Disconnected
As I post this the credits are rolling on the last new episode of The Wire. It was a staggering program, unlike anything else on television. From the opening scene of another pointless murder to the finale of McNulty driving off stage right the show made entertaining television out of depressing subjects that are normally ignored in the mainstream discourse. There isn’t much point in heaping more praise on the program, it is unequaled. The Wire is so far above other dramas (cop shows, courtroom shows, whatever) that it makes them unwatchable by comparison.
HBO did excellent work on The Wire, it is exactly the kind of programming that could not be done on commercial sponsored television. It helps that they can have nudity and use the word “fuck”, but the greater advantage is not having to insert meaningless cliffhangers every eight minutes or so. That being said though, I got the distinct impression during the fifth and final season that the show was truncated.
The fifth season had only ten episodes, the previous four all had twelve or thirteen. It’s always easy to spend someone else’s money, but I can’t believe that two or three more episodes would’ve had a dire impact on the budget. That rushed feeling was why I, and a lot of other people apparently, found the serial killer angle frustrating. Much like Hamsterdam in the third season though once I went back and watched them again, consecutively and in bunches, it works a lot better.
David Simon and Ed Burns may have some axes to grind, but they’ve also probably got cause and nothing in the fifth season, or any of the others, seems out of line. Piece of shit sergeants become piece of shit lieutenants and slightly crooked mayors become slightly crooked governors. No good deed goes unpunished and in the end the world is still corrupt and the game still goes on.
There are too many great scenes, too many cutting lines, too many hilarious realities to rehash, so I’m just going to leave it with some youtubage. It’s going to be a long time, if ever, before we see another show with this comprehensive awesomeness.
Season 1 - CSI: Fuck:
Season 2 - Omar on the Stand:
Season 3 - Paper Bag:
Season 4 - Michael Works:
Season 5 - Sen. Davis on the Stand:
