Criminal Psychologist Tony Hill assists The Police with all manner of complex and disturbing crimes. The show and books are dark and twisted. Not so much as an offhand reference, and that goes not just for the journalists displeased enough with our newspaper tale, but for the larger number of commentators and critics who thought we did swell. The only story that I noticed that the newspaper missed was when they mentioned Prop Joe. Only silver lining to that dark cloud of a series. Cocaine Bear is based on a true story but the events especially the ending are very different. Six years later. That being said, I think what was really being pointed out here, is that the sorts who were under the feeling that the blacks were ruining the city, more or less knew quite well that such levels of corruption in the legal bodies was not limited by race, as Season 5 shows, and that just like w/ many of the black characters, many of the white characters benefit professionally for their lies, cover-ups and stat-jukings. To me, The Wire was told as an epic novel. It was nuanced and I really saw Gus as the lead protagonist of this season and lester and mcnulty as shifty antagonists. I loved the series. I would have liked to have seen more scenes with randy & neymond though just to make it feel like they hadnt been forgotten especially as Michael & dookie didnt even mention them by name about same with nick sabotka maybe a conversation about the docks with someone after abusing the mayor & kracheck I like how it felt like a big open world & people could bump into each other. But most of all, that poor child Duquan who did nothing but suffer from beginning to end. I am a detective investigator and I am very critical with "who done it" crime solving type movies. The people changed but the game remained exactly the same. Is McNulty still clean etc. Well now, its been a week sinceThe Wires final episode and a certain calm has descended, leaving a little less agita and a little more reflection. A moment for one last question: The man who plays Tony Hill, the psychologist, is great. And no, I think season five achieved its goals as the other season, with me being no closer to the world of journalism than others on our writing staff were to the other worlds depicted. The Wire is my favorite show of all time, but Season 5 was definitely the weakest. Now its so hard to even rank the seasons because they are all so important to the overall story. You had the ambitious lying dick with no redeemable qualities, the very honorable and honest veteran, some young black guy who covered Bubbles, the villainous senior editors, and a girl who was a good reporter. I certainly read that last post and thought thats angry. That was the critique. Omar and Prop Joe were the last good guys among the bad guys and both of them had to go down, while Snoop the Psycho Bitch who deserved at least a few weeks of good torture gets off easy with a single shot to the head. Eventually I bought the box set a few years ago and binge watched all five seasons. Im interested in becoming a cop there. Or are you just that pissed and depressed about the world that you cant help but force your misery on your viewers? I got my invitation late in the mail and I may as well just see all the videos and photos and banter about it on peoples social media profiles. I would not recommend this show for anyone under the age of 16. Did you always have in mind from the start to have the fake news/fake crime stories play in tandem? When the big bust happen since the wire to wasnt legal I figured Marlo was going free. David, I just wanted to take a brief moment (6 years later) to thank you for both an amazing show and this write up of your thoughts and insights into S5. One last thing though .Duquan. Ps. No show has ever, EVER done that. It was as good as I remembered and then some. My comment amounts to little more than unwanted negative feedback for a show that ended 5 years ago. Hi there, I read through a few of your articles here. BTW please make enough money to buy The Baltimore Sun and give it the love it so desperately needs. Copyright 2018 David Simon. I had no memory of this series, he forgot the name, I researched it and found it. I would really appreciate any help Season five was the weakest season imho. There were still good journalists in our make-believe newsroom, and they did some good work just as there are still such souls in Baltimore and every city laboring in similar fashion and to similar result. Whatever you say, arthouse. Season 4 was the hardest for me to take. We did that, too, because hey, to criticize such a newsroom culture did indeed carry those risks in Baltimore. Grim. I just marathoned the entire series in less than 2 weeks (okay, so Im unemployed & have the time on my hands) and now I see why The Wire got so much acclaim in its day. And Kima, would she really be snitching on them? You made an impact on me David. The writing was a train wreck, the characterization limp, the acting and plotting, shameful and shameless both. Marlo gets away clean and he keeps his money, Avon lives happily ever after in prison, McNulty gets screwed, the lying reporter wins a damn Pulitzer, and oh yeah, OMAR GETS KILLED BY A LITTLE KID?! And unsubtle. Web2. I confess I thought that journalism was still self-aware enough to get it, that enough collective consciousness of the crafts highest calling remained, that reporters still worried about what their newspapers were missing. Comparisons with "Cracker" seem off the mark to me. The fact that my appreciation for every single season changed over time due to rewatching the show over and over, proves how good this series as a whole really is. No one went near the theme; everyone stayed dead-center and literal, oblivious to the big-ass elephant in our mythical newsroom. McNulty, Frank Sobotka, Carcetti (at least in season 3), Colvin and Prez). We have some of these initiatives in the UK but Im not sure about the situation in the US, and Im curious to know what you think. In closing, I missed you Mr. Simon, coming to do a panel at my school Washington State University in 2012 I think it was, because I had no idea about the show at that time. Endless repetitions of the words "of course" are truly the hallmarks of a second rate detective production. The acting is first rate but a few of the episodes really have huge gaping holes in the plot. But the fifth-season story arc began with a wonderful bit of adversarial reporting on deadline good, clean newspapering it was. I HOPE THEY COME OUT WITH MORE SEASONS!! Well, okay. The great irony (relative to the final season) is that the criticism being leveled against NCLB and the war on drugs was lost on the real-life media in the very same way that The Wires Baltimore Sun missed those very same things in the show. Each episode is someone chained up. Damn, I think I might just sit down and watch the whole thing again to see what else Ive missed. Of course, its all still out there, and I can find it and watch it and still enjoy it all, but I feel like Im a decade late to the party. Im so glad I got to bear witness to it, even if I was late. A police psychologist pursues a serial killer who tortures homosexual victims in increasingly gruesome ways. If I didnt know the show was set in Baltimore it just as easily could have been set in Lanham, Capitol Heights, District Heights, Temple Hills, Forestville. Im nitpicking though I loved seeing the little references to old characters even sourvino being in the final series Top series. I found it as an interesting way to dispel the notion that one given group of people is more inclined or indoctrinated to corruption and lies than the other, but also that in any given sector of a society, you will usually find it is those who know that very truth full and well, who perpetuate that lie, in order to make themselves feel better about their shortcomings. He hated closing those foreign bureaus and cutting back further in the newsroom. | I wonder what were missing?. WITB is a dark, gritty, British crime drama that most all will heartily enjoy.. should you like the genre. If your a fan of the genre and have not yet discovered Dr.Tony Hill I recommend that you do. I just recently bought the Blu-ray box set as well, just to have it in both editions and to see the reunion at the Paley Center. The newsroom story arc wasnt lost on me i believe some of the characters in the newsroom just didnt grip you as much as the other areas which makes it seem the weaker part. 2) As for the WORST McNultys supercop character finally jumped the shark. So lets happily concede that all criticism stands and get to the real fun. If you took out subjective arguments about popular entertainment, the nation would free up a lot of bandwidth and many repetitive stress injuries would be avoided. Well played. The bodies are then found in areas The creative and honest mind of the writers is put on the screen with a quality job of directing. I always thought the crime reduction % that Colvin reports as a result of his Hamsterdam experiment were too low. And again, great work on this terrific series; dont let the naysayers get to you on Season 5, I found it every bit as good as the previous 4. It would be better if he was slick like the Will Grayham character in red dragon. This statement is meant to include: Mark Letheren(DI Kevin Jeffries); Emma Handy (DC Paula McIntyre) and Peter Sullivan (ACC Paul Eden). Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Incredible. Otherwise this character seemed to constantly walk between the raindrops rarely suffering real consequences for his selfishness. I wanted to like this show, really, and Robson Green is an interesting actor, but it just doesn't cut the mustard for me. Like another commenter, I only noticed the Prop Joe story being missed/overshadowed by the Sun. We do what we do and people are free to react as they will. I meant To say Roger Twigg. A good newspaper covers its city and acquires not just the quantitative account of a days events, but the qualitative truth and meaning behind those events. In Baltimore, where over the last twenty years Times Mirror and the Tribune Company have combined to reduce the newsroom by forty percent, all of the above stories pretty much happened. It is important to give the newcomer a distinctive identity. The Lester wed come to know was indeed a maverick, but not a moron. Righteous journalism that makes a good reporter get up in the morning. The systemic problems of the DMV are way too deep and the people in charge are way too invested in their petty self-interests to ever have it another way. Its a great show! By that, I mean the sense from many of white politicians in the city holding this belief that the city was corrupted because blacks were the ones that made up the majority of the police department, and had a black mayor in Royce. Wish there was more, or at least a book. But why would he go around looking for Marlo, wasnt he a bit smarter than that? Everything that happens on this show is explained, the more times that you watch it through. When we were beating the story out, Bill Zorzi wondered whether in the final episode it might be necessary for Gus Haynes to vocalize the theme, to turn to Alma or Luxenberg or some other character and say, Were so thin, and we waste what little resources we have left on the wrong things. For me, its all of a piece. Can you give any specific insight into why Marlo was let to walk away unscathed. the biggest feeling that I was left with was that of Newtons Third Law of Physics, the action-reaction law. As Tony Even recently I remember watching CNN and they were covering the Treyvon Martin case seemingly 24/7 and in the news ticker at the bottom of the screen there was the briefest mention of some protest in Egypt. The excellence of Seasons 2 and 5, and how they are an integral part of the whole, are particularly revealed on repeat viewing. since 2010 ive been watching the wire every year (2 tiems this year mind ) Ive tried many times to get family and friends into it and it never happens which really upsets me very much, quite simply the wire has the best charaters, the best acting and defo the best script ever. Fielding is a single mother with a son and a cat, yet in the second episode of s4, "Torment", the writers were able to slide her easily into the role that would have been Norris'. Has the city cleaned up. Wow, I cant believe that went over my head too David. It was fuckin awesome. All 24 episodes are great! Im vaguely reminded of the backlash we (I) felt when Seinfeld came to an end, having been blinded to what we were ignoring for so long that the hyper-reality we were caught up in seemed like the be-all, end-all. I feel as if I understand it better and see more with each viewing. Its like the artist was told by everyone hes a genius, so he gets an inflated ego and starts throwing out abstract garbage and lording over it with the ultimate smugness. Take it light but take it. [] The Wires Final Season and the Story Everyone Missed, by David Simon []. how many years you figure we been doing the same shit.. Given the corruption in the Baltimore you portrayed, it isnt hard to imagine an offender being released for even more serious charges. The plan immediately backfires as Adam is zapped through the chains and he awakens. It had been on my entertainment backlog since 2002 Id got hold of the first season before it had been shown in the UK at all being a quality TV (and I apologize for using this sensitive word considering the context of various storylines) junkie, but for various reasonsI was deferring gratification if you will. Im literally addicted to this show, and watch it through at least 3-4 times a year. Crown me up and kneel, ya bitches. 7.2 (359) Rate. Robson Green thinks a US remake of his noughties ITV series Wire in the Blood could be "brilliant". Not everything can have a happy ending, I understand. but I believe even his murder would have been more satisfying for viewers who were waiting for his comeuppance. I love game of thrones (but its too quick imo), but The Wire is the best. Great. And I thanks you for that, because you gave us a piece of truth storytelling. His rogue decision to stage serial killings was believable but Bunks toothless response and using Lester and his involvement to give credence to Jimmys scheme went beyond the pale. And why would carcetti suddenly give them all the money? The writing, the directing, the acting, the story arcs: are all amazing. If you have not watched any of these, please go for it and watch them in order. I loved how the series showed its one big circle & for everyone person saved bubbles theres a dookie, Marlo trying to become stringer but him being more like avon, Michael becoming the new Omar & many more. And the depiction of the weak-willed, money-grubbing, ring-kissing top brass at papers was spot-on, too. After a while, we tired of the gore and wished the series would end. We told the precise story we wished to tell and what happened was supposed to happen. WebRobson Green (Grantchester, Touching Evil) plays a clinical psychologist called in by the police to help investigate serial killers in this acclaimed mystery series based on the books by Val McDermid. All the characters have distinct and believable personalities. The cutbacks, management of local papers by big out of town conglomerates and lack of attention on complex issues is something we see in the UK too. 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