The cable

The wire has a specific formula it follows. Introduce all of the necessary information in the first few episodes (which makes those episodes pretty boring & confusing),  then the good guys try to do good while the bad guys try to do bad. There are good guys who are criminals and bad guys who are cops! By the end of the season it seems like the good guys might win against all odds & achieve everything they set out to do. But alas, everything falls apart and the good guys are only able to make a small dent. They arrested someone high up in the drug trade but not the kingpin. Or they weren’t able to fix the school systems but one kid got saved from his toxic home life. Rinse and repeat each season while introducing a new Baltimore institution: dock workers, the school system, the press.  I would have watched this play out for as many seasons as they wanted to make. Out of the many many storylines and characters I can hardly think of any I wasn’t invested in. It’s a simple premise but the execution is fantastic. The care to make every single part alive— like all this would be happening regardless of whether there was a TV show about it.  I’ve thought about what the wire has to say about the world. It certainly asks you to sympathize with cops on many occasions. It also portrays the police department as fundamentally flawed— less a few bad apples and more a few good apples whose hands are tied by the broken system. The wire is also pretty pessimistic about systemic reform. Like I said, the good guys never get big wins where they make life better for everyone. The best they can do is help a few people. The final episode is a callback to the first episode, showing how little changed despite the events of the 5 seasons. On the other hand, our heroes are the people who dream big and take on institutions against terrible odds. The fight never stops though they never win. Maybe, then, the message is that striving for change is worthwhile despite how taxing and impossible it sometimes is. Very good show, not sure who to recommend it to because it does feel very different from most things out there— very slow burn but it doesn’t stop growing on you!

Truly the most important show of all time. One of the most unique I’ve watched, in the way that it isn’t really focused on its characters all that much, but on the community/system in its entirety. Even then, it manages to have the greatest side cast of all time. On top of that, it easily has the best messaging out of anything I’ve seen before. The show is such a journey, looking back at old clips, it’s hard to believe that it’s the same show. The structure of having each having each season focus on a different part of Baltimore was a brilliant choice. Even as the show moves on from them, you feel the impact that they have. That’s what makes the show so good, it’s a societal study, something everybody can resonate with. It does this while also doing some excellent character work, with Jimmy, who’s super underrated (in his own show btw), Omar, Bubbles, so many other incredibly written characters. It’s really a huge accomplishment for the writers, I’m so pissed at the Emmy’s for not giving them a win, most useless academy of all time. There are some issues, like season 2 not being that entertaining, or their slow approach to opening episodes, but that in no way takes away from how fantastic this show is. I really didn’t think I’d find myself loving it as much as The Sopranos after season 2, but this was so impactful to me. I know it’s a really popular show, but not enough people in this generation have seen it. Everybody needs to move this to the top of their watchlists, asap. Typed this up in like 10 minutes so sorry if the structure is sloppy, but watch The Wire everybody 9.7/10

One of the greatest shows ever written and put to the screen. An all encompassing, mesmerizing investigation into each and every institution supposedly uphelding our modern society.

The cable