Down to The Wire

As I am about to lend all my DVDs of this fine show to my bestie's housemate, I thought it was time to pay homage to the sheer excellence that is The Wire.


*SPOILER ALERT - I WILL RUIN EVERYTHING FOR YOU IF YOU READ ON!!!*

The Wire is one of HBO's finest offerings. An absolute marvel. It outpaces, outstrips, outdoes The Shield (sorry Vic Mackey, you are not a patch on everyone's favourite alcoholic, two marriages down the gurgler, trouble making cop Jimmy McNulty) and it makes those other cop shows - NCIS/CSI/NYPD Blue/Law & Order - look like Funniest Home Videos where no one laughs, let alone watches.

The opening credits are cinematic gems in and of themselves. Each series has the same title track - Way Down in the Hole by Tom Waits. 'When you walk through the garden, you better watch your back.'

The only common part of the opening title sequence across the five seasons is the rock thrown at the CCTV camera (which I imagine took about 835 takes to get right, but gee its good) and the shot of the alley with the graffiti - Body-More # Murdaland (where # is a big bullet).

As for the actual TV show? It is centred on a wire tap. Hence the name. It is about cops and criminals but it stands above other TV shows of the same ilk. In fact it is probably a genre on to itself. There is no solving of cases every episode with the typical twist - he/she did it, oh no hang on, the least likely person to do it actually did it. There is none of that.

It isn't about black and white; it isn't about good and bad. There are contradictions in terms – a sharp cop that doesn’t just flout authority but writes his own rule book; a drug kingpin that is studying for his MBA and trying to use his economic skills to secure his gang’s long term future; a gay criminal that steals from drug dealers like a modern day Robin Hood and a dobbing junkie who has a sharp mind, who is able to quickly discern what a drug gang's next move will be, and curiously, has a heart of gold.

It is about the game in the dirty streets of Baltimore.

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It is realism at its finest. The hierarchical system is explored, its flaws exposed; from the drug kingpin down to the corner boy, from the Mayor and the Chief Police Commissioner down to the cop on the beat.

The dialogue in The Wire is raw street. Sometimes it is a little hard to understand but a few oft used phrases are as follows:

• In the game = selling drugs to make a living.
• Ya feel me? = do you know what I mean?
• Most def = absolutely, for sure; literally the abbreviation of most definitely.
• Hamsterdam = selling drugs in a three block by three block area where the cops don't care.
• Real po - leece = a cop that actually does police work.
• Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittttttttttttttttttt = Clay Davis is having a bad day.
• What the fuck did I do? = McNulty did something that the bosses don't like... again.

In detail - let's take it season by season.

Season 1 was the more traditional set up – cops vs. drug dealers. The cops didn't know their own beats. The kingpins and corner boys exploited this. Enter one smart cop. Enter wire tap. Intercepting and interpreting codes and secrets leads to a big scalp but not without blurring the lines between right and wrong.

Season 2 focused on the corruption down at the docks. The head union official would stop at nothing to stave off the developers who wanted to turn his port into a condominium paradise. Wheeling and dealing with criminals was seen as a necessity to reverse the port’s declining fortunes. There was camaraderie amongst the wharfies until the bitter end. This season also zeroed in on the emerging drug war – east vs west. Two drug gangs battle for more turf and, in turn, more profits.

Season 3 sees the drug war that commenced in Season 2 escalate. The interim solution to the war is somewhat surprising – a drug co-op. A pooling of resources, a sharing of the (stolen) wealth. The political element also comes into play in this season — a Mayor is running for Governor and several city councillors are running for Mayor, who all need the city to look its best. Some are comfortable with the mere façade that things are getting better, some want real change. It's interpreted by the cops as the former - the cops cook the books so the crime rate comes down. One rogue, adventurous cop tries something entirely different to decrease the crime rate --- legalises drugs in a certain area. While creates a microcosm of depravity, he is successful in cleaning up the rest of the city. But this bizarre brand of socialism does not last. The status quo ultimately prevails as all parties to the drug war appear to have a vested interest in preserving it.

Season 4 taps into the fallibilities of the public school system. Again, the focus is on statistics. One teacher tries to make a difference before falling into the mould and teaching the ‘answers’ to the state school proficiency test. It's the only way to ensure the numbers are met so the funding dollars roll in. And then we find out, it’s all in vain. The best and brightest students are cherry picked by drug kingpins and their lieutenants as future mid level management. Meanwhile, the new drug lord exterminates anyone who gets in his way leaving body after body to rot in vacant houses. The cops pull things together at the end as a new Mayor is elected.

Finally, season 5 shows that there is corruption in those who are supposed to be the monitors of corruption - the Baltimore Sun and the Baltimore Police Department. At the Baltimore Sun, cutting employee numbers and budgets has led to sloppy, lazy journalism. There are very few left at the paper that keep an eye on the details and in turn, effect any meaningful change in society by keeping readers informed. At the cop shop, budgets are also taking their toll meaning no real police work is being done. This season is about a journo's aggressive pursuit of a Pulitzer, fabricating details in news stories just so he has a chance of fame. It's also about a cop's aggressive pursuit of criminals, falsifying evidence around murders to ensure that the real bad guys end up in jail.

A+++