The Wire & Heroes Withdrawal
Good TV does existby j. brotherlove
The latest season of The Wire is officially over. I could write a long post about this season but Bernie did a good job of that already. Suffice it to say, this has been the best season of an already excellent show! I admit I cheated and peeped the season early; I just couldn’t wait. But now that all the episodes have aired, I’m open to anyone who wants to chat about it.
My other TV show addiction Heroes is on a break, too. I love the whole average-person-becomes-superhero theme (hell, I even liked Unbreakable). Anyway, I re-watched all 11 episodes of Heroes over the weekend and can’t wait for the series to kick up again in January.
But until then, am I missing anything else on the boob tube (other than the couple of suggestions Karsh makes)?
Warning: Plenty of spoilers and insight in the comments as well as at Steven Rubio, The House Next Door, What’s Alan Watching?, jarkolicious, That’s On Point and Gray Matters.
I watched the finale ahead of Sunday night’s airing and was very nearly in tears afterwards. Then I watched it again. Bubs attempted suicide. Bodie’s murder. Randy tossed back into the foster care system. Dukie falling between the cracks with no one to take care of him. Michael traveling down that same path to jail or an early death. Marlo, Chris and Snoop’s callous disregard for human life. And the institutional indifference by the schools, police and city hall.
Great, depressingly realistic, television.
Well that’s true Bernie. But also…
Cedric and Rhonda have positions to call shots for a change, Cutty’s gym is providing a good outlet for some of the boys who would otherwise be on the corner slinging dope (and he seems to have a real love interest). Carcetti’s election has injected some new energy into City Hall, Prez is finding ways to reach some of his students, Bunny saved Naymond from the system (at least for now), and Omar, my favorite character, escaped his murder and beat Marlo and Prop Joe at their game (although repercussions are sure to follow).
Most importantly, our favorites from Major Crimes are back together on the wire taps. Of course, the irony is, their investigation will send serious ripples through the Carcetti administration and supporters next season.
Yeah, but…with the mounting body count from Marlo’s murders, the need for a quick resolution will loom large over the Carcetti Administration. How long before he’s feeling pressure to do something to make it “look like” the city is safe, and that trickles down to the police, forcing Daniels to “juke stats”? Burrell is still the commissioner and showing no desire to leave. Prez saw how the school juked the stats on that state exam, and how despite his best efforts, Dukie was lost. Is he really reaching them?
Marlo is angling to do an end run around Prop Joe. Will one of them have to go? Will we see a return of Brother Mouzone?
We may spend the entire off season speculating these and other resoultions, but my guess is, there will be no true resolution.