The end of the Wire

I know I'm a bit slow to get round to it but I've just finished watching the last season of The Wire on DVD.

I've written about The Wire before. If you don't know about it The Wire is an American TV series from the HBO channel. It ran for 5 seasons and it was set in Baltimore. It was about poverty, drug dealers, police, murderers, social injustice, politics, schools, unions and newspapers. That probably doesn't cover it. It's a complex programme and it's worth giving up a week or two of your life to become acquainted with it.

The show is gritty and realistic. Heroes do not exist in the world of The Wire. Interesting characters do. At the end of the last episode I was satisfied. They didn't cheat, they didn't fuck up and they didn't break their rules.

A masterpiece.

The DVDs can be found for under 20 quid. I have a copy of the book Homicide by David Simon (the writer) sitting beside my bed waiting to be read. I can't wait.