For those who have the patience and attention span “The Wire” has long been one of the most rewarding shows on television. For just as long it’s been one of the most important social commentaries of our time. But, as the fifth season builds toward the series’ climax, it has also become one of television’s most thrilling shows. That’s a lot of superlatives, but “The Wire” has earned them. For the uninitiated “The Wire” is a crime drama that takes place in Baltimore, but that is reducing the show to its basest concerns. “The Wire” is much more than cops and drug dealers. The first season may have been about a wiretap investigation into an East Baltimore drug ring, but the show quickly blossomed to include all facets of the city (and thus, society) from top to bottom. Each season adds another institution and looks at the problems the city faces from a different perspective without ditching any of the other stories. As viewers, we begin to see the issues as a complex and intermingled whole. As the show grows to include the ports, politicians, mayor, education system and now the media, we begin to understand how it’s all connected and how one action has a ripple-effect which touches everything else. A single decision from the mayor can have an impact on everyone else, from cops to junkies to school-children, and close viewers will understand how. In the show’s revelatory fourth season, which will be remembered and studied in years to come, it adds the education system to the mix, and focuses on a group of middle-school students who begin to grow up, deal drugs and get lost between society’s cracks. The children’s storyline elicits heartbreaking drama and even more provocative commentary out of a show that’s always been intelligent and insightful. Now, in its fifth and final season creator David Simon is pulling out all the stops and rewarding viewers who have stuck around throughout the long build-up. However, never satisfied with solely entertaining its audience, the show has grown to include a new institution: a dying, daily newspaper. It’s compelling and written with an insider’s view; Simon worked for years, mostly as crime-beat reporter for the Baltimore Sun, the newspaper he’s criticizing in the show’s final act. Because of this daring approach (Simon’s refusal to omit anything–a common complaint among people that can’t get into the show), is that it’s just too confusing and deliberately paced. They think it’s slow, and to put it bluntly boring. That can be a fair criticism–if a drama fails to grab you, it’s not doing its job–but by the fifth season, that has become a moot point. Every storyline has a payoff, and nothing is forgotten. And right now the bullets are flying. If you’ve never seen the show I’m not suggesting that you jump in right now. Maybe catch an episode to see what it’s all about, and if it’s your thing, go back and start at the beginning. Think of it as a gigantic, epic door-stop of a book, that’s first couple-hundred pages seem like a chore. You know, the kind of book that once you’ve finished you just can’t stop talking about.
“The Wire” airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on HBO. Comcast subscribers can view new episodes a week early on Mondays at midnight on On Demand.