Rug Burn Junky on 7/1/2008 at 19:37

---

Last night was the season premiere of The Wire on HBO. Most of my friends, at least the ones that don't already watch it, have been listening to me yapping about this for a month now, since I've been off of work, and have rewatched the 50 episodes of the first 4 seasons in the mean time to prep for last night. Heck, a couple have been cajoled into buying/renting the season 1 DVD, and in one extreme case, I dropped it as a Christmas present.

Somehow, with all of the accolades and attention that HBO shows have gotten, this one has somehow remained under the radar. And it's better than any of them. Yes, even the Sopranos.

It's never even been nominated for an Emmy, in a world where Desperate Housewives has six wins, and The Practice five, this is unforgivable. I have a feeling with all of the press it's getting now, it's going to break through, probably two years too late.

To set the stage, it's ostensibly about Baltimore cops trying to break up the drug trade in west Baltimore. The first season focused exclusively on this topic. When a gang lieutenant gets off on a murder charge, one detective (Jimmy McNulty) makes it his mission to bring down the gang.

Based off of that, it sounds like every other cop show ever, and if it were just that season, I may be inclined to agree. The difference, evident from the beginning, is the absolute depth that the writers give to the story. Every facet of the plot is shown to be subject to the random whims, personal obsessions and petty vendettas of the characters, from the street level dealers, right up through the chief of police and the mayor. Characters who never even meet are inextricably linked by their own actions and those of others. The investigation is only begun when McNulty goes behind his superiors' backs to get pressure from a judge he's acquainted with, and from beginning to end it's hamstrung by internal politics and backroom deals.

But if Season 1 laid the framework, Season 2 twisted it. It's no longer just a cops versus bad guys view of the streets, as the show starts exploring other aspects of urban decay, and linking them all together. That season jumps to the Baltimore docks, and shows a number of dockworkers who get entangled in smuggling, all blown open when a container full of dead girls, being smuggled in as hookers, shows up on the docks. At first seeming not to fit in to the series on the whole, rewatching it places it in context and it fits brilliantly once you see the events of season 3 and 4.

Season 3 is back to the streets, but with a twist. Now, not only are there internal power struggles in the gang, as one tries to legitimize their wealth, and end the unnecessary violence in their trade, but there's a Police District Commander who's so fed up with the ineffectiveness of the Drug War that he's taken it upon himself to legalize heroin trading in a small portion of his district.

Season 4 moves all of the police work to the periphery as it follows 4 young teens just at risk of entering the drug trade, with a major focus on the school system. Over the course of 13 episodes you see them each evolve as characters in ways that is rarely evident in most shows now. That's something that can be said of all of the characters, but is particularly evident here. By the end of the season, watching how they turn out is part hopeful, and partially just fucking tragic. It really hits you right in the gut. I had loved the end of season one of Deadwood, and several seasons of The Shield, which contained that same air of building menace, where a good story arc plays out in just the right time frame. After rewatching this season last week, it blows them all away.

But again, that's what makes the show great, the depth. Over the first 4 seasons, you can see each and every character grow, organically. Nothing is forced, so that when you see one of the drug kingpins calling up a Police Major to give him information, each of their motivations for meeting makes sense, as unlikely as it would appear on the surface. And they all mesh into one giant tapestry that gets a little bit more complicated with each episode.

The show's written by Ed Burns, a former cop and school teacher in Baltimore, and David Simon, a writer for the Baltimore Sun, who wrote "Homicide, a Year on the Killing Streets" upon which the NBC show was loosely based. References to Baltimore history abound: from Jay Landesman, (one of the detectives in Homicide), both as a character, played by someone else, and an actor, playing a different police sergeant, to Melvin Williams, a drug kingpin from the 70's and 80's who ran the heroin trade in Baltimore for decades and is playing a church deacon now, to Kurt Schmoke, the former mayor of Baltimore famous for being in favor of drug decriminalization, showing up in the story line about the same in season 3 as a health commissioner.

Season 5? True to form, they're writing about urban decay in Baltimore through the prism with which they are most familiar, and as a former newspaperman, Simon is taking on the press, beginning a story line about the reporters. Obviously too soon to tell, but from the first two episodes (and the magic of leaked episodes) it's already building in the right direction.

So, for those of you that actually have discovered this gem, feel free to discuss.

But the rest of you, I want your answers, and your excuses, right now. Why are you not watching?

Thirith on 7/1/2008 at 20:43

---

Because seasons 1 and 2 are still in the mail. They should arrive at some point this week, though.

demagogue on 7/1/2008 at 21:19

---

I haven't watched it yet because the commercials they have on HBO, my only exposure, are hardly eye-catching. One was a guy talking at an AA meeting and another talking on the phone ... it really didn't give me any picture of anything going on or a reason to want to watch it.

When you watch a commercial or a few minutes of Sopranos or Carnival, you know right off what the hook is and why it will be a good show. The Wire doesn't do that. And also because until now I haven't heard any independent buzz for it. Maybe it really is still under the radar like you say. I'll make sure to watch it now if it's really that good.

Spaztick on 7/1/2008 at 21:39

---

I don't watch TV.

dhaelis on 7/1/2008 at 23:34

---

That is one fantastic show and I've enjoyed every minute of it.

I've been hearing a lot about The Wire lately, so I might have to check that out once the missus and I are done with the 5th season of Angel.