The Wire (TV Series) -30- (2008) User Reviews

The Life of Kings

[lesedicarlinphaahla · 10/10 · 25 January 2021]

...The original title of this episode, a quote from H. L. Mencken. It refers to the occupation of news reporting, Mencken found such a life rich with color and meaningful experiences. No doubt, over the course of 60+ hours David Simon a former reporter himself, took us on a colorful journey with tons of meaningful experiences.

Now that we've come full circle, we've seen a lot of characters do that too. Sydnor is the new McNulty whispering in Phelan's ear, Michael is the new Omar, Dukie is the new Bubbles, Fletcher is the new Haynes, Marlo is the new Stringer, Chris is the new Wee-Bey and Carcetti is the new Royce, having forgotten his original purpose and promises from when he was still on the public safety committee and running for mayor. McNulty? Well he put it perfectly in Mission Accomplished (2004), "The things that make me right for this job, maybe they're the same things that make me wrong for everything else."

Simon and his team wrote all these characters in this way to remind of us the show's central theme: we are bound to certain institutions and in order to break away, we'd need to walk away from everything we know. Take Cutty for example, he was one of the few characters on the show whose resolve changed but only because he walked away from everything he knew, same with Namond and now with Daniels.

However the majority of our beloved characters never break free from their institutions, and that is what I love most about the show.

Excellent ending

[chowdhuryarindam5 · 10/10 · 12 June 2015]

It was a perfect ending to a perfect show. This show is about how the world in reality looks like. It really catches the light of the working ways in the police department. How politics affect the lives of everyone, rather it be the cops or the gangsters. Now Let's talk about the finale. A new generation is coming. The old ones have to go. Characters like Naymond, Colvin could have been developed more. It shows us that people who cares only about the job and not the stats don't remain in the game for a prolong duration such as McNulty, Lester or Daniels because the game is rigged. All i got to say about the finale is : The game remains the game. Only the players change.

The best

[hareemmalik-34480 · 10/10 · 22 May 2019]

A great series ended with a great episode. Hats off to the writer especially for writing this amazing series. It's called a TV novel for this reason. The way it dwells upon the viewers is fantabulous. The series was moving, gripping, cunning in it's own way. The slowness is its greatness. The finale is really really good. This is the best season of all times along with the sopranos, hats off. The pillars of TV

Season 5: It works despite being rushed but is in the shadow of the other seasons in every regard (MAJOR SPOILERS)

[bob the moo · 30 September 2008]

Your fighter has dazzled for all of the rounds so far and you know that, if he just hangs in there, that he will claim his title, so you can forgive him tiredness, errors and perhaps some basic moves. So, unfortunately, is it with The Wire – it has been so brilliant for so long that a sub-par season is forgivable as long as it is never "poor". Of course "sub-par" for The Wire is better than most other things on television and season 5 functions generally very well. Endless good moments, classic exchanges, strong characters and the narrative arch of understandable pessimism all continue from previous seasons. The problem here is that the entire season is built on a thread that never seems as real or convincing as everything else always has. Colvin's legal zone was not "realistic" but within the context of the show it felt true and right. The serial killer thing does not right true until late in the season (which is partly it moving into a bigger thread and getting past the detail) and it does undermine the show when it is the majority of some episodes (as it is in the middle). It also feels obvious and the way it would fit into the media arch was signposted from the very start. It doesn't help either than the media side is woefully underdeveloped (by Wire standards), with the characters being basic and uninteresting by comparison with those we already know. I was surprised by how one-dimensional the news room was – it was nowhere near as clever as it thought it was or needed to be as a thread.

Not that the returning characters get treated that well either. Omar is important within the Marlo thread but otherwise his revenge mission just feels like it is filling time: his death is the biggest impact he has and that is very well done – a reminder to the viewers that, just cause we have elevated him, he is not even worthy of note outside of his immediate streets. If you have made it this far then you will have heard me be very critical – which is essentially a sin on these pages, however I would stress that I did still enjoy season 5. However it is hard not to feel it is a lower quality product whenever large chunks of it are so convenient and obvious where before it is subtle and intelligent. Not all of course, but when it happens it jars and, as much as I enjoyed the ending I did think that I could have gotten the echo of old characters in the futures of others without it being done quite so clumsily (Sydnor talking to the judge, Michael going Omar right down to the shotgun?). Fortunately much of it is of a high standard and in a way it then pains all the more to have such large portions of it that don't match up. The smaller moments feel true and produce many wonderful moments of comedy (McNulty's "killer" being nailed by a psyche profile), pain (Dukie selling his relationship with Prez for a high), shock (Omar, of course but also Joe's demise). Such moments are everywhere and, even when just "OK", the season is still worth watching.

The cast continue to be excellent regardless of what the Emmys say. West can't convince me of his jump, but his self-awareness is very real as it comes through and the season treats him well – letting him have the final word. Peters does his usual stuff but struggles even more for his step. Pierce is good even if his material is mostly being flabbergasted by what he sees. Lombardozzi, Gilliam, Reddick and Lovejoy all play their parts well but I'm not sure what Sohn did that saw her character pushed up a corner apart from once or twice. Royo is less central but no less engaging than normal, while Williams cements his own legend that he will never escape – even if his material is generally weak in this season. Hector continues to be a menacing figure – so cold and expressionless for the majority, it only means he is genuinely terrifying when shouting about "his name" in latter episodes. And then there is Kostroff, Akinnagbe, Crawford, Wilds, Whitlock etc etc – so many good turns it is impossible to list them all. I liked Johnson in this but the majority of the news room suffer from thin material in their performances. Not sure what all the background cameos were in aid of – maybe they have done it before but here I found Belzer and Simon to be distractions, although I did like the inclusion of the real woman from The Corner, since the show always had mixed "unknown" actors and "real" people to good effect.

As a total product, season 5 is very good – it is just unfortunate that it is preceded by greatness and looks lesser by comparison. The narrative is not as strong and it does feel all rather rushed and cluttered where once it seemed to have all the time it needed to fill each hour with little details, patience development and layering to allow multiple viewings. Still, it is better than anything else I have ever seen and I can forgive it its weaknesses as it does work overall as a season. Fans will have known how it would end, as all seasons end with "business as normal" going ahead but it does close with just an edge of sentiment but not even to cheapen the close and as "The Fall" played for the last time I did feel a certain amount of loss. Season five isn't a triumphant closer but it does well enough to satisfy and not tarnish the overall show in any way and, as a fan that is more than enough for me.

Beautiful finale

[cuddlesatusc · 10/10 · 5 August 2021]

Absolutely one of the best series finales I've seen. At the end of the day, it's all about the character of Baltimore and America. I like the fact that this finale's closure is somewhat similar to The Sopranos finale, the ambiguity element for the fate of Baltimore. It wrapped up every character fairly well, namely Bubbs/Reginald's ascent up the stairs. Those final shots will stick with my forever. Thank you to everyone who worked on this masterwork of a series.

A Balzacian Fresco

[rfndayitabi · 9/10 · 20 August 2022]

The Wire is a series on the American City understood as a concept or as the Absolute Whole. It is also a series that tries to confront us with the problems posed by the police, politics, the press or the school. Four different backgrounds of course but similar because they are interconnected. In this way, it is also the contemporary family - or at least a certain form of it - which is exposed with its ups and downs. The Wire is thought out and lived as a coherent whole: if you are shown season 3 when you have not seen the second or the first, do not start! If you can watch "The Big Bang Theory" each episode individually by varying the seasons, nothing like it in The Wire. The scriptwriters have not minced the work of the viewer: a fact mentioned, a line of dialogue, a seemingly innocuous gesture, etc., can each anticipate and/or recall another sequence from the series. In addition, these anticipations and reminders are created between the characters in order to signify that the different environments shown on the screen form a single whole. The Wire is therefore a series with a reinforced concrete scenario even if it is not free from bias. The Wire must therefore be considered as a novel whose episodes are so many chapters that must bring us to the end.

Paradoxically, his immense qualities did not allow the series to be a success with the public at the time of the broadcast. The cast, made up of 85%-90% African-Americans, is probably not for nothing, but does not explain everything. If I tell you that season 2 was the most followed when it is the one where the cast is mainly white, does that surprise you? The racial question is, as we unfortunately saw again during the summer of 2014, very present in the United States. Perhaps what really kept The Wire from becoming an Emmy regular like The Sopranos were was his very constructed side. Certain sequences or lines of dialogue can only make sense after several viewings of the same episode. At this rate, the show's writers and cast didn't expect to take home many accolades. It wouldn't be surprising if they even took some pride in it...

Great episode of a great season

[851222 · 10/10 · 17 December 2023]

Greetings from Lithuania.

-30- - was the last episode of Season 5 and "The Wire". It was excellent, yet felt a bit to rushed. The story here was superb and i liked how it all turned out, yet this season needed for 2 more episodes to flesh out the story more. It felt like there was to much content and not enough time - especially in the last episode which at running time 1 h 30 min was constantly running at breakneck speed. Therefore few more episodes like they did in previous 4 seasons would made this season better, but even despite this flaw it was superb.

Overall, great episode of a great season.

Scott Templeton sleez writer of the year In BA lol

[nicktusk-95591 · 10/10 · 12 February 2022]

Say when McNulty calls out Scott Templeton it's absolutely priceless love the show it's been 20 years running enjoy. Homeless, drug king pins, politics , drug addiction, and fake serial killers if all comes to a crashing end in a brilliant series . Hint the part when bubbles hands his sister for crabs , in the basement she's listening to the theme for David Simons other hit show "The Deuce"

A classic finale with brilliant character moments.

[snoozejonc · 10/10 · 27 January 2023]

The top brass are aware the serial killer is a fake, whilst Pearlman and Levy discuss Marlo's crew.

The writers explore the fallout of McNulty's scheme in typical The Wire fashion by showing all the human flaws in various institutions. Lots of personal interests are prioritised over everything and as much as certain moments should frustrate and anger the viewer, they feel ultimately plausible. Thankfully, some rays of light involving certain characters shine through all the darkness and are enjoyable moments to behold.

It is impossible to reveal much plot detail without spoiling, but it's safe to say that all characters have the opportunity to shine and no matter how much the players change, the game stays the same.

All actors are on great form, signing off in style.

The visuals are spectacularly good, as is the choice of music. Certain street scenes and cityscapes are used perfectly to conclude what is probably my favourite television show of all time.

My only negative about the episode is that it is the last one.

5x10

[formotog · 8/10 · 31 August 2020]

A really good way to end the show. I love all the complexities that go into an absolute bombshell of a situation like the fabricated serial killings one. The Wire is really good at the really fine details like that. It was pretty obvious going into it that McNulty would not be a detective come the end of the episode, but to be fair I thought he'd be in handcuffs but he got away with that one. Levy was a great and I think very underrated character and he definitely put up a fight all the way to the end. Ironically, Marlo walked, but I think that this time around that irony could be seen from a mile away seeing as the show has done it before (Stringer killed right as police get him). So essentially, McNulty sold his soul for no reason. Another fairly predictable element was the copycat killer for whom they could pin everything on. It was fairly convenient writing, and I think the last couple of seasons, the writing definitely wasn't as good on the whole. I do think pretty much every character got a good amount of closure, even if some of them were pretty heavy-handed in relating to an older counterpart, particularly Michael and Omar. The journalism angle ended on a flat note and I didn't get into that plot line for the entire season, probably the only one across the whole show that I didn't at least tolerate eventually. I think apart from that, though, this episode was on the whole a really good send off for all of the characters, filled with great moments, like the interrogation room door opening to reveal Rawls. There were some also really nice shots of Baltimore, a reminder that this show isn't just about Baltimore, it IS Baltimore. I'm not the biggest fan of this show, but at the end of the day it has some of the best writing, characters and dialogue of any show I've seen, and this finale definitely supported that

Btw Nerese Campbell is actually extremely hateful

Mid 8

Levy ain't that stupid!

[snikwas1 · 8/10 · 7 June 2009]

This final season, although great, for me threatens to be let down by a small but important point, that in the end proves essential to the narrative: how could someone as wily and smart as Levy (the lawyer), who works for totally bent clients and who is himself completely bent, employ an ex-cop such as Herc, AND sit around scratching his head and wondering how it could be that the cops got Marlo's mobile number and managed to get a wiretap up on it to bring down the operation? It smacks of writers sitting around in a room going "hmmmm....how can we get lester up on that wire?..hmmmmm...I know! What if Herc.....". Such a silly trick is not in keeping with the usually very clever writing on this show.

All still in the game yo

[caballero-19 · 10/10 · 4 September 2023]

The Wire last episode might be the best one of the whole series, the titled card in the beginning is 'The Life of the Kings' it's basically what the show is all about. I was very intriguing about how the show was about to deal with the gangster stuff, because they can close a police case like in the previous seasons and take it for granted, but what about the streets? That stuff is never done so how it was going to be in this last episode? Well, David Simon worked out an incredible and affective finale in every aspect of the show, specially for this last one, the criminal tide might be down for the moment but it'll be high at some point now with the new players replacing the ogs, it's incredible how I could recognize the old patterns and schemes, that means that they did an excellent job setting up the world of The Wire through all the seasons so you can feel that something changed but also everything is the same. The show is over when Jimmy McNulty is not longer a police officer, he was the head and soul of every case since the beginning, so it makes senses that David S shut the party down when the main character's development is not longer in relation with the other points of interest of his creator.

I have to say that I was so moved when I see the conclusion of Reginald (Bubbles), I can't be more happy for him... Michale being the new Omar was an unpredictable and perfect way to draw the never ending violence circle.

Excellent conclusion to an excellent series...

[Red_Identity · 8 July 2011]

In this review, I will not only review the series finale, but the season as a whole as well, with a lot of spoilers, so be ready.

I think ending a series is always difficult. How to do it? Tie up everything without succumbing to other's opinions? Not tie up everything? I think that the series finale was excellent. I am left feeling more than satisfied as to how it closed. The show stayed true to what it had promised all along- to tell honest stories about honest people. I use that term loosely, seeing as how that wasn't the basic theme of the season.

It is a shame that the season was cut short because of the writers' strike, but it still remains an excellent season. I have heard some complaints, mostly about the storyline that ran through. The storyline about the 'serial killer'. I admit, I was a bit skeptical, simply because describing it one can see that this is perhaps the most outlandish storyline that The Wire has ever conceived. It's not that it's bad. It isn't, not at all, but one wonders how that would work in context with what this show is about. Everyone is used to The Wire having story lines that are extremely grounded in realism, story lines that can happen in cities like this at anytime. The Wire isn't a show that is built on an outlandish storyline like, for example, Breaking Bad is. Breaking Bad is an excellent TV show. In fact, it's the only show that is on the same level as The Wire, BUT it's premise is built on a storyline that runs through more absurdity when described. That is not bad at all, it's just it's identification and it all plays excellently in the show. But The Wire isn't like that. It has never built it's identity around story lines like that, which is the reason why many people perhaps didn't take to this storyline and what it brought. However, it isn't a fault at all. This storyline basically gave us more explanation on why the writers decided to play with the print news media. If anything, this season has shown just how 'dirty' even the good guys are. It doesn't come out of character though, since we are used to Jimmy McNulty.

I do want to say that I am glad that we were able to expand more on Michael and Dookie's storyline, while the other two boys from the fourth season Randy and Naymond weren't. That is because the two weren't involved with the central threads of the season. We did get a glimpse of them however, in episodes 6 and 9 of the season. As expected, Randy is heading down the wrong road, and Naymond isn't. What is perhaps even worse is Dookie's fate at the end of the finale.

I don't want to babble on and one, but overall, this was an excellent season. It was certainly the season that had me skeptical the most, but I think it all played well into the series. Great ending and conclusion to an excellent series.

Anyone Else Feel Just Slightly Cheated ?

[Theo Robertson · 10 September 2009]

This is it . It's the end of the line of what must be the most critically acclaimed series ever come out of America . However the majority of fans believe season 5 is something of an anti-climax compared to what has gone before and even someone like myself who wasn't really taken by the acclaim throughly enjoyed season 4 . Is season 5 as disappointing as is made out by the hardcore followers of the show ?

Due to circumstances of stupidity I wasn't at my most sober when I saw the first couple of episodes but the season changes and threads are easy to follow . Season 5 revolves around journalists from The Baltimore Sun and the police department trying to track down a serial killer who is murdering the homeless . Once again we're treated to a story thread that is different from what has gone before . The problem is however that there's a massive spanner thrown in to the works when it's revealed in the final episode that there's no serial killer involved and that the murders are completely random . It's not as bad as " Everyone woke up and it was all a dream " but it does make the previous nine episodes somewhat redundant , especially since the characters at the newspaper weren't all that interesting to start with

It also means that that the central premise of the entire series of the cops trying to catch the street dealers is sidelined . In fact it wasn't until the penultimate episode that I was reminded why the show was called THE WIRE . At long last the cops actually busted the dealers only to have their hard work undermined by legal technicalities . It perhaps understandable if this had happened in an earlier season David Simon might have needed to reintroduce the same plot twist in a later one which would have meant repetition for the viewer but there seems an lack of internal logic to this . Why wait till the penultimate episode ? Is it because the series is drawing to a close perhaps ?

It could have been worse though . We might have seen the series end in a similar manner to OZ where most of the main characters are killed off because the series is coming to an end no matter how ridiculous or illogical their demise . Omar dies as does Snoop and both die without any major build up which is in keeping with the style of the series . Bubbles kicks his addiction while Prez continues to make a difference to the lives of the ghetto kids

As for an overview of the series . I do have a couple of problems . One is that I'm a massive fan of OZ and unfortunately HBO has cast THE WIRE with countless actors who appeared in that show like Doman , Reddick , Lombardozzi , Williams etc etc , so I could never take to them because they'll always be Detective Mobey , Bricks Wrangler , Galson so on so on . The second problem is that despite claims that THE WIRE " has changed the face of television " it in fact hasn't . It's a show with a unique style that requires great patience perhaps too much for a mainstream audience and interestingly it has a style that other shows haven't tried to emulate . There might be a reason for this . After all how many crime dramas feature 60 episodes where the cops don't shoot anyone ? Portent drama that is perhaps too portent ?