Please Watch The Wire

HBO's fifth and final season of "The Wire" is underway amidst little to no fanfare. I am writing this epinion review of the first season's DVD and pleading to the epinions community to pick up the DVD's and watch this fascinating, well-written, and socially relevant HBO production. After pitching the show to every friend looking for something new on the small screen, I decided to put my thoughts down in epinions to appeal to potential viewers.

Why have I tried so hard to get people to watch a show I have no vested interest in? The show speaks to the plight of our inner cities and to the soul of this country. It was created by a Baltimore Sun newspaperman and a police detective, and the pair use the city as the backdrop for the entire series. As this is a review of the first season, I will focus my opinions on the series to this portion. If you get the first season, you will end up watching all of the shows (as some of my friends who heeded my advice can attest.)

The first season focuses on the drug trade from the sides of the dope-pusher and the police. This is an interesting twist as pervasive TV cop shows never fully develop the other side of the story, and most "bad guys" are switched out each show. "The Wire" develops these characters because they are not a faceless evil, but multi-dimensional human beings who have their own personal struggles growing up in an inner-city community that has largely forgotten about them as individuals.

It is literally a cast of hundreds with a few lead characters who remain for all of the seasons. Some of the actors, especially the young ones, were plucked from the streets of Baltimore. Using a cast of multitudes is important because it gives the feeling that this a real, dynamic American city whose interactions are the plot lines. Shedding the plastic setting of many TV dramas, the city of Baltimore itself becomes the leading character, a living, breathing, persona that serves as a microcosm of urban culture and the country herself.

The story unfolds like a great novel, so the first DVD should be the starting point of a new viewer much like page one of a book. It is tough to jump to the current episodes or to a different season without first watching how the scene was so superbly set. The writers of the show seemed to have an endgame when they sat down to write the show. They do not use flashbacks or rehash old storylines to reel in viewers, which may be why viewership is limited. The show is a journey, adding to the realism of its characters and stories, and this process has boosted its critical acclaim at the expense of its viewership. I can not underscore the journey aspect of the show enough. This is not one-hour of entertainment, it is a show that will make you reflect upon your thoughts on society as a whole at this journey's conclusion. The well-set stories will make you feel personally involved in the city and its problems and reflect on your own world and its issues.

Season 1 pits the Baltimore police against the Bargsdale crime family. The story of the police department is told in a much more deep way as one of the head writers is a former homicide detective in the Baltimore police department. In this review, I will offer more of an overview of the plot elements rather than specific details because my hope is that the telling of the story will draw you in rather than the story details itself.

Season 1 features a tampered homicide witness, a dysfunctional police department, a gang war, the introduction of electronic surveillance on the gangs (The Wire takes its name from this network), murder, intrigue, and greed. If this were a movie trailer, these snippets could get you to watch. The depth of characters like the drunken, genius detective McNulty, the African American lesbian detective Griggs, the callous and murderous Stringer Bell, and the thug-to-millionaire Avon Bargsdale provide deep characters with whom you can dislike, but never turn away from.

The Season One DVD features thirteen one-hour episodes. The Next On feature is much like watching the show "On Demand." It will highlight what has previously happened in a short lead-in to the next episode. Again, I recommend watching the episodes straight through in order to better understand the intricate story lines. There are very few extras to my version, but there may certainly be more bonus footage in the Seasons 1-4 version, or a final box set upon the shows near conclusion. I will also write reviews on the other seasons. As I told a friend just today, this could be a show that will be more appreciated after it is gone like the great work of art it is. Fifty years from now people may look back at "The Wire", while fictionalized, as the purest look at what our inner cities were like.