the show was apparently one of the more groundbreaking series to be introduced during the early 2000s. A few things really drew me toward it in the beginning, however. One happened during the final days of Lost, my main source of in depth reviews was Entertainment Weekly's Lost page. While there I found a listing they were doing that year of, like, 25 of the best badasses in movies or TV. They had a few of my favorites on their of course (Tyler Durden, Dexter Morgan, and John Locke). But I think the one in the top 5 was a character from The Wire, who would become my one of my favorite characters actually, Omar Little (played by Michael K. Williams). Pictured as what looks like the world's scariest gangster ready for war, complete with pistols, shotgun, bulletproof vest, doo rag, trenchcoat, and actual scar across the face. He is also described as a man who can walk to the store in his pajamas, unarmed, and have everyone in the streets still run away in fear. That's certainly cool.
Second, I start seeing The Wire on people's top ten lists for best shows, always very near the top. My mom starts talking to me about how her online political pundants always rave about The Wire and how awesome it is. People on Netflix write worshipping reviews, which don't fuel my expectations so much as the negative reviews which deem it as "slow and boring" more than anything. In my experience, when people call a movie or show slow and boring it usually isn't; the people are usually just low level ADHD cases who can't devote their attention to anything on the TV that doesn't followup immediately with explosions. So there was that.
What really caught my attention is that many well-known critics and common viewers as well have hailed it as "the greatest television series of all time." As a person who enjoys great entertainment, who has seen some of the most moving, mesmerizing, and absolutely enjoyable as hell shows of recent years, this seemed almost like a challenge.
So I began watching and what can I say?
I'd be lying if I said that The Wire isn't worthy of being called THE BEST. It'd be a crime if it wasn't at the top of those lists. And it's definitely a show worth talking about. Why? Because it is honestly a show about people, regular people. While I originally thought this was a hard boiled HBO cop series, like The Shield or something, it is actually about the various forms of politics within the city of Baltimore. It doesn't show every facet, but it at least strives to. The five season series details the workings of these institutions: the police department, the criminal underground, the court system, the union, city hall, the school system, the mayor's office, the newspaper, and the homeless. With many characters being based upon real live people who lived these kind of lives, The Wire's story and characters have a certain authenticity. It is about people who, whether they are employed in an institution or not, are trying to survive in a bittersweet world. A more discussed element, in the show and the audience, is "the game" (sorry you lost). "The game" is referred to often by characters. I think I've deciphered that "the game" is really just a natural order of things within society, one that these characters (or really everyone in the world) tries to live by, control, or disassociate with.
I will bring to light some of the main plotlines and characters.
The Wire does primarily observe the clearly futile war on drugs in Baltimore by going into the multilayered and freakishly shocking politics of both the police department and the criminals they try to catch in the act. Through Detective Jimmy McNulty's (Dominic West) interference, the department is forced by a judge to put together a Major Crimes division to set up an investigation against the city's biggest yet most untouchable drug kingpin, Avon Barksdale (Wood Harris) and his organization. The Major Crimes division are a central group of characters who usually find it extremely difficult to put a case against their suspects while the brass ruthlessly demands quick results or else every season.
On the flip side, we see Avon, his business savvy partner Stringer Bell (Idris Elba), dog-eat-dog "corner boy" Bodie (J.D. Williams), and the other various high or low level criminals try to be careful, stay afloat, and stay alive in their seedy world of crime, which is really only an order within chaos they've created, like every other institution.
Making their way through the cross fire of these two factions are the neutral characters, primarily "Bubbles" Cousins (Andre Royo), a homeless drug addict, who is wise, redemptive, but self destructive, and then the previously mentioned Omar Little, a peculiar gentleman thief who has a habit of robbing and picking fights drug rings, namely the Barksdales.
Season 2 has a lot to do with a stevadore and union boss, Frank Sobotka (Chris Bauer), a decent man whose interaction with a master criminal The Greek's smuggling ring and his quarrals with other institutions to grim results.
Season 3 shows how a district police commander, Howard "Bunny" Colvin's (Robert Wisdom)response to the drug war by way of laying down arms and letting the chips fall where they may is far less destructive, though no good deed goes unpunished.
Season 4, deals with the horrid machinations of inner city schools. We are thrown into the daily lives of a four school kids who see their world in uncertain ways and adapt to it in very unexpected ways. surprisingly compelling political aspirations of councilman Tommy Carcetti (Aiden Gillen), a mostly idealistic man who wants to do good for the city and weed out the corruption he is sickened with. After the Obama presidency, the way Carcetti's story plays out is kind of darkly amusing and very true.
Season 5 has the city in another state of decay as budget cuts hurt the police department. A young and malevolent drug kingpin is in over his head while trying to manipulate the criminal underworld. Some key cops cross lines in order to get real police work done. The last institution to be seen is the Baltimore Sun, the city newspaper, as a veteran editor sees the crooked nature of his young coworker and even his bosses. And, as with any final season, characters find closure, do not, or are destroyed.
The show is intentionally presented in a novelistic fashion. Each episode progresses slowly with much detail, acting more like book chapters that don't typically have standard beginnings, middles, or ends. Since I love quality TV and enjoy books more and more, this was a treat. Episodes do run the risk of dragging along with not a lot of eye candy, but it still advances the plot and the plot is always good. No episode has a particular arc, so every season feels like one full story. I actually think that it was intentional due to the producers never knowing if they'd get renewed every year, so every season finale was made as if it could double as a series finale. Each episode starts out with a quote, usually from a character in the episode. Since I have a similar tendacy, I thought this was cool. There is also a pretty good soundtrack to show, the main theme throughout the series is "Way Down in the Hole" played by various artists including Tom Waits (who wrote the song), Steve Earle (who has a good small role in the series), but mainly The Blind Boys of Alabama.
Ultimately, The Wire is a portrait of America, city life, or, more broadly, society itself. The aim of the creator, David Simon, was not to present a police drama as he had done in the past, but to show how people deal with the institutions they are associated with. Simon, a former Baltimore police reporter and author, is perfect at channeling all of his knowledge of the dog-eat-dog streets of Baltimore, the inner workings of the police department and newsroom, and the corrupt and selfish mentalities of those within various institutions. Another creative mind behind the show is Ed Burns, an ex-cop and teacher, who no doubt provided great insight into the minds of police officers and the seemingly hopeless inner city school systems. Renowned authors such as Richard Price (Clockers, Freedomland) and Dennis Lehane (Mystic River, Shutter Island, Gone Baby Gone) have written episodes for the show.
I couldn't possibly describe all of the depth and layers of The Wire in this post. I will simply say that it is one of the greatest shows ever, no one was wrong about that. I really enjoyed it. It has great characters, relatable scenarios (especially for adults), thought provoking themes, a story that might be too true, and an overall remarkable universe. It is addictive in its own right. You wanna keep watching to find out whether these people will rise up or fall down in this unpredictable world.
I forgot my new rating system for my last few review, so I am giving The Wire six out of five wiretaps.
This has been another series review from Your Modest Guru. Thanks for reading.
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