It???s borderline tragic that one of American television???s finest shows of recent times comes to an end with season five of The Wire. Long-praised for its astonishing mix of character, grit and outstandingly scripted drama, the upside is that the show sure goes out with some style.

As with every season of The Wire, there???s an underlying theme running alongside the exploration of both sides of Baltimore???s drug problem, and this time it???s the media. Fighting cutbacks, yet trying to maintain quality, the staff of The Baltimore Sun prove to be a compelling addition to the mix. On top of that, there???s also Mayor Carcetti???s battles at City Hall with the budget, a stretched police force looking for easy statistics, and fractions among the city???s main drug dealers. Desperate times, ultimately, call for desperate measures, and it turns to McNulty to come up with a plan that threads through each of the city???s factions.

That The Wire has maintained its standards for five straight seasons is surely something to be celebrated all by itself. Yet what???s even more remarkable is the way that it leaves our screens, seemingly forever. No character is safe and nothing is black and white, right up to the quite wonderful final episode. And what a way to go that last instalment proves to be. Giving nothing away, it???s a superb fanfare to a genuinely stunning--and unequalled--piece of television drama. If you???ve not already, you really should find out what all the fuss about. --Simon Brew

the fact that the wire is a show that so few people have actually seen is criminal but completely unsurprising in this age of dumbed down entertain ment and reality tv shows. this is an exceptional, intelligent piece of work that should have reached a wide audience.
it's not the most action packed show you'll ever see, but the quality of the writing and acting is simply superb, and sadly, the best way to see this superb criminally underrated show is on dvd or late at night on fx. it is bleak, very bleak. no happy endings here, but the fact that the wire has managed to last 5 seasons is something of a miracle. this superb show is hardly seen, yet complete drivel like american idol, big brother, i'm a celebrity get me out of here and all other idiotic reality tv shows get such high viewing figures is a sad state of affairs indeed. for lovers of good, quality tv, this is absolutely essential viewing.

I know in these times we live in with many competing interests, recommendations are a plenty and its easy your to ignore peoples urges to watch something.....but try to make time for "The Wire" if you can, very impressive television, slow and measured at first, it builds into a amazing drama, and I does not seek to pander to the lowest common denominator of intelligence. Very refreshing.

Quite simply the best TV series ever made. Blows every other American and British TV dramas out of the water. Watch from season 1 through to 5 and be astounded and amazed at what heights TV drama can reach. From street corners to the corridors of power in Baltimore, stories are told in staggering detail. Excellent cast, fantastic characters. The Wire season 5 is just as good as seasons 1 - 4. The story ends, good guys don't always win, bad guys get away, so authentic in it's depiction is what makes it so good. No more seasons of the wire? In the words of Clay Davis "Shiiiiiiiiiit"

If you love the novel like structure and subtlety of The Wire, this last series will blow you away.

A great series and a great ending. I just can't believe it's over. The game's not the same anymore!!

For the last four weeks I have been watching episodes of The Wire back to back right from the beginning of season one to the end of season four to prepare myself for this fifth and final season. Now, having just finished watching the feature length finale I feel a strange sense of grief knowing I will never again have excitement and pleasure of watching a new episode.

Season five is all about tying up loose ends and this time the focus is on the Baltimore Sun newspaper. Carcetti's city hall has no money left to spend so promises made to Daniels are going unfulfilled and the police department can no longer pay officers overtime. A frustrated McNulty and Freamon take insubordination to a new extreme in order to serve the greater good. Marlo Stanfield makes his play for power with the help of loyal soldiers Chris and Snoop who also bait Omar out of retirement. Meanwhile, the political machine keeps chewing up Senators, Commissioners and anyone else with anything to lose.

So is it as breathtaking as seasons one to four? Not quite I'm afraid. Whilst undoubtedly still an extraordinary drama, I'm rating season five in comparison with the previous seasons and if I consider that they were close to perfect, here would be my (minor) criticisms.

1) I feel nothing towards any of the new characters working for the newspaper. They certainly don't have the personality or charisma of the gangsters, cops or dock workers of previous episodes. Extended periods of time filmed inside the Baltimore Sun offices are a little boring.

2) McNulty's antics are given way too much screen time and are far fetched at best, ridiculously far fetched at worst. Way too little screen time is given to the Marlo vs. Omar story which I would imagine is what most viewers would like to see more of (I certainly did).

3) It's hard to believe Herc would go from being a cop to working for a scumbag like Maurice Levy.

Those gripes aside, The Wire still has plenty going for it. The script and acting is still first rate and the message of the series is clear. No matter how many people try to change the city, the cycle just continues. Marlo becomes the new ''Stringer'' Bell, "Slim" Charles becomes the new ''Prop" Joe, Michael becomes the new Omar, Dukie becomes the new Bubbles, Sydnor becomes the new McNulty, Pearlman becomes the new Judge, Daniels becomes the new Pearlman and Carver becomes the new Daniels. The body on the street at the end tells us that no matter how many people tried or promised to try making a difference, there'll always be another Avon Barksdale or Marlo Stanfield making their move on the streets and in response there'll never be enough money so there'll always be people who create the illusion of success to further their own careers. It may sound a pessimistic and disappointing ending but it's really well done and I'm just glad the show went out on a high. In fact, I'm going to take my DVD boxsets down to the local Irish Tavern to lay them out on the felt of the pool table and give them the real Western division send off they deserve.

Like this? Try: The Wire: Seasons 1-5