Re-Wiring - Season One
A quick trawl through all five seasons of "the greatest television show since the invention of radio." (Charlie Brooker)
God, everyone looks so young!
That's the first thing that hits you upon revisiting Season One of The Wire. Seriously, even the porn-and-junk-food-obsessed Jay Landesman has a glow about him. Dominic West, meanwhile, looks every inch the movie star he'd soon become.
West, of course, wasn't meant to be in The Wire. Jimmy McNulty was a part that had been ear-marked for Ray Winstone, who liked the script but didn't want to relocate to Baltimore as he didn't want his infant daughter growing up with an American accent. Good though Winstone might've been and dodgy thought West's accent is for the first couple of seasons, it's not that much of a shame about Ray bowing out. A grizzled old bear, Winstone's 'McNutty' might have come on like a cop with nothing going for him accept his police work. West, though, superficially resembles a man with options; it's over the course of five seasons that we figure out that, on the inside, he's every bit as grizzled and burnt-out as Winstone might've appeared on the outside.
While I might one day go through The Wire episode-by-episode - perhaps if these season reviews go down well - it's an overall picture I'm trying to paint here. And what a canvas David Simon was let loose upon; one that’s as vast as a David history painting but populated with more folk than you'd find in a dozen Breughels.
Upon returning to The Wire, you’re quickly reminded that, for a good few episodes, you really felt like you were playing catch-up with the programme. The street speak, the numerous hierarchies, the various locales - there's a lot to take in. But with so much going and so many eye-catching characters, keeping up with The Wire might be confusing but it's never boring.
Exactly who stands out no doubt depends on when and at what age you discovered The Wire. Twentysomethings who've just stumbled on the show will probably be drawn to the relatable Wallace, portrayed by Creed’s Michael D Jordan. For those of us who were there at the beginning, it's impossible to explain how big of an impression was made by Omar Little (the profoundly missed Michael K Williams).
To see the scar-faced assassin caressing his boyfriend was to get the impression that this was a street thug not out to push drugs but bound to push the audience's buttons. But by the time we see find said boyfriend eviscerated on the bonnet of a car, we've already started to change our mind about Omar. And how Little reacts to Brandon's murder will plonk us squarely in his corner for the remaining four-and-a-half seasons.
Omar's not the only character The Wire dares us to change our minds about. Take JD Williams' 'Bodie' Broadus - by the end of Season One, I wished but one fate upon him. When eventually it was visited upon the corner boy, the feeling was almost like bidding farewell to a friend.
As with most any work of art, what one brings to The Wire determines what part of the show speak loudest to us. First time around, this lover of police procedurals was here first and foremost to see a case being cracked. Two decades on and with a few years sobriety to my name, my heart now instantly goes out to Andre Royo's Bubbles and to Steve Earle's Walon, the biker who'll later become Bub’s NA sponsor.
Presumably informed by the singer-songwriter's own addiction issues, Walon's claim that "I know I have one more high left in me but I doubt I have one recovery" doesn't simply sound authentic; it's wisdom born of the most uncomfortable truth.
I could go on and on... and on. But there'll be time to talk about Bunk, Prez, Judge Phelan, Stringer Bell, Kima Greggs and Co. as we move through the seasons. Speaking of which, come S1’s final episode - 'Sentencing' - some may ponder whether this is where David Simon should've pulled the plug. After so perfect a season why give in to the inevitability of decline?
But had the series loose ends been tied up by the first time Jimmy McNulty came to unmoor his boat, we'd have been robbed of so many experiences, not least encountering Season Two's MVP, the stevedore's stevedore Frank Sobotka...