Down To The Wire

The second season of The Deuce is over. It was okay, but not the kind of show you wait all week for.  At least it's better than David Simon's previous show, Treme.  Neither are the quality I hoped for from the creator of The Wire.

In fact, I started wondering if The Wire was as good as I remembered. So I recently rewatched the first season. Yep, still holds up.  A whole bunch of great characters, portrayed by fine actors, in a compelling story.  It's like a 19th century novel, where numerous characters come together to give you a picture of a society--in this case, Baltimore.  As a former police reporter, Simon knew his stuff.

The first season, you may recall, is about the creation of a special police detail to investigate Avon Barksdale, a major drug dealer who's had a lot of people killed to stay on top.  So a bunch of cops, some from murder, some from narcotics, some talented, some hopeless, get together.

The main cop is homicide detective McNulty, passionate about his job though a screw-up in regular life.  He's played by Dominic West (who, along with a few other cast members, is actually British and so was putting on an accent--I had no idea first time around).  West is fine, but it's a true ensemble, and he doesn't particularly stand out.

A lot of the show is about politics in the police department--most move up by knowing how to cover themselves, kissing up to the right people and offending as few as possible.  The special detail, in fact, angers McNulty's superiors, who see it as rocking the boat.

Then there's the detail itself, which gives the show its name.  A lot of the show is a procedural, as we see the cops wiretapping phones, cloning beepers, following leads and so on.

We also go into the streets and meet the Barksdale gang, who've got their own stories--the top guys and the street operators.  Plus the crooks trying to steal from them--particularly Omar, played by Michael Kenneth Williams, who may be the most popular character in the show.  Also, there are the addicts, one of whom becomes a major snitch.

Later seasons reach out further, showing the docks where the drugs come in, the political system and how it deals with crime, the educational system that's often just a place to park the kids till they move out onto the streets and the journalists who cover the story.

But you don't need to watch those later seasons to know how good The Wire is.  The first season is enough.  The plot is riveting and the characters vivid. It was fun to meet them all again--Daniels, Stringer Bell, D'Angelo, Bunk, Major Rawls, Kima, Lester, Poot, Wallace, Prez, Herc, Carver, Bodie, Landsman and the rest.  Think I'll watch the rest now.