"The Wire Season 2" A Messy Stumble to Good


     Look, I kind of get what they're doing? But to be honest this season can be described perfectly by a conversation between two characters, Herc and Carver. All they say is that they're not respected, and they're just asking what the hell they're doing here? And honestly? It's easy to say the same for much of this season. Don't get me wrong, it's not enough of a drop off that I'd call it disappointing, but it's just really messy and all over the place. In another twist of irony, a perfect comparison also happens this very season, where Major Valcheck asks what the hell the detail is doing, and why original target is just in the small corner of a piece of a board. Let's talk about it.

    Frankly, this season is messy, not in the sense that it's hard to follow, but it feels like a show that's trying to serve two masters, keeping the original cast of season one around on retainer, while also trying to explore a new aspect of Baltimore in the crumbling port industry. I mean they try really hard to stick to these changes, McNulty, who I thought was one of the main characters, spends over half of this season just dicking around on a boat being depressed trying to get back with his wife. Then by episode seven the showrunners stop dicking around, put him back where everyone wants him, and everyone acts like he was always part of the detail, because by then there's only like five episodes left, it'd be pretty weird if he just did nothing the entire time. 

    It's not like they aren't setting things up though, they're clearly sowing seeds of disagreement between Stringer and Avon that are going to come back as soon as Avon gets out of prison, and by the end of the "detail" Kima and Jimmy were already back on Stringer and his connection to Prop Joe anyways. So, even if you consider this season a boat that veered in the wrong direction, they seem to have enough sense to let already start self-correcting. I mean seriously though, Herc and Carver were basically non-existent, and McNulty was sidelined for most of this season, it almost makes sense as to how the Greek got away so easily, even if the detail ultimately achieved everyone's personal goals.

    That said, I didn't mind some of the new additions, though I was a little disappointed with how unfinished the resolution felt, though I assume they'll revisit in in the end. I mean I like Spiros, his character seems cool, and you know what? I kind of enjoy Nicky, even if he's a little plain. I don't know if I can say the same for Ziggy though, who I understood his character, I just expected his outcome to be a little less self-inflicted. Though of course I do feel bad for Frank. All of this to say is that this season has all of your favourite characters, but everything's just kind of thinned out as they clearly try and do some setup for next season.

Final Score: 70/100

    I mean this show still fixed my attention span, it's not like I had that much trouble keeping up. I will say that at the very least I did expect this coming in from season one, everyone did say that this season was very divisive for some reason. I mean if anything is a test of patience it's this show it's a slow burn all the way through, though I didn't think season 2 would be that much slower compared to season 1. Either way, I am excited to see season three. Hopefully they don't have to spend like 2-3 episodes getting everyone together again as usual. I mean this season was still good enough that it convinced me to find new means to watch it more consistently, Either way, I know I'll be back writing that season three review soon.

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