[ Originally published on Facebook 16 August 2015; addition 8 September 2021 ]
DVD box sets and streaming video services allow us viewers to hunker down, pull up the drawbridge and binge-watch entire series at a sitting if we feel like it. In this way I’ve caught up with several (mostly American) TV blockbusters like ‘Sopranos’ (both com-pelling and re-ditto), ‘Breaking Bad’ (a struggle, not totally convinced by the main character), ‘House of Cards’ (clever self-referential fun for a bit, eventually couldn’t be arsed to suspend disbelief any longer and gave up), ‘Homeland’ (good viewing but just plain lost interest in the plot after a while), ‘Band of Brothers’ (magnificent, all-time favourite), ‘Rome’ (also excellent).
So anyway, a while back a colleague in Geneva suggested I take a look at a series that first went out on HBO from 2002-8—The Wire—and very glad I did. It’s an ambitious work, among whose main subjects are the way that many (most? all?) American institutions are compromised, and the fact that the little guy never gets a chance.
Each series focuses on a different institution (e.g. police, unions, local government) in Baltimore, but many of the same characters appear in each. In the best traditions of contemporary big-budget American TV, it’s at once scrupulously plotted, imaginatively scripted, convincingly cast and acted, flawlessly directed, filmed and edited, and believably disbelieving about many of the shibboleths that America holds dear. Faced with its grand sweep, its gritty realism and social commentary, you begin to understand the draw of Film and Media Studies courses.
It also contains one of the most boldly, brilliantly written scenes I’ve ever seen.
Detailed to revisit old cases on a team investigating a drugs gang in Baltimore’s low-rise (and lower-income) projects, two overworked and world-weary homicide detectives reluctantly stop by a house in which a girl was shot, where they start going through the motions (to begin with at least) of recreating the circumstances of her murder.
The run-down urban setting of the The Wire‘s first series makes subtitles often helpful, if not essential. You won’t need them here. Look out too for the caretaker’s cameo, who acts as a kind of dumbstruck Greek chorus—essentially us—as the scene unfolds (see—we’re doing Film and Media Studies already already . . . )
[ Addition 8 September 2021 ]
Sad to hear of the death (apparently from drug overdose) of Michael K. Williams, who played the unashamedly homosexual stealer-from-drug-dealers Omar Little in the series.
From Wikipedia:
“For his portrayal of Omar, Williams was named by USA Today as one of ten reasons they still love television. Omar was praised for his uniqueness in the stale landscape of TV crime dramas and for the wit and humor that Williams brings to the portrayal. Omar has been named as one of the first season’s richest characters, a Robin Hood of Baltimore’s west side projects. The Baltimore City Paper named the character one of their top ten reasons not to cancel the show and called him “arguably the show’s single greatest achievement”. In 2007, he was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Omar.”
Far too many scenes in The Wire featuring Michael K. Williams to do him justice, but here’s a little taste.
Omar has agreed to testify against “Bird,” who had killed security guard Mr Gant—a civilian unconnected to the drug business—(something that Omar never did).
He’s been inveigled into wearing a tie for his stand in the witness box, something he does in his own sweet way.
His testimony likewise:
Do yourself a favour folks: if you haven’t already discovered the richness and truth that is “The Wire,” now’s a good time . . .