The Wire is a TV series made by the US cable channel HBO. Another Sopranos, you might be thinking. You’re wrong, it’s better than that! The final episode of The Wire has just screened on UK TV. Here’s my overall review of the whole series.
The Wire starts off as a slow-burning story about Baltimore cops trying to catch a drug gang. So far, so conventional. However, the real-life nature of the programme, the large cast of characters over its five seasons, and the uncompromising, but entirely plausible, storylines make this the must-watch TV series of all time in my opinion.
The fact that it has not won a string of awards is bizarre. Perhaps it is the nature of the story and the almost documentary style of the narrative that goes against it. However, give it a few episodes and you’ll be hooked like I was…
The episodes have an intensity that makes you want to sit down and watch it all again, just in case you missed something. The Baltimore slang makes you want to focus on every word. If you miss an episode, you might miss a small piece of the whole. I found it incredibly gripping.
Amazon UK: Season 1, Season 2, Season 3, Season 4, Season 5
The characters and the storylines evolve throughout the five seasons but there is a continuity of core characters that make you really want to know what will happen next in their lives. Every character has their good and bad points and the series is shot from every ’side’. The characterisation is so strong that I was stunned each time the invincibility of one of my favourite characters was sent crashing down by the writers. At the end of each episode, I always wanted the next episode to start immediately!
Each season focuses on a specific story or theme from Baltimore city life but the complete series is held together by a storyline about the drug trade ['the game']. For example, Season 1 is the drug gangs, Season 2 brings in the docks/unions, Season 3 pulls in politics and so on.
The Wire is not a series where you can watch one episode and ‘get it’. The whole thing is bigger than that. It’s one of my favourite shows.