I sometimes, often, in fact, think The Wire is the best show ever to have been on television. It's hard to compare to The Sopranos, which was just about one person, really, Tony. The Wire was an ensemble show par excellence, with at least 15 to 20 centrally important players over the past five seasons. You can't compare it at all to Lost, which is in another - fantastic - universe, entirely.The Wire is certainly the best cop show, ever. My previously favorite was Homicide: Life on the Street. David Simon was the brains behind that Baltimore masterpiece, too. And there were lots of other connections - including Clark Johnson, Meldrick in Homicide, Gus in this last season of The Wire.
But The Wire was much more than a cop show - in fact, the cops were less than half the story. There was the dock, in Season 2; politics in Season 3 and after; the school in Season 4; and the paper, the media, in this final Season 5. All of these were done superbly - though perhaps the cynical ending to the paper story this season, with fraud rewarded with the highest honor, was a little too much, though I suppose not unrealistic.
But the real star of The Wire, season after season, in addition to cops, was the street. I can't recall ever getting such a clear picture of life in the street - or, the corner, real and metaphoric, on which drugs are sold and life is lived - as we got, season after season, in The Wire. Not in any movie, or book. First the Barksdale crew, then Marlo's, were as vivid a tableau of intelligent, brutal, sensitive, savvy, focused characters as ever presented. One of the shows this season was called "The Dickensian Aspect" - and, the truth is, that could easily apply to the whole series. David Simon, just by virtue of The Wire, could be called the Charles Dickens of television.
If you'd like a look at the characters and cast of The Wire in all five seasons, HBO has put up a fine page of photos. My favorite is still the extraordinary Stringer Bell, second-in-command in the Barksdale crew, The Wealth of Nations on his bookshelf, played to perfection by Idris Elba, but that takes nothing away from the dozens of other razor-sharp performances in The Wire.
And how did it all end?
The Wire did something exceptional and original here, too. Totally unlike the brilliantly ambiguous ending of The Sopranos, the ending of The Wire had complete closure, and was brilliant, too. And against all expectations, it was happy. McNulty is stretched out on a table for his wake - but it's only a mock wake - he's leaving the police, not life at all. Carcetti is elected governor; Rawls gets an appointment as a high state cop; Daniels looks happy as a lawyer; Rhonda Pearlman is a judge ... well, you get the picture.
The street does as well as can be expected, too. Marlo's free, rich, and likely out of the game (though you never know). Bubbles is eating upstairs with his sister. Michael may be a stick-up man, not good, but maybe he's just doing this once. Dukie is, sadly, in the worst shape ... going doing the road to addiction that Bubbles just left.
My guess is we won't see a series like this again for a very long time. Even the music was perfect, from the different versions of Tom Waits' "Way Down in the Hole" that opened shows for each of the five seasons (Steve Earle did the honors for Season 5, as well a good performance as Bubbles' sponsor at Narcotics Anonymous), to the great music that ended every episode, to the special version of "Way Down in the Hole" that accompanied the montage near the end of tonight show.
~When you walk through the garden ...~
That's a walk I bet viewers will relish for decades to come.
See also The Wire's Back! Review of Season 5 Episode 1 and Episode 2: The Great, Dangling Conversation ... 3. McNulty and Marlo ... 4. One Down ... 5. Media Chasing Their Own Tales and Tails ... 6. Superman Omar and Tall Stories ... 7. King of Diamonds ... 8. Two Down ... 9. Cold, Killer Sweetheart
The Plot to Save Socrates
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6 comments:
This was a great ending and I think it showed how the streets go on just with different players. Michael to me has turned into the new Omar and little Kunard is the new Marlo. Dukie broke my heart and I was so pissed about the whole news thing. I tell you after watching both series homicide and wire I would never want to live in Baltimore. There was also the series The Corner. Did you see that. Oh also I think Marlo goes back to the streeet to take his chances he's not business material like avon can't cut it legit
There are many different ways to view all the events in the final episode. Here is what I see:
1.)Michael is the new Omar(That was the same 4/10 shotgun omar used since it was missing at the scene with bunk over omar's body and he will not kill anybody he doens't deem as 'in the game.')
2.) Paul Levinson's theory of the previews ended up being correct. (Prop Joe, his knowledge of life is dead. Omar, is prowlness as street vigilante is dead. McNulty and his life as a cop, dead.)
3.) Marlo doesn't have a name anymore on the street (something he would kill over before is now non existant and is becoming what striger bell desired)
4.)Bubbles is with the family he abandoned
5.) Cheese had to die because of the Greeks adoration of prop joe.
6.) Templeton would not be fired because he was asked to 'do more with less,' and he was being rewareded for it.
7.) Chris is the new Avon because he is connected with wee-bay in the same setting as Avon.
8.)Dukie never lied before lying to Prez, and is just surviving (the only factor of life according to bubbles)and has become bubbles.
9.)There was enough ambiguity to move on to another series or movie.
10.)There will always be a game, but the players always change
I like your lead in (though to quibble, I'd say he's got more than a dash of Emile Zola), and aside from loving the show in its own right, I've been really charged as a librarian to see how many viewers are coming in wanting to read the authors associated with the show, and then branching out to others like them. What so many folks are realizing is that while shows like The Wire are rare, that experience is readily found in the current renaissance of crime writing. We did a little reading list for fans in withdrawal on our library blog - it is some comfort.
Great comments, folks -
Dawn ... I think the message is that all big cities are like B'more ... except without the delicious crabs... :)
St. Louis Tony: good analysis. I think Templeton's survival, though, is a more general indictment of the media - they care more about fame and glory and staying alive than reporting the truth.... That's why Gus mentioned Jayson Blair and Stephen Glass last night...
guybrarian (great name) - yes, Emile Zola, too!
The Renaissance in crime writing is heartening - and it's more than just crime writing - I've seen some of it in science fiction, too (some of the readers of The Plot to Save Socrates tell me they came to my novel after reading my reviews here of Lost)...
I've actually been saying for years that, far from being a detriment to literacy, watching television is a great boon.
Welcome to Infinite Regress, St. Louis and guybrarian - I hope you become frequent readers and commentators, just like Dawn!
PS to St. Louis Tony - and thanks, too, for the connection of McNulty's symbolic death as a cop to my prediction about the three prequels...
I really enjoy reading through other blogs on The Wire, but they never get it right. The only questions I have are:
-Is Daniels a public defender? And what was the incriminating file?
-What is up with Nicky Sobotka being back in BMore? I know the greeks are business men and do not kill, but they have Slim to do their dirty work now.
-Who is running the corners now? Marlo was only in jail for a little
time and he is already forgotten?
-Is Fat Face Rick and Slim the new co-op heads?
Plus, at USC, David Simon said Randy IS Cheese Wagstaff's son. that adds a little to the idea of a new series or movie.
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