subject: 3 Aspects Of The Wire That make It A Truly Wonderful Series [print this page] 3 Aspects Of The Wire That make It A Truly Wonderful Series
It's been said before, but I'll say it once again - The Wire is the greatest show on television - period. There are countless reasons to cite, but allow me to start with 3 that really hit me whenever I think of them. Here we go:
(Take Note: Slight SPOILER ALERT. I am not going to reveal any significant plot details, but I will be mentioning a couple of characters as well as the show outline).
1) The Characters - The characters in The Wire are both incredibly real and extremely compelling. And I'm not just talking about some of the junkies, police officers, or drug dealers. I'm talking about everybody save possibly Brother Mouzone who's literary sophisticated super assasin persona is slightly fantastical. Simply thinking of figures like: Stringer, Bunk, Bubbles, Bodie, Carcetti, Chris, and Omar (to name a few) is enough for an emotional overload. The depth of those characters and their own multi-dimensional stories and ethical dilemmas makes them almost too compelling. Quite literally, you almost feel like you know the characters (or someone like them) and you understand and sympathize with their struggles - even if in the end, they're murderers or drug lords.
2) A City As The Protagonist - This kind of vision and ambition is what really sets The Wire apart. Truthfully, I don't think I had previously ever seen a television show or film that has tried to use a city (such an incredibly vast landscape) as a protagonist. What's even more amazing than the vision however is that David Simon actually succeeds in making Baltimore his protagonist. As the seasons go on you become closer and closer with the city - sympathizing with it, hoping for it, feeling ill when it suffers a defeat. My connection with Baltimore has transitioned beyond the show as well and is now just a part of me. I feel it when I visit Baltimore, and I've more than once felt a need to comb the streets of the Western district.
3) Broadening The Lens - This is the method to the madness of #2. In casting the city as a protagonist, the Wire starts season 1 completely zoomed in - there are simply drug dealers, addicts, and cops. Then as the seasons go on, it slowly zooms out and starts telling the story of Baltimore's working class, its politicians, school systems, and media. This is not an easy feat, yet The Wire manages to do it with the same extremely compelling plot lines that pulled you in during the first season. This capacity to color a whole city, capture it in time, and show all of the sadness and affliction is what the writers for The Wire jokingly call the Dickensian aspect. And they manage to caputre it magnificently.
If you have not seen The Wire, I definitely recommend it. You won't second guess your decision.
