The Wire isn’t just a television show, it’s a work of art. The characters are layered and complex and the stories weave together like a piece of classical music. It’s the kind of show that sucks you in, that makes you question ideas and leaves you talking about the episodes for days.
I’ve been looking forward to writing this post because The Wire is one of my all-time favorite television shows. I’ve always been of the opinion that TV is better, smarter, and more interesting than movies. I’ll probably write a post at some point to support this, but my basic argument is this – ignore all the reality TV and guilty pleasure shows. Good television keeps you enthralled or keeps you laughing or keeps you guessing for half an hour to an hour every week for years. Years. The stories and characters are more developed, they have to evolve. A movie? A movie just has to hold your interest for a couple hours and then the job is done. The characters go away, the story is wrapped up. If I had to use an example to back up this belief, I would bring up The Wire.
The Wire is an HBO series that aired for five seasons between 2002 and 2008. I didn’t watch when it was on – instead I devoured all five seasons on DVD within a month. The show takes place in Baltimore, Maryland and was created by David Simon – an author and former police reporter. The show depicts the lives on Baltimore cops, drug dealers and street kids who are on the road to becoming drug dealers. Each of the five seasons focuses on a particular aspect of Baltimore and its problems: The drug trade, the waterfront port system, local government, the school system and the news media. New characters emerge each season while familiar and favorite characters are woven into each storyline in different ways.
Season one centers around the illegal Baltimore drug trade. It’s not a simple good guys/bad guys story, though. There are cops you root for. There are cops you hate. There are drug dealers who scare you. There are drug dealers you pull for. Sometimes you don’t know what to think about a character.
Jimmy McNulty, a cop, is frustrated with the fact that it’s near impossible to convict anyone in Baltimore because witnesses are too scared to testify. His complaints result in a special detail being created to try and take down a major Baltimore drug ring, headed by a guy named Avon Barksdale and Stringer Bell. The cops don’t have much luck bringing down the ring using informants and start to use wiretaps instead.
McNulty is a complicated character who has a messy personal life and irresponsible nature, but earns your respect by telling it like it is to his superiors. His boss, Cedric Daniels, is an intensely ambitious man who is torn between playing the political game and building the kind of case he wants. Kima Greggs is a spunky female cop who holds her own in the boys’ club but ignores her girlfriend’s fears about the dangers of her job. Humor comes in the form of McNulty’s boozy, dry-witted fellow cop Bunk and a well-meaning addict turned informant called Bubbles. One of my favorite characters is the intelligent, seasoned cop Lester Freamon – a guy who builds dollhouse furniture in his spare time but becomes the brains behind the wiretapping.
Avon Barksdale is a classic gangster – ruthless and streetwise. His right hand man Stringer Bell was just as cunning, but aspired to run the drug ring more like a corporate executive and less like a gangster. Avon’s nephew D’Angelo is set to take after his uncle but has a kinder heart.
One of the most riveting characters in the series is the gangster Omar, an infamous stick-up man who brings fear into the streets by simply walking to a corner store to buy some cereal. Omar is gay, follows a strict rule to leave people who aren’t part of “the game” alone, and takes his grandmother to church one Sunday a month.
Season Two continued to look at the drug trade, but also focused on the Baltimore port system – the way drugs come into the city. Work is scarce on the docks, and many of the blue-collar workers turn to crime for cash. Frank Sobotka, leader of a stevedores’ union, becomes involved in a smuggling ring and his son and nephew get involved in criminal activity as well. Again, the police use wiretaps to try and take down the crime ring. The subplot of Avon and Stringer’s drug ring is just as interesting as in the first season, as we see the leaders of various Baltimore drug rings try to form a coalition of sorts.
Season Three saw the cops try a new approach to dealing with drugs in Baltimore – creating a part of the city called “Hamsterdam” where they would turn a blind eye to the drug trade. The season follows the Barksdale/Bell drug ring further, as well as Omar’s drug thefts but also introduces a new character – mayoral candidate Tommy Carcetti. We also meet ex-con Cutty who tries to make a new life for himself outside the drug trade after being released from prison.
Season Four is a very interesting season. It’s hard to say which season of The Wire is my favorite, because I loved every season. But since the fourth season dealt with kids involved in the drug trade and the failings of the Baltimore school system, it was very interesting. Prez, a cop who’d been on the drug detail in season one, left police work to become a teacher and his new career exposes the struggles both inner-city kids and teachers face. There’s also a new drug king in town – Marlo, a young and incredibly cold-blooded and murderous drug dealer.
Season Five introduced us to news media in Baltimore through the local paper The Baltimore Sun. The issues exposed were what stories got put in the paper and where, the importance of profit over journalism and the laying off of so many reporters. When the city mayor cuts funds to the police department, McNulty fakes evidence to create the illusion of a serial killer in order to continue an investigation against Marlo.
At the end of the final episode, we see the future flash by for many of the characters – some scenes are sad, some are happy. As you watch the series, you see how each event is connected to another event in a past season. It is one of the most complex, well thought out and intelligent television series’ you can find. If you like The Sopranos, Dexter, The Shield, or just enjoy good TV, you need to watch The Wire.
