10 Best Single TV Seasons Ever

2. The Wire - Season 4

Bates Motel
HBO

The Wire's fourth season manages to highlight how the battle against drugs and crime is one that will never truly end. Sure, certain figurehead characters have been killed off by this point in the game, yet there are always fresh faces ready to step up and fill their spot. It's a sad reflection of the real world, but it's a point showcased perfectly by this powerhouse series.

Switching the attention to the Baltimore school system, what plays out is a tale of youngsters failed by the system as their paths take them from wide-eyed kids to fractured, angry members of society falling into the same traps of those who have gone before them in the series.

In amongst all of this, Season Four is likely the most outright chilling season of The Wire, with the rise of the Stanfield Organization a truly brutal, jarring one - and special praise has given to Jamie Hector for his twisted portrayal of the laser-focussed, respect-seeking, cruel, murderous Marlo Stanfield.

All five of The Wire's seasons hold up as exceptional TV to this day, and it's the series' fourth season that still shines as its very best.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.