Requesting details on "The Wire"

[Star Wolf]

Its just that everything else came off as more real then say CSI Miami except for that one legendary figure.

 

[nevermore]

The moral of The Wire, ultimately, is that all bureaucracy is innately evil and no real good can be done within it's confines. The whole thing is a raging rant against the inability of the government to deal with even the most basic socioeconomic problems in television series form. And it's a good one.

There are no real bad guys in The Wire, there are only bad institutions. The police department, city hall, the school system, the criminal organizations, and even the setvedores' union are all plainly and blatantly evil organizations populated by plainly good people. The dysfunction comes not from anyone within the organization, but from the bureaucracy and the politics. These organizations were not corrupted and are not corruptible, rather, they were born that way, it is their nature. And they simply tempt and corrupt and ultimately destroy and throw away any idealist who tries to use them for any sort of good.

The only people who can survive the corrupt system are those who are able to put aside their idealism and their empathy and do their job without concern for the suffering around them. The only people who can thrive are those few amoral individuals who know how to game the system for their own profit and are willing to do so.

The Wire chronicles the total, complete, and unmitigated failure of all those who want to make the city of Baltimore a better place. The victories, while many, are all Pyrrhic. Their losses far outweigh their gains. Meanwhile the few individuals who are truly villainous find that their defeats are simply avenues to greater victory and greater success. And despite it all, the gears of bureaucracy keep on turning, preventing any real change. Everybody is a cog in the bureaucratic machine, the only choice they ever get is what kind of cog they want to be. The little cogs persevere unnoticed, the big cogs get all the money and all the power, and the squeaky cogs get removed, replaced, and tossed in the garbage.

It's essentially a huge rumination on bureaucratic dysfunction through the eyes of people who really do want to make a difference but are beaten by the system at every turn.

It's sort of like Angel Season 5 without magic or demons in that respect.

And it is very, very good. It's well written, well-acted, well-directed, well-everythinged. Excellently-everythinged, really. It's made by a guy who knows Baltimore and it's institutions with the intimacy lover, and who takes great pleasure in drawing detailed pictures the city's metaphorical rectal polyps for us.

Thanks for the detailed summary. Not sure I'm thrilled about it being a very cynical view overall and that victories are minimal. Sounds depressing...

Welcome to Bawlmore, hon.

 

[Star Wolf]

It can also be Captain Furillo's Hill Street precient. Very few other shows get into what happens after the news confrence with the captured drugs and guns on display

 

[Deckard]

Outstanding series. I would say at least check out the first 5 episodes of season one before deciding whether or not it's your kind of show (I love the ominous tone episode 5 ends on)

If you like characters who are painted in more shades of grey than an English summer sky then you will definately like the show. And though it is depressing at times, the show contains some wonderfully dry moments of "gallows humour" (particularly from the Homicide Squad detectives) that makes the grim tone seem somehow easier to swallow.

The show was devloped by David Simon and Ed Burns. The former is an ex-reporter for the Baltimore Sun and the latter a former detective-turned-high school teacher and this gives the series a sense of authenticity that a lot of shows seem to lack.

To put it simply the very core concept of the show is: the individual versus the institution, and that no matter who you are (be it a cop, a stevedore, drug dealer, or teacher) you are ultimately compromised and hamstrung by whichever institution you've become a part of.

Everybody in this show has their place and the drama comes from seeing the struggles of the characters who refuse to know their places in their chosen institutions.

I highly recommend the show, so do a lot of folks in this thread. Give it a go and see what you think.