The Wire Season 5 (1-3)

Netflix
Official Site
Trailer


Episode 1

In the beginning of many of the episodes they have a vignette that doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the rest of the show. This opening episode has one of those vignettes and it reminds me more of my old favorite television show Homicide than ever before. The way the cops play these two corner boys against each other with such simplicity and humor is phenomenal to watch. Another set of great scenes to watch for in this first episode are the introductory scenes where we get to meet the newsroom. Bitter and cranky experienced folks schooling the newer reporters are not only hilarious but somehow endearing as they whip through language that just amuses the crap out of me.

Episode 2

As the budget problems with the city become nearly ridiculous there is a real feeling of claustrophobia present in these episodes as you watch. It is played for a kind of humor when McNulty (Dominic West) takes a bus to inspect a dead body to see if they need to rule it as a murder or just accidental death. It is played for humor but the anger, the frustration at the reality of the situation is clear. Also as the stories begin to develop and twine together it becomes clear that the new story about the reporter Templeton (Thomas McCarthy) is going to piss me off as we progress through the season. God do I hate a fucking liar. I get the pressure he is under to produce good copy to keep swimming amongst the small pool of quality journalist, just the same kind of pressure that makes McNulty lose his good sense, snap and falsify a murder scene later in the show. But it is so hard to watch and not want to reach through the television and smack the ever-loving snot out of people as they make the wrong decision. God I love this show for making those horrible decisions seem so very feasible.

Episode 3

I’ve always sort of been on the fence about Marlo (Jamie Hector). You watch this show for a really long time and you kind of get favorites, and Marlo never really resonated with me, but there were always things I liked and disliked about him. In this episode those things kept swirling back and forth as he went through all the steps to get rid of his competition, Prop Joe (Robert F. Chew) by learning all the tricks from Prop Joe which is not exactly likeable, but is something one can admire. Then he had Butchie (S. Robert Morgan) tortured and killed to try and find Omar (Michael K. Williams) and that just breaks the heart. This episode is an emotional rollercoaster ride watching as McNulty gathers up the head of steam to try and make his serial killer case to succeed. Is he gonna get caught? Is he gonna pull any of his stupid bullshit off? Is he at any point going to stop being such a fuck-up and remember that he isn’t the kind of police-town and actually do something honest for once, like stop drinking himself to a pickled state, or go home at a reasonable hour, or do investigative work on a file that is something real instead of fabricated? Very very emotionally wrecking episode.