Season 2 - 12 episodes (2003)
Season 3 - 12 episodes (2004)
Season 4 - 13 episodes (2006)
Season 5 - 10 episodes (2008)
Watch The Wire with Amazon Prime
Created by: David Simon
Starring: Dominic West, Idris Elba, Lance Reddick, Aidan Gillen, Wendell Pierce, Clarke Peters, Andre Royo, Michael Kenneth Williams, Seth Gilliam, Domenick Lombardozzi, Jamie Hector, Sonja Sohn, John Doman, Deirdre Lovejoy, Jim True-Frost Frankie Faison, Corey Parker Robinson, Delaney Williams, J.D. Williams, Wood Harris, Robert Wisdom
Rated: TV-MA
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Plot
The Baltimore drug scene, as seen through the eyes of drug dealers, law enforcement, dock workers, politicians, students, teachers, and journalists.
Verdict
This is the third time I've watched this series, and it's just too good. Everything else pales in comparison. This is the closest a television series has come to capturing the feel of a book with the level of detail and depth. Each season focuses on an institution and it's failings. Season one is the police, two docks, three politics, four the school system, and five journalism. The characters are detailed and nuanced. They aren't all good or bad, but composed of many levels. Most are likable enough that you hope they overcome their shortcomings. The story is cops chasing criminals, but the characters make it so much more than that. The writing is amazing. The humor is subtle, the emotions run deep. It's top tier television. On top of everything, this show has always been about more than just what's happening on screen. Every season ponders how you fix a broken system.
Watch it, then watch it again.
Review
I could break The Wire down by season or by character. The character arcs are detailed. There's a lot of information, and you must pay attention. This show doesn't hold your hand. There's a lot to miss. I picked up on a lot of small details on my second watch, and more on the third.
The story is solid, but it's the typical cops trying to catch a criminal. Where this shines is the characters. They are nuanced. You root for them to overcome their faults. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. No one is all good or all bad, everything is shades of in between. Almost all of the characters have a journey, and even the side characters feel like they have depth. This world feels alive, continuing even when off screen.
This is a story about people that just happen to be cops on an investigation. This is my favorite show. The writing is unparalleled. It captures life, from the humorous to the devastating, and those mundane moments in between while you wait for things that never come. It's infintely quotable. I planned to only watch the first season this time around, but I went through all five seasons rather quickly because why would I watch something other than The Wire? Each season is equal parts heartbreaking and enlightening. Season one introduced us to the world of cops and criminals. It sets up the succeeding seasons. Season two is the docks and blue collar workers as their jobs slowly vanish. Season three is politics and it's link to crime, at least in Baltimore. Politics pushes the police to make the numbers look good, to prop up election bids. Season four is the schools. We see how kids go from the classroom to the corner. Season five looks at journalism and how real news isn't valued, and sometimes not honest. Each season outlines problems with these systems. People don't want to fix problems, they just wall paper over it because the problems are beyond challenging. In many cases resources are scare or nonexistent. How do you stop a boulder rolling down a hill?
Each season follows the same characters, while introducing new ones, focusing on different institutions. While the focus is Baltimore, the failings are universal.
Each season tells a mostly self contained story. You'll miss out on a lot of detail skipping around, but it's easy to watch a season, take a break, and jump back into it.
I'd rank the seasons as one, three, two, four, five. Two gets a fair amount of criticism because it feels like a different show. A lot of the season takes place on the docks, while we still see the characters from season one, it's a shift. Despite that shift, it's a good story. Three felt a lot more like season one. Four focuses on kids and it may be one of the best seasons from a pure story standpoint. Five is outlandish. I like the journalism aspect, but the police side of it doesn't feel grounded. It's difficult to rank the seasons. I debated on putting four ahead of two. Four focuses on a bunch of kids and it's great. I thought about bumping season three down. Hamsterdam also feels outlandish, but the point it makes is very good.
Each season uses a different cover of the same song, Way Down in the Hole for the credits. I have just as hard of a time picking my favorite cover of the song as I do the seasons themselves.
Season 1
The series starts and mostly stops with Jimmy McNulty. If there's a central character, he's the closest to it. He's easy to like despite his numerous faults. At his core he's "natural police," wanting to do the job right and do the most amount of good. He's in constant conflict with his superiors who are beholden to the numbers. It's not about doing the most good for them, but making it look like crime is down. That's not to say Jimmy is all that benevolent. A lot of the time he just wants to prove he's the smartest guy in the room. He's a screw-up, but it's hard not to like him.
When you pair Jimmy and the Bunk, you get some great scenes. They have great chemistry, and they're a lot of fun.
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| "What did I do?" Dominic West plays Jimmy McNulty. |
What I've always liked is that this shows all sides of drug crime: cops, criminals, and addicts. They each have a role that isn't all that easy to escape.
I forgot the humor of the show. It's subtle real life type stuff, like when the hoppers are talking about people on money and how only a president could be on money. It's funny, but it cuts. It shows their lack of education and awareness.
I could write paragraphs on so many characters. Lester Freamon was written off as a house cat, but when he speaks he proves he's the smartest detective in the room. Seeing Carver in season one and realizing how much he'll change for the better makes you like him so much more.
This season displays the failings of the police system. The higher-ups want to protect senators. Their jobs depend on it. The politicians want to tout that crime is down. The deputy ops doesn't want to stop drug dealers, he just wants the numbers to look good. Low level busts look good, but don't deter crime. Real police and real policing get pushed down. McNuly is asked, "You think the job is going to save you?" That big case, that next big case, it doesn't make a difference when the status quo is low level busts. To succeed you have to play politics, and playing politics means turning a blind eye.
The way scenes and arcs fit together is masterful. Early in the season someone states if a higher up asks you where you want to go because they want to see you land okay, it's a trap. Towards the end of the season Jimmy is asked where he wants to go.
This season started and ended in the court, but it slowly expanded. Everything came together at the end, though not all for the best. This first season is such a great piece of television. A bunch of mopes turn a crap assignment into a real case. This is a broad picture of Baltimore, but it's applicable to many more cities. This season shows the viewer what it is to make a case and the hardships of living that game.
Season 2
This season feels like a departure. The focus is on the docks and the blue collar worker. It's a good story, but a jolt coming off of season one. This season lost a lot of what made season one so good, as these great characters are relegated to the side. This season still expands the overarching story, educating us now on how drugs get into Baltimore, covering East Baltimore as well as West.
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| "Now we just put our hand in the next guy's pocket." Pablo Schreiber and Chris Bauer play Nick and Frank Sobotka. |
I don't know even know where to talk about Omar.
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| "Omar's coming yo." Michael K. Williams plays Omar. |
Season 3
I remember Hamsterdam, but I forgot this season was politics too. We see Carcetti running for mayor and how he plans to obtain that position when he's a white man "in a city that ain't."
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| "I still wake up white in a city that ain't." Aidan Gillen plays Tommy Carcetti |
"What makes you think they'll promote the wrong man?" One of the cops asks, as they hope a talkative dealer will get a promotion. "We do it all the time." is the reply. That's one of the striking things about this show that starts in season one. Whether you're a cop or a criminal, most of the time you are just a cog in the machine. The main difference is the end goal. Changing course is unfathomable. Everyone has a role to play. The show references chess more than a few times, and that seems to be the mindset. Everyone plays their role, but the strings are pulled by someone else.
The first episode poses the question of how do you truly fight crime and make the city better, instead of just juking the stats. Hamsterdam ends up being Colvin's solution, and it works though it has some significant faults. It dives headfirst into the question of allowing harm for the most good. I don't know why this season doesn't get as much flak as season five. Hamsterdam is outrageous, but it makes a point. How do you fix a broken system? Season five does much of the same. This show has always been about more than just what's happening on screen.
This season we've seen Carcetti wheeling and dealing for his own ends. He gets to be Mayor, but can't fulfill his promises because the machine moves at its own speed. The money he was going to spend on the police has to go to schools when it's discovered the system has a massive budget shortfall.
The world of The Wire feels real because we see these side characters creeping around the edges of the screen the entire run. Santangelo was on the team in season one, got bumped, and now drives a paddy wagon. The show doesn't wink and make it clear we should know this character. If you aren't paying attention, you might miss it.
Every single actor owns their role. I also give the show credit for killing off a somewhat main character because it's true to the story.
At the beginning of the season we saw cops throwing empty beer cans onto a roof. At the end of the season we see that roof covered in cans. It's been out of site, out of mind. There's no way that doesn't correlate to Hamsterdam. Crime or trash is a nuisance out in the open, but not when hidden. This show is full of small details like that.
If there can be a classic The Wire, season three is the end of that as a new drug kingpin emerges.
Season 4
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| "It ain't what you takin', it's who you takin' it from." |
This season is a look at kids and how they feed the system and how the system fails them, but I miss Stringer and Avon. Stringer especially was such an intriguing character. We realize he's a dealer with a plan to go legit, but Jimmy and we are surprised when we see his apartment. It looks high end, not something Jimmy and the cops expected to see.
One of many things this show does well, the settings look appropriately run down. The offices, the bathrooms, they feel real. For all I know they are. Nothing in this show ever feels fake. Many extras were cast locally.
What started in season three with Carcetti's run for mayor and his promise for reforming police work and putting an end to juking the numbers vanishes in a blink when the schools have a huge budget shortfall.
Season 5
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| "The bigger the lie, the more they believe." |
As much as I enjoy seeing behind the scenes at the newspaper, none of those characters are as developed to the degree we've seen before. Templeton is pretty much bad while Gus is good. We're used to seeing shades of gray in characters and this season feels more like a rant against journalism than exposing the problems with the system through the characters. There's just not enough depth. There needs to be something empathetic about Templeton.
I can't believe Freamon went along with McNulty's crazy plan. Then again, Freamon has been chasing the case for a long time so I get it, but he should have bucked more at the idea.
I believe the show runners knew this was the last season as there are quite a few callbacks to previous seasons. I love the moment between Herc and Prop Joe. It's just two guys chatting. It's business, it always has been regardless of what side you're on. Guys know the risks and perks of their job and deal with it.
Carcetti chased being mayor, making big promises and now he isn't concerned about doing well, he's chasing the governor position. The irony of the mayor not funding real police work is that Freamon and McNulty end ups saving Carcetti precisely because they cheat the system.
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| "No matter how many times you get burnt, man, you just keep doin' the same." J.D. Williams plays Bodie. |
This final episode feels a bit too neat, but this season has seen a lot of tragedy too. This show has been equal parts heartbreak and heartfelt. I get the desire to wrap up the series well and it does come full circle by providing replacements for nearly all the characters. The cycle will continue. This is the best series I've ever seen.
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