Life After ‘The Wire’
It’s coming.
The end of The Wire.
I actually googled “Life After The Wire” the other night. I really wanted to know. It wasn’t much help.
I only have one Netflix DVD left. This is terrifying.
Roughly six months ago, my editor told me “The Wire” was required reading for cops reporters. I didn’t understand. He told me to get a Netflix account to watch it.
Out of obedience, I did.
Wow.
I’m sure I’m the 2,615,274th person to espouse on this, so forgive me, please.
— Warning, HECKA spoilers (and maudlinness) ahead —
The story is truly brilliant, nuanced and multilayered and so incredibly beautiful that it takes your breath away.
I’m scared to watch the end.
I’ve only cried from The Wire two times so far. The second time happened minutes before I wrote the first draft of this post. The first was when Pryzbylewski shot and killed another cop, and I mistakenly thought it was Carver, lying dead in the street.
A longtime familiar sight to look forward to at night.
The second time was when Micheal dropped Bug off in the last episode of the second-to-last disc. The foreshadowing grows so rampant even the characters seem to know the curtain is coming.
Something tells me I’ll be crying by the end of the last disc.
My favorite character from the beginning was Stringer Bell. Shrewd, handsome, forced to make tough decisions and ultimately a victim of his own hubris, chasing rags-to-riches too far. I felt betrayed when he was killed, a harbinger of the Shakespearean slaying of characters yet to come.
The Wire parallels the genetic profile of any great novel. Of Anna Karenina or Crime and Punishment or The Adventures of Augie March. You get sucked into this huge undertaking and there’s so many characters and subplots and politics and symbolism that you get lost in a great muck and are looking for the light at the end of the tunnel. You crave that sense of accomplishment, but as it nears, you fill with dread, rationing out the last few pages like medicine on a battle field.
The catharsis is temporary. Life goes on. There will be another storyline, but not another McNulty, or Kima, or Bubs.
I know this all sounds so silly … it’s a TV show, for Pete’s sake. Written by a former cops reporter, no less. You know what they say about those cops reporters … (Of all the characters, I’m probably closest to Alma, I think.)
It still feels like the end of an era, at least for this reporter who still feels bright green in the ways of the real world, although that particular shade of green is growing more olive than emerald. (I hope.)
I’m ordering one of David Simon’s books to hemorrhage the bleeding.
Life After “The Wire.”
Apparently, it’s a thing.
I’ll find out shortly.
Filed under: Uncategorized | 5 Comments
Tags: books, crime, grrrl, journalism, TV & movies
the rikkipoo
I like newspapers and cardio.
I think my favorite was Jimmy McNulty as the lovable screwup but the last season I kinda hated him. I actually liked Omar Little for the longest time just because of all the trouble he stirred up.
Were you around when Victor and I watched the last season on the TV in the editor’s office?
I had to put off editing pages when it was on.
I’ve watched it through like 4 times. On my blog, I had a few posts where things I encountered working the beat reminded me of the show.
Sadly, I haven’t come across a show that has been as good as The Wire. Closest is maybe Breaking Bad. If you haven’t seen the BBC miniseries of State of Play, definitely check that out. Generation Kill as well.
@Brian No, I think I was still terrified of you guys at that point!
I remember you guys watching in the editor’s office. “Had to” put off editing pages = everyone else “had to” wait.
But then I watched it later that year and understood. I remember reading the extremely lengthy Wikipedia entries about each character, in withdrawal, when I got news of all the Spokesman layoffs. Work timing ever.
I just finished it myself. I dragged it out over seven months, but WOW it was rewarding!
I think my favorite character was Bubs for sure, and everything that led to the emotional scene in the finale where he finally talks about Sherrod. That whole process he went through reminded me of going to A.A. meetings that my dad dragged me to as a little kid.