Cheap Cds - The Wire: Complete HBO Season 4

Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating:

Summary: series 4.... i dont know if i'd recommend it...
Comment: Like most of the other reviewers i am highly impressed by the wire overall. If you have already
watched the other three series then you will watch this regardless, but here is the problem. Series
4 is 12-13 hours of character development. Yes, what they generally manage in 2-3 episodes they
allocate all 13 episodes to. There is not even much need nor mention of a wire tap in series 4 for
goodness sake, which says it all.

So if you are expecting something close to what you
loved in series 1-3 then forget it. Of course there is the usual continuity with past characters
but the story doesn't offer closure in any area really. The substantive storyline must come in
series 5 i guess... which is why i'd only rate series four 6/10.

Customer Rating:

Summary: "Omar comin'!"
Comment: In the opening scene of the first episode, the most terrifying female villain on TV, Felicia "Snoop"
Pearson is listening to a hardware store clerk explaining the advantages of buying a high calibre
nail gun. The Wire being The Wire, you just know she won't be using it for any home improvement.
And so begins another audacious season of the finest drama on the box, this time with the emphasis
on Baltimore's failing educational system.

Disgraced ex-cop "Prez" features highly in
his new role as a high school maths teacher trying his best to reach students who have no interest
in anything outside corner life and earning a quick dollar slingin'. McNulty is back on the beat
and off the drink whilst Kima, Bunk and Freamon work homicides when the major crimes unit wire taps
are no longer renewed. Thomas Carcetti learns some harsh lessons in Baltimore politics and Daniels
continues to move up the ladder. On the street, youngster Marlo Stanfield has taken over the drug
corners of West Baltimore after the collapse of the Barksdale organization. Lots of rival dealers
are missing but the police have no bodies on their hands. On the East side, Proposition Joe, new
right hand man "Slim" Charles and the co-op are eager to get Marlo onside to take advantage of his
real estate. Doing his own thing as usual, Omar and new protege Reynaldo tire of robbing small time
dealers and decide to go after some of the big boys.

It's a testament to David Simon's
skills as a writer that each highly complex series of the wire has continued to be so brilliant.
The emphasis shifts to a different aspect of Baltimore's troubled criminal justice system each time
and in season 4 we see the familiar themes of political one-upmanship, back stabbing and frustration
within the same high school that educates the new generation of gangsters and slingers. As a
teacher myself, I was very pleased to see the amount of research that had obviously gone into making
Prez's experiences realistic. A lot of the problems he faces with his disaffected students are
right on the money and the shows authenticity is what makes it so great. That as well as the
writing and acting. I once read a review of The Wire in which it was described as "the greatest
novel never written" which is a good way of looking at it. You can't just tune in and watch the odd
episode, it's all or nothing. The story is so ambitious from season 1 to the end of season 5 that
it's probably best to buy the whole lot on DVD and take a week off work. The sheer number of well
written characters is phenomenal and the quality never dips in season 4. It is pretty heavy going
at times and several characters meet their end but the final episode sets up nicely for the fifth
and final season.

Like this? Try: The Wire: Seasons 1-3

Customer Rating:

Summary: miss it and miss out
Comment: I never thought a series about drug dealers could have me hooked, but laced with politics, the
police system and characters like Freeman, Bunk, Marlo, damn every character is addictive. I sat in
a cinema watching Batman but longed to get home to watch The Wire. In fact, The Wire is the only
filmatic experience worthy of a new six-star rating. I won't spoil it for others but there are
characters I came to love in series 1-3, but the beauty of The Wire is that any character can take
the limelight. Having invested over 40 hours to the series, the in jokes were appreciated, every
Omar scene is a classic and there is one involving a satin dressing gown which was a satifying fix.
But the four young actors who are introduced in series four were strong, sensitive, and believable.
The Wire will have you debating with the screen, blowing out friends, laughing, damn I nearly called
up my old secondary school to get this on the curriculum. Get it, your life will improve.

Customer Rating:

Summary: The Bar is raised even higher - Magnificent TV Drama
Comment: Anyone who has seen previous Seasons may not have thought it possible, but Season 4 of 'The Wire'
has raised the bar even higher in terms of quality viewing. I have avidly watched 'The Wire' from
the beginning and in sequential order ! For me, this season and Season 1 impressed me most and I
have written reviews for all the Seasons on Amazon.

It continues to be an excellent
drama which is gritty, involving and believable - but this time the storyline is expanded to areas
rarely covered in ANY TV series before....

*** My review of this programme is again
intentionally vague about the story as I don't want to spoil things for first-time viewers ! />
As is the norm, the story follows-on from the previous seasons (and also runs into the
final season) returning to the original multi-layered plot to cover a multi-layered plot surrounding
a specific group of drug-dealing criminals, and the detectives within the Baltimore Police
Department who are trying to catch them in the act and bring down their operation. Therefore, to
fully understand developments you have to be familiar with the main characters and (more
importantly) the internal politics and general plot played-out earlier.

A new branch of
the drug-dealing empire takes centre stage and includes several significant characters, some of whom
are surprisingly ruthless and extremely unpleasant; the body count reaches new heights in this
season and some of the murders are really quite gruesome. Police operations continue, but are less
concentrated, with the lead-character (McNulty) from earlier seasons barely getting a look in this
time. They are really playing catch-up against a typically 'professional' crime organisation. />
However, things really focus on school life and the city mayoral election fight. These
'new' areas of coverage not only open fresh storylines (including corruption, scandal and difficult
working practices) but also allow the lives and influences of new and existing characters to be
depicted in a more varied way. Internal feuding and politics appear in ALL areas and are the real
driving force behind plot developments. This season is very 'dark' and frustrations within the
educational system, police force and political world come to the fore. The mayoral race gets dirty,
revealing the worst side of all those involved....

The familiar coverage of individual
strife (featuring many familiar characters) continues to present an overall picture of despair and
there are few moments of encouragement for those hoping that Baltimore is getting 'cleaned-up';
nevertheless, it remains compulsive viewing.

The series trademarks of an excellent
screenplay and an (EVEN better than before !) stock of actors, many of whom are juveniles,
strengthens the desire to watch the next Season (which I have already seen) further still. The
Season continues to be filmed on location (even including those scenes which are indoors). The lack
of an accompanying music soundtrack also remains a theme of the production (which contributes to the
feeling of reality).

If you've already seen Seasons 1-3 (and you should have really)
you might, like me, not have found the need for subtitles this time - but I must say that
understanding everything that characters such as the chilling 'Snoop' (who I didn't immediately
realise was a girl !) was quite a challenge....

Customer Rating:

Summary: education, education, education.
Comment: Well, season four has completely blown me away. Building on the achievements of the previous three
seasons it adds a new dimension which you might say was previously lacking: genuine emotional
involvement. As I've said before the writing and the detail contained within it had made us
interested in the characters and to care about them too. But by focusing on the education system,
and a group of eighth graders in particular, it forces us to really worry about a group of children
growing up in a city which has already shown that for some people the only opportunities available
are different ways to ruin your life.

A hotly contested mayoral election is the main
event in Baltimore.Tommy Carcetti may be the wrong colour to be mayor but by speaking to the right
people and genuinely trying to engage with the voters he puts himself in a real position to
challenge that. Aiden Gillen, looking immediately more comfortable in his role this series, shows
with lip-smacking relish the contortions necessary to move ahead politically in a town with a black
majority. Spin, sleaze and backhanders abound. It's a bit like here in England. For the police
meanwhile, with Barksdale back inside, Marlo Stanfield is the target and the question that plagues
them is how he has managed to wrest so much control of the corners without stacking up bodies.
Stanfield's two enforcers, Chris and Snoop, are genuinely frightening with their cold detachment and
in much the same way as Javier Bardem terrorised those he met in 'No Country For Old Men' whilst
carrying a pneumatic cattle gun, they stalk anonymously through the vacant houses armed with a nail
gun and a tub of lime.

Jimmy McNulty is almost entirely absent from the series (maybe
Dominic West was busy doing one of his theatre jobs in the UK) which is a bit of a shame. Even in
the scenes he is in he is a changed man, on the wagon and working hard to be a family man. Bunk
keeps us going with his inimitable wisdom but the focus of this series really is with the children.
Prez and Colvin having both left the police department are working in the school system; Prez as a
teacher and Colvin working with a special group of corner kids to find the way to integrate them
back into the classroom. It is a rude awakening for both of them and for us as viewers too. Lt.
Daniels later says that he 'had a good education now that I think on it'. I found myself very
grateful for mine as I watched these children struggle.It isn't just within the school system that
we see the importance of mentoring and nurture. On the street the entrepreneurial Bubbles is trying
to help a young boy himself, but there's a reason why they call it the school of hard knocks. />
As I've said, it really is all about the children, and the four main actors (pictured
above) are a credit to the series. Each have their own problems and seem to be following a
trajectory. As a viewer I found myself desperately trying to change the course of that trajectory by
thought alone, like a horror movie fan screaming 'don't go back into the house'. I really cared, and
that is due largely to the performances. It isn't that these children are innocent and deserve our
protection; it's precisely because they aren't innocent and yet still deserve our help and
protection that shows the maturity of this series. I've barely scratched the surface here, you'll
just have to watch it and educate yourself.

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