Posted on January 28th, 2010 by Samuel Walters
“The world is a smaller place now.” – The Greek
“Stray Rounds” is an episode that features plenty of action and intrigue. But it also runs aground due to the same, overly simplistic portrayal of the upper echelons of the police force. Also, the episode almost entirely underplays its most tragic moment – after being way too obvious about the revelation itself. All told, this may be one of the weaker episodes of the series thus far, at least in terms of the craft with which all of the various elements came together. Even so, it’s an entertaining and compelling installment.
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Posted on January 20th, 2010 by Samuel Walters
“How come they don’t fly away?” – Ziggy
“Duck and Cover” is the kind of episode that a series needs in order to move the plot from Point A to Point B. But on the balance, it doesn’t have a whole lot of inherent value – beyond being part of the larger story. In that sense, the episode is a miss, because it’s relatively unable to generate a self-contained thematic, character or plot elements. Fortunately, because it’s working off of the exquisite work done so far, the episode is nonetheless enjoyable to watch.
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Posted on January 17th, 2010 by Samuel Walters
“Don’t worry kid, y’er still on the clock.” – Horseface
“Backwash” is an episode about fallout. The consequences aren’t especially character-driven, so much as they are narrative-driven. Even so, it’s a solid installment, thanks to a number of compelling scenes – and an overt display of selflessness, regardless of what the personal or professional costs might be. As a result, “Backwash” continues the tradition of episodes from The Wire that remain compelling from start to finish.
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Posted on January 9th, 2010 by Samuel Walters
“It don’t matter that some fool say he different…” – D’Angelo
“All Prologue” is an episode about history and consequences. It’s an episode about how we are a sum total of our experiences and, more importantly, our choices. In many ways, it’s still a meandering affair, but the emotional pull of the season is beginning to build. With luck, the title might indicate that this episode is the end of the buildup … and the beginning of some legitimate payoff for all the character and narrative work being accomplished.
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Posted on January 6th, 2010 by Samuel Walters
“They used to make steel there, no?” – Vondas
“Undertow” is an episode about how necessity and greed drive people into darker and darker avenues for themselves. A great deal of the episode is spent on the costs – of living, of doing business, and of, simply, surviving in a world which doesn’t look too kindly on those who find themselves on the short end of financial matters. There’s a smaller subtext of loyalty, but with the pressures of making do on limited resources, loyalties become strained.
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Posted on January 3rd, 2010 by Samuel Walters
“If I hear music, I’m gonna dance.” – Greggs
“Hard Cases” continues the now-typical season 2 formula of presenting a veritable kaleidoscope of character sketches to move the narrative forward. I don’t think it helps the individual episodes a whole lot, making them often disjointed or unfocused. But as the season has progressed, the cumulative effect of this approach has meant that the very complex interrelationship between all of these characters and events makes for a very plausible and compelling overall story – even if the characters themselves aren’t given the deep exploration that they enjoyed in the first season. Such is the “case” here.
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Posted on December 30th, 2009 by Samuel Walters
“What they need is a union” – Russell
In many ways, this season of The Wire is darker and grittier … but it has yet to live up to the consistently stellar output of the first season. “Hot Shots,” however, is a clear improvement over its predecessors. The narrative, while still sprawling, is much more tightly knit. And the characterizations begin to have some real payoff. The result is an episode which, though a bit uneven, pushes characters and events along much more consistently, and with greater purpose than any installment so far this season.
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Posted on December 25th, 2009 by Samuel Walters
“They can chew you up but they gotta spit you back out.” – McNulty
“Collateral Damage” builds on the foundation established by the season premiere. As expected, the narrative is less overwhelming, and more easy to navigate. That’s not to say, however, that there’s an explicit focus. There’s a kind of scattershot approach which, while easier to follow than the premiere, nonetheless slightly dilutes the impact of each plot thread. There’s a very delicate balancing act at work here and, as yet, the season has yet to find its footing. The result is another strong episode, but one which isn’t quite as successful as, say, season one.
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Posted on December 23rd, 2009 by Samuel Walters
“Ain’t never gonna be what it was” – Little Big Roy
Season Two of The Wire kicks off with the aptly titled, “Ebb Tide”. The episode itself is modeled very closely on the approach of the Season One premiere to simply throw a whole lot of narrative and character elements at the audience and hope they hang on long enough for it to survive the experience. Considering the success of Season One to make sense out of it all, it’s quite likely that Season Two will see a repeat performance. Throw in a bit of familiarity with the returning characters and the results aren’t nearly as disorienting. But with the familiar characters predominantly in new places, once again, the episode makes for a challenging viewing experience.
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Posted on December 20th, 2009 by Samuel Walters
“All in the game.” – Traditional West Baltimore
With “The Sentencing,” the first season of The Wire comes to a solid, if somewhat ambiguous close. Without giving too much away, this is a circular ending which, through its construction, provides some of the most compelling commentary on the fundamental state of society. Indeed, the whole cyclical nature of the events of the first season are a microcosm of “real life” in this country. With that in mind, the stylistic decision of the circular ending is exceedingly poignant.
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Posted on December 10th, 2009 by Samuel Walters
“This is me, yo, right here.” – Wallace
I suppose if you had to summarize “Cleaning Up” in one word, it’d be: heartbreaking. The penultimate episode to The Wire’s first season is tense and emotional. Amazingly, it isn’t played for cheap melodrama, either – even if it does feature one of the more graphically violent scenes in the series thus far. Perhaps the biggest theme of the episode is one of desperation … how it can take over and drive people’s actions. With pressure mounting from the investigation and from police brass, there’s plenty of desperation to go around. And when that happens, things go from bad to tragic.
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Posted on December 8th, 2009 by Samuel Walters
“Dope on the damn table.” – Daniels
“The Hunt” is an exercise in both solidarity and self-preservation. As a followup to easily the single most eventful scene of the series thus far, the episode had a lot to accomplish – and it navigates the waters rather well, considering how much was at stake for the characters and the series itself. More importantly, it continues the balanced, complex explorations of character and theme that have become a hallmark of the series. To that end, the events seem plausible – even if they are maddeningly mind-numbing in their pettiness.
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Posted on December 2nd, 2009 by Samuel Walters
“And then he dropped the bracelets.” – Greggs
After a meandering, almost nonchalant buildup, “The Cost” ends with the most riveting and visceral moments of the series thus far. Make no mistake, this is a deep episode, with plenty of important character and thematic moments tucked into its mostly easy-going narrative. But what it will be most remembered for is the final climactic scene which forces the audience to confront the consequences … the cost, if you will … of both hubris and pride … and the dangerous repercussions of doing business on the streets.
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Posted on November 29th, 2009 by Samuel Walters
“Maybe we won.” – Herc
“Game Day” picks up on a theme given prominence in the previous episode and makes it into an explicit narrative thread for this particular outing. Of course, The Wire continues its very high level of success, with characters and plot threads being skillfully interwoven into a cohesive episode. As the title suggests, much of the action is centered around a “game” of some kind. Sometimes it’s all in good fun. Others … it becomes a matter of life and death. In this respect, the episode provides a number of scenes to raise questions: To what extent do our lives revolve around playing some kind of game? To what extent are those games healthy or destructive to those around us.
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Posted on September 30th, 2009 by Samuel Walters
“Come at the king, you best not miss.” – Omar
“Lessons” is a solid character-driven episode. It is, perhaps, a bit more difficult to watch than most installments from The Wire because it features a number of scenes which, while important for the series, really ramp up the conflict. Fortunately, these moments are balanced with one of the few real “action” sequences we’ve seen thus far, as well as a surprising revelation about one of the characters. All told, despite any bumps along the way, the episode once again demonstrates why The Wire is an exceptionally thoughtful and purposeful series.
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