‘This America, man’ – the true message behind The Wire, 16 years on

Sixteen years and 60 episodes on from the airing of the finale, HBO’s The Wire firmly remains one of the most acclaimed and loved TV shows of all time. The ever-chaotic city of Baltimore stages the four seasons of drug-fuelled havoc, and after two days and 12 hours of television, you will feel like a true ‘Baltimorean’. For all its bloodshed and plot twists, The Wire beholds both solemn and sanguine storylines, as well as undercutting morals.

From detectives to gangsters, and hustlers to straight-up killers, you get caught in between two minds with The Wire. You will be questioning if you should be taking a look at yourself in the mirror for having a soft-spot for a shotgun-wielding criminal. Whether through the eyes of Bubbles the ‘dope fiend’, or the troubled yet lovable homicide detective Jimmy McNulty, the show encapsulates personal lives entwining themselves within each and every character. The production is simply one of a kind; you could watch all four seasons several times, yet it is impossible to single out a single ‘main character’ – that just makes it so incredible. The show almost ignores the standard, particularly for its time; on a brief glance perhaps unclear – yet everything revolves around the city of Baltimore. David Simon engineered a masterpiece which was not about the people, but merely the city as a whole.

Baltimore is the crux of all, the show’s message simply an amalgamation of the characters’ stories. The audience is taken on a rollercoaster of corruption, heartbreak, and despair, set on foundations of both community and friendship. It tackles the societal par for many people, from which blossoms a both relatable and profoundly obscure piece of genius. Themes of assumed ‘do-gooders’ and wrongdoers are prevalent and the prejudices of these supposed groupings are tackled by subtle implications that many of these wrongdoers endeavour to be good, yet are thwarted by society.

The character arcs detail the intent behind the show; America’s culture is bemoaned as some are beaten bloody and hopeless by the system whilst others become entrapped in the clutches of the country’s drug problem. Drug culture is illustrated powerfully through several scenes, yet a scene wherein younger ‘players’ are playing checkers on a chess board, before the older dealer teaches them chess, symbolic to the supposed modern day glorification of drug selling as an idealistic walk of life, is particularly strong.

“The pawns, man, in the game, they get capped quick. They be out the game early.”

D’Angelo barksdale, ‘The Wire’

Thirteen hours of excruciating worry and faith await those in The Wire‘s finale season, which many advocate to be the best of the four. It tugs at the heartstrings, casting the viewer as a powerless onlooker, as the lives of Duquan, Bodie, Randy, and Michael take the spotlight. Season Four draws the curtains on the stories and lives of the characters, whom at this stage, you will likely feel attached to. An extremely intelligent conclusion to the journeys of the characters (and the city) is offered, as events come full circle to the closing narratives.

Perhaps you can take people out of Baltimore, yet you cannot take neither Baltimore out of the people, nor ‘the Baltimore’ out of Baltimore itself. The show attempts to highlight the problems that modern-day society faces, and how change, although intended permanently, is often temporary, as in the words of Bodie: “Don’t matter how many times you get burnt, you just keep doin’ the same.”

You can’t sit down and turn The Wire on to have in the background. It will grip you from the very beginning. It’s 60 hours which you’ll be wishing you could have back, all to watch it from the beginning again.