the wire - completed

I have finished watching The Wire. It is a shame that it only aired for five seasons, but considering that it almost didn't get past the first season, I'll savor what was made that much more. In a way, The Wire is about an American city, specifically Baltimore and the different systems that make up that city. As a summary, that may be vaguely adequate, but as a description of the excellence in programming that is The Wire, it is wholly inadequate.

The Wire really is the greatest television show ever made. Perhaps I should qualify that and call it the most realistic fictional show ever made and frankly, it's more realistic than much of the so-called "reality TV" genre as well. Season 5 started to jump the shark a bit with the device that was used to motivate much of the season, but I'll cut the producers some slack. For the most part, the show did not cop-out and deliver overly happy endings and resolutions to the characters. It simply concluded, but didn't presume to answer all questions riased and most definitely did not resolve all stories. Nor could it since it went so much for realism and real life does not end with a snappy one liner before the commercial break. Real life just is, sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes nothing in particular.

Now, it is time to watch all the episodes that have audio commentary. Then, I plan to watch them with French audio and English subtitles.