TVSquad

I just watched the last episode of season one of The Wire. You guys are right. It's good stuff. Most of season one was pretty slow-going, but things started to kick in during the last few episodes, about the time Greggs got shot.

As in last week's Jane After Dark column, I'm still a bit lost on exactly what's happening, but that doesn't seem to really matter. The characters are so interesting to watch. It's almost like you're watching a documentary about the real thing, rather than a scripted TV show. I took the suggestion of some of you and started watching with the subtitles on. It really does help!

I noticed that Alan Sepinwall is also blogging on The Wire -- and writing a masters thesis on each episode. He even has two different versions -- one for newbies and one for veterans. I'm the anti-Sepinwall, just trying to grasp the storyline and get the basic gist. But I did read his newbie editions and found them helpful.

I do want to mention one scene, in particular. In the last episode, "Sentencing," the scene where D'Angelo spills his guts to McNulty, Pearlman, and Bunk. Wow, Larry Gilliard, Jr. is such a great actor. I felt like he was just laying it all out there, like he really DID want to get out of the family business and move on with a fresh start somewhere. But then got sucked back into it and ended up doing 20 years to protect Avon. Some mom he's got, talking him into taking one for the team instead of going straight.

Oh, and the sex scenes between McNulty and Pearlman - raw! Both of them really seem to be out for sex and nothing else. And the sex is driven by interesting things, like when she jumps him in the parking garage after being so giddy over how the case is going.

And in the end, McNulty ends up on "the boat," breathing those diesel fumes he hates so much. There's just something so wrong -- and so right -- about that. Right, because no matter how well you do, sometimes you still end up on the boat.

I went back and listened to the first episode with commentary by creator David Simon. It helped to put some of the pieces together and give me a little perspective on season one. He said something to the effect that The Wire is a metaphor for what's going on in the American city; that those who are excluded from the legitimate economy make their own world. That, along with how these groups interact with the establishment, seems like a good way to describe this season in a nutshell.

Of the excessive profanity, Simon said he wrote it as he'd heard cops and drug dealers talk in his years as a crime reporter with the Baltimore Sun. "There's some poetry to the way people talk, but it is profane," he said. I never thought of profanity as poetry, but yeah, now that he mentions it, it makes sense.

I also want to mention the fantastic theme song, "Way Down in the Hole," sung by The Blind Boys of Alabama and composed by one of my favorite singer/songwriters, Tom Waits. I can't wait to hear his version of the song in season two.

And speaking of season two, I can't find it at any video stores in town! I happened to have season one on DVD, but it looks like I'll either have to buy the rest of the seasons or see if I can get them from Netflix. I did a search for episodes online, but most sites want you to pay and join. If anyone knows of a good site to watch free episodes of The Wire, let me know. I'm hanging in there, so stay tuned!