There’s a great sense of closure in that while people’s lives still go on and there may be more to tell about them, the social landscape has gone through a full cycle of change and shown you how depressingly little different things are, even though individual people’s lives have changed drastically.
I thought it was a very satisfactory ending, one of the best I’ve seen on television. It was very moving to see the fates of some of the characters in that final montage.
i dunno, i thought that alien invasion of baltimore was a hokey way to end the series.
It was the only way it could end.
I liked the ending. There are so many interesting story lines that don’t get as much wrapped up as followed to a good point to leave them. My favorite is watching what happens to the two knuckleheads herc and carver from season one to the last. I don’t know of any TV series that gives you characters like that where you see them naturally fall into what they become.
Having gotten to work a bunch with Chad Coleman (cutty) he was the same way. Super nice easy going guy who just talked about his kids more than anything. I probably bugged him way too much with questions about the wire.
…Cutty was Coach? Did not realize that.
Yeap. I thought I told that to everyone back when L4D2 came out, that Cutty was the voice of Coach.
Well, someone needed to battle the zombies pouring out of those boarded up houses.
Whoa. I didn’t realize that. That’s awesome, I’m really glad he is getting more work (I saw he’s in some sitcom this fall that will probably be cancelled right away, but…). His character was one of my favorites, one of the few bright spots in a pretty bleak landscape.
I finished the series, and now I feel like there’s a great void there in my life now that I’m done with the Wire.
I liked the extras on the last disc of Season 5. One was The Odyssey, which had the cast and crew and some tv critics talking about the series as a whole. Some woman from CourtTV and a TV Critic kept talking about how people will still watch the Wire 50 years from now and how it will be regarded like Shakespeare is regarded by us now.
Getting back to Season 5 for a second, I have to admit that Season 4 was the peak of the show for me. The season focusing on those kids and the education system was just the best. With Season 5 focusing on the media, it wasn’t as interesting a topic to explore. Making up stories and exaggerating stories in the newsroom just isn’t as interesting a topic as the shaping of young minds. Nevertheless, it was a good season. A lot more entertaining than the Ports season, that’s for sure. And they explored the reporters and newsroom politics a lot better than they explored “The Greeks” in Season 2, who were still an enigma by the end of the series.
Now I just have to wonder: What next? After watching a TV series this good, I’m not sure what I can do with my spare hour or so a day of leisure time that can live up to this.
Go watch Generation Kill
Then a week later, start with Game of Thrones or rewatch the Wire again. I guarantee you’ll notice stuff you missed the first time around.
Watch it again.
Be amazed at how many things you missed because you weren’t paying attention for several seconds to something you should have heard or seen.
The BBC has an article up on the use of varying slang for the police by the English youth - they note that it is somewhat nonsensical for the UK police to be referred to as ‘the Feds’ and trace the slang to US television. They seem to credit The Wire for ‘po-po’ and ‘5-0’. Nice little picture of Dominic West as Jimmy McNulty as well.
No word on whether Clay Davis’ “Shheeeeiiiit” has made it across the Atlantic. One can hope.
Finished the series today after starting it at the end of July. Wow. I feel like I’m ruined for regular TV now.
Having said that, is there anything else that follows a dramatic arc like The Wire? I’ve heard that The Shield and The Sopranos are similar to the wire - thoughts?
^ Breaking Bad - pretty damn awesome.
Depends what you mean by the narrative arc, Alan. Simon’s follow-up show, Treme, has a similar structure to The Wire, in that it follows a bunch of people at street level in post-Katrina New Orleans, and then widens the scope in the second season to include city-level politicians and developers and plotlines that don’t happen in New Orleans proper. Treme doesn’t have as sharp of a focus as The Wire did, though, and if you’re not inherently fascinated by the music of New Orleans it might be a rough slog.
Idris Elba and Dominic West nominated for Golden Globes after The Wire got cold shouldered throughout its run.
Go watch Luther on Instant Watch or I will punch you in the face.
I watched the first episode a couple of years ago but it went over my head. I was lost in the plot, couldn’t tell one character from the other, and it all liked like one of those fiction documentaries with shaking camera and everything, with the purpose of showing/denouncing some social problems.
Then I watch the 1st episode again two days ago and I suddenly realize it’s the very best American series I’ve ever seen BY A LONG SHOT.
It’s a masterpiece on every level. Wonderfully written plot, perfect screenplay and camerawork, the best characters ever even despite their numbers, perfect acting all around no matter how central is the role. It’s the triumph of a work done as good as it can be.
It’s like all the rest of TV is done by amateurs.