The creative axis around which The Wire spins almost collapsed during Season Three. David Simon was keen that the series should explore Baltimore's political landscape. Ed Burns was of the opinion that this was the very last thing that they should be doing.
It's an opinion Burns still holds - throughout Jonathan Abrams' superb oral history of The Wire All The Pieces Matter, Burns can be found complaining about how dull the show became whenever it entered the corridors of power. Simon, on the other hand, was so delighted with what Tommy Carcetti and Co. brought to the show, there was even talk of HBO commissioning a spin-off series, The Hall, detailing the rise of Carcetti - Irishman Aidan Gillen's second greatest creation after Queer As Folk's Stuart Allen Jones - to very high estate.
In the end, the simple fact there were never that many people watching The Wire ensured The Hall never made it beyond the boardroom. As for whether Season Three's political backdrop is dull, the answer's probably yes if you're someone who cursed the show for heading to the docks in Season Two, and a firm 'no' if you craved a greater understanding of the issues confronting Baltimore and why there was no chance of them ever being effectively addressed while the political system embraced people like Carcetti and Clay Davis, the latter a strong contender for supporting character MVP status thanks to Isiah Whitlock Jr's inspired elongated swearing.
Away from the smoke-filmed rooms, Season Three is, of course, the series of Hamsterdam, a brave/foolish attempt by Major Bunny Colvin (Robert Wisdom) to defang Baltimore's drug lords through de facto narcotic legalization. It's a fascinating project, inspired by real events, but it's doomed to fail since everyone from the Barksdale organisation to the city's politicians can make capital - actual and/or political - from the status quo.
Speaking of them pesky Barksdales, Season Three leaves us in no doubt that, while he might have a decent wardrobe and a reverence for higher education, Stringer Bell is no match as a businessman for Avon Barksdale who himself can't compete with the firepower and utter ruthlessness of new kid on the block Marlo Stanfield.
Old skool Avon might be but he has a real feel for the streets and the way business is done there. Stringer, on the other hand, can't swap the corner for the penthouse quickly enough. All the more fitting then that he should meet his end in one of his development properties, gunned down by well-read Black Muslim Brother Mouzone and the one man in Maryland who can't be bought, the scourge of drug dealers everywhere Omar Little.
"It was over once he died"- Bette Midler's reaction to Benicio Del Toro being bumped off midway through The Usual Suspects is similar to the feelings many viewers expressed following the shooting of Stringer Bell. A better testimony to Idris Elba's acting chops is beyond this writer. And with Jimmy McNulty stepping away from his streets come season's end - a move necessitated by Dominic West's desire to spend more time with his daughter - you can see why people might have felt The Wire could, even should, be unplugged.
It's lucky for us that Simon and Burns thought otherwise. Just look at the characters they introduced or promoted during the show's third outing. Reformed standover man 'Cutty Wise; 'zombie master' Chris Partlow and his partner in - particularly unpleasant - crime, Snoop Pearson; Theresa D'Agostino, a political animal with a sexual appetite that even eclipses Jimmy McNulty's; and of course the dead-eyed Marlo Stanfield who's about to do to Baltimore what the Luftwaffe did to the East End of London - yes, we'd be that much the poorer had we been denied the chance to meet any and all of them.
Not only that but, according to one recent survey, Season Four of The Wire would see the series scale its Everest. So grab your books and your lunchbox, kids - we're heading back to school..!