So I love a lot of prestige television, stuff like True Detective S1, Breaking Bad, Mr. Robot, etc. all some of my favorite shows.
I feel it in my bones that I should love The Wire.
I have tried giving it a shot. Twice. I've watched the entirety of season 1, I had a little difficulty following it the first watch, but the second one I was getting it. I did enjoy it, thought it was very well written and had a good flow to it, very grounded. But something wasn't clicking, I didn't really feel super invested.
I stopped halfway through season 2. I'm well aware season 2 is the "low point" I kept meaning to push through it, but I kept pushing it back for other things. Now I'm so far out I feel like I need to just start over again.
Can someone maybe lay out just why I'm feeling like it isn't "hitting" with me? There's a few characters I really loved, Omar and Bubbles mainly, but I just didn't feel that grip, or that tension. I felt no real climactic moments were hit in season 1, and the ones I thought should have been fell a little flat for me. Am I missing something? Is season 1 just slow? Do I need to keep pushing?
The wire tells a story of baltimore over many chapters, like a book. Season 1 introduces you to the core concept and characters, but doesn't really advance the story. Season 2 shifts focus away from the characters, towards people that only really appear for one season. This is purposeful, because the wire isn't about individual characters, it's about the city. Season 1 is about the drug war that's plaguing the city, season 2 is meant to be pulling you back to examine the wider part of the city, and how outside corruption creates these problems that fuel the drug war. The connection between season 1 and season 2 doesn't really become apparent until the end.
Season 3 and 4 and 5 are where you get to the meat of the show. They've introduced you to the war, and to the city, and after that it's time for the wire to say things about what they mean and how they tie into larger politics and corruption. In season 2, it's still laying a lot of ground work. Every detail matters in the end, you can't get into the things it has to say about the war on drugs, education, and corrupt politicians until you lay out the setting as seasons 1 and 2 do.
Unlike many shows, the wire doesn't really have self contained seasons. They usually don't wrap up in happy ways, there isn't a "they got him!" moment. It's not supposed to be like that, reality doesn't quite work that way. This is less a story meant to entertain with beats, and more a long form essay on what society in america is. It's ugly, brutal, and rivetting.
To clarify, the story of Omar and Bubbles does return and become the central focus in seasons 3, 4, and 5 again. But don't expect a satisfying three-act story regarding them. It's more about following their life, and our lives aren't wrapped in neat packages.
Here's a good breakdown which might spoil some things, but the real message of the wire isn't the story, so spoilers don't really matter too much. It's the message it's deliverying through the story. The Wire has
a lot to say about education, no child left behind, city politics, corruption, police brutality, post 9/11 federal investigations, the war on drugs, etc. It really needs to be seen to get the message:
I wouldn't call The Wire prestige television. When I think of prestige television, I think of high production values, cinematic shots, complex story telling with machiavellian beats, etc. The Wire is more like a docu-drama. It's fiction meant to teach about real problems. It's an examination into the ills of modern America, as honestly as possible. It's not game of thrones, it's David Attenborough's Planet Earth for the War on Drugs, just using a fictional backdrop.
Let me give you a taste of The Wire at it's best, when it's speaking it's messages most clearly:
