Cheap Cds - The Wire: Complete HBO Season 5

Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating:

Summary: A classic - the best television drama ever made
Comment: A magnificent and very appropriate finale to what has been the best TV series I have ever watched.
The best by a very, very long way.

Beautifully concluded, without ever trying to have
all the answers, the final scenes in particular are deeply affecting.

For some
favourite characters, the end is inevitable, and it is an incredibly poignant, human drama, in spite
of the makers' ongoing insistence that the story is plot driven.

As in real life
though, throughout the gloom, there are a few chinks of light, and even the darkest moments are
under-scored by very dark humour.

As a story of real people and the work they do
(whether legal or not), it's been an unmatchable portrayal. As a critique of the politics of life,
it is brutally honest.

Overall, series 2 retains the edge for me - the courage of its
scope and depth was something I had never seen before on screen. However,overall, this programme
genuinely deserves to be called a masterpiece. I don't know where TV can go from here to better
itself, and sad to say, I almost feel consigned to spend the rest of my viewing life watching
re-runs.

Customer Rating:

Summary: An Occasionally Patchy Final Season of a Superb TV Drama Series
Comment: Whilst very good, this final season of 'The Wire' does have some shortcomings as so much is crammed
into the relatively short running time and almost everything about one of the major plot
developments is rather unbelievable.

I am making this comparison compared to previous
'highlight' seasons; I have avidly watched 'The Wire' from the beginning and in sequential order !
For me, Seasons 1 and 4 were the most impressive and I have written reviews for all the Seasons on
Amazon.

However, it finishes still being an excellent drama which is gritty and with
novel storylines and detailed character studies rarely covered in ANY other TV series.
/>*** My review of this programme is again intentionally vague about the story as I don't want to
spoil things for first-time viewers !

The series is essentially one continuing story,
so things follow-on from previous seasons to cover a multi-layered study of 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. It also involves coverage of the various
people associated with the drug 'world' through them either being customers, victims or having
business 'connections'. Everything is connected through the continuing characters which involves
numerous prominent members of the Baltimore political scene (especially the city mayor). 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.

The new area of
city life given 'The Wire' special treatment this season is that of the printed media, specifically
'The Baltimore Sun', with the journalists and corporate management departments taking centre-stage.
Naturally, this development does not exist in isolation and has significant connections to the
mayoral position, city finances and, ultimately, police operations...The internal politics of
journalism are portrayed very well and are woven into the other pieces of the story extremely
effectively.

The new branch of the drug-dealing empire continues to take centre stage
and attracts the ferocious attention of the police, since they are a major influence on the
Baltimore social and crime scene. The drug dealers include many ruthless and extremely unpleasant
characters, and the body count maintains the high-level from the previous season. All the familiar
faces are still there, to begin with....

Police operations rise to new heights, as they
are not only dealing with drug-related crime but also the apparent emergence of a serial killer. The
lead-character (McNulty) from earlier seasons returns to the limelight. He is not only the catalyst
for much of what goes on , but also confirms himself to be well-intentioned but ultimately misguided
drunk who creates havoc disproportionately more influential to his standing within the Baltimore
Police Department.....

Unfortunately, these latter elements of the story incorporate a
couple of major plotlines which I had some difficulty accepting as being plausible, but as I am no
expert on the specifics of media and police operations I had to swallow my misgivings (a similarly
'ludicrous' plotline occurred only once before, way back in Season 3) ! However, what I could not
accept was the obvious and dramatic change in the morals of several long-standing and important
police characters who surprised me by essentially going along with a plan devised by McNulty. These
elements are key to what occurs in this season, so you really have to take them as read to continue
watching the season 'pan out'.

Naturally, much of what has occurred in previous seasons
has to be either resolved or signed-off, which is why the overall length of this season is simply
too short to cover everything satisfactorily. Several matters which long-standing 'The Wire'
devotees such as myself have taken a great interest in are not really given the proper 'treatment'
they deserve. However, nothing is left uncovered and the viewer is ultimately left with great
feelings of both satisfaction and sadness in equal measure.

The series trademarks of an
excellent screenplay and a superb cast of actors, many of whom are juveniles, are maintained. The
Season continues to be filmed on location (even including those scenes which are indoors) and the
lack of an accompanying music soundtrack also remains a theme of the production (which contributes
to the feeling of reality).

This Season is essential viewing, but more so for those who
have already seen Seasons 1-4 as it completes the circle of the overall story, suggests new
directions for certain characters and does not resolve everything with a 'sugar-coating'.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Good but flawed
Comment: The first 4 series of The Wire were absolutely fantastic and the overall series still remains one of
the very best ever made. This, the fifth series is in (some degrees) as good as the previous and
several exciting storylines develop (particularly the politics and the Stanfield story). However
there are 2 major problems with this series, firstly the major new storyline involving McNulty and
the media is unbelievable and continues too long. Secondly the commissioned numbered of episodes
(13) was reduced to 10 (at short notice) which gives an extremely hurried and unsatisfactory end.
(Clearly there are whole stories told in seconds of final montage).
A shame !!

Customer Rating:

Summary: the road home
Comment: And so another televisual odyssey ends. 60 episodes over five seasons and a programme which has been
described as more talked about than watched (this is the problem of a series playing on
satellite/cable channel FX) - although the DVD box-sets of The Wire are on the best-seller lists
here at Amazon. With just 10 episodes in the final series David Simon seems to be trying to 'do more
with less', a phrase used several times in the offices of The Baltimore Sun newspaper which features
largely. Simon of course worked at that very newspaper for 12 years and so it seems almost obvious
that he would chose to focus on the media at some point. What he shows is that interplay between
media, politics and policing; the symbiotic relationship these agencies have with each other and how
each in turn can be exploited by the other.

McNulty is back. His presence was missed in
the last season, so it's good to have him back, but he's in a very worrying place; looking like he
could skid off that road again at any time and driven by that passion which can create 'good police'
but also perhaps lead him to test the boundaries of what is acceptable (and indeed legal). Carcetti,
now installed as mayor, has come face to face with a huge deficit in his budget which leads to
massive cutbacks for the police: no overtime and an effective end to the special crimes unit. This
leads McNulty to hatch a plan that will give the papers what they want and therefore place pressure
on the Mayor to provide funds for police work: a serial killer. Now, I love this programme, but this
plot-line had me wrinkling my nose in discomfort. It isn't that I didn't believe it was possible,
Simon shows in intricate detail how it can all be manufactured, but I just didn't believe that this
would be the course any detective would take, even a true maverick like McNulty. The fact that
Freamon, who has always been a moral yardstick of sorts, is part of the whole conspiracy only
compounded my worry. It wasn't until the penultimate episode (which is the best of the season,
possibly the series) that I began to feel it might work. Such a grand scheme allows Simon to bring
so many elements of his story together, it's just crucial that having got so many balls improbably
into the air we see them come crashing back down to earth.

That said, there's something
about this season that doesn't quite work. It's like a programme which knows that it's coming to an
end, tying up its loose ends, bringing things full circle and showing that people and events will
continue in the same vein after the credits roll. It's all just slightly self-conscious.
/>But I don't want to dwell on that. As someone (I think it was Freamon) says, 'It's about the
journey, not the destination.' And it's been a hell of a journey. I have written previously about
the impact television can have when we, the viewers, make an investment in the characters. Over such
a prolonged period of time (60 hours of television) we can see so much of their lives, so much
development that, as when we read a novel, there is a connection there which means that even a
serial murderer like Chris can arouse our sympathy even whilst beating someone to death. A junkie
like Bubbles can have us hoping and praying that he can make it another clean day. A morally
ambiguous anti-hero like Omar can have you wanting to put him out of his misery like a wounded pet.
That is extraordinary television. To be able to put forward complex sociological arguments, economic
theory, and political discourse together with street slang, profanity and poetry whilst leaving the
audience concentrated on the characters is quite an achievement. Let's also not forget the other
character in the piece: Baltimore. I genuinely feel that if I went there now I would know where, and
more pertinently where not to go. Just as The Sopranos gave a real sense of New Jersey The Wire has
shown in great detail the differences between the projects, the docks, city hall, 'Hamsterdam', the
corners and the variety of people that populate them. The final episode has its heart on its sleeve
as it shows what this programme has always been about: the people of Baltimore. Along the way of
course it has shown us some important aspects of modern life relevant to all of us.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Great but ... sound out of sync
Comment: This is not a review of the Wire S5 but rather a review of the UK DVD version. The soundtrack on
this is badly out of sync with the video image. i.e. characters talk but the sound which follows is
late. Very distracting and unacceptable. I hope the company behind DVD production get on to this and
issue replacements to those affected.

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