If the politically-heavy Season Three was David Simon's season, Season Four belongs to the show's co-creator Ed Burns. A police officer who swapped his beat for the classroom, Burns trod a similar path to that of Roland Pryzbylewski (Jim True-Frost), although one hopes it didn't involve the killing of a fellow officer nor having a father-in-law as god-awful as Stan Valcheck.
Never someone who looked terribly comfortable as a cop, one of the show's true out-and-out joys is seeing Prez finally find his place in the world. By the time we briefly run into him again in Season Five, he has the gravity of someone who's been kicking ass as an educator since day one. But as we know only too well, day one proper actually ended with a lot of blood being spilt.
School is also where we find the young men who perhaps best explain why Season Four is a favourite so many viewers. The too-cool-for-school Namond Brice (Julito McCullum), the old-before-his-time Michael Lee (Tristan Wilds), the put-upon Duquan 'Dukie' Weems (Jermaine Crawford), the affable schemer Randy Wagstaff (the superbly-monikered Maestro Harrell) - these 'boys of summer' can't help but get under our skin and into our hearts.
True, their presence - together with the school setting - gives Season Four a more traditional televisual feel. But without the guys, Burns would be denied the opportunity to comment on the very real failings of American education, and we'd be deprived of four of the best teen acting turns of recent times
Oh yes, and in case you were wondering, Randy is the illegitimate son of Eastside foot soldier Cheese Wagstaff; it's just never acknowledged in the show. Whatever the many misfortunes of Randy's life, the fact Cheese isn't a part of it is a blessed relief.
Season Four is also the season where McNulty gets sober and shacks up with Beadie Russell, the post-pOlice Bunny Colvin finds a new calling in life together with a surrogate stepson, and a whole lot of bodies begin to show up in the vacants...
The season in which Marlo Stanfield truly began his march to high estate, this was also the year where Snoop Pearson and Chris Partlow fully came out of the shadows. Real-life murderer Felicia 'Snoop' Pearson (yes, character and actor share the same name) was described by Stephen King as "perhaps the most terrifying female villain to ever appear in a television series." She certainly feels very real. And her way of dealing with hardware staff is worth bearing in mind the next time you take a trip to B&Q.
As with the previous year, plenty of people thought Season Four might spell the end for The Wire. As such, you can't ignore the fact that, come the final episode montage, plenty of characters feel like they've found their place in the world. Heck, Bubbles is even in rehab, albeit for the most tragic reasons imaginable.
Scotch Season Five, however, and everyone's favourite junkie would be denied a truly fitting finale. More pertinently, while you might have heard that it represents the very worse of The Wire, I've got a suprise for you - Season Five is the very best series of all.