I recently “marathon-ed” my way through the fifth and final season of David Simon’s “The Wire.” I watched episodes 3-10 (8.5 hours) in about a thirteen-hour period, stopping only for bathroom breaks. I am now barred from watching any televised media for at least 6-months. My brain has reached its supersaturation point. No mas.
David Simon and HBO (even if they short-changed him a few episodes in the final season) deserve a standing ovation for producing a series that examined arguably the greatest tragedy of late twentieth century America: the decline of the inner city. Throughout its run, despite tackling unwieldy issues such the drug war, municipal politics and public education, the show never came across as pedantic or exploitative. The writers created a painstakingly detailed and realistic portrait of a decaying metropolis. The show was often thought-provoking and never less than entertaining. It must be noted too that this show was perhaps the most important dramatic series for African-Americans since Roots. How many prime time dramas with a predominately African-American cast have there been? There are no less than two dozen black characters worthy of discussion from the show’s five season run. I can’t think of any series that has ever come close--not even Good Times.
The fourth season of The Wire eclipsed anything I have ever seen in American television and I don’t think it was necessary for the last season to try and top that. That’s not really what The Wire was about. Season 5 was about bringing everything full circle, completing the various cycles we’ve seen over these seven years. Simon and his crew have examined all the major facets of a city’s infrastructure from inside and out. Some might feel the show ends up being too steeped in cynicism, but it seems Simon only wants to spur reflection on how/why this has been allowed to happen. In our apathy and detachment, we're all just as culpable as the drug dealers and corrupt pols. Maybe that's too harsh. I'm not so sure though. The Baltimore he depicts could just as easily be Detroit or East New York or South Central or any number of places that get routinely neglected. So what's to be done? I guess stick it out like Mr. Prezbo.
So what about Season 5? Well, all I'll say is that in the end the finale feels quite satisfying. In fact, the last four episodes all contain some of the most memorable highlights of the entire series as the fates of some long-standing favorites play out. It is odd that the newspaper subplot feels so unsatisfying considering David Simon was a newspaper man for fifteen years. Maybe the material was just too close to his heart. Reading around, it seems he had quite the ax to grind with his former employers. Simon's defense of the Baltimore Sun storyline makes perfect sense from an academic perspective. I get what he's saying. It's almost impossible to disagree with him. The problem is that it's just not dramatically compelling. This is unfortunate, but it doesn't detract from the overall impact of the series. Heck, I watched it for five consecutive hours at one point, so it couldn't have been that bad.
Looking back, it's amazing HBO ever put this show on the air in the first place. So encourage them to take more chances with this kind of material. I hope this series finds the success it deserves on the home video market. I've done my part. You do yours.
