The Wire: Season 5

And there it goes. I've just completed what is arguably the greatest TV drama of all time. And hell, I think I might even be someone who falls in the camp making that argument. This is especially incredible given that I found the first season underwhelming and the second one even less impressive. Most TV shows peak somewhere in the second or third season. But it took The Wire five full seasons to tell its story in full. And boy, does this story seem complete. Or completely open-ended. Maybe both; the game is the game and the systems and institutions portrayed by The Wire are broken. Players from all sides will continue to take advantage of this corruption and misguidance long after individual people are forced out of their roles through death, incarceration, or retirement. It's all connected, and cyclical, and life goes on. Creator David Simon alwyas claimed that Baltimore itself was the main character of The Wire, and that it only served as a specific (and especially bad) example of the American city in general, and by extension, America. Having soaked up all sixty episodes over the past year or so, what impresses me most is the patience with which Simon told these stories and connected everything together. It's as realistic a fictional TV series as I've ever seen and yet it's incredibly heart-breaking and depressing and even, at times, darkly, darkly hilarious. And it earns every single emotion it elicits out of you; this isn't just a show where a B-character can die while sad piano music is playing and it tries to cram tragedy down your throat. No - those who die in this show, or get axed, or arrested, or injured, or whatever, they do so in cold silence and are never seen again in flashbacks or dream sequences. Just a fantastic show overall and I absolutely can't wait for friends and my own girlfriend to give it a try. It's overwhelming at first, and more "work" to get through than any show you've probably ever seen. (Although I've heard Game of Thrones throws about fifty characters and ten plot lines at you from the get-go, too.) But damn, is it worth it. Just follow my own trajectory of Wire season reviews here on Back-Blogged and see for yourself. But yeah. Great series, great season, great ending. Shows like this one just don't come around often enough.