# Which season of The Wire is best? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 25, 2011, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-season-of-the-wire-is-best/586813 "2011-06-25T09:43:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-season-of-the-wire-is-best/586813/1 "2011-06-25T09:43:19Z")
Self-explanatory. Please do not give away major spoilers in the discussion. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-season-of-the-wire-is-best/586813/2 "2011-06-25T09:56:31Z")
I watched the show in disorder. That is: season 1 season 4 season 3 season 2 season 5 The benefit of this was that I got to watch season 2 towards the end, and the change of pace and culture from projects’ criminality to stevedores’ working conditions and the docks’ culture was a breath of fresh air. Season 2 is the best, in my opinion. Season 5 is the least interesting, sadly (and what a fucking mistake of basically restarting Mc Nulty and have him be exactly the character he was in season 1, thus throwing all his character development to the trash can) ---
**Author:** ![DxZero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DxZero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DxZero)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-season-of-the-wire-is-best/586813/3 "2011-06-25T17:17:31Z")
You’ll get a lot of people saying Season 4 was the best and you’ll get no argument from me on that. It was the best written, best acted, most “important” season of any TV show perhaps ever. I myself am partial to Season 2. I like the characters that were added (Beadie Russell, the Sobatkas, Valchek, the Greeks) and I liked how, though it was focused on an entirely different portion of Baltimore, it all related back to the events of Season 1 and the upcoming seasons. It also was the only season that was really self-contained. ---
**Author:** ![scruffycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scruffycat/32/200_2.png) [@scruffycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scruffycat)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-season-of-the-wire-is-best/586813/4 "2011-06-25T17:32:45Z")
Season 3 for me, once it started to get away from the core of the show (Season 4 politics, 5 media) I became less interested as a whole. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-season-of-the-wire-is-best/586813/5 "2011-06-25T17:34:28Z")
I misremembered the seasons and voted for 2 instead of 3, so for the tally to be accurate (as far as I’m concerned) you need to add 1 to “3” and subtract 1 from “2”. Sorry for the malfunction since I saw the whole thing last year on DVD. My memory had 3 coming right after 1 and I had forgotten that 2 was a separate concept. I think if you had asked us to rank the seasons mine would be 3 (doesn’t make much sense without 1, but is a better set of episodes, qualitywise) 1 2 4 5 And you could swap places with 2 and 4 without bothering me. I thought 5 was weakest of them all and 3 was best. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-season-of-the-wire-is-best/586813/6 "2011-06-25T17:57:13Z")
Season four. It was what convinced me that _The Wire_ might just be the best TV I’d ever seen. > [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#): > > Season 5 is the least interesting, sadly Agreed. However I strongly disagree with you about the McNulty developments. But per the OP I’ll just leave it at that. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-season-of-the-wire-is-best/586813/7 "2011-06-25T18:17:58Z")
Season 3 hit closest to home; I saw it my first year of teaching, and during a lot of the scenes I was literally curled up on the couch in the fetal position, staring in horror at the screen. So it’s got my vote. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-season-of-the-wire-is-best/586813/8 "2011-06-25T18:51:17Z")
So hard to choose between 2 and 3, but I went with 3. Then 2, 1, 4, and 5. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-season-of-the-wire-is-best/586813/9 "2011-06-25T20:05:07Z")
3 4 1 2 5 ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-season-of-the-wire-is-best/586813/10 "2011-06-25T20:32:51Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Season 3 hit closest to home; I saw it my first year of teaching, and during a lot of the scenes I was literally curled up on the couch in the fetal position, staring in horror at the screen. So it’s got my vote. The “school” season is season 4, the second best season IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-season-of-the-wire-is-best/586813/11 "2011-06-25T20:53:15Z")
The entire body of work gets my vote, I guess. My only problem with the series is when they ventured into fantasy, particularly: Hamsterdam and McNulty’s scheme with the dead bodies Both of these just seemed out of the realm of possibility (particularly the first one). The acting, writing, directing and editing was brilliant throughout, however. If forced to vote, I think 2 and 4 get mine. ---
**Author:** ![PetW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@PetW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PetW)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-season-of-the-wire-is-best/586813/12 "2011-06-25T22:34:39Z")
In case you’re wondering who the one outlier that actually voted for Season 5 was, it’s me. Because I thought it was Season 4… oops ---
**Author:** ![Tarwater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9de0a6/32.png) [@Tarwater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarwater)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-season-of-the-wire-is-best/586813/13 "2011-06-25T22:39:57Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > The entire body of work gets my vote, I guess. My only problem with the series is when they ventured into fantasy, particularly: > > Hamsterdam and McNulty’s scheme with the dead bodies > > Both of these just seemed out of the realm of possibility (particularly the first one). The acting, writing, directing and editing was brilliant throughout, however. If forced to vote, I think 2 and 4 get mine. Definitely one of the reasons I dislike Season 3. It was really preachy and jarring. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-season-of-the-wire-is-best/586813/14 "2011-06-26T15:41:15Z")
So the seasons were, basically: Season 1: Cops Season 2: Unions Season 3: Politics Season 4: Schools Season 5: Media Is that right? Whichever was the school season gets my vote, obviously :). ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-season-of-the-wire-is-best/586813/15 "2011-06-26T17:06:54Z")
As an afterthought to my list of preferences above, I should have said that I base my affinity for the seasons on how much Omar that season had. Without Omar, in my personal opinion, the show just would not have been what it was. The other characters, as demonstrated last year in the polls that **Bob Ducca** and I devised and posted, had varying degrees of impact and importance to the show’s feel. But Omar owned it! ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-season-of-the-wire-is-best/586813/16 "2011-06-27T21:23:37Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Both of these just seemed out of the realm of possibility ( **particularly the first one** ). Well, it was inspired by positions advanced by an actual Baltimore mayor. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-season-of-the-wire-is-best/586813/17 "2011-07-21T14:46:07Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Omar owned it! Indeed! ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-season-of-the-wire-is-best/586813/18 "2011-07-21T15:20:34Z")
For me it goes: 4 \ 3 2 1 \ 5 ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-season-of-the-wire-is-best/586813/19 "2011-07-21T16:15:14Z")
4, no question. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-season-of-the-wire-is-best/586813/20 "2011-07-21T17:26:51Z")
Everybody seems to like season four, and frequently mention the importance of the “school” story line. For me, all I seen was another “Dangerous minds” style ‘new teacher tries to help troubled kids’ story, and it didnt really grab my attention. Season one got my vote, it is the most focused, and unlike each other season, doesnt have that one factor that drags it down, like Ziggy or the Hamsterdam plot that could never past my suspension of belief. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-season-of-the-wire-is-best/586813.md?page=2)