Mar 18 2010
The Wire = good viewing
A simple equation, yes, but true none the less.
As I mentioned in my earlier post, I’ve just gotten through watching the first season, and this is a truly underrated television show! I didn’t know what to expect before I actually started watching it, but it had been recommended by a good source so I decided to give it a shot.
I knew I had some spare time over the weekend as my computer was playing up so no LOTRO – bloody video card – which lead me to download the series off of iTunes. I was hooked in the first episode. This is seriously well done, I have to say. The characters are nicely believable, and none are caricatures, which is nice. I really enjoyed being brought along for the ride in the first season, and watching how the characters developed.
For instance, in the first few episodes, the character of Pryzbylewski was so irritating, and I thought, a terrible, terrible, cop. After getting to the end of the series, though, you see he’s a product of his environment.
It’s a bit of a shocking look into the policing system of the U.S., too, I have to say. The show is heralded as one of the most realistic portrayal of police in the US. That’s a scary thought, really. It’s so… business like, so concerned with stats and ‘clearances’ that it’s disheartening.
You see the good guys having to fight just to have a chance at the bad guys. That’s another thing, the bad-guys are also portrayed quite realistically. It’s a sad world they live in, and they take one of the most common roads in it, which is turning to violence and drug selling.
After enjoying the first season so much, I went and bought seasons two, three, and four on DVD as they were really cheap. It was odd to see them so discounted, and it’s odd to think that the show never really won many awards when it was hailed by critics as a marvel. Nonetheless, I’m just starting season three now, and it’s shaping up to be another good one. Season two was less my thing than the first, but it was still good, and I think season three will be more in keeping with the first. Off I go to watch a few episodes!