The series finale of The Wire last night was like a large bag of mixed nuts – while picking out the cashews and throwing them away, I thoroughly enjoy the pistachios while eating the peanuts just because they’re there. So basically, like a bag of mixed nuts, it was satisfying and enjoyable, with some bits I’d rather throw away.
Not getting into spoilers or anything, because that is highly offensive, the finale ended tying up an overwhelming majority of the potentially very loose ends that could have just been left dangling. Some of the outcomes weren’t favorable for some fans simply because they weren’t happy enough, and some were downright depressing. However, the overall point of most of the events play into the whole idea that “the game remains the same” – that all things work in a cycle, and Baltimore as a whole works that way in a lot of respects. There is a particular scene in which David Simon displays a bunch of sunrise/sunset footage throughout the city, which at first I kind of thought was a weak filler move, but after some consideration it just reiterates the point that Baltimore in and of itself remains as the central character throughout the cycle.
For all of the literally 20 or so endings for each and every character featured in the finale, maybe 5 of them were a bit weak. McNulty’s ending received a lot of attention and it was certainly the most uh, sentimental, as is echoed here, although that’s about as far as my agreement with David Zurawik’s assessment goes. But to put as basically as possible; if you felt like The Sopranos finale blew, you’ll be very happy with the finale of The Wire. That’s pretty much the bottom line.
Some of my considerations actually made it to The Sun, which I’m pretty jazzed about, there’s also a really great interview with David Simon over at Salon.com that’s worth the read.
I’ll miss the show, mostly because it’s about Baltimore, but like white people enjoy saying so much “It’s the greatest show on television.”
I just had to comment on my own damn entry because this quote from David Simon regarding a ‘scene in which the internet’s cause of traditional journalism’s demise’ almost made me piss myself:
“If you’re saying that there needed to be scenes of the Internet interacting with journalism and bringing down journalism, I will now write you a scene: Interior, garden apartment anywhere. A white male, mid-30s, sits at a laptop computer in his underwear, linking to a Baltimore Sun story. He then scratches his left testicle until satisfied and continues to type commentary about that story onto his blog. Cut to drug corner, and on to the next scene.”
The finale was brilliant. As for people bitching about certain characters not getting their due, I wonder what show they’ve been watching for five seasons. One of the shows greatest assets is its consistent refusal to rely on ridiculous cliches about the good guys winning and bad guys losing. It’s kinda like, uh, what’s that thing? You know the stuff that happens to us, like, when we’re alive, but we’re not watching tv? Also, why would you throw the cashews out? They’re the most expensive and best-tasting nuts.
To your second post: OMG META!