Wherein The Wire Crushes All Hope

Oh, jesus. This blog. I love it so much, but sometimes it's hard to decide what to put here. Television hasn't been that great in the past week - I mean, sure, Bored To Death has been fantastic, you should all watch Bored To Death. Boardwalk Empire is having a much better season, due entirely to the awesomeness of Sexy Richard Half-Face. I watched the first episode of Downton Abbey Season 2, which was beautiful and amazing and everything I wanted it to be and I will post on it very soon but I don't want to ruin it for those people who don't watch all their tv on the internet and actually wait for things to air on a regular television set. All I'll say is that the Dowager Countess does NOT disappoint. I was going to write about Up All Night and how it is definitely the best new comedy of the season but then time got away from me and all of a sudden it is Wednesday and I decided I can write about that tonight or tomorrow but just saw there's no new episode this week. Speaking of lack of newness, I finally decided I was gonna do Glee recaps and then stupid baseball happened and is still happening and hopefully there will be a new episode to make fun of very very soon. And then I WAS going to write about How I Met Your Mother but this week's episode was decidedly lack-luster and oh man do I hate Nora but I hate even more the implication that Robin and Ted might get back together because ugh, let's leave that dead horse to be dead on the ground without beating it any more, shall we? So - now you can imagine all the alternate timelines wherein I actually wrote about those things, and we'll move on from there in this, the best and most real timeline (the evil version of me definitely lives in the HIMYM one).

I'm almost certain that part of what has been causing my blogger's ennui is that I've been watching a lot of The Wire. It took me a really long time to actually want to watch the show, because I have issues with anxiety and depression and mostly The Wire looked like an incredibly dark and depressing show about drugs and corruption. And guess what? Turns out The Wire is an incredibly dark and depressing show about drugs and corruption. That's not to say it's not good. Obviously it's good. But I don't think it's so much for people like me who lovelovelove comedy and think that every great drama should include a little levity (remember when Ms. Blankenship died and they had to wheel her out of the office without the clients seeing and Harry is all "My mother made that afghan!"? That's what I'm talking about.), and those who are also just naturally anxious people. WARNING: do not read any further if you have not seen The Wire and think that you might someday want to, because I'm about to get all kinds of spoiler-y up in here.

That is not to say that The Wire doesn't have its humorous moments. It does! But they are few and far between. What it has a lot more of are moments when something finally seems to be going semi-okay in this fucked-up mess of a city and then twenty more terrible things happen. The Wire seems designed to crush and destroy hope. Thinking back onto ALL the characters, there are only a couple who come out better or the same than they went in. Namand. Stripper/Informant from 1st season. Lester. Cedric Daniels. Everybody else is just fucked. Or dead. Or both.

Which brings me to my primary complaint: they keep fucking killing off all of my favorite characters! Just as I start to smile when someone is around, or just when somebody starts to find a little bit of redemption, they get offed. First Wallis. That was awful. Then D'Angelo, who was so interesting and nuanced and I understand why they killed him, plotwise, but I still don't think they had to. Followed by Frank Sobotka, Stringer Bell (!!!) followed by a ton more, culminating in Bodie's killing at the end of Season 4. JUST as I had really warmed to Bodie and started to forgive him for killing Wallis - boom. Deadsies. Hope: shattered.

Because the other side of it is the police and the politicians don't ever accomplish anything. And yes, I understand that that is THE POINT and we're all supposed to see that this situation is hopeless and that Hamsterdam can only last for so long and that Tommy Carcetti may seem like The Great White Hope but he's really not and nothing ever changes and I GET IT. The Wire is trying to change what we expect from our television: namely, escapism. The Wire is the opposite of escapism. It is This Is The Reality Of The Fucked-Up World We Live In. But if I wanted that, I would watch the news (which I don't, because it triggers my anxiety. I read Twitter and watch The Daily Show). I just wish The Wire would have made SOME concessions to the audience. I'm only two episodes into the final season, but the fact that they've pushed McNulty back into the depressive, lecherous drunk role really irks me. Oh, boo hoo, he's a detective again fighting against this crushing system instead of just being a carefree beat cop so now he's gonna drink and cheat on Amy Ryan - NO. I never really liked McNulty, but that is just a slap in the face to the audience. You give one guy - ONE GUY - a little bit of redemption for like, five minutes, and then snatch it all away at the same time you kill Bodie? Bah.

I'll get to what I do like about The Wire in a minute, but my final complaint is that the themes and motifs get pretty heavy-handed at times. This show could take a cue from Mad Men and integrate a little subtlety into the writing. There absolutely could (and should, maybe I will teach them once I get my PhD) be classes taught on The Wire, but sometimes the writing veers too precisely into college essay territory. I don't want to feel like I'm being taught a lesson when I'm watching tv.

Here's what I do like: How completely The Wire places you in its world and provides many, many different perspectives on it. How the show doesn't do too much judging, but allows you observe and make connections for yourself. Any part of Season 4 that involves the kids, I thought that was fascinating. The acting (especially Idris Elba and Michael Kenneth Williams and Amy Ryan and the dudes who play D'Angelo and Pryz). Bubbles. I love Bubbles. And Omar. Omar is The Best. Remember when him and his Latin Lover stole the whole shipment? That was awesome. I could spend a whole semester talking about Omar and sexuality and gangsters. Omar is fascinating.

I will finish the series because that's what I do and I would like to know how it ends (will fucking Marlo finally get what he deserves? I hate Marlo, I thought the introduction of his character was where the show really started declining). My final thought is that I appreciate the artistry and the political subversion of The Wire - I just wish it didn't make me feel so miserable inside. After being in Oakland last night and listening to the helicopters harassing the Occupy Oaklanders and then hearing from friends of mine who were teargassed at a peaceful, constitutionally-protected protest and completely mistreated by the cops and their elected officials - I really don't have a desire to watch more of a show that portrays the shittiness of our world. I know it's shitty. I fucking live in it.

We will return to our regularly scheduled jokes as soon as possible.