Set in Baltimore, Maryland, the show features an unprecedented look at urban life in America. Ostensibly a police drama about cops waging war against drugs, the show turns out to be a hell of a lot more. Each season looked at a particular aspect of Baltimore life: first the drug trade, then the sea ports, the city government, the school system, and finally the newspaper. The main characters are officers of the Baltimore Police Department, but over the course of their investigations, they pull in characters from every walk of life, some of whom are woven into the fabric of the show for all five seasons.
The Wire is unique for its complexity. TV networks are generally not fans of a complex narrative - they want viewers to be able to tune in at any point in the season and quickly get caught up with the proceedings. But HBO is not TV, it's HBO. This is a show that requires commitment from the viewer, and binge-watching may be the best way to watch it. Over the course of sixty episodes, the writers introduce a myriad of characters who act on a series of ever-changing motivations. Unless you watch these episodes relatively close together, you are likely to forget a lot of salient points.
Of course, I don't want it to sound like watching this show is a chore. Quite the opposite - it's a riveting joy. The cast is comprised of a diverse array of actors, many of whom aren't household names, but who you will never forget for their work on this show. Whether they're playing drug lords or homicide detectives, addicts or mayors, you feel a deep affinity for every character and a desire to discover where they're going to end up. The fourth season exemplifies this by introducing four young boys and following their journey through the public school system and the streets of Baltimore. You start the season thinking that you know exactly where these kids are going to end up - by the end you discover just how wrong you were. In fact those kids return in the fifth season and the series finale is an apt reminder of the extent to which circumstances can intervene to change a person's future.
The season finales are especially poignant because they proffer a look at where all the characters have ended up after their epic season. Some die, some get promotions, some are homeless, some are in new relationships. But often the most striking fact is how little things have changed. After a big drug bust, we see that new kingpins have taken over the corners, new kids are dealing drugs, and for every step forward, the city seems to have taken two steps back. That kind of reality check is rare in television and it is beautifully done on The Wire. Rather than engendering a sense of despair, it just makes viewers root even harder for the "good guys," who are massively flawed but still keep trying to clean up this city in their own way. At its center, The Wire is about the interconnectedness of everyday human beings. What could make for better television than that?
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