If like me you've been struggling after the BBC forced us to go cold turkey by temporarily stopping the broadcast of The Wire after season 1, you'll be glad to hear it is back on air tomorrow (Mon 4th May 2009). Yes it is time to "re-up" on the The Wire.
The characters you loved from the first season Jimmy McNulty, Stringer Bell, D'Angelo Barksadale, Lt Daniels are back and joined by new faces as the action spills out of the Projects into the Docks of Baltimore.
Season 1 was great but if aficionados of the The Wire are to be believed season 2 ranks as one of the best of the five seasons, so get ready to be entertained and educated by the greatest TV show ever.
Sadly the BBC seems to have changed their minds again as they plan to now broadcast it three days a week rather than the five days we were initially promised. They really need to decide on how they are going to broadcast this and stick with that decision. It is bad enough broadcasting it so late at night, messing around with the schedule will tap the will of even the hardiest fan.
A good thing though is that this season there will be a repeat over the weekend, when the week's three episodes will be repeated back to back
So far the current Broadcast schedule for Season 2 is
Episode 1: Mon 4th May 11:30 pm Episode 2: Tue 5th May 11:20 pm Episode 3: Wed 6th May 11:20 pm Episode 1-3 : Sat 9th May 1:20 am
Episode 4: Mon 11th May 11:20 pm Episode 5: Tue 12th May 11:20 pm Episode 6: Wed 13th May 11:25 pm Episode 4-6 : Sat 16th May 1:20 am As more details come through I will post them
Season 1 of the Wire came to an end this week on the BBC. People have been going around saying this is one of the best TV shows ever. That's is a load of BS. It is THE BEST TV Show ever.
Despite the BBC for some unfathomable reason scheduling it at midnight, the show has been madly addictive not just for me, but for about 600,000 other hardy folk, who have tuned in for each showing. A fantastic viewership for that time of the night and on BBC2 as well.
The show has everything, the character and plot development is superb. It is telling that despite an above-average sized main cast, you still feel a strong connect with all the strands involving the various characters.
You see the bleakness of "the game", the euphemism for the world of drug dealing infesting the Housing Projects of Baltimore that has entrapped Avon Barksdale, Stringer Bell, D'Angelo Barksdale, Wee-Bey, Poots, Bodie, the tragic Wallace and others. The frustration, corruption and machinations that engulf the Baltimore police force, McNulty, Kima, Bunk, Lieutenant Daniels and the rest of the cops.
You see glimpses of the how tragically officialdom is disconnected from the realities of crime and policing on the street, as it chases statistics, closure rates and photo opportunities for the media.
You would be sorely mistaken if you think this is some sort of police procedural drama or a Cops and Robbers thriller. The Wire doesn't do simply analogies, it explores the complexity of all the characters, it delves into why there is very rarely black and white, but only endless shades of grey.
The tragic story of Wallace epitomises what The Wire is about. Born in to drug infested world of the Baltimore projects he knows no world outside "the game". He has no moral reservations about "the game" itself, in his moral code "the game" is a given the only questions are how "the game" is played.
He is the witness to a particularly brutal murder and he begins to question the rules of "the game" he is abiding by. A fatal mistake, the life he lives tolerates only absolute loyalty, and when the loyalty is under question tragedy swiftly follows. It is the tragedy of Wallace that gives us two of the most powerful scenes in season 1 of the Wire.
The murder of Wallace by "his boys" Poot and Bodie on the orders of Stringer Bell.
D'Angelo who had tired to warn Wallace of the danger his doubts would put him in confronts Stringer Bell over Wallace's death
The season 1 of The Wire has delivered in spades and with four more seasons to go, it going to be a great Spring TV-wise. BBC has taken a break for snooker (typical!) but The Wire will be back for season 2 on the 4th of May.
