The Wire, Season 4

The Wire is the best television show I have ever watched and Season 4 of The Wire is sublime, a season that is transcendent, leaving everything else to pale in comparison.

A bold statement, lending itself to argument from fans of other shows, which I can understand. But there is nothing on television now that I have seen that will sway me from my argument and whatever comes along in the future has quite a job to knock The Wire from its perch. Marianella and I are working our way through The Wire for the second time, and we just have Season 5 (admittedly the weakest of the seasons) left for consumption. When we began watching again from the beginning, I braced myself for the drop-we had both loved The Wire so much during the first viewing that I wondered if a bit of luster would wear off when watching a second time. Not only has that not occurred, but we find ourselves even further enmeshed in the story lines of the show; knowing what will happen we are able to examine and explore the characters deeper while also contemplating the larger themes of each season more in-depth.

For those unfamiliar, The Wire is set in Baltimore and on its surface it is a cop drama, with the police struggling to maintain order in a decaying blue-collar city. We have obviously seen this before (for me, dating back to Hill Street Blues), but I don't think anything else approaches The Wire in quality. For one, it was shown on HBO, which of course allows more freedom to broadcast the language and violence of the street that broadcast networks don't have the freedom to do. And make no mistake-The Wire is extremely profane and violent; if my words sway you to start watching, well I recommend to do so after the kiddies are fast asleep.

Beyond the ability to curse and show violent acts, the show also establishes themes for each season. In its initial season, the focus was on the drug trade on the streets; season 2 brought us the smuggling through the ports and the decline of the blue-collar job; season 3 returns to the drug trade and explores legalization of drugs; season 4 focuses on the failings of inner-city education and politics; and season 5 takes a look at the decline of the media, specifically the newspapers.

As you can see, the themes focus on decline and there are no happy endings to make the viewer feel better about the state of affairs. Season 4 may be the best run by a series ever, but it is heart-wrenching in about ten different ways, harder to watch the second time around because you know what's going to happen to these kids before they do. The show takes an unflinching look at a world I've never been privy to and honestly, I don't want to see. It's scary and dangerous and it is occurring in more places than just inner-city Baltimore.

The creator of the show, David Simon worked for years as a crime reporter for the Baltimore Sun and he provides a lens into this world from his experiences. In addition to his insights, he provided the show with a crackling group of script writers, several of whom are best-selling mystery-crime writers, such as Dennis Lehane and George Pelecanos. The writing is superb-seemingly every episode provides a memorable quote or two that lodges in your mind and sits there, eloquent in its truth even when coming from the mouths of junior high-aged drug runners.

One last caveat about The Wire-if you choose to jump on board, watch from the beginning and give it some time. I can't imagine trying to jump in mid-stream to this show, it's just so layered and complex. Additionally, when Marianella and I first tried watching it in the States, it didn't take-we had gotten the first disc through Netflix and while it seemed alright, we weren't bowled over from the first few episodes. But then. . .it grabbed hold. It hasn't relented yet and I imagine we could start the series over again with season 1 once we finish season 5 and still be enthralled.