This is it . It's the end of the line of what must be the most critically acclaimed series ever come out of America . However the majority of fans believe season 5 is something of an anti-climax compared to what has gone before and even someone like myself who wasn't really taken by the acclaim throughly enjoyed season 4 . Is season 5 as disappointing as is made out by the hardcore followers of the show ?
Due to circumstances of stupidity I wasn't at my most sober when I saw the first couple of episodes but the season changes and threads are easy to follow . Season 5 revolves around journalists from The Baltimore Sun and the police department trying to track down a serial killer who is murdering the homeless . Once again we're treated to a story thread that is different from what has gone before . The problem is however that there's a massive spanner thrown in to the works when it's revealed in the final episode that there's no serial killer involved and that the murders are completely random . It's not as bad as " Everyone woke up and it was all a dream " but it does make the previous nine episodes somewhat redundant , especially since the characters at the newspaper weren't all that interesting to start with
It also means that that the central premise of the entire series of the cops trying to catch the street dealers is sidelined . In fact it wasn't until the penultimate episode that I was reminded why the show was called THE WIRE . At long last the cops actually busted the dealers only to have their hard work undermined by legal technicalities . It perhaps understandable if this had happened in an earlier season David Simon might have needed to reintroduce the same plot twist in a later one which would have meant repetition for the viewer but there seems an lack of internal logic to this . Why wait till the penultimate episode ? Is it because the series is drawing to a close perhaps ?
It could have been worse though . We might have seen the series end in a similar manner to OZ where most of the main characters are killed off because the series is coming to an end no matter how ridiculous or illogical their demise . Omar dies as does Snoop and both die without any major build up which is in keeping with the style of the series . Bubbles kicks his addiction while Prez continues to make a difference to the lives of the ghetto kids
As for an overview of the series . I do have a couple of problems . One is that I'm a massive fan of OZ and unfortunately HBO has cast THE WIRE with countless actors who appeared in that show like Doman , Reddick , Lombardozzi , Williams etc etc , so I could never take to them because they'll always be Detective Mobey , Bricks Wrangler , Galson so on so on . The second problem is that despite claims that THE WIRE " has changed the face of television " it in fact hasn't . It's a show with a unique style that requires great patience perhaps too much for a mainstream audience and interestingly it has a style that other shows haven't tried to emulate . There might be a reason for this . After all how many crime dramas feature 60 episodes where the cops don't shoot anyone ? Portent drama that is perhaps too portent ?
Due to circumstances of stupidity I wasn't at my most sober when I saw the first couple of episodes but the season changes and threads are easy to follow . Season 5 revolves around journalists from The Baltimore Sun and the police department trying to track down a serial killer who is murdering the homeless . Once again we're treated to a story thread that is different from what has gone before . The problem is however that there's a massive spanner thrown in to the works when it's revealed in the final episode that there's no serial killer involved and that the murders are completely random . It's not as bad as " Everyone woke up and it was all a dream " but it does make the previous nine episodes somewhat redundant , especially since the characters at the newspaper weren't all that interesting to start with
It also means that that the central premise of the entire series of the cops trying to catch the street dealers is sidelined . In fact it wasn't until the penultimate episode that I was reminded why the show was called THE WIRE . At long last the cops actually busted the dealers only to have their hard work undermined by legal technicalities . It perhaps understandable if this had happened in an earlier season David Simon might have needed to reintroduce the same plot twist in a later one which would have meant repetition for the viewer but there seems an lack of internal logic to this . Why wait till the penultimate episode ? Is it because the series is drawing to a close perhaps ?
It could have been worse though . We might have seen the series end in a similar manner to OZ where most of the main characters are killed off because the series is coming to an end no matter how ridiculous or illogical their demise . Omar dies as does Snoop and both die without any major build up which is in keeping with the style of the series . Bubbles kicks his addiction while Prez continues to make a difference to the lives of the ghetto kids
As for an overview of the series . I do have a couple of problems . One is that I'm a massive fan of OZ and unfortunately HBO has cast THE WIRE with countless actors who appeared in that show like Doman , Reddick , Lombardozzi , Williams etc etc , so I could never take to them because they'll always be Detective Mobey , Bricks Wrangler , Galson so on so on . The second problem is that despite claims that THE WIRE " has changed the face of television " it in fact hasn't . It's a show with a unique style that requires great patience perhaps too much for a mainstream audience and interestingly it has a style that other shows haven't tried to emulate . There might be a reason for this . After all how many crime dramas feature 60 episodes where the cops don't shoot anyone ? Portent drama that is perhaps too portent ?