Progress is painfully uneven
May 28, 2017 8:52 AM   Subscribe

Baltimore, 15 years after The Wire

The Observer visits Baltimore 15 years after The Wire ended and finds that the issues raised by the show haven't really gone away.

Photos of locations used in the show as they are today.
posted by arcticseal (31 comments total) 22 users marked this as a favorite
 
Quite a few pictures of my neighborhood in there. A couple houses down from mine is the location they used for Michael's house.

I now work in film so I know most the people who were on the crew for the Wire, seems like it was a tough experience but it's definitely one of the best shows ever produced. I always find it funny that locations would send in a crew to clean up a spot of needles and trash and then set dec would come in and bring in prop needles and prop trash.
posted by cloeburner at 10:54 AM on May 28, 2017 [27 favorites]


That show is like an open wound for me. I don't think I could rewatch it again.

Perhaps the slowly dawning realization that prohibition provides significant income to risk-oriented youths in gangs, leads to police militarization and corruption, engenders distrust amongst the populace being "served and protected", has numerous negative public health implications, and does absolutely ZERO to impede the flow of illegal drugs, will soon lead to major policy changes.
posted by NeoRothbardian at 2:50 PM on May 28, 2017 [13 favorites]


It's still flabbergasting that the show never won an Emmy. I know that we're in the TV renaissance, but still.
posted by Halloween Jack at 5:33 PM on May 28, 2017 [7 favorites]


I know that we're in the TV renaissance, but still.
As long as the most popular show is set in a fantasy feudal society, I don't like the term "renaissance" for the current TV environment. And with the second most popular show set in a zombie apocalypse, that speaks volumes for current American Society. And don't get started with me countless "heroic cops solve a case in one hour" series that thrive on long after the end of The Wire...
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:17 PM on May 28, 2017 [17 favorites]


I only watched it for the first time this year. What a wonderful show, and how I wish there were more of it.
posted by SLC Mom at 7:50 PM on May 28, 2017


I was going to type a longer post about the explicitly racist cancellation of the proposed Red Line mass transit project as evidence towards the deep-seated white supremacy problem of Baltimore, but I got too angry, and stopped. As someone who lurks a few neighborhood Facebook groups dedicated to Baltimore neighborhoods, most of them have deep south levels of racial hatred brewing just below the surface.
posted by codacorolla at 7:54 PM on May 28, 2017 [8 favorites]


As long as the most popular show is set in a fantasy feudal society, I don't like the term "renaissance" for the current TV environment.

When the top ten includes stuff like Empire and Underground, and even a dramatization of the O.J. Simpson case, isn't pissing on Game of Thrones a little facile?
posted by trackofalljades at 10:25 PM on May 28, 2017 [2 favorites]


This sounds like a super silly question, but I figure this might be a good thread to ask? I am someone who rarely watches TV, and even if I do, it's something like Rick and Morty. How does one watch The Wire? I really am into political issues and social justice, but it's never really occurred to me to sit down and watch an entire TV series related to examining social issues.
posted by yueliang at 11:16 PM on May 28, 2017 [1 favorite]


It's currently on Amazon Prime Video, so if you have that, you're set. Otherwise DVD's. From the library, or buy the set.
posted by cats are weird at 11:53 PM on May 28, 2017 [2 favorites]


It's also on HBO Now, which I believe you can turn on and off at (payment) will. I watched it in three weeks the first time I watched it, but taking a couple+ of months is probably best (if you can).
posted by rhizome at 12:12 AM on May 29, 2017 [1 favorite]


oneswellfoop: As long as the most popular show is set in a fantasy feudal society, I don't like the term "renaissance" for the current TV environment.

The Renaissance was part of the takeover of feudal societies by absolute monarchies, so there's that...
posted by clawsoon at 2:47 AM on May 29, 2017 [2 favorites]


How does one watch The Wire?

One episode at a time, starting at the beginning.

Seriously, it's unusual in a number of ways for a TV show, but it's still a TV show. Just watch it.
posted by nnethercote at 3:13 AM on May 29, 2017 [4 favorites]


I really like The Wire, but I found its reputation offputting in a way that I honestly find a little shameful. I thought I was good at compartmentalising!

Anyway: The Wire is, when you get right down to it, a decompressed, detail oriented police procedural. Each case is a season, and they spend plenty of time on the details that your murder-a-week shows gloss over to save time and not tax people too much. It's not an unapproachable work of staggering genius. It's about cops and criminals, and it's got good characterisation with believable motivations.

The seasons that make The Wire's reputation are the later ones, because if you keep asking the question of "what's behind this relatively straightforward crime?" and keep following that thread, eventually you end up in very unexpected places.
posted by Merus at 5:03 AM on May 29, 2017 [8 favorites]


Threads like this always make me feel guilty that I bailed on The Wire after the first season. It was OK but I didn't really get what made it so amazing to everyone else. I loved the early seasons of Homicide so it would seem like this show would be my thing but I didn't find any of the characters compelling and the story didn't grab me. I tried again last year and watched the first episode of the second season but never got any further. Maybe I'll try again.
posted by octothorpe at 5:16 AM on May 29, 2017


I would encourage people to stick with it past the first few episodes. Each season starts verrrrry slowly as they lay out all of the pieces and frankly some of that groundwork is pretty confusing and/or less dynamic at first. But then things start coming together by episode 4 or 5 and all of the little details start paying off and suddenly the show is phenomenal. (And Season 3 is my personal favorite, FWIW!)
posted by TwoStride at 6:11 AM on May 29, 2017 [5 favorites]


I found season one episode one a fantastic hour of television, but that was back when it first aired. Maybe with all of the quality TV available these days it isn't the revelation of what is possible it once was.

I still have the original recording I pulled off my OG TiVo around somewhere..
posted by wierdo at 10:11 AM on May 29, 2017


I watched it a lot when it came out... the first few seasons several times as I played catch up when each new one came out. And before the BBC went totally spineless they showed it all over one
glorious summer, late night, 3 or 4 eps a week with gaps for sport coverage.

I saw it all again the other year when the widescreen version came out and it was still brilliant.

Greatest television program ever made...? yeah, in the balance, probably.

One thing it did do tell a truth rarely told... that people in a society are not heroic Randian individuals with complete control over their lives... but buffeted by the effects of the actions of individuals and forces far more powerful than they are. 'The Greek gods shit'

It's all in the game.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 10:59 AM on May 29, 2017 [9 favorites]


The first episodes of every season are a little grindy - setting up the characters and situations organically (a little analogous to building solid cases)- but imo every season has a big emotional/plot payoff at the end.

Taken as a series, even, the final seasons don't disappoint (much). So much character development.

Not sure I want to/could do a rewatch though, there's so much pain (balanced a little by iotas of joy/peace) and the main draw for me where the character arcs, now already revealed.
posted by porpoise at 11:14 AM on May 29, 2017 [2 favorites]


My wife was absolutely crushed by the end of the first season and had a complete angry/sad meltdown that lasted a week. That was two years ago. I think she might be ready for season two.
posted by empath at 12:18 PM on May 29, 2017


The very final season is distinctly weaker overall than the rest because of a couple dubious subplots. But it does wrap everything up very nicely in the end.

I'd say try to ignore the baggage about how "real" people think it is or whatever and just expect an intricate drama with a bunch of great character actors (plus Idris Elba) that expands in scope as it goes on.
posted by atoxyl at 12:49 PM on May 29, 2017 [4 favorites]


If you're not sure about watching the show but like to read, you can check out David Simon's books or Laura Lippman's fiction to get a feel for Baltimore. I have a short story collection edited by Lippman called "Baltimore Noir" that is a lighter introduction to the city.

The point of the show was that these are deeply entrenched systemic problems so I'm not surprised at all that nothing has changed.
posted by TheLateGreatAbrahamLincoln at 1:44 PM on May 29, 2017 [3 favorites]


Threads like this always make me feel guilty that I bailed on The Wire after the first season. It was OK but I didn't really get what made it so amazing to everyone else.

I wouldn't worry about it; we all have different tastes, and that's a good thing, right?
posted by walrus at 2:39 PM on May 29, 2017


FWIW, I bailed on the show early in the first season 2 or 3 times before my three week binge. Over at least a year.
posted by rhizome at 3:16 PM on May 29, 2017


It didn't grab me for the first season or the first half of of the second season, but I persevered because Metafilter said to. Towards the end of Season 2, I was all, "Oooh, okay, I'm starting to see what they mean." Season 4 remains the best tv I've ever seen.
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 3:18 PM on May 29, 2017


I just finished a background rebinge of this about an hour ago. I have a lot of troubling getting into dramas, but made it through this a few times. I lined season five a bit more than the last run through, but the major crime point still sucks, and for something that always left strands unhappily unresolved, it seemed like it put too pretty a bow on it. Poor dukie :(.
posted by lkc at 6:25 PM on May 29, 2017 [1 favorite]


Thank you all very much for answering my question in both of its forms, for where to watch and how to watch it! I am someone who prefers reading very atmospheric novels and marveling over prose by myself, and usually set aside TV and movie watching with friends and family. But The Wire is something that I feel like I'd want to watch by myself, so it is very helpful to get a feel for it based on y'alls understanding, thank you! I am very intrigued by how it is a season devoted to an entire case.
posted by yueliang at 1:13 AM on May 30, 2017 [1 favorite]


Is Homicide available anywhere?
posted by Billiken at 6:23 AM on May 30, 2017 [1 favorite]


It was on Amazon at one point. Don't know if it still is.
posted by wierdo at 9:27 AM on May 30, 2017


I watched The Wire for the first time about 2 years back and it may have secured the top spot in my list of best tv shows of all time. David Simon is just so damned good at taking a city and making it a complete character all of its own. Treme is also close to my heart since I live in New Orleans, and in both shows you really *feel* the city, it's not just a backdrop or setting.

Watching The Wire made gave me the impression that Baltimore is a lot like New Orleans - a port city with wide-spread corruption, crime, crappy schools, and a lot of poverty. So the article was depressing but not wholly unexpected, since we are facing much of the same down here. There are glimmers of hope but spikes in violent crime, schools improving but not for everyone, and the double-edged sword of gentrification. Hopefully it doesn't take another 15 years to see some real improvement.

And now I might need to start a re-watch binge.
posted by tryniti at 10:02 AM on May 30, 2017


As a life-long Baltimorean (except for a six-year stint in NYC), I find it frustrating that so many people think The Wire is a documentary.

Even David Simon admitted that it could be about any city. I'm just really tired of "Oh, you live in Baltimore? Scary - I've seen The Wire."

Instead, I try to point them to wonderful organizations like Thread and Community Mediation that are changing people's lives in Baltimore every day.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 10:08 AM on May 30, 2017 [5 favorites]


Hell, as a lifelong non-Baltimorean it's frustrating when people adopt it as a documentary.
posted by rhizome at 4:25 PM on May 30, 2017


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