I've just started into the 5th season of the HBO show The Wire, something which I've been addicted to for the last year or thereabouts, which I'm trying to make last as long as possible, because I don't want the series to end. I am more than ready to admit that the idea for this piece came from the fountain of knowledge that we all know as Michael Carlson, whose tribute to The Wire's fourth series can be found here: http://irresistibletargets.blogspot.com/2009/04/homage-to-wire-series-four.html .
That aside, I feel strongly that The Wire (and if you're reading this I'm more than likely preaching to the choir) is a once in a generation event, in that it achieves the very difficult task of being considered a reference point. This, perhaps to its detriment, means that people have begun to refer to The Wire when they wish to claim that something else on television is good, the most inappropriate usage of which was a recent claim that I heard of in which someone tried to defend the position that Criminal Minds starring Greg of Dharma and Greg was "the thinking man's The Wire". Of course, even if this were true, it highlights two main problems with television. Firstly, the lack of anything bar documentaries which is capable of addressing serious issues; and secondly, intertwined with this, the general decline of the medium to the point that the dvd player accompanied by a box set becomes the only schedule needed.
The Wire stands out not only because it is good, but because it is afforded the depth and time to fully tackle issues which affect the city in which it is based: Baltimore, Maryland. Not being from Baltimore myself, I can only appreciate that take of creator David Simon on these issues from a point of relative ignorance, but the impact of the material is no less powerful. Simon's work takes (loosely) the "cop show" genre, and changes the format to one which allows the show to explore the real themes which Simon was hoping to get at: corruption, urban decay, and the general state of a section of the American population which had been promised the "American Dream".
One of the main strengths of The Wire is its story line, and the fact that it examines so many facets of the modern American industrial city. It makes it a powerful piece of work on the basis of the fact that it is representative of the diffferent aspects which make up the fabric of what is the show's most enduring character, namely Baltimore itself. Starting with the drug war and its futility, The Wire portrays a harsh reality of life for both cops and criminals in the modern world, and opens with one of the greatest scenes in the show as a whole. McNulty finds himself faced with another murder case after a game of dice, and in attempt to understand the motive behind the killing, he questions one of the witnesses: "If Snot Boogie always stole the money, why'd you let him play?" "Got to. This America man". The American dream is shown here as reality, and the reality does not match the original vision. It also lays out the code by which the show's characters, both criminals and cops, will be governed by until the arrival of Marlo Stanfield. Everyone is to be afforded a second chance, an opportunity to make ammends.
The show moves, unexpectedly, in its second season, to the plight of the blue collar dock worker and the decline of the industry on which their livelihoods were based (at least on the surface). Although the shift was a seemingly strange one, it marked out the show's intention: to not fall into a slump of predictability or one-dimensionality. While the characters of season one were complex and realistic, the second series' characters told a story of a very different nature. The problem in both of the first series was work, but different kinds of work. In series one, the work is the drug business, the game as it is referred to. In the second series, the big players in the game become clear, the characters of season one become the middle men of season two, as the expanse of the city is shown.
Season Three returns, in a way, to the characters of season one, but still in the same positions. Again the struggle against a system resistant to change is key, however the focus turns here to corruption and to politics, with an insight into the inner workings of a city such as Baltimore. Now the problem is that of political reform and political corruption, but the two worlds become interlinked through the character of Stringer, who attempts to moveout of the drug world and into legitimate business. This doesn't end well for him, but with the emergence of Carcetti, it seems there is a new hope as the 4th season approaches. However it is the system again which corrupts Carcetti, and there seems to be no change by the time season five arrives.
It is that feeling of disappointment, that feeling of promise and of it being unfulfilled in all areas that lends the show such an ability to relate to everyone and also to address issues that are specific to Baltimore and specific to the American urban expanse.
There are common threads to all the different series of The Wire, but there is also one common thread which ties all 5 series together, and it is best expressed by McNulty, the star of the show, if there is one: "I wonder what it's like to work in a real fuckin' police department". This sentiment is echoed throughout all series of the show, and not only in the police department setting, but also in the newspaper in series five, by Norman when it is clear that Carcetti has reneged on his promises and by Bodie when the rules of the game change. It is one of ultimate disappointment and betrayal with a system that only seems to work for the elite and ignore those below, that uses the pawns and leaves the King in position. The question McNulty poses is the questioning of order: What makes this order the right one, or are there other options? Mayor Carcetti's eventual fall from grace shows the effect this order has on those who try to change it. Eventually they are swallowed up in it, they stop questioning its arbitrary nature and they accept it as a fact of life and that they need to work within it. It is that system, however, which is the subject of the show, and there seems to be endless reptitions of the existing system and its problems rather than a Hegelian dialectic.
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