this season was hard to watch because of those kids. but its the reality of the drug trade, kids who get caught up get caught up really young, its a vicious cycle. and yeah, this show maybe the best drama ever. its sensational like most television, but its great and I think it displays the no win situation the drug war is. the way this show hits all levels, children, schools, street dealers, drug lords, the guys who bring the drugs over, politicians, junkies, detectives, police chiefs, its amazing to think that make a story out of each level in almost every episode.
The way the four kids ended up the season was incredible. Spoiler Namond, the wannabe hardass from the hitman family, consigned to the street life by his own folks, ends up in the best situation and basically goes straight when he has the good fortune to meet up with Colvin. Michael, teetering on the divide of the dark side and the light side, turns into a borderline, stonecold killing semi-sociopath (his descent is complete when he takes the Ring (symbolism there?) from corrupt cop Brown in the Alley) - with the softer side that protects & raises his brother and Dookie, and - though I'm not certain, I belive the last guy he klled was the guy who shot cutty last week. So there's some twisted good still in him, he's not totally Darth Vader like Marlo, Chris & co......yet Dookie gets a ray of hope with Prez and then in the end, social promotion puts him on the corner, slinging rocks, which is just - wrong. For him you kenw that he had no hope to begin with, none in the end. The worst and most heartbreaking is obviously the fate of Randy - probably the "most likely to succeed" of the four kids, who gets the cruelest blow of all when the system fails him, it gets his foster mother nearly killed and sends him back to the hellish life in the group home, where hsi fate as the snitch is basicallly the junior version as that of poor Bodie, who is also a guy who developed from a common thug into a likeable character due to his establishment as an honorable thug - not unlike Omar, though obviously not as charismatic as Omar - but then again, who is? Omar is up there with Al Swearingen among my all-time greatest TV characters (i loved the deadwood reference, that was awesome) No justice - the kid who acted out (Namond) got saved (for now) and the kids who did the right thing (Randy, Dookie) got f-cked over by life. When I watched the last few episodes I couldn't help but think bac to the very beginning when the kids were hanging out in the alley just being kids (like how the other kids that Carver chased out at the end were). In the first episode, you recall they were fighting other gangs of kids with piss-filled water balloons. Basically kid stuff. Then at the end, Michael is training with paintball guns w/killers Chris & snoop and then they're in shooto uts for real.
I don't have HBO, so I haven't seen much of The Wire yet, but I 'm about to start getting it on DVD. I did hear an excerpt on Fresh Air the other day of a scene where the ex-cop turned teacher is in the classroom and as someone who worked with those same Baltimore kids, it really rang true to me. If you like The Wire, I highly reccomend reading David Simon's and Ed Burns', The Corner.
Here's a pretty good article in Salon about the end of this season. http://www.salon.com/ent/tv/review/2006/12/11/the_wire/index.html
The other subject the show tackled and took shots at was bush's education system forcing these schools to score well on these standardized tests to get more funding. how many of you guys have been watching this show since season 1. so many of hbo's programs decline by their third or fourth season, this season of the wire may have been the best television ever.
I started at season one and first got hooked because of the great characters (Omar, Stringer) but that's just the initial hook, after a while the story pulls you in. I'll never forget a few of the scenes from that first season, like the hurt, angry D'Angelo screaming "Where's Wallace! Where's Wallace String!" at Stringer Bell as he visits him in jail.
I've watched every ep from S1. This show is hands down, the best drama in the history if TV, imho. Every character on this show is complex. Avon Barksdale is still my favorite character though. Omar is a close second. I don't think that was Monk who Mike did in last night.
Never watched until this season but a great show. Was sorry to see the season end and that's when you know a show is good. Sad to hear next season will be the last as well.
