The Wire

Long had I heard that The Wire, which originally aired on HBO between 2002 and 2008, was one of the best, if not the best television program ever produced.  My good friend Stephen had quietly raved.  It took me some time to finally get to it.  I'm really kicking myself now, but better late than never.  Wow.  Creator David Simon has created a world I that I imagine very closely mirrors the Baltimore he knows well, having served for over a decade as a crime reporter for the Sun.  A city infested with the fallout from the War on Drugs, one he would argue made the problem much worse.  Police who are pressured to "juke the stats" by making more petty arrests rather than spending their time and (very limited) resources on building cases against the players and dealers, those in "the game." Multiple incarcerations that ultimately may be more expensive for taxpayers than efforts for reform.

Realism.  This show feels far more credible than many crime programs that bill themselves as documentaries.  Throughout its five seasons, we follow several law enforcement officers as they monitor and sometimes apprehend narcotics kingpins who run "the corners".  We also get a hard look at corruption in city politics, the seaport, the education system, and the news media.  One continuous theme of Simon's show is how similar the players' motivations, often shady, really are.  Don't matter if you sport a badge, gun, or union contract, yo.  In one of several exemplary scenes, stick-up guy Omar Little lays it down in court, "I got the shotgun, you got the briefcase...." after sleazy lawyer Maury Levy, defender of big time criminals like Avon Barksdale and Stringer Bell, accuses him of being a "parasite who leeches off the violence and despair of the drug trade." Over and over we see similar scenarios play out in East and West Baltimore and points between.  In places of poverty and plenty.  We're brothers, but somehow all being created equal got lost.  Except maybe in mankind's predilection for sin.

Desperation is a theme.  Some are driven by it in futile, ultimately misguided and destructive efforts to curb crime by committing a few themselves.  Others are trying to find out how to "get from here to the rest of the world."

I'm simplifying.  David Simon is a very intelligent individual; just listen to one of his interviews sometime.  His arguments have a clarity I haven't heard out of the mouth of any current politician.  The ideas and themes that infuse the sixty episodes of The Wire continue to emerge since I finished the Season 5 finale in early February.  I have gone to YouTube to re-watch many key moments.  But this is a show that is not necessarily about The Chase, The Bust, The Big Argument.  Other shows about cops would focus on such moments, have them as centerpieces.  The Wire, as many have pointed out, is quite novelistic.  A sprawling narrative with a large gallery of characters, some of whom disappear and then reappear seasons later. Story lines deliberately unfold, as if Det. Lester Freamon wrote this series himself.  Payoffs come later, if they even happen at all.  That's like life.

The characters.  Entirely compelling, right down to the minor roles.  I've already mentioned a few of my faves.  Omar (Michael K. Williams) is like some sort of twisted version of an urban Robin Hood.  He's a dangerous cat, a robber and a killer, but he only strikes out at game players.  Like Marlo (Jamie Hector), who takes the corners after the exits of Barkdale and Bell.  Omar has a code, a sense of morality, even as he profits off the dirty money of his enemies.  He's an awesomely complex character.  Lester Freamon (Clarke Peters) is like a modern day Sherlock Holmes, methodical and precise, and not above joining in a scheme to create a fictional serial killer, with Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West), an awesomely complex fella himself, to get PD funding for real cases.

Then there's Kima (Sonya Sohn), the lone woman cop of the Unit.  And Rawls (John Doman), the ball-breaking Major.  Lt. Daniels (Lance Reddick), a fiercely dedicated and honest individual with perhaps some dirt in his past and a hard stare that can make the most unrepentent quiver.  "Bunk" (Wendell Pierce), the cigar chomping, hard drinking (but excellent) detective who, like his frequent partner McNulty, sometimes gets derailed by his extracurriculars.  And Bubbles (Andre Royo), the homeless addict and police informant who travels a perilous path toward redemption.  And...I could go on and on.  Just watch the damned show.  It truly is the best TV has offered.

My favorite seasons? Right now - one and four.