HOT ON THE WIRE
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A joke version (Woody Allen?) of the old saying goes something like, ‘Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach. And those who can’t teach, teach gym.’ I’ll add my own variation. ‘Those who can’t teach gym, sit in front of their computers all day, criticizing everybody else for trying to teach or do anything.’
I’d like to think that this column is not criticizing so much as guiding others to do whatever it is they’re doing better. Some people get all defensive and take it as a hate-loving, backseat driving, armchair quarterbacking, negative naybobbing.. well, you get the picture. They don’t like it. ‘Constructive criticism’ to some is simply judgmental raspberries from the cheap seats to others. Which one are you again, Statler or Waldorf?
To show that it’s not all about the flaws and the missteps and the eye-poppingly egregious, this week we are all rave, all column. Nothing but the best and the goodest in the most obsequious tone I can muster. Toss aside your January blahs, folks, I am so going two enthusiastic thumbs up on all your asses with this one.
Gather around the campfire, my tribe, and let me tell you about the greatest one-hour drama ever produced for television. The Wire. If you’ve been watching it, I’ll hazard a guess at least 90% of you agree with me. If you haven’t, commit the title to memory and run, don’t walk, to the nearest video outlet and rent Season 1. You have to start right from the beginning (which may be one of the reasons the show hasn’t generated the kind of following it deserves), otherwise you’ll be lost and never catch up. In fact, if you still have some Christmas money rattling around in your pockets, go and buy the first season of the show. You’ll treasure it more than any five or six director’s cut movies you’ve purchased recently. Trust me.
Now a quarter way through its fifth and final season (I tear up just writing that), The Wire continues to stun and amaze. For anyone who has ever entertained the notion of writing for television, bearing witness to this show produces strange, mixed feelings. Two parts, man I want a crack at writing something that substantial; one part, I will never write anything that good so I’m walking away from the keyboard forever. The complex narrative with unforgettable three-dimensional characters has demanded, at times, immediate re-watches even before the end credits finish rolling.
The premise of the series is simple enough. A select group of police detectives are set up to bring down a drug ring that rules the low income housing of west side Baltimore. Change the locale and you could have any generic television cop show over the past 30 years or so. For The Wire though, its premise was merely a springboard to a much bigger storyline examining everything from the war on drugs and homeland security to the politics of policing and political corruption. The city of Baltimore, Maryland serves as a microcosm of 21st-century America. In the very first scene in the first episode of the series, Det. Jimmy McNulty talks to a witness at the murder scene of the stupendously nicknamed, ‘Snot Boogie’. It seems that Snot had a habit of joining the Friday night crap game, playing until there was a lot of money in the pot before grabbing the stash and making a run for it. Usually, he just got beat up for his efforts but on this particular occasion, someone shot him. McNulty asks the witness why, when Snot Boogie always tried to steal the money, they would let him play. Like this was the stupidest question ever, the guy simply responds: Got to. It’s America, man.
Got to watch The Wire. It’s America, man. No show I remember has so fully scrutinized the national psyche of the country with the nuance and unblinkered gaze as this show. Yeah, the verdict is bleak. Politicians pad their bank accounts and make decisions based almost exclusively on taking the next step up, from mayor to governor or state legislature to the U.S. Congress. The police brass never buck chain of command, leaving the cops on the street perpetually under funded, understaffed and out-gunned. Barely a thought is given to the underclass, the homeless, the junkies, the inner-city school children, outside of how they affect official statistics. Only the drug ‘families’ seem to adhere (albeit brutally) to those mythic American qualities of hard work, loyalty and meritocracy.
What makes the show so exceptional is it doesn’t even work out as clearly as all that. Sometimes the bad ‘good’ characters behave nobly. Sometimes the good ‘bad’ characters operate in the most reprehensibly venal fashion imaginable. It’s impossible to know who to root for aside from the most vulnerable and you hedge your bets that way because you know, as in real life, they rarely make it out in one piece.
When a tiny ray of sunshine does break through the cloud cover, you glom on and savour it as absolute proof that despite all the shit, things can work out. My personal favourite so far is the character of Officer Pryzbylewski. His transformation from an unstable but connected cop to an upstanding, contributing member of society over four seasons was not only hard won but truly heart-warming, uplifting and, even for a cynic like me, inspirational. Despite the darkness in which The Wire largely dwells, the possibilities for redemption and justice make it compelling, even compulsive, watching.
Many critics have commented that The Wire is the closest that moving pictures have come to achieving a truly novelistic scope. I’d go one step further and ask what recent novel rivals this show for its complexity, ambiguity, intrigue, large cast of riveting characters, and epic scale of personal and public morality? Being a fan of The Wire means never having to say you’re sorry for watching television. While it may only be a coincidence that the show made its debut in 2002, I think it’s apt The Wire aired smack dab in between 9/11 and Operation Iraqi Freedom. After the attacks, we went weak in the knees, eagerly putting our trust in our leaders to protect us and bring the perpetrators to justice, only to be betrayed by those in positions of authority, manipulated by their less-than-virtuous ends and simplistic Manichaean views. We are now living in a world hobbled by this failure of leadership. The Wire brings that notion home each and every Sunday and that’s where you’ll find me; watching the show to see how it’s all going to play out, fingers crossed that someone, anyone, can pick through the debris and walk away unscathed. Once you give yourself over to it, my bet is that you’ll feel the same way too.
There. My rave is done. Don’t ever let me hear you complain again that I never have anything good to say about anything.
