When it comes to acclaimed television shows of the 21st century, few are as universally praised as The Wire. While it wasn’t as popular while it was on the air, in the years since its final episode in 2008, its reputation has increased significantly. What was once an acclaimed but underrated crime/drama series is now considered legendary and an essential watch for fans of prestige TV shows. When it comes to other HBO shows, perhaps its only competitor is The Sopranos, and even then, when judging what the greatest show of the 2000s was, one could get technical and point out that The Sopranos aired its first season in 1999.
So, The Wire is considered great, but what’s it about? When it began in 2002, The Wire was predominantly concerned with following a group of police in Baltimore undertaking a wire-tapping operation to bring down a drug-dealing gang known as the Barksdale organization. Each season following the first introduced a new area of Baltimore that would be focused on, though it did this without ever forgetting previous storylines or characters. By the final season, the scope of the show and the size of its cast were huge, making The Wire feel like a true epic. It’s great television from start to finish, but some seasons hit harder than others, as demonstrated by how they’re ranked below, according to critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
5
Season 1 (2002)
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 86%
Season 1 of The Wire introduces viewers to a talented (and huge) cast from the get-go. Impressively, the size only grows as the seasons go on, but the increasing scope of the show is more incremental once you get past the first season. Things can feel overwhelming, at least initially, so if there’s any reason why Season 1 is considered by critics to be a little less great than other seasons, it’s probably due to the confusion some may feel when they start the show. It’s possible to experience a feeling of being thrown into a televisual deep end, so to speak.
After a handful of episodes, things get clearer. By the end of the season, the fairly straightforward (by The Wire‘s standards) story about a wire-tapping operation taking on a street gang comes to a logical and emotionally powerful close. But one gets the sense that this world feels lived in, and that the characters all have immense histories, and those things take time to become accustomed to. For that reason, on first watch, season one of The Wire is the most challenging season. But on a rewatch, it’s far more comprehensible, and even on a first watch, it comes together in the end. Either way, it’s a strong start to the show and allows future seasons to build off it and become even better.
4
Season 5 (2008)
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 93%
The Wire is a show that’s received a great deal of acclaim for its season finales, so it’s fitting that it also has a great series finale. As mentioned before, by the fifth and final season of The Wire, the show was essentially painting a portrait of Baltimore as a whole. Just about every character who didn’t die in the first four seasons makes some sort of appearance in the fifth and final season, even if for just a moment or two. The final episode itself runs for longer than some movies (at 93 minutes), which demonstrates just how many storylines needed to be concluded as the show came to a close.
Season 5 undoubtedly gives The Wire a satisfying conclusion, with its final three to four episodes being particularly memorable. The show’s primary storyline isn’t quite as beloved, though, as the main institution introduced in the fifth season was The Baltimore Sun, with a new storyline exploring the role the media played in the city and how it influenced street crime and the police department. While focusing on The Sun and the media as a whole wasn’t quite as popular with fans of the show, Simon and his writing team did a tremendous job showcasing how budget cuts were degrading the newspaper, with the remaining newsroom employees being urged to “do more with less.” The Sun also was the setting for arguably the series’ most underrated conflict between Metro Desk Editor Gus Haynes (Clark Johnson) and General Assignment Reporter Scott Tempelton (Tom McCarthy), who resorted to fabricating his stories in order to grow his reputation and would serve to tie everything together in the season’s final episode. Season 5 was still compelling television but perhaps not on the same level as other seasons’ storylines focused on. Still, since Season 5 also serves as a pitch-perfect conclusion to other narrative threads from previous seasons, it does ultimately stand as a great season of television.
3
Season 2 (2003)
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 95%
Image via HBO
The Wire’s second season may alarm some viewers who’ve just gotten used to Season 1’s status quo. Newcomers expecting Season 1’s storyline to remain central will be taken aback by the introduction of Port of Baltimore storyline revolving around dockworkers and how they’re impacted by another criminal organization run by “The Greek.” Beyond importing drugs into Baltimore City, he also imports stolen goods and sex trade workers—the latter initially catching police attention (some newly introduced officers and some who were introduced in Season 1).
The Barksdale crew (the street-level gang focused on in Season 1) takes a backseat here but remains important to the show. Numerous members of this once-powerful gang have been imprisoned following Season 1 but their attempts to rebuild receive considerable attention with this storyline regaining more focus in Season 3. If there’s one complaint about Season 2 it’s that most new characters introduced here only play small roles in subsequent seasons which makes Season 2 feel comparatively disconnected. However, like any season of The Wire, it’s still amazingly well written, acted, and filmed making for tense and very engaging TV.
01
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