The Wire: An American Masterpiece

“There’s a thin line between heaven and here,” remarks Bubbles, a crackhead turned police informant. This quote largely sums up the impression of how the war on drugs has left impoverished inner city communities that The Wire gives its views. While David Simon’s 2000s series may appear to be another police drama, it also gives viewers a look at the grit and grime of inner cities and the current state of The American Dream. Over the course of five seasons, The Wire explores its themes of crime and poverty through different angles, covering the streets, blue-collar workers, politics, education, and the media and how these areas all contribute to the current state of urban America.

The first season of The Wire introduces the audience to the West Baltimore drug trade and the Baltimore Police Department’s detectives who comprise many of the show’s main characters. However, unlike most crime dramas, there are few unequivocal protagonists or antagonists. Police detectives are corrupt and have little concern for stopping crime other than accumulating stats to please the higher ups. Most drug dealers aren’t hardened criminals but rather are just victims of circumstance, working to support families in a place where crime is the only way to make a living. The Wire’s first season is easy to be drawn into, the fast pace and action coupled with serious themes and commentary on contemporary issues prove to be a recipe for a binge worthy television show. The season culminates in a series of arrests, characteristic of other police shows, however the viewer is not left with a feeling of satisfaction or closure but an understanding of the never ending nature of the war on drugs. As Sergeant Carver notes in the beginning of the season, the war on drugs can hardly be considered a war; wars end. While it is easy to initially lose track of different characters due to the sheer number of moving parts, it is worth the effort. Overall, the season can be considered one of the show’s weakest, a testament to the series’ improvement in successive seasons rather than the season’s weaknesses.

The series’ second season is a stark departure from the first, transitioning from the streets and the drug trade to Baltimore’s East Side and ports: home to the city’s working class. The ports prove to be just as crime ridden as the streets, honest workers are forced to turn to smuggling and organized crime as the union jobs that they previously relied on no longer can pay the bills. This season begins much slower than its predecessor but viewers are rewarded for their patience with a plot that begins to pick up steam after several episodes. The new additions to the cast are as strong as the main characters with plot lines and acting that provoke a sense of empathy from the viewer but the feature that sets this season apart is the writing. Unlike the first season, whose plot was more or less predictable, the series’ second season is far more unpredictable. Tension is high throughout the latter half of the season and the reader is left on the edge of their seat. Similar to the first season, season two culminates in an ending that becomes less and less satisfying as it progresses. In the end, while the season has its moments, many find it tiresome; a few characters are hard to describe in words other than annoying, a mistake in writing that was quickly corrected in the following seasons.

Season three follows the politics of Baltimore and the election of the city’s mayor. This delve into politics provides additional background on how parts of the city have fallen on such dire straits. As the election becomes more competitive, pressure falls on the police department to demonstrate that law and order is maintained in the city. However, instead of trying to create real change, the easiest way to do this is by lying about crime statistics and under-policing–sometimes to astounding extents. The season also returns to the West Baltimore drug trade and some familiar faces, erasing any hopes of the audience that the events of season one had brought meaningful change. Widely regarded as one of the series’ strongest, season three shines because of a combination of stellar writing and acting. The similarities to season one along with the return of familiar faces are compelling illustrations of why the war on drugs is a failure: it doesn’t address the reasons why people turn to crime or maintain that lifestyle. Finally, the acting of Idris Elba as Stringer Bell is unparalleled. Elba is able to capture the role of Bell, a drug kingpin trying to escape the world of crime while being pulled back in exceptionally, translating emotions that feel real while also leaving the audience with a slew of memorable quotes. Overall, this season is arguably one of the best seasons of television ever produced, maintaining the show’s standard for action and continuing to take a hard look at the problems of inner cities while maintaining quality only matched by the following season. 

The fourth and arguably best season of The Wire takes a look at the public school system in Baltimore. Through this inspection, the viewer is given insight on how the schools fail children and why so many turn to crime. While following a group of at risk youth, the viewer is shown an underfunded system where students don’t have the resources to learn, staff are overwhelmed and disillusioned with their jobs, and students are pulled so strongly by the streets that they won’t allow themselves to succeed. More so than any other season, season four provokes a feeling of anger from the reader. As the season progresses, the viewer slowly watches the students slip further and further until they are finally lost to the streets. While this season’s cast mostly follows younger actors, they do a good job, maintaining the high standard of the series. The writing of this season is just as strong as the previous season; the viewer grows to care about the students that the season follows, even if they are only fictitious. 

Finally, the series final season falls short of the standards the show previously held itself to. While the idea of examining the media provides for plenty of interesting opportunities to examine society’s flaws, the season follows a plot that is extremely far fetched and that does not provoke the same visceral emotions that previous seasons did. The plot aside, the acting and ending of the season are high quality albeit lacking the same magic of the rest of the series.

Despite missing its mark on its final season, The Wire is and should be regarded as one of the best television series of all time. As cast member John Doman reflects,”The Wire really tore the cover off an American city and showed that, for so many people, the American dream was dead”. While its action and one liners make the series incredibly enjoyable to watch, what makes The Wire so special is its ability to give its viewers perspective on how society is failing its most vulnerable members from every angle. Having lived in suburban communities for most my life, I found this show particularly powerful; I had no idea how such a wide variety of seemingly unconnected processes all worked together to maintain the poverty cycle. I believe that watching The Wire  made me better understand the issues that our society faces today–something that I did not think a television series could teach me–and I believe that everyone would be better off having watched the series.