World Famous Comics: The Wire - The Complete Fifth Season
The Wire - The Complete Fifth Season
Starring: Dominic West, Clark Johnson, Aidan Gillen, Clarke Peters, Wendell Pierce Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Binding: DVD Format: Box set, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC Label: Hbo Home Video Number of Items: 4 Region Code: 1 Release Date: August 12, 2008 Running Time: 630 minutes Theatrical Release Date: January 01, 2008
Product Description: In the projects. On the docks. In City Hall. In the schools. And now in the media. The places and faces have changed but the game remains the same. Times are tough for the detail. Mayor Carcetti has slashed the departments budget to the bone. Police are operating without overtime some without cars and radios. Angered McNulty is off the rails again and headed down a dangerous path of deception and lies that will ally him with an unscrupulous reporter. The drug trade still rules the corners all you have to do is read between the lines.Running Time: 630 min.System Requirements:Running Time: 630 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS UPC: 883929015368 Manufacturer No: 1000038240
Amazon.com: A barroom toast to Det. Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West), a one-man good cop/bad cop, offered in The Wire's final episode could very well serve as this series' epitaph: "When you were good, you were the best we had." Season five bears witness to this. The 10 riveting, wrenching episodes focus on yet another beleaguered Baltimore institution, The Baltimore Sun daily newspaper, whose staff, much like the police, is forced to do more with less. One editor (Clark Johnson) struggles to maintain the paper's journalistic standards in the face of declining ad revenues, employee buyouts and bureau closures. An ambitious reporter (Tom McCarthy) undermines him by taking a page out of the Stephen Glass/Jayson Blair playbook, manufacturing sensational quotes, and eventually, whole stories, while bean-counter management encourages its rising star and keeps its eye on the (Pulitzer) prize. Meanwhile, on the streets, the year-long investigation of rising drug lord Marlo Sansfield (Jamie Hector) and the 22 bodies found in "the vacants" has been discontinued and police morale is at an all-time low (the money promised to the department has been diverted to the schools). McNulty manufactures a serial killer case that will have far-reaching repercussions in the mayor's office, where Tommy Carcetti (Aidan Gillen) is mounting a run for governor a mere two years into his term. "I wonder what it would be like to work at a real police station," McNulty rages at one point. The Wire, as ever, is all about real. It's a gritty and unflinching look at life in one of roughest districts of a "broke-ass city." There is street justice for some characters, and street injustice for others. Some meet sad, sudden, or shocking ends that defy TV convention. Referring to Marlo, McNulty declares early on, "He does not get to win; we get to win." The hard-earned victories are mostly small, or come with a price. Not that The Wire does not offer glimmers of hope. Bubbles (Andre Royo) struggles to maintain his sobriety (Steve Earle portrays the leader of his 12-step program and also does the theme song honors this season), and the final episode features a cameo by Jim True-Frost as the once overwhelmed teacher, "Prez," who now seems to have the hang of the job. The ratings-strapped and criminally Emmy-snubbed The Wire has always been a critic's darling with a passionate fan base. To the show's credit, it did not make itself more accessible in its final season (consequently, its send-off did not receive near the fanfare of The Sopranos or Sex and the City). That should not dissuade newcomers to the show. It is heavy lifting, and if you're just joining The Wire, a visit to the show's official website for orientation is recommended. But buy it, watch it, and be patient. It's so worth it. From the masterful storytelling to the peerless ensemble, it just doesn't get any better than The Wire. But that's not exactly news. --Donald Liebenson
This is the End... After 5 seasons and 60 episodes, the series that put Baltimore back on the map has broadcast the last of it's story arcs, ending appropriately on both a wake for the departed and a glance to the future.
Consistently the best writing on the small screen, it chose the most difficult of methods to play out it's ideas - essentially each season made as a visual novel - episodes as chapters, each revealing a little more of the story, moving the arc along and refusing to pander to the ordinary. No self contained sound bite episodes for this drama, they had a story to tell and they would tell it the way a good story should be told.
If there's an epitaph for the people and places in The Wire, it's that the more things change, the more they remain the same. But as a piece of drama for television, things remaining the same is not an option - this has changed TV forever.
wire five a great series, the other four are better. this one's ok, just seemed to lack something. worth the watch though
What am I going to do now The Wire's finished Another great season - which neatly wraps up every story line that was ever started. Not as good as season 4 in my opinion. But there are some brilliant moments in Season 5. Addicted Wire fans won't bother reading the reviews anyway. Once you've watched the first season, there's no stopping till you've seen them all! I can't believe it's all over.
The Wire The best television series ever produced, without a doubt. As someone who works in Baltimore, I can attest to its accuracy. It is about a lot more than murder and drugs. Check it out.
A stunning end to a stunning show When I turned 17 years old for my birthday I recieved the first season of The Wire as a present. My father told me it was a good TV show and my expectations were in the line of a grittier version of The Shield on FX. Needless to say the show was ten times better than I ever expected. Its the only Drama that I watch over and over again.
This season of the wire may be the best last season of any show in the history of the world. David Simon and Ed Burns deliver the most complex and interesting group of characters and story ever put on T.V. Every season unfolds like a novel and this season completes the series in one of the most elegant and classic ways.
The entire police department has been set with budget cutbacks and is cut off from overtime. In city hall the newly elected mayor is getting ready to run for the govoners chair and Marlow and his crew and getting ready to take over the whole city. Along with several other equally important story arcs the show delivers in style again, the characters from Bunk to Herc to Marlow to Omar to the Polititians to the dope runners on the street all deserve Emmys all around and the show should be in an art gallery, because thats what it is, art. In my final works I'll leave with something a wise man once told me. "You gotta let em play, this America man." Those words are true even to this day. I thank The wire for lettin me play and I hope to find another show to watch.
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