The Wire: Season 2

Hype is a dangerous thing. Sometimes too much hype can ruin a actual experience. When I had heard, repeatedly and from a number of sources, that The Wire was the greatest show ever, I was pretty disappointed when the first season turned out "only" being very good. I then allowed my own expectations for the second season to drop a little bit, but recognizing this, I secretly created my own little hype machine of high expectations (since I'm not expecting to love this, I will probably love this!) Whatever. The point is, I'm now 40% done with the series and although I still believe it's very good, I still can't call it one of the greatest shows I've ever seen. That said, I recognize all of the excellent elements and I do not find it absurd that many people call it their favorite show ever. The acting, writing, pacing, direction, and production are all absolutely top notch. This is such an honest show. It portrays a city with bleak and transparent clarity. It's not a feel-good show; it's a realistic show. Not every "bad guy" is all that bad, and not every "good guy" all that good. There's complexity and subtlety to the spectrum of morality, and in the end, there are people on all sides of the conflict getting away with things they shouldn't or getting punished far more than they deserved. I started the first season of The Wire back  in June of 2010 (after the pilot episode failed to grab me two separate times in March and November of 2009) and finished in in August; I started this season either in very late November or early December and didn't finish it until late January. It's slow-moving. It's not "addictive" for me in the sense of wanting to (or even being able to) see every episode shortly after the previous one. If it was, I'd be able to knock off the final three seasons before March. But episodes are typically fifty-five minutes long. About 80% of what happens is dialogue-based, demanding your full attention at all times. I probably won't jump straight into the third season just yet, even though I've been told (again) that that's the season in which shit really begins to hit the fan. In the mean time, I'll probably just try to knock off a few more movies before the end of the month.