The Wire: Season 1

Copyright 2002, HBO Studios

What crime did I commit by missing The Wire when it aired on HBO between 2002 and 2008? Well, it doesn't help that the show's already left the airwaves and all the plot has been talked about online. Yes, I missed this show and have had to wait until the DVD release, but now I'm revisiting it, simply because more needs to be said about this show or, at the very least, its first season.

Even at the beginning, it's obvious that The Wire isn't just a cop show. The ads featured the most recognizable face, British actor Dominic West, but it's not about one character, and it's not really about cops and the dealers they're hunting for. This is a show about America, even if it may not seem like the troubles in the show are ones we're immediately familiar with. The hard choices, the political dealings, the humanism in even the most presumably evil characters, they're all here in the first season of this sprawling program.

How hard is it to talk about the plot? Well, how long do you have? How many words can I type without my fingertips going numb? Even the first season has so many ins and outs, so many characters who play a part in at least one episode, at least one scene, it's too much to talk about. The boiled-down plot goes like this: Jimmy McNulty (West) is a dedicated Baltimore detective who wants to bring down the drug operation run by Avon Barksdale (Wood Harris). In doing so, he winds up as part of a detail of cops mostly ignored by the higher-ups, because they care less about getting the dealers than getting a big show of taking their product and showing it off to the public.

Yes, the war on drugs, the neverending war. Why doesn't it end? Well, if this show provides any answers, it's that the people on the "right" side of the war, for the most part, aren't fighting the right battles. They're fighting the easy battles, the ones that accomplish quick ends instead of long-term ones. The Jimmy McNultys of the world are a rarer breed than they should be. McNulty is joined by enough people on his small detail to help slow down the Barksdale crew, but the long-term effects are small. Since the outcomes are going to be so disappointing in the long run, it's best to focus on the characters that David Simon and Ed Burns created to populate this world and the lucky actors who breathe life into them. There's West as the eternally self-righteous screwup McNulty; Lance Reddick (now seen on Lost and Fringe) as Lt. Daniels, the head of the detail; Sonja Sohn as Det. Greggs; Andre Royo as the self-aware drug addict/snitch Bubbs; Larry Gilliard, Jr. as D'Angelo Barksdale, Avon's nephew and one of the few who wants out of the game; Idris Elba as Stringer Bell, the businessman-cum-wise drug dealer; and Clarke Peters as Det. Freamon, a presumed dunce cop who turns out to be the savviest of all.

One of the reasons that The Wire, despite having five seasons and 60 episodes, never really got to the level of an HBO hit like The Sopranos was the lack of familiar faces dominating. Yes, West is a relatively recognizable actor, but even he isn't really the main character of the show, he's just an easy anchor. McNulty, while a character we root for, isn't nearly as satisfying to watch as Freamon or Bubbs or Stringer, who all have more surprising depths than the divorced alkie of a cop. Even Wendell Pierce, as McNulty's partner Bunk, has a fascinating layer beneath his cocky veneer.

Another reason the show never struck it big could be tied to its tagline: Listen Carefully. On one level, that refers to the titular wire the cops listen to, but it's really an instruction to us. Exposition is something this show will give us once and only the once. Don't expect to tune into the fifth episode of this series and know what's going on. Though it's easy to tell who's a cop and who's a dealer, will you remember William Gant and his assassin, Bird when they're offhandedly referred to near the end of the season? Will you remember their overall part in the puzzle? That Simon and Burns have respect for the intelligence of the audience is enough, but that their show merits as much, if not more, respect for the skill and craft of storytelling, directing, and acting, is amazing. If you have not watched this show already, you must start immediately. Though I'd rarely do so, this is a show worth buying, sight unseen. Just trust that you're in good hands with The Wire.

Four stars out of four