I watched the final episode in the series yesterday, and I’m again in awe of what an ambitious, thought-provoking, and just outright entertaining 60-hour project the show has been, even despite the somewhat lackluster final season. It is the only show I have ever purposefully watched its entire run twice, and I still feel like watching it all over again, soon.
I read in an article that The Wire was originally conceived as a platform for social ideas, so it’s surprising they managed to create living, breathing characters as finely nuanced as Shakespeare’s best. Not all of them are so well-created, of course, but Cedric Daniels, Tom Carcetti, D’Angelo Barksdale, Stringer Bell, Bodie, Bubbles, Namond, Michael… The conception, scripting and execution fit to perfection.
Carcetti’s development is amazing in that there are no real OMG DARK SIDE moments in his arc (I guess an argument could be made for turning down the school money), but he ultimately goes from an idealistic up-and-comer who you root for to a cynical power-hungry politico in the space of a couple of seasons. As a character study, it’s fascinating; I love how he becomes enthralled by the ‘game’, such as when he admires his speech on the telly while Jen looks on in disgust. It’s utterly believable. As a study of systems, it makes sense that politicians get caught up in this gamesmanship (and forget what they’re supposed to be about), because the game is something that you can actually grasp and see tangible results for. Whether your new education plan is actually helping your constituency’s kids learn is impossible to tell; the test scores, on the other hand, ARE measurable, as well as the polling points you pick up and lose because of them. How can one resist the aspect of your job that you can actually get tangible feedback for?
Bubbles’ arc is also incredible, especially in how patient it all was. There were no quick fixes; seeds of reform were planted in Bubbles’ head, he made a bit of an effort, failed, went back to bottom, up, and down and up and down… I like how we see almost every aspect of humanity in Bubbles, from joy to guilt to the need for companionship to the desire for murderous revenge, but through it all, he emerges as a complete, consistent character. We really feel his weariness with his life, his desire for change, and his reversing into past form is always hanging over our heads as well as his. His coming up through the open door in the final episode had a bit of an artist’s touch (as opposed to feeling 100% realistic), but it’s a reasonable shorthand for how far he’s come, and fuck me if it wasn’t earned.
In addition to its fantastic, unprecedented (for TV) portrayals of certain characters, I can see The Wire being studied for how it manages to weave in so many complex plotlines into a cohesive whole. It sprawls, yet somehow the details in any given plotline can grow naturally into crucial points, or fade away just as naturally. What’s amazing is that crucial details are sometimes not emphasized; I have not seen any other television show ask so much from its viewers in terms of paying attention. And sure, there are still some plot contrivances thrown in to make things happen; for example, the way Randy becomes known as the “snitch” requires a long chain of events and fuck-ups to make it happen (Randy gets caught doing something unrelated, uses his knowledge to get out of trouble, principal gets Prez to call his cop friends, Carver passes to Bunk, Bunk passes to Herc, Herc doesn’t take it seriously but drops the witness angle to Little Kevin, Little Kevin drop it to Marlo, BOOM! house burns down). Seemed a bit much, but then again, chains of small stuff is how big stuff happens, and one or two tweaks in the chain leads to some other strangely improbable thing happening (the show just gave us a bit of foreshadowing into our improbable thing, which is why it seems a bit unnatural).
But what adds another binding layer is that plotlines and details often tie together thematically, not just physically. D’Angelo’s chess lecture rings out for the entire series, even though it could easily have been just a throwaway scene or a minor character development detail. Omar’s appearance in court was played partially for laughs, but that “Just like you do” comment to Levy (evil lawyer guy) also rings out, like Marlo’s name or Avon’s back in the day. They overdid this thematic binding in the 5th season by beating us over the head with it, but overall, they were very successful with it.
Another thing that helps keep it all together is the unrelenting atmosphere; the way people talk, dress, eat, walk, it feels like it belongs to where they are. I’ve never been to Baltimore, but I sorta think I know a little something now; I’ve never gotten that feeling from TV before.
And finally, the show is just so damn entertaining! It all comes from a fairly simple premise; show people on various sides of the drug trade trying to live their lives and do their jobs. The devil is in the details, and I can imagine someone in the future trying to analyze how The Wire stands out from all the other cops/criminals shows out there. I laugh more during an episode of The Wire than I do from most sitcoms; I shed tears over the deaths of drug dealers and street thugs; I feel more uplifted by a recovering druggie in this TV show than I do in almost anything else I’ve seen or read.
I think I’ve rambled on for far too long, though I could probably keep going until I hit the message buffer limit. I seriously think high school and college students will be studying The Wire in coming years, for despite its shortcomings, it rivals (in my mind) any work of fiction out there. I’m hopelessly biased at this point; what do you all think?