I should note that it feels weird to write this first half after such a great LOST episode. But even if every final episode of LOST from here on out is as good as tonight's, I'm still gonna feel the same about the show I'm writing about first. If you want to skip to LOST, use the Find function and type in "spoilers ahead".
I've thought about how to best do this entry. For the sake of originality in spite of all the articles I've already read about this topic, for the sake of you readers who I want to convince, and for the sake of honoring this show in the best way I can. I take this seriously. I am NOT effin' around. In the end, I've decided to go with an imaginary conversation between you, the reader, and me, the writer. You are in italics. I am not. You are welcome in advance for this enlightenment.
Hey Matt. I'm on the hot seat for Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Anil Kapoor just asked me the 20,000,000 rupees (which isn't even $500,00 USD, FYI) question. If I get this wrong, then the Smoke Monster is gonna eat me alive and Freida Pinto's gonna make out with my brother to spite me. Help me! The question is: "What is the best TV show ever?". The answer choices are
Wait right there. You don't need to give me the choices. Now, realistically, I can't say I can actually answer this properly. After all, there are tons of shows I've never seen before. Still, there are a fair amount of shows I have seen. You could also argue that after seeing a show as perfect as this one, it's hard to believe there's a better show out there. Plus, outside of my opinion, I'm making this case on the many TV critics and folks out there who claim this show to be the best ever. And this wasn't a show that earned Emmy awards or anything, nor did it receive good TV ratings, so this claim is in spite of things that are typically used as evidence for a show's greatness. Plus, folks, really, this show is really, really good.
Just say what show it is. Our imaginary 30 seconds have been done for a long time already. Anil Kapoor and Regis Philbin both just punched me in the groin to mock me.
Alright, alright. The "best TV show ever" is The Wire. And for the sake of the rest of this entry, I'll just make the case for why The Wire is really amazing; better than LOST, The Sopranos, Mad Men, Seinfeld, Arrested Development, Dexter, Happy Days, Temptation Island, or whatever other show you might want to make this case for.
Honestly, I'm writing this because I just want to have more people I know get to watch The Wire. I want people to be able to appreciate a show so great. I would like to be able to make throwaway references about The Wire and have people recognize them, in the way some people would know what I meant if I talked about the Smoke Monster, the Final Countdown, or Festivus. Right? You knew at least 2 of those things, right? OK, so I don't know if The Wire will ever reach that point, but I want more people to watch this great show. When Faheem started checking it out, I was like YES! And then he loved it. Now Harriet is checking it out, and she dug Season 1, and I was like YES! And you're next, person-reading-this.
What's The Wire about? I don't know anything about it. Is it about a tightrope artist?
That's a stupid guess. The Wire... it's complicated. Whenever I try to explain it to someone, I start rambling and trying to clarify stuff. It's hard because I want to give a description that befits a great show without possibly saying too much. So here goes.
You could say that The Wire is a tale of the American city. Set in Baltimore
Baltimore? Dude, you just like this show because it's set in Baltimore. Homer! Homer!
No. Come on now, stop that. The Wire being set in Baltimore is a nice plus, and it certainly adds value to the show for me because I lived there and because I recognize some nods to the city and the state that others wouldn't really. The location aside, The Wire could be great regardless of the city. With some details changed here and there, you could set this tale in Detroit, Cleveland, New York, etc. (although Baltimore works so well with this subject matter). The creators of this show knew Baltimore from their time spent in the city, and they chose to write about it. That's just the way they did it.
Anyway, set in Baltimore, The Wire begins Season 1 of 5 focusing on cops and drug dealers. You have a group of cops trying to take down a drug crew. Sounds like a simple cop show, right? Wrong.
What makes The Wire great is the way everything is part of one grand story, the story of a city and its dying institutions and the people who are trying to survive and excel within them. Season 1 specifically expands on the complications of a few of the cops who want to do good police work and take the drug gang down, but they are held back by poor resources, other bumbling cops, and bosses who want quick arrests that will lead to no progress in improving the city but bring them good publicity and easier budget issues. The show makes extensive portrayals of the supposed "bad guys", the drug dealers. One of my favorite characters is introduced to us while he is being cleared of a murder charge (and he definitely did the murder). Also, the show isn't just trying to give you cheap thrills and cliffhangers each episode to keep you hooked. The pilot doesn't have a Smoke Monster or a terrorist attack to hook you. But every piece of basically every scene adds up to one great message and story.
As the seasons go along in The Wire, the show expands to other themes while keeping past themes in mind, still present. Season 2 brings in the working class of the dying city port, Season 3 brings in the political scene, Season 4 brings in the school system (holla to you teachers in city schools!), and Season 5 brings in the press. With more and more stories, the show gets richer with the message it's sending.
You have continued detailing of characters that have been around, along with new characters here and there that are also great. The Wire has so many great characters that there's a legitimate list of the best 50 characters on the show on some website (don't check it out if you haven't seen the show), and there are still a few characters missing from the list that I'm annoyed about. These characters range from drug lords to kids to important politicians. All over the place. The Wire doesn't waste episodes. It doesn't waste characters. There aren't story holes, like "whatever happened with so-and-so?", or "what was the whole point of that random story with those few characters?".
You'll come away from it thinking "Wow." Maybe you won't think that after Season 1 or 2 (although I did), but you'll at least think that after Seasons 3, 4, and 5. Personally, it's a show I'll think about in connection to random things in life. Maybe something happens with real world politics, and I'll think of The Wire. Or some random thing will remind me of a great scene from The Wire. And I'll wanna go to Youtube just to look up favorite scenes from The Wire. You'll love it. I promise.
The Wire is so good, it just makes other stuff look crappier. Like, I saw The Blind Side a couple months ago. Lots of people love it, and yeah, I enjoyed it and thought Sandra Bullock did well. But all the street scenes sucked to me. They just seemed so lame and non-genuine compared to The Wire. And I've been watching Dexter in recent months. Comparing the character development in that show's homicide department vs. The Wire's... Dexter just comes off inferior. The show's so good, I can't go back to other stuff and appreciate it in the same way.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.... oh sorry, I was just... closing my eyes. What were you saying again?
Maybe you feel that way after my long answer. OR hopefully, you're like:
Oh, interesting. Maybe I should check it out.
Yes! Please check out The Wire. Give it a try. That's all I ask. Maybe this summer, maybe RIGHT NOW, maybe the next time you have a chance, check out the first season. Watch the first 3 episodes or so at once, because a lot of characters are introduced, and you might need some time to get used to everything. You'll enjoy it, I promise. It's a remarkable show. It's a one of a kind. And yes, folks, it's better than LOST. There ain't no Nikki and Paolo here.
Now, if you have stuck with this entry so far and haven't stopped reading or haven't skipped to the LOST portion, let's have a couple random Q&As for some topics I didn't think of squeezing into the general flow of the earlier rambling.
What about old shows? There are so many shows in TV history. How can you just pick this show out of all the classics in the past?
TV has evolved. In fact, I've read/heard several arguments in the past year that TV is going where the film industry once was but is beginning to lack. At least, this argument can be made better now than in the past. With HBO and other cable networks pushing the envelope, TV has gotten riskier and has also become a greater field for show-runners with visions. If you want to tell a grand story, you can do that in a TV project now and elaborate on things in more ways than you might be able to on film (of course, there are things that are better suited for film as opposed to TV, but yeah). In the past, you might have a great show, but it would be hampered by the stricter traditions of network TV. 20+ episodes were a must, even if you were running out of story (heck, even now, look at how 24 episodes ruin seasons of 24, which should really limit themselves to 16 or so), along with episodes sporadically through the fall and spring. You wouldn't be able to have the maturity of violence or swearing or whatever else network TV might not allow that might hamper your vision.
So, TV has arguably gotten better as a whole. And The Wire is the cream of that crop.
Why have I never heard anything about the show before? I've never heard of it winning awards or being one of HBO's big shows. Maybe you're just some guy who really likes this show, and I probably won't like it.
Things that are great about The Wire also hurt it in terms of ratings and awards. Not many people watched The Wire. It's not an easily marketable show. Unlike, say, The Sopranos, there is no James Gandolfini main character gangster to draw people in. The Wire doesn't have lead stars throughout every episode. The focus on characters vary depending on the season and the story. A main character one season can disappear for most of another season and then come back prominently again. It's all about the story, not about the ego of the actor demanding to be the star. The story is also so intricate, detailed, and not for cheap thrills that it's hard for someone to follow it by jumping into a random episode.
Also, to put it bluntly, the predominantly black cast dealing with subjects like drugs doesn't really appeal to a typical American audience. This ain't Denzel Washington in American Gangster with Russell Crowe, directed by Ridley Scott. This is Black Guy A you never heard of and Black Guy B you never heard of, along with a couple White Guys you never heard of. Well, you've heard of some of them now, but even the most recognizable actors (like Idris Elba, who played Charles Minor, the black boss, in The Office) aren't that recognizable.
At the same time, with so much award acclaim for shows like The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, The West Wing, and 24, and with award voters who didn't check out The Wire, it didn't receive the award love either. From what I've read (since I watched all of the show after it ended), The Wire didn't really receive much interest from the press until Season 5, the final season, which also happened to be feature a storyline about, well, the press. And now after people have caught up on The Wire, Treme (the new show from the makers of The Wire, about New Orleans post-Katrina, to be on HBO) is getting so much hype and respect before it even begins. How about that for a change for the show's makers?
Basically, The Wire has received its love, not just from its most loyal viewers, but from those who started to experience the show after it began, whether from DVDs or other means. With "best of the decade" lists that came out at the end of 2009, many articles featured The Wire near the top, if not at #1, above shows like the previously named. Looking back at the final product, people say that yes, The Wire is the best show.
You talk so much about this show though. All your links and inside references to it... it gets a little annoying.
My bad. Can't help it. I watched The Wire all at once, and now I have a bunch of references to pull from. Think about LOST viewers. They've sporadically made LOST comments/references for 6 years, and they even inspired a video mocking the anticipation of annoying LOST fans this season. I'm exploding all at once with The Wire references.
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On that note, I think I'll end my The Wire ramblings. If you read all of that and don't want to give it a try, then I failed. But I tried. To end, here's a quote I read in an article today, actually, go figure. It's from a long NY Mag feature on the creator of The Wire, David Simon. An excerpt from the article about The Wire:
Like any person publicizing an artistic product, Simon had his pitch, which he made most succinctly to Nick Hornby in The Believer: “The Wire is a Greek tragedy in which the postmodern institutions are the Olympian forces.” In its structure, it was a response to cop shows: It made it impossible to watch Law & Order without knowing better. But at a deeper level, it built a case, dramatizing how each city system—the schools, the police, the mayor’s office—crushed individual attempts at change. Despite the show’s humanism (the way it lit up the lowliest kid dealers), The Wire was a very grim portrait of the city Simon loves—a pitiless exposure of “some shameful shit right there.” -http://nymag.com/arts/tv/features/65235/index1.html
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And.... SPOILERS AHEAD
Tonight's LOST episode was my favorite of the season. Probably not coincidentally, it featured a favorite character, Desmond, with some fine performances from Charlie and Faraday, along with a script from Lindelof/Cuse and direction from Jack Bender. I loved most of the episode. It really gave a lot more to the meaning of the LAX timeline, which I'd been longing for. Great acting. Compelling. Loved it. LOVED IT!
The beginning scene gave me a Jurassic Park vibe. That wooden cage, when we first saw it, reminded me of that T-rex intro scene. When "Simmons" went in there to check it out, I was like NOOO there's danger in there. And he dies thanks to his idiotic teammate. Outdoor wooden cages. They're bad. Unless you're Desmond F-ing Hume (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBBh7KKD-Hc).
The Widmore/Hume interactions, starting with the beginning scene, going through the end, certainly signaled the further consideration that Widmore might not be the horrible person he's supposedly looked like in the past. Does Penny hate him? Did he mess up Penny and Des' relationship? Yes. But he's aware of this, and he seems resigned to it. After all, he accepted the death of his son for the sake of the Island's plans. Maybe he just had to accept the hatred of his daughter as well. This topic also gets confusing when you try to think about how much Widmore may have already known, and how much he had to help lead toward its course of events (i.e. Faraday getting shot by his mom, Desmond going around the world on a boat, a freighter exploding and killing lots of people, the Island moving).
The sideways "twists" were frustrating me earlier on in the episode. Oh hey, it's George Minkowski! He helped Desmond out in The Constant! Or, oh hey, Charlie and Desmond are back together again! I also wasn't enjoying the Widmore/Desmond lovefest (along with the weird music played to cue this weirdness when they say hi to each other in the office) earlier on in the episode. The part with the Scotch made me roll my eyes. It gave me the same vibe as previous episodes, where it seemed like they were throwing in cameos from Arzt and Keamy just to be like hey, isn't this funny?
Two things made me come around on it. The first was the acting. Once Charlie and Desmond sat in the bar, and Charlie gave his speech, I began to get hooked. The actors did good work with their material this episode (and let's not forget the "You All Everybody" in the car!). The second was, well, the mythology that it brought. When Desmond and Charlie were in the water, and I realized how similar this was to them in the water in Through the Looking Glass, I was intrigued, and the "NOT PENNY'S BOAT" revelation made me totally psyched.
Next, the hospital scenes were great. The doctor asking Desmond about his brain and the Penny flashes during the scan were both good buildups. Jack's cameo got me itching for a revelation about things right then and there, but I'm sure Jack will be one of the first people Desmond contacts once that story gets revisited. Especially because Jack is the one who's had hints of memory, with his recognition of Des on the plane and with his scars.
Then, Eloise. In the LAX timeline, it certainly seems like she still knows something, like with her "You're not ready yet" to Desmond. That woman knows too much! Share some knowledge with us, girl! Did anyone else notice them hinting at Faraday viewing Desmond/Eloise from the piano? I was so happy to see him interact with Desmond (this episode made me glad to cover the bottom portion of the TV with my hand when guest stars were shown). His journal! Talking about Charlotte! Saying "We need to talk" when he greets Desmond! His conversation with Desmond about the nuclear bomb, oh man was that a revelation. I loved that stuff.
This revelation certainly throws out the epilogue theory in my eyes, and thank goodness if so. I'm glad to see Desmond play a role in bringing the universes together, and it'll be really interesting to see how. With his manifest and his interactions with people like Jack and Faraday, I look forward to what's next. It'll also be interesting to see where it goes with Eloise and Charles in the LAX timeline. Plus, now Desmond is directly on Oceanic 815 even though he wasn't before. How will Ben be brought into this, considering he wasn't on the flight? Or maybe he won't be in the LAX timeline?
Did anyone else feel faked out by the end of the episode? I figured it would end after Desmond told Widmore that he wanted to know how to help. When Sayid popped out and led Desmond away, I figured that might be the last scene. On that note, the Sayid scene was probably the one strange note to me. I just don't quite understand yet why Desmond was so cool with following Sayid. I guess they're buds, and Sayid wouldn't let him go away anyway, but he seemed awfully understandable about what had just happened.
The manifest issue was a great ender though. This also brings into point why characters are randomly running into each other, with Kate interacting with Claire and being caught by Sawyer, with Locke under Hurley's employment and in interaction with Rose.
With these revelations and with the revelations from Ab Aeterno, we'll have to see how this all comes together. How will Desmond's actions in the LAX timeline collide with the Locke/Widmore war on the Island and with Hurley/Jack/Richard/etc.'s doings? I'll wait and see on that one before further thoughts.
Now for some miscellaneous notes:
-Zoe. I'm not impressed with her. She's no memorable character yet. With the way she was all confused about Desmond's actions at the end, I'm curious to see if there's more than meets the eye with her character.
-Did anyone else notice how Widmore/Alan Dale pronounced "scheduled"? Just curious.
-Why is no one running to Desmond in the water?! He was on the side there for so many seconds before they cut to break. He needed help, damn it!
-I like how the scan guy wrote "Charles Widmore" for Desmond's emergency contact in less than a second. The dude couldn't have gotten more than 3 letters in that time span.
-After Charlie and Desmond's scene in the hospital, it would have been funny if Charlie walked away and they showed his bare ass in the gown. That would have been done in a comedy, for sure.
-I'd never really thought about how Faraday and Penny are half-siblings. Also, uhhhh how did Charles Widmore have Penny and still stay married happily to Eloise? I guess she was forgiving...
-And gotta love how the stadium was where Desmond met Penny. Nice throwback. I liked that one.
What'd everyone else think?
