It’s been a while since I finished my Virgin Diary for The Wire, and I have to say that I look back fondly on those days when I was watching the stellar show. Truly, I had no idea how many amazing shows I was missing out on during the heyday of HBO. Since then I’ve caught up on a good number of them (Deadwood, Six Feet Under, and Carnivale), but still have a few more that I would like to check out.
The Wire was a special show. I still don’t understand how it flew so silently under the radar. Seriously, if the military could harness the stealth technology that this show had, war would be a thing of the past. Just about every person who I have come across who watched the show call it the best they have ever seen and critics loved it, yet it was only ever nominated for two Emmys, both for writing (and both losses). Enough about the injustices around the show, this post is supposed to be celebrating The Wire.
I’ve never been interested in police shows, with The Wire being the one huge exception. I almost hesitate to call it a cop show, though, because it was so much more than that. By the end of the series, it was really a deep look at urban life and how cities work (Baltimore in particular). Another layer of society and depth was added with each season, which I thought was a great way to structure a show. The first season focused on the drug trade, the second on the labor unions on the docks, the third on the city government, the fourth on the school system, and the final season on the newspaper. The beauty is that even as a layer was added, the previous layers were not completely forgotten. The drug trade was examined throughout the series. It was nice not to lose touch with characters while following new ones, building a really deep and rich narrative.
The characters were definitely the backbone of the show. Through the writing and acting, the characters on The Wire were some of the best that I have ever seen on television. What always amazed me is that the audience was only exposed (for the most part) to small sections of the characters’ lives, but we still felt like we knew everything about them. There were many iconic and three dimensional characters, including Jimmy McNulty, Stringer Bell, and Omar Little. Really, it’s hard to single out any characters, as the whole Wire universe was pretty incredible. I loved that the show was able to create larger-than-life characters like Omar and have them mingle with the hyper-realistic characters seamlessly.
The other thing that I really liked about The Wire was the way stories were presented. Season one played out almost like a documentary on the drug trade, whereas season three’s New Amsterdam plot was more of a thought experiment. The stories were all very different, but they all really worked with each other. Certainly I enjoyed some more than others; seasons four and five didn’t resonate with me quite as much as the first three, and the characters and events from season two really stand out, but all of The Wire was fantastic.
I miss the show, and still recommend it to just about anyone who will listen. It’s a hard show to describe to people, but the one word that I always find myself using is “flawless.”
Clacked by Bob Degon
on Feb 11, 2010 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
Loved them all but the children from season four will always stand out in my mind.
Avon was one of the greatest characters ever created in the history of television.
Another good word is “brilliant.”
I was a big Omar guy. Love Omar.
Season four was just heartbreaking. I remember having to take some time to recover before going into season five.
Season 4 was the most amazing season of any show that’s ever been on TV. That may sound like hyperbole, but it’s really true. The story of those kids was heart-breaking.
I liked Stringer Bell the most. The scene where he was teaching economic theory to the Barksdale gang stands out as powerful.
Season 4 was really great, but I think that season 5, like the show itself, is criminally overlooked and underrated. While the newspaper plot wasn’t nearly as exciting as the drug cases that preceded it, the entire political story line, and in particular Tommy Carcetti, was a powerful look at the other side of the glass from the streets and the police.
I think some people wrote it off, but it really was a logical conclusion to the show. Season 4 was the “prequel” to 1 and 3 (how those guys ended up on the streets and in jail), while 5 was the reason why the cycle continues to perpetuate itself.
Whichever season was your favorite, I think we call all agree that every season was high quality, you can’t really say that about any tv show.
Every one of them took you on a ride that few of us will ever experience in real life.
I’m glad it ended when it did. I would have cried if it just drowned like some other shows I know did.