On THE WIRE: A Love Story

SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRETY OF THE WIRE! This is a thorough analysis, detailing various elements from all five seasons in excessive, spoilery detail. If you care about spoilers turn back now. Otherwise, onwards!

I fucking love The Wire. As someone born in Baltimore, but divorced from the city for almost two decades, the show scratched a peculiar itch inside of me. Is it heritage? Or just a natural curiosity to see things set in one’s place of birth? Despite living in St. Louis for the better part of a decade and a half, I still hesitate to label it as my hometown. There’s something about those Baltimore streets. Tragedy, heartbreak, humor. Magic! David Simon and co. managed to spin some of the finest narrative fiction put to camera over the course of five seasons.

On Racism, David Simon, and SHOW ME A HERO

While Show Me A Hero is based on true events, this article does contain spoilers for all six episodes. Proceed with extreme prejudice.

Show Me A Hero is David Simon’s (The Wire, Tremé) latest HBO foray. It’s a nifty little diddy that takes the form of a six-episode miniseries centering on Yonkers, New York, and their open defiance to build court ordered public housing. The action is dialog-heavy, focusing on a councilman (later mayor), a townswoman active in the protests against said project, and a few key members of the minority-populated West Yonkers.