Reflections on 5 seasons of The Wire

Tonight was the Series Finale of The Wire. Frankly, in the little free time I have, I enjoy watching this show. I’d highly encourage that you watch it as well – now available on DVD.

Personally, I enjoyed The Wire far more than the Sopranos, which I always felt was over-hype and over the top. The Series Finale in The Wire was definitely better than the “controversial for the sake of controversial” ending of The Sopranos.

It’s hard to describe what The Wire is, but one thing is clear: it isn’t a simple cop show. The New Yorker had a recent piece that describes it pretty well, and also goes into a lot of the detail behind the show, and how authentic it is. Actually it’s an amazing read as well.

Because I’m perpetually short on time here’s a bullet point list of why I liked this series:

• The show didn’t insult the audience. Plots were (generally) not dumbed down. Not every term was explained. There was never any “Partner, are you saying that Fred shot Bob with a 9mm and left his finger prints on the door?” kind of stuff. Either you got it, or you didn’t.
• No dream sequences. No nudity for the sake of nudity (coughNYPDBluecough). No jumping the shark.
• Good use of music – meaning none. I hate shows (and movies) that over use music. I also find that insulting.
• Scum on the show: Cops, Politicians, Drug dealers, Addicts, Murderers, Journalists, Children, Teachers.
• Heroes on the show: Cops, Politicians, Drug dealers, Addicts, Murderers, Journalists, Children, Teachers.
• Criminals have depth. They don’t exist just to advance the plot. They have lives, they have quirks, they have ethics and codes.
• Scenes are generally unpredictable – most of the the times I can predict what’s going to happen next on a show. Not The Wire.
• There are no rarely happy endings. Heroes die in unheroic ways. Reformers who try to make the place better get killed – literally or organizationally. The wins that do happen are more precious as a result. It’s more true to life.
• Baltimore: having lived in Balwmer for 4 years, and visited nearly every year since 2000, I recognize a lot of places. And there’s a lot of local stuff included – like the way people eat crabs there, the crime problem, the youth crime problem, the conflicts of the surrounding counties , celebrating in Atlantic City, and more. It’s a nice change from the LA/New York/Toronto/Vancouver scenes and culture. This season had a shot in a supermarket I went to frequently.
• The show has terrible ratings, but amazing reviews – frequently called “The Best Show on TV“
• The excellent writing, acting, and directing.

In particular, Episode 4 of Season 1 will always stand out in my mind. The official synopsis I linked to does absolutely no justice to that episode – there’s a scene towards the end of the episode which has few written words (actually, just 1 word, over and over again, conjugated in different forms) but yet is incredibly well written, incredibly well acted, and simply incomparable.

In the end, The Wire is about an American city which 650k people call home, for better or for worse. I’m sad it’s over.
Watch it – you won’t be disappointed.