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It’s been thirteen years since The Wire debuted causing the essence of
television drama to change significantly. It’s about to be seven years since
the show reached its conclusion and with its departure there has been wave of
high quality shows with only a few series that approach the greatness and creative
brilliance of The Wire. Now that HBO
has released the highly praised drama in its beautifully re-mastered HD
depiction, my wife and I were compelled to watch the series … again … for a
third time. We are both still equally captivated by this groundbreaking series.
As a result of watching it for third time my mind has recently been flooded
with thoughts about the message(s) it speaks to viewers.
Much like Tom
Cruise in Jerry McGuire I found
myself unable to sleep one night because I couldn’t turn off my brain about the
show. The root of this stems from watching season 4, which focuses on urban
middle school kids and their unfortunate relationships to the Hydra-like drug
scene in Baltimore. My profession as a history teacher at a jail allows me to
witness on a daily basis the parallels between what is depicted in the show
concerning the urban youth and my students. From this point of insight, let me
tell you that the portrayal could not be more correct. Therefore, as Jerry did,
I was compelled to put my thoughts to paper for this one time honorary post
about the greatest television show ever. (Before I proceed please understand
that over the years The Wire has been
labeled the greatest television drama by many critics i.e. 2013 article in Entertainment Weekly, therefore others
support my bold assertion.)
If
you haven’t seen The Wire, I strongly
recommend that you do. If you’re in the middle of another series that’s not one
of the following: Breaking Bad, Game of
Thrones, The Walking Dead, Boardwalk Empire, The Shield, Mad Men, True Detective, The Americans, Sherlock, and/or Sons of Anarchy stop watching whatever it is and delve into The Wire. Trust me - you will be doing yourself a favor. For those of you who know me personally
I’m sure you have heard me speak highly about The Wire for years. In those conversations I summarized the
structure of the series without providing intimate plot details. Those of you
who have taken my advice and watched the show have come back to me, still in
the midst of the series, with the highest of praises. For the most part The Wire flew under the radar while on
HBO and its viewership is nothing to brag about so it’s understandable as to
why one may not be aware of its existence.
First, the genius
of the show stems from its creator David Simon. Simon’s ability to take real
life events and people and convert them into a semi-fictionalized drama is nothing
short of amazing. As a former Baltimore journalist, Simon accurately displays
the intricate, gritty, hard, and corrupt life in Baltimore as seen through the
eyes of the police, drug dealers, the labor union, politicians, news media and,
most poignant of all, the children. This collective group of characters set the
tone and theme for each season. The grounding of each season stems from the
police setting, or attempting to set, a wiretap on a given drug trafficking target. As the seasons progress it becomes
evident that each case is not independent of each other but instead its part of
a spiders web where one case folds into the other. Unlike other televisions
series there are no season ending cliffhangers because each season has a clear
beginning and ending with the entire series being inter-connected, as I stated.
Furthermore, a small and unassuming scene may mean nothing at the time but a
season later that moment will come to have greater meaning; proving to be an
important piece of the puzzle. And in the words of Detective Lester Freamon,
“All the pieces matter.”
The Wire is like an onion. It’s multilayered and upon your first viewing of the series, it’s extremely raw, stinging your senses. The realism that is portrayed is shocking and painful to the eyes but you can’t stop watching it. By the second or third time you watch it (yes, that will happen and has happened to many) you will start to notice and fully understand the smaller details of story. As you let everything marinate, you come to realize that this once raw uncooked onion has now been transformed into something sweeter and more flavorful becoming easier to digest. Much like the street junkies in the show, you will become addicted to the story. I know I am.
The Wire has a multitude of characters
who each play significant roles in the story. In the opening scene of the first
episode you are introduced to Homicide Detective Jimmy McNulty, played by the
ever-talented Dominic West. McNulty is an Irish-American cop who does three
things extremely well: investigative police work, especially solving murders;
drinking; and picking up women. He’s a brilliant detective who defies his
superiors at every turn only because he wholeheartedly knows that he’s right.
Willing to burn bridges and prove anyone wrong, McNulty serves to be the shows
heart and moral consciousness. However, as brilliant of a man as he is, Jimmy
is a flawed protagonist. His addiction to solving cases and his frustration
with the police department’s bureaucracy causes him to repeatedly spiral out of
control in his personal life. However, this is not to label him as an anti-hero
a la Walter White or Tony Soprano.
McNulty’s desire for justice keeps you rooting for him throughout the
entire series.
I have always viewed
McNulty as the show’s main character and some may agree while others may not.
However, after watching the show for a third time the true main character is
the city of Baltimore. In this partially God forsaken city, viewers will
witness the harsh reality of a divided and nearly broken metropolis. Shot in
real abandoned heroin houses, project buildings, the docks, etc. populated with
real drug fiends, The Wire provides
you with a first hand look of a city on its knees yet pumping with a life all
of its own. Moreover, the beauty of The
Wire is that it is not a black versus white show. It is not a world where white cops are chasing black drug
dealers or white politicians using their power to their own benefit. Baltimore
is actually a city that is dominated by the black community and whites serve to
be the minority. While the issue of race is addressed more than a few times it
is not heavily embedded in the core of the storyline. Instead of a race war,
this is a war of classes, something Karl Marx would have been suffocated by if
he lived in 21st century Baltimore. There are white and black people
who are good, bad, and evil. For instance, Police Commissioner Burrell, a black
man who has served the city and department for three decades, is one of the
worst because he does everything not to get the job done. A staunch believer of
making arrests for the sake of political statistics and never wanting to stand
up for what is morally correct, Burrell excels as a Do-Nothing commissioner causing
viewers to hate one of the so called “good guys.” He proves that even if you are in a position of power and
influence it can go to waste.
On the flipside
there is Omar Little; one of the greatest characters ever written. He is an anti-hero.
One that is so complex that you can’t help but love and root for him regardless
of his transgressions. In short, he’s a black man who only robs drug dealers
and is openly gay. His moral code and Robin Hood-like behavior provides deeper
substance to his character and the show because he lives his life going against
the grain. To the credit of actor Michael Kenneth Williams and to the writing
of the character it serves as no surprise why Omar is so loved by viewers.
Omar’s presence allows for a sense of balance and justice within the harsh
Baltimore drug game.
To understand true
evil one must look to the anti-thesis of Omar, drug lord Marlo Standfield. The
antagonist of seasons four and five, Marlo is young man who is drunk with power
and absent of compassion. A sociopath to the fullest extent, his lack of
respect for people’s lives and the rules of “the game” allow him to easily manipulate
anyone within his sphere of influence whether it be for his own personal gain
or pleasure. Since the first time I watched the show, Marlo was the character I
hated the most and even to this day I still hate him. However, it is only now
that I understand him and his methods. A product of his environment, he puts
the old school drug dealers: Avon Barksdale, Stringer Bell, and Proposition Joe
to shame. But again, the material is presented to you in such a fashion that
you’ll become so fascinated by him and the way he thinks because it is so
abnormal.
There are a
plethora of other great characters worthy of discussion and analysis and I've barely scratched the surface but I will
leave that for you to discover. I can say for certain that The Wire changed my perception of the way things are in this
country, especially because for the last five years I’ve seen only a small
glimpse of the style of life The Wire
presented through my students. For example, the inequality, the injustice, lack
of care for education and life, the focus on materialism are all but some of issues
and situations that I have witnessed working where I do. This climate is not
just where I work but anywhere and everywhere in this country. One does not
have to look that hard to find what I’m talking about. There is no single
person or institution to blame for the creation of this general imbalance but
there are many to blame for it continued existence.
Not only does the
story hone in on everyday issues of a local urban community it also focuses on
the post 9/11 world under the Bush administration. Watching the series now is
perhaps even better for first time viewers because they’ll be able to recognize
the many fallacies, which stem from the Bush years. The political undertones of
the show run deep throughout the series. The failure of Bush’s No Child Left
Behind Act and focus on standardized tests results are evident in season 4. The
federal governments interest in political corruption and terrorist activity instead
of assisting local authorities for mass murders runs wild throughout the entire
series. Moreover, you’re also witnessing a turning point in history. You’re watching
the evolution of technology and decline and fall of the newspaper industry. The former is a staple in our every day
life and the latter is a past time that bit the dust rather hard. When you
watch The Wire keep these things in
mind and remember that David Simon created a show that came to symbolize the
struggles of a city at a unique point in American history…a post 9/11 United
States.
By the end of the
series you understand the cyclical nature of the beast. Unlike David Chase who
created The Sopranos, Simon does not
cheat you in the series finale. In my opinion, Chase took his artistic license
too far causing a major uproar of discontent from loyal viewers. Conversely, Simon’s
The Wire will leave you happily
satisfied with the conclusion of the show and with a broader understanding of a
life some of us will never know about.
