Nothing else on TV has come close!
Quite simply the best TV series ever made. Blows every other American and British TV dramas out of the water. Watch from season 1 through to 5 and be astounded and amazed at what heights TV drama can reach. From street corners to the corridors of power in Baltimore, stories are told in staggering detail. Excellent cast, fantastic characters. The Wire season 5 is just as good as seasons 1 - 4. The story ends, good guys don't always win, bad guys get away, so authentic in it's depiction is what makes it so good. No more seasons of the wire? In the words of Clay Davis "Shiiiiiiiiiit"

What a way to bow out!!
If you love the novel like structure and subtlety of The Wire, this last series will blow you away.

A great series and a great ending. I just can't believe it's over. The game's not the same anymore!!

Brilliant, Outsanding and Over. *Contains general plot spoilers*
For the last four weeks I have been watching episodes of The Wire back to back right from the beginning of season one to the end of season four to prepare myself for this fifth and final season. Now, having just finished watching the feature length finale I feel a strange sense of grief knowing I will never again have excitement and pleasure of watching a new episode.

Season five is all about tying up loose ends and this time the focus is on the Baltimore Sun newspaper. Carcetti's city hall has no money left to spend so promises made to Daniels are going unfulfilled and the police department can no longer pay officers overtime. A frustrated McNulty and Freamon take insubordination to a new extreme in order to serve the greater good. Marlo Stanfield makes his play for power with the help of loyal soldiers Chris and Snoop who also bait Omar out of retirement. Meanwhile, the political machine keeps chewing up Senators, Commissioners and anyone else with anything to lose.

So is it as breathtaking as seasons one to four? Not quite I'm afraid. Whilst undoubtedly still an extraordinary drama, I'm rating season five in comparison with the previous seasons and if I consider that they were close to perfect, here would be my (minor) criticisms.

1) I feel nothing towards any of the new characters working for the newspaper. They certainly don't have the personality or charisma of the gangsters, cops or dock workers of previous episodes. Extended periods of time filmed inside the Baltimore Sun offices are a little boring.

2) McNulty's antics are given way too much screen time and are far fetched at best, ridiculously far fetched at worst. Way too little screen time is given to the Marlo vs. Omar story which I would imagine is what most viewers would like to see more of (I certainly did).

3) It's hard to believe Herc would go from being a cop to working for a scumbag like Maurice Levy.

Those gripes aside, The Wire still has plenty going for it. The script and acting is still first rate and the message of the series is clear. No matter how many people try to change the city, the cycle just continues. Marlo becomes the new ''Stringer'' Bell, "Slim" Charles becomes the new ''Prop" Joe, Michael becomes the new Omar, Dukie becomes the new Bubbles, Sydnor becomes the new McNulty, Pearlman becomes the new Judge, Daniels becomes the new Pearlman and Carver becomes the new Daniels. The body on the street at the end tells us that no matter how many people tried or promised to try making a difference, there'll always be another Avon Barksdale or Marlo Stanfield making their move on the streets and in response there'll never be enough money so there'll always be people who create the illusion of success to further their own careers. It may sound a pessimistic and disappointing ending but it's really well done and I'm just glad the show went out on a high. In fact, I'm going to take my DVD boxsets down to the local Irish Tavern to lay them out on the felt of the pool table and give them the real Western division send off they deserve.

Like this? Try: The Wire: Seasons 1-5

A classic - the best television drama ever made
A magnificent and very appropriate finale to what has been the best TV series I have ever watched. The best by a very, very long way.

Beautifully concluded, without ever trying to have all the answers, the final scenes in particular are deeply affecting.

For some favourite characters, the end is inevitable, and it is an incredibly poignant, human drama, in spite of the makers' ongoing insistence that the story is plot driven.

As in real life though, throughout the gloom, there are a few chinks of light, and even the darkest moments are under-scored by very dark humour.

As a story of real people and the work they do (whether legal or not), it's been an unmatchable portrayal. As a critique of the politics of life, it is brutally honest.

Overall, series 2 retains the edge for me - the courage of its scope and depth was something I had never seen before on screen. However,overall, this programme genuinely deserves to be called a masterpiece. I don't know where TV can go from here to better itself, and sad to say, I almost feel consigned to spend the rest of my viewing life watching re-runs.



An Occasionally Patchy Final Season of a Superb TV Drama Series
Whilst very good, this final season of 'The Wire' does have some shortcomings as so much is crammed into the relatively short running time and almost everything about one of the major plot developments is rather unbelievable.

I am making this comparison compared to previous 'highlight' seasons; I have avidly watched 'The Wire' from the beginning and in sequential order ! For me, Seasons 1 and 4 were the most impressive and I have written reviews for all the Seasons on Amazon.

However, it finishes still being an excellent drama which is gritty and with novel storylines and detailed character studies rarely covered in ANY other TV series.

*** My review of this programme is again intentionally vague about the story as I don't want to spoil things for first-time viewers !

The series is essentially one continuing story, so things follow-on from previous seasons to cover a multi-layered study of a specific group of drug-dealing criminals, and the detectives within the Baltimore Police Department who are trying to catch them in the act and bring down their operation. It also involves coverage of the various people associated with the drug 'world' through them either being customers, victims or having business 'connections'. Everything is connected through the continuing characters which involves numerous prominent members of the Baltimore political scene (especially the city mayor). Therefore, to fully understand developments you have to be familiar with the main characters and (more importantly) the internal politics and general plot played-out earlier.

The new area of city life given 'The Wire' special treatment this season is that of the printed media, specifically 'The Baltimore Sun', with the journalists and corporate management departments taking centre-stage. Naturally, this development does not exist in isolation and has significant connections to the mayoral position, city finances and, ultimately, police operations...The internal politics of journalism are portrayed very well and are woven into the other pieces of the story extremely effectively.

The new branch of the drug-dealing empire continues to take centre stage and attracts the ferocious attention of the police, since they are a major influence on the Baltimore social and crime scene. The drug dealers include many ruthless and extremely unpleasant characters, and the body count maintains the high-level from the previous season. All the familiar faces are still there, to begin with....

Police operations rise to new heights, as they are not only dealing with drug-related crime but also the apparent emergence of a serial killer. The lead-character (McNulty) from earlier seasons returns to the limelight. He is not only the catalyst for much of what goes on , but also confirms himself to be well-intentioned but ultimately misguided drunk who creates havoc disproportionately more influential to his standing within the Baltimore Police Department.....

Unfortunately, these latter elements of the story incorporate a couple of major plotlines which I had some difficulty accepting as being plausible, but as I am no expert on the specifics of media and police operations I had to swallow my misgivings (a similarly 'ludicrous' plotline occurred only once before, way back in Season 3) ! However, what I could not accept was the obvious and dramatic change in the morals of several long-standing and important police characters who surprised me by essentially going along with a plan devised by McNulty. These elements are key to what occurs in this season, so you really have to take them as read to continue watching the season 'pan out'.

Naturally, much of what has occurred in previous seasons has to be either resolved or signed-off, which is why the overall length of this season is simply too short to cover everything satisfactorily. Several matters which long-standing 'The Wire' devotees such as myself have taken a great interest in are not really given the proper 'treatment' they deserve. However, nothing is left uncovered and the viewer is ultimately left with great feelings of both satisfaction and sadness in equal measure.

The series trademarks of an excellent screenplay and a superb cast of actors, many of whom are juveniles, are maintained. The Season continues to be filmed on location (even including those scenes which are indoors) and the lack of an accompanying music soundtrack also remains a theme of the production (which contributes to the feeling of reality).

This Season is essential viewing, but more so for those who have already seen Seasons 1-4 as it completes the circle of the overall story, suggests new directions for certain characters and does not resolve everything with a 'sugar-coating'.

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