"The Wire Season 1" The Best Police Show Ever?


     Well I'll be damned. They actually did it. The Wire cured my attention span, at least for a season, and I have to admit it was great. I have constantly seen this show listed up there with some of the best TV out there, and I have to admit I was skeptical. I mean I did very much like Breaking Bad and The Sopranos, so how was this going to compare? But honestly, it's pretty damn good. Let's get this straight, it doesn't have really any flashy moments, you're not going to see some big moment of triumph where everything is right in the world. It's just a damn good police show, full of a lot of nuance, characters and some real moral quandaries. Let's talk about it.

    First of all, I'm no expert on Baltimore or the drug trade, but if you told me this show was as realistic as it gets, I'd believe you. The cops in this drama aren't just your typical good guys. A large aspect of this season was showing just how harmful the police/legal system can actually be. And it's not just about red tape either, it's about corruption that can come from all the way down top, everyone in the department not working with each other for each other, but working for each other for themselves. Even the best characters in this show sometimes resort to a little rule bending or police brutality, it really does make you feel like justice is never clean in this show. You can see it in McNulty just leaning back not celebrating a single thing even as Avon Barksdale is taken to jail for seven years. Or in the final scene where you still watch Stringer Bell continue to their operations.

    This show is grounded for better or for worse. Though to me, it's for the better. They even manage to end it on a relatively good note, everything feels like the strings sans Stringer Bell have been tied, yet you watch as Kima's in the hospital, Lt. Daniels got passed over, and McNulty is out in the harbor because he stepped on too many toes during the investigation. I'll admit it, I even felt kind of bad for Santangelo by the end of the show. I mean the drug trade moves on too. Even though they suffered major losses and were crippled heavily. At the end of the day Stringer Bell is a free man, and he just tells McNulty congratulations like it's just the cost of doing business.

    Speaking of which, talk about the acting on this show. While I was surprised to see Michael B. Jordan in this show, his acting was fine, but he was a kid so I don't really care. Can we talk about some of the people they hired to be in this cast though? I mean Michael K. Williams as Omar Little is great. Lance Reddick as Cedric Daniels might be a perfect casting I mean talk about a real stern leader. Or what about Clarke Peters as Lester Freamon, or Idris Elba? This show is full of great actors, and I really think that while it might not explode onto your screen, it doesn't need to, the writing just speaks for itself.

Final Score: 85/100

    I'll be honest I didn't think I'd be watching another show with hour long episodes anytime soon, but The Wire pulled me in. Furthermore, I usually don't comment on diversity, but for a show that started in 2002, and I was genuinely very surprised that Omar Little was gay, and Kima was allowed to be portrayed as a Lesbian. I've heard mixed things about season two, and frankly I want McNulty not on a boat? But we'll see how things go from here. I am very excited to watch this show until the end. So, you'll probably seeing a season two review from me sooner or later.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"McKinley Dixon - Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!?" Living Up To It's Name, and More

Image
      Do I listen to Jazz that often? Absolutely not. Do I know anything about McKinley Dixon? Nope. What I do know is that my friend Sweaty recommended this album, and when I listened to the track Run, Run, Run , Dixon's most popular track on Spotify I was absolutely hooked. All I know is that it is rated extremely high and it's very short for an album, so we'll see how that plays out. And without further ado, my track-by-track review. Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!? Hanif Reads Toni -  N/A Despite being over 2 minutes long I do think doing a spoken word poem is a cool intro. Especially with the music in the background, it creates this sort of tension and build up for when the music finally kicks in. Sun, I Rise - 80/100 Generally when it comes to rap music I'm not too picky about the songs in the sense that I just need a good beat and/or a catchy chorus to hook me, and the rest will come. I can confidently say that I feel that way about this song. The instrumentation in ...
Read more

"McKinley Dixon - Magic, Alive!" A Sonic Masterpiece

Image
    I remember when my friend Sweaty, first recommended  Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!? to me. I was floored. Frankly, I'm as basic as it gets when it comes to rap or hip hop music. I can count on one hand the artists from that region of genres that I enjoy, and one of them is Kanye West who I listen to in shame these days. Regardless, I fell in love with the blend of jazz and rap that Dixon brought to that record, so much so that when it came time to listen to this record I decided not to listen to any of the singles beforehand. After all, for artists I like too much I usually can't resist seeing what singles they're putting out, and for records I care less about I usually don't worry about spoiling myself. Of course, that's not to say that the track-by-track reviews I'm about to do are my first listen, I did want to give this album an initial listen when it first came out, just in case some of the songs took a while to grow on me, so without further ado, my track-b...
Read more

"Chef" The Perfect Feel Good Movie

Image
      I don't even know how to write a proper review about this film because truthfully it's been one of my favourite films for a very long time. I remember as a teenager when I was down I'd just watch it as one of those feel-good movies I could enjoy, because that's what it is. It probably won't leave a profound impact on the way you view life, but what it will do is leave you with that special, fuzzy feeling inside, and that's what's important. I mean what's not to like, there's good food, there's family, and there's a happy ending. Really, the only reason you would dislike it is because you hate food for some reason, or just are generally unhappy with your own life to be honest.     I think I'd like to address some of the common criticisms of the film right away, mainly the one about the plot being a bit thin. Honestly, it's a pretty valid complaint, it's hard to argue against the plot of this film being fairly straightforward....
Read more