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Top Four Seasons of the Wire
A must for fans of the gritty crime drama, but if you haven't seen it and don't wish to see the results, look away now.
There is nothing more boring than hearing one of your mates tweet endlessly about how great a television show is. It’s a bit like listening to someone else’s dream. That said, if you haven’t seen it, watch The Wire, it really is as good as all of your pretentious friends tell you it is. So good that we’ve decided to rate each season from best to worst…
1. Season 4
Four school buddies – Michael, Namond, Randy and Dukie – are easing into a life of crime. Bubbles is on top form, Prez is trying his luck as a teacher, and Lester is at his swaggering best. But above all that, Marlo Stanfield and his gang are in the process of making the Barksdale lads look like a bunch of namby-pamby ninnies. The best thirteen episodes of television ever.
Ending montage:
2. Season 3
The one where it gets all political. This season features Omar at his absolute peak, and Stringer Bell struggling to morph into a business man. The second best twelve episodes of television ever.
Ending montage:
3. Season 1
It takes a few episodes to really heat up, and the plot is often impossible to decipher, but all you need to know is that McNulty gets on everyone’s nerves, and Stringer Bell is the one to keep a close eye on. The best first series of any television show ever.
Ending montage:
4. Series 5
With everything to wrap up, and the focus on the media, it lost a little bit of its grit in the final season. Still excellent though, and as endings go, it was pretty satisfactory. Although some may dispute that.
Ending montage:
BONUS
5. Series 2
An absolutely essential series to go with the others, but as attentions switched from the corners to the docks and the Greeks, we started really yearning for more of the Barksdale boys. The best worst season ever.
Ending montage:
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COMMENTS
I would say the best seasons in order are 3,2,1,4 and then 5 a mile back. Season 5 is especially weak. Great drama, like the earlier seasons of The Wire need great characters. 1 and 3 have Avon and Stringer. 2 has Frank and Nicky. The newsroom in 5 is staffed by cardboard cut outs: the reporter who cuts corners, the old skool good guy and the bosses who only care about the sales. In terms of strory, 4 is a bold change of direction- but it is only really a set up for the flop of 5. Despite these weaknesses, it is still the best TV show ever- apart from The Sopranos of course.
3,2,4,1,5.
2, 4, 1, 3, 5. While season 4 has the scariest TV villain ever in the shape of Marlon, and one of the most noble heroes in the shape of Bunny, Season 2 tips it for me as it chronicles the disintergration of a working class culture, as personified by the utterly compelling Frank Sobotchka. HOWEVER, The Wire was only the best TV series I'd ever seen until I bought the boxset of Deadwood. THAT takes characterisiation and dialogue to a whole new plane of excellence...
2,4,3,1,5 - I often hear people say that it's possible to skip Season 2, which is ridiculous, I think. Season 2 is the heart of the whole thing - the point when you realise the sheer scale of what Simon's attempting, and how much more than just another good-guys/bad-guys police procedural it actually is.
prolly 2
prolly 2, Sobotchka, 3 inches of steel, blue veined diamond cutter
it was never about the drugs.. and that's why season two is so essential. if you yearn for a return to the corners then you're misunderstanding so much! season five didn't quite hit the spot, but the first four stand together as equal, faultless and magnificent.
At last! Someone agrees with my best to worst! Good shouts Joshua. Although it's not right to say worst - as none of them can be described as such.
Season 2 is easily the best- the lads I know who prefer the others are all middle class White men who only watched the wire to tweak there ghetto fantasies- normally there favourite character is Omar.
I'd almost forgotten how ace the wire was. Time to watch the lot again me thinks. Season 1 unbeatable for me. I've never seen anything like the wire. Can't imagine seeing anything that will better it for a long, long time.
"Can't imagine seeing anything that will better" not better but not far off, TREME, Breaking Bad
2,1,3,4 and then 5 miles behind on account of it being crap. Anyone who thinks The Wire is better than The Sopranos should watch The Sopranos again. Then they'll remember just what made it so great.
Tough to put in any order, but don't be so harsh on Season 5. I work in a newsroom and 'more for less' couldn't be a more apt description of the state of things. The Sopranos is great because there are so many great moments in the series, The Wire is better because there are so many great moments in each episode. The kitchen crime scene in Season 1 with Bunk and McNulty being one of the best five minutes of television ever.
4,1,3,2 ... ... ... 5
4,1,2,3,5.... all unutterably brilliant, i would happily poke my own eyes out and never watch anything else on tv ever again...
4/3 equal,2,1,5 - 5 a long way behind the others, no way was seaosn 2 the weakest - essential in expanding the view of the city as a whole.
Seasons 2 and 4 are A+ Seasons 3 and 1 are A and season 5 is C+ First, anyone that ranks season 2 last has no clue about what good television is. It was the events in season two, which ultimely led to Stringer Bells demise. His decision to cross Brother Mouzone and kill D'angelo led to his death so without those occurences from season 2, season 3 would no have been as good. Second, McNaulty did his best police work in season 2. He descovered the girl in the river and determined that she was apart of the crew of other girls from the ship container. Plus, he determined that they had been suffocated. Third, in season 2 we finally find out where Prop Joe gets his blow and the relationship between Avon and D'angelo is chronicled in jail. Basically, Avon had saved D from going astray and D was had quit the dope, but Stringer had other ideas because he wasnt privy to that info. Fourth, the dock workers. These are some of my favorite people because they are so real. Frank was not a criminal, he was saint. All he wanted to do is save his union and save jobs. That was so so dynamic. So how could you not like season 2, its by far the best season along with season 4. I challenge anyone to watch it again and get out of the ghetto mentality because all criminals and theifs aren't black.
I can't believe how many people thing Season 2 was the "best". Easily the weakest acting and plot lines, least likable characters...
I liked the wire but found it to be too cheesy american style.. like when they are bickering over turf like kids in a playground.
Why do people think season 2 is anywhere near good ? I am on episode 9 of season 2, and am about to quit. The plot is going nowhere, and there are only fillers to keep 1 hour episode - family, drama and all sort of bullshit. I only came here to find out what people think of season 3,4 and whether to continue watching or not. Guess will watch as most say 3,4 are best.
3,1,4,5........................................2. 2: awful acting, implausible situations and a total departure from what makes the series great.
@Lyle, some people don't like season 2 because they seem to think it's disconnected from the rest of the series. It doesn't directly focus on the drug war, and the port theme is never revisited and rarely even hinted at in any other season. The people that think this are insane, though. Season 2 is my favorite precisely because of its unique themes, characters, and look into a certain facet of city life. I feel like a lot of the season 2 haters don't understand one of the key points of the show. It's not just a crime show about drugs - it's show much more than that. They also don't understand the importance of season 2, which helps set the stage for Stringer's story in season 3, and the political undertones that the remainder of the series follows. Season 2 is such a fantastic embodiment of everything The Wire is about, and I think anyone that rates it so poorly has severely misunderstood not just the season, but the entire show.
Bigup series 2. Which as other commenters have pointed out is where we first see the scale of both Baltimore's problems and the ambition of the writing. Series 5 is unfortuatly pants, probably written by committee and frankly unnecessary.
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