Just finished watching the last episode of The Corner. It was pretty good as a precursor to The Wire, and kind of showed how good David Simon is at making you root for a character and then completely tossing that character into the gutter, which of course is kind of a regular move on The Wire. Good story, either way.

And that line McNulty has about Dead Meadow was pretty good. "What's wrong with the Ramones?" or something like that.

"There are two types of people in this world. Those who love The Wire, and those who haven't seen it yet."

Finished.

I am sad that, aside from these prequels, I have nothing else to look forward to in this show. But I'm also very satisfied with the finale, and given the quality of the previous seasons I wasn't sure I would be. I'm also sure I don't want the show to be resurrected, should that ever happen. I think that's a pretty high compliment considering I was rabid for more after each episode during the first 3 seasons and to a very slightly lesser extent with the last two.

I can see how people might have a problem with the final season, and I would rank it just ever so slightly below the other four just because of the suspension of disbelief required for the main plotline. It felt like the writers strayed from the "realism" to tell their fantasy of the way things ought to be. But in doing so showed that even if things go that way, nothing ever changes and it all turns to shit anyway.

This is the best TV show I have ever seen. It most likely will remain the best TV show I have ever seen.

You need to watch The Wire.

This.




...and this. But I will add that I think, all things considered, the hypotheticals are presented as realistically as they could.

Deep in S3 on my first re-watch.
Took longer to find its feet in S1 than I remember, and had much love for the dock boys whereas first run I thought S2 was a bit of a dip. I love tired old Freamon in S3, no longer raging to get out from under pawn shop, stuck doing the same old DNRs when the crews have all changed their practices and struggling to find an edge. Starts becoming a bit of a company man now he's got his feet settled under the table too - chain of command! Tension between Avon (who's just got out) and Stringer is good, that and Stringer starting to get fucked over by the suits in his expansion into development. He's never dealt with crooks like that before!

As Lovely Mrs H pointed out last night, I really can't remember what becomes of Bubbles, but I fear it's nothing good, his lifestyle doesn't exactly give him a good life expectancy. No spoilers please!