David, I just wanted to take a brief moment (6 years later) to thank you for both an amazing show and this write up of your thoughts and insights into S5. All Rights Reserved. I gave up due to some of the most annoying characters I have seen written. You wanna explain where the argument is inconsistent? I even tried going back and watching homicide life on the street but without Bunk and McNulty just couldnt get into it. Loved how one episode segues seamlessly into the next, and one season covers one full story in depth rather than typical crime dramas that present a problem and a resolution all in 43 minutes. It was amazing television. In series 4, Ms Norris has left the show and Simone Lahbib as Inspecter Alex Fielding has the dubious job of reining in Hill. The only story that I noticed that the newspaper missed was when they mentioned Prop Joe. All 24 episodes are great! Thats it. In Baltimore, where over the last twenty years Times Mirror and the Tribune Company have combined to reduce the newsroom by forty percent, all of the above stories pretty much happened. But life isnt like that. It was especially poignant seeing all the since-deceased (or reformed, theres no way I could overlook or forget Dukie becoming Bubbles) characters roles being filled by the New Age.. If you have not watched any of these, please go for it and watch them in order. Criminal Psychologist Tony Hill assists The Police with all manner of complex and disturbing crimes. I think it was something like a 14% reduction in crimes such as shootings and aggravated assault. Have just finished re-watching the whole series. Thats why Im here. McNulty crossing the Rubicon with the fake serial-killer angle brought up an appropriate amount of conflict about the age-old Does the End Justify the Means question, but really, to have BOTH Greggs AND Herc sell him out?! Id always had reservations about the believability of character who existed in a contained bureaucratic work environment surrounded by lifers, repeatedly stabbing his peers and superiors in the back for wholly self-serving reasons with so few repercussions. Nothing against Robson himself but his character annoys me. Maybe its honest. It is time-consuming, expensive, deliberate and demanding. My plight feels similar to that of the increasingly-obsolete reporters you mentioned, rummaging through webpage-after-page of marketable impact junk to find substantial material worth digging into. All the characters have distinct and believable personalities. The writing was a train wreck, the characterization limp, the acting and plotting, shameful and shameless both. For me, its all of a piece. The setting and actors are British. Beautiful. All in all, this series is great fun. Okay. Robson Green is incredibly impressive (and maybe a little bit scary) as eccentric psychological profiler Dr. Tony Hill, and Hermione Morris does a great job as tough DI Carol Jordan, a woman in what is still very much a man's world. Producer Chris Miller explains why. The hit NBC sitcom, The Office, is perhaps one of Peacock's most profitable titles. Its about the media and powers that manipulating the masses to support a war in Iraq fought on false pretenses. Thanks for this. I agree with the message of Season 5, just not the execution. We sucked. Some of the most compelling Ive seen. I loved the series. I found it as an interesting way to dispel the notion that one given group of people is more inclined or indoctrinated to corruption and lies than the other, but also that in any given sector of a society, you will usually find it is those who know that very truth full and well, who perpetuate that lie, in order to make themselves feel better about their shortcomings. Im so glad I got to bear witness to it, even if I was late. Not as cavalier as his "Touching Evil" series; his "Wire in the Blood" character of Tony Hill is much more reserved, quirky, and, being a criminal profiler, is more internalized with his processing of information. If your a fan of the genre and have not yet discovered Dr.Tony Hill I recommend that you do. I would not recommend this show for anyone under the age of 16. Why couldnt we have gone one more season with the show? Not that your intention with this blog was to do that. Wire in the Blood vol 2 Sharp Compassion. I was born with scoop mentality and its never left me. Anyway, Ive gone on for far too long here. And yes, as many reviewers commented, the transition from Norris to Lahbib could have, and should have been handled with much greater care (CJ abruptly abandoning him without an explanation to addicted viewers, and heading off to So. Buy SD $1.99. A good newspaper covers its city and acquires not just the quantitative account of a days events, but the qualitative truth and meaning behind those events. I do honestly feel that way about the ending but telling you that personally (digitally, whatever) was completely asinine and unnecessary. Its admittedly easy enough, if you are writing a fictional television show, to sit in a diner booth or on a bar stool with a police lieutenant or an assistant principal, an assistant states attorney or a political functionary and have them tell you the good dirt, knowing as they do that fiction is a safe abstraction. We do what we do and people are free to react as they will. Lets be clear, though. Rawls and Valchek were just as bad- and the reason they all irked me so much is because its way closer to the truth than people want to admit. It would have been nice but it was time to put an end to Dr. Tony Hill's sideline work so it would have benefitted from them giving us one. The serial killer story was just too silly. The creative and honest mind of the writers is put on the screen with a quality job of directing. Web"Wire in the Blood" is the story of Dr.Tony Hill (Robson Green), a slightly eccentric clinical psychologist who works part time with the police force of Bradford, England. While in the bathroom, Lawrence and Adam try to stage a scene wherein Adam fakes choking and dying after smoking one of the cigarettes dipped in the corpses poisoned blood. I worked at a newspaper with a POS liar who made up quotes, and the editor was obsessed with him and looked the other way (on the fake quotes and also, grossly, sexual harassment). I have an unanswered question about the ending and it appears as though there is (or should be) a sequel to this? Unlike most shows, which run at 45 minutes per episode, Wire in the Blood runs at 90 minutes per episode. Given the immense detail used in the stories, the show simply wouldn't work with shorter episodes. The series was cancelled in 2009 due to ITV's financial troubles. The plot simply provided context and structure for socio-political criticism. I just watched all 5 seasons over the past couple weeks and it was a pleasure. Its not painful to me. TheSunbegan doing so in the 1990s before the internet, before the Tribune Company did its worst when beat reporting and any serious, systemic examination of issues was eschewed in favor of impact journalism, special projects and Pulitzer sniffing. Who am I to bitch about how you decided to end your own show? And yes, in real life, there wasnt much written about such in my city. Great blog, it confirms my suspicions of the final season but wasnt enough to change my mind about it. I sincerely believe S4 is the best season of any show in existence and overall, The Wire is the best-told story Ive ever experienced in television. If you took out subjective arguments about popular entertainment, the nation would free up a lot of bandwidth and many repetitive stress injuries would be avoided. Omars death/Omar returning to Baltimore: We all wanted to see Omars last stand be in a bloody shootout with a high body count, but anyone paying attention to the story being told knew it wouldnt go down like that. I first discovered "Wire in the Blood" by happy accident, I was watching Agatha Christie's Miss Marple on Amazon prime and "Wire in the Blood" popped up in my recommended list. That said, I thank you for the bitter pill. Wouldnt she confront them first? I was only introduced to this show in 2014 by a friend in college at Washington State University that let me borrow is DVDs one season at a time, and I bought the DVD box set shortly thereafter. I got my invitation late in the mail and I may as well just see all the videos and photos and banter about it on peoples social media profiles. You wanna say so on the producers blog, no worries. My favorite character was bubs, I knew someone like him. I have to say I loved the Wire the first time I saw it. The Wire finale recap: The end of the line Two things about my Sunday were making me sick. Also the deal they made with Marlo at the end where he would be free was just nonsensical, unless you want to believe that the DAs office is incredibly pure and moral and would never want to go to court and bust a guy they know is a major killer just because there is a little dirt in their investigation. BTW please make enough money to buy The Baltimore Sun and give it the love it so desperately needs. If anything I learned after watching The Wire series (for my 4th or 5th time) is that quick comments or knee-jerk reactions about the themes discussed just dont play. Firstly thank you David Simon, Ed Burns and a host of talented and courageous collaborators for telling it like it is. The 'genius' Dr, absentminded of course, to fulfill another clich, who comes across as being more in need of professional help than his patients. The amount of quotables in this show is amazing. I didnt know there were retards saying Each ending sucked so the season 5 was bad. For instance the homeless serial killer story and the idea that this would be more politically important than closing a case where 22 murdered bodies were hidden away in vacants all over the city. That was thematic and no one commented on the argument, which I found disappointing. Did you guys just intentionally try to deliver a shitty, unsatisfying conclusion so you can feel like you didnt pander to the audience or compromise your artistic vision or some shit? I am anxious to find out if there is a follow up to Painted? Write a television story arc about the betrayal of the working class, the fraud of the drug war or the lie of No Child Left Behind and you cant get off the entertainment pages. This statement is meant to include: Mark Letheren(DI Kevin Jeffries); Emma Handy (DC Paula McIntyre) and Peter Sullivan (ACC Paul Eden). Either of the two excellent actors would have been able to perform equally well for the entire six season run, and many viewers believe that's the way it should have been (Green is tops in all episodes). For non-British viewers the British actors provide something faintly exotic and alluring, which works fine to subtly draw the viewer into the action of this suspense show. But Ill get back to the journalism angle momentarily. I see commentary all the time where the seasons are ranked and there seems to be a common thread. Watch with Acorn TV. Has the city cleaned up. Daniels is probably the best example of this, but to a lesser extent so is Freamon, whose corrupted (by definition of the law) actions lead to retirement from the police force. I was already a cynic before 9/11, then The Wire came. The writing is exceptional, especially for the episode, "Torment". In the annals of time, you documented as close to the reality of the DMV as you could get away with, its just too bad that people will always be calling it fiction., (*this is a better-edited version of my prior comment). Purse your lips any tighter or hold your nose any higher? Plot Summary. He has a What is most unfortunate is that your scathing and accurate critique of Washington D.Cs left armpit (with PG County being its right) and really the entire D.C. area will always be written off as great entertainment and remembered as one of the best shows ever on television. Endless repetitions of the words "of course" are truly the hallmarks of a second rate detective production. She sends him to chase down Keith and kill him. But having left the topic at hand to engage in ad hominem characterization, you cant very well expect anything less in return. A mayor was elected governor while his police commanders made aggravated assaults and robberies disappear. Lasher follows Keith to a random shack in the The major American cities are in woeful shape and for various reasons we can not or will not stop this slow-moving train. Would still give Breaking Bad the nod over The Wire as a better show though. I was reading The Stand at the time I posted that response. There will be many scenes of hookers and trashy bar people. And whether that is an accurate critique? I guess I will have to reflect on why I could easily accept Hamsterdam and not the phony killer. When there is an ensemble cast and crew that work their hardest to put out the best product possible, it makes viewing a very satisfying activity. What to say, what to say, what to say? You seem angry. See production, box office & company info, Drama Trails: 'Coronation Street' to 'Kingdom'. In the end, Carcetti, despite being white, was not able to avoid the same trappings of stat-juking number games and political favoritism as his predecessor, Royce, or the mayor before that. If season five didnt work for you, then it didnt work for you. I just binge-watched the last 3 seasons after slowly going through 1 & 2 and I feel regret that I almost missed out on this amazing thing that started basically a decade ago when I was just starting high school. No need to worry about any season of this amazing show. But thanks for creating some of the best characters in TV history. I dragged it past sarcasm, past cynicism, and all the way to balls-out snide. I dunno. Its not garbage, they just dont get it. I was leaning more towards something karmic, but its clear that many of the characters did not get what was coming to them. Hamsterdam, say. Not always do we get a "wrap up" episode and we didn't get one here either. Wire in the blood is now one of my favorite crime/Mystery/Drama shows for T.V. In the end, she asks for a transfer. Its not likely to change our reasons for telling the stories we do, but neither is the criticism necessarily invalid or unwarranted. Particularly the fat guy in homicide (who pissed me off so much I blocked out the characters name from memory) who would rather jerk off behind his desk to titty mags and suck off the government nipple while the whole city goes up in flames. I did enjoy everything else about Season 5. But if we give upthen what? The vacant murders and 2 lieutenants getting lengthy sentences in exchange for Marlo exiting the business is not hard to wrap your head around. The school system is closest to my heart because I grew up in that sad, irreparable school system and the stories of those kids were the ones I really hoped would resolve better so you knew that in the end, at least SOMEONE in that hood got a real chance. You dont like the last season of a television drama, feel free to venture an opinion. Good series wish could of been another series though! Heres what happened in season five ofThe Wirewhen almost no one among the working press, at least was looking: The mayor, who came in promising reform, is instead forcing his police department to once again cook the stats to create the illusion that crime is going down. Melvin Wiliams passed today RIP! There's also a lot of blurry camera work that is meant to show the violent murders but does tend to make one rather seasick! I really gave this a chance, watching the first two series almost to the end, but it got the better of me: I had the sense of having been there and seen it already. In the confrontation that follows, Adam shows him the photographs he took Each season building toward a singular, connected argument. This is but the latest example of A great newspaper does this routinely on a multitude of issues, across its entire region. I am your new lord sovereign of buried, latent, subtextual argument. That was the critique. I didnt get hooked by Treme or the mini serie with a mayor though. The clues about The Sun missing important stories are there in plain sight. Politicians then took credit for the limited gains that were, of course, unsustainable as the students aged into middle school. The suits in Chicago are running scared. Wow, I cant believe that went over my head too David. The political corruption, the cronyism, the back-asswards views on racism which prevent all minorities from getting a real say in anything lest they be deemed racist- and most agonizingly, the completely screwball insanity that is the PG County school system is exactly like the way you depicted life in Baltimore. It had been on my entertainment backlog since 2002 Id got hold of the first season before it had been shown in the UK at all being a quality TV (and I apologize for using this sensitive word considering the context of various storylines) junkie, but for various reasonsI was deferring gratification if you will. but I believe even his murder would have been more satisfying for viewers who were waiting for his comeuppance. Fantastic series & Ill tell anyone thats its the best series Ive ever seen. I wanted catharis toobut I was raised on ER. But all the endings mean something and other endings would have been the wrong ones. And yeah, he gave the more-with-less talk to maintain morale and it rang a hollow because at this point, buyout upon buyout, the grey ladies are down to bone already. WebA clinical psychologist, Dr. Tony Hill, delves into his dark side to see into the minds of serial killers, to aid the police in solving their most difficult cases. If you like Touching Evil or Monk, this series may be for you. Anyway, Im straying from my point: thank you for defining this additional layer to the theme of S5. Anyway, remember that Colvins 14% were clean numbers (he didnt juke the stats) so 14% is a large increase if you look at it that way. | Its disappointing to read the entire comment thread and see that no one picked up on those journalistic themes either, but I saw every single one of them- which is why I watched season 5 in total frustration as every cut back to the Baltimore Sun went straight into the same mire of bullshit all journalists everywhere in America now live in. But wait Marlo had to head back to those corners to be himselfthe individual. All in all, the last season ofThe Wirewasnt that cruel a portrayal, was it? Note: This article contains spoilers for the entire first series of Blood. The acting is first rate but a few of the episodes really have huge gaping holes in the plot. Watch Wire In The Blood: Prayer Of The Bone, The plastic "blue bag" that Tony Hill is often seen with was gleaned from Robson Green's research for Wire in the Blood, which involved spending time with revered criminal psychologist Julian Boon, who Green describes in part as an "extraordinary, intelligent, nice guy who carried his life in a blue bag and travelled on a double-decker bus. To debate whether Gus Haynes is more of a hero than Bunny Colvin? In this case, our lead character is Dr. Tony Hill. I mean its obvious all three of them enjoyed it way too much for a normal gangster who just wanted someone out of their way- and Marlos final shot licking the blood off his sleeve just about proves that that guy was about to go on a black Manson killing spree had the story logically continued from its stopping point. Surprisingly because i'm usually no fan at all of the serial-killer genre nor the kind of grisly imagery that this show always provides. Thanks for the response, even if it got the best of me! ps Thats when Pulengs world completely changes. Im an asshole. Because the thing I cant leave alone, the thing that makes me giddy as a schoolgirl is this: Whatever else I am a traitorous apostate to newsprint, the angriest hack in television, a kicker of small dogs you must acknowledge that I am now, also, the newly crowded King of Meta. 7.2 (359) Rate. I wonder whats happening in this city that we dont know about. Thanks for a great series and compelling stories and characters, in what was often a pretty bleak scene. For example, for my first watch through, I was bored with Season two. I felt it was entirely too unrealistic and borderline offensive to the shows entire structure. The cutbacks, management of local papers by big out of town conglomerates and lack of attention on complex issues is something we see in the UK too. Now I just read and laugh at bad writing on other TV shows. Wire in the Blood, is first of all a showcase for the excellent acting skills of the charismatic Robson Green. -And Herc? The Drug Game, The Cops, The Port, City Hall, The Schools and The Newspaper. It still is. McNulty, Frank Sobotka, Carcetti (at least in season 3), Colvin and Prez). David, let me first congratulate you on making one of the most riveting series to have ever graced the global stage. Hes just being painfully honest. The editing becomes more choppy, inserting 1-2 second scenes in the middle of something else. Im not. 2) As for the WORST McNultys supercop character finally jumped the shark. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The excellence of Seasons 2 and 5, and how they are an integral part of the whole, are particularly revealed on repeat viewing. The systemic problems of the DMV are way too deep and the people in charge are way too invested in their petty self-interests to ever have it another way. Stars Robson Green Mark I was focused solely on the fact that the the newspaper was in a battle over the homelessness killings issue in a sense that their biggest problem right now was sensationalism and lies versus honest reporting. Wire In The Blood is described as a unique character-driven procedural which exposes the gaps between good and evil, our public and private selves and the Im sad I missed all the hoopla, the reviews, analysis, any interviews and behind the scenes footage that was released with and right after the show ended. What he suddenly turns stupid? Hopefully there is some point in time when the majority of people become a little smarter and catch up w/ the intelligence this show possesses. It was as good as I remembered and then some. I been expressing to folk since 2002 In The Hunger Games films, President Snow (Donald Sutherland) coughs up blood for a specific reason. To argue about whether Whiting is more venal or one-dimensional than Valchek? 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