20 TV Episodes That Are Practically Flawless
10. The Wire - Middle Ground
"We don't need to dream no more." So speaks Idris Elba's Stringer Bell in his haunting season three swan song, Middle Ground, an episode which deals out more betrayal and surprise heartbreak than almost any other episode of The Wire.
With a tenuous hold on his empire, Bell spends the episode sinking lower and lower, struggling to handle the continuous war with Marlo, whilst his closest friend, Avon, is forced to betray him to his doom in the interests of his business.
Brutally tense and building to something unthinkable, Middle Ground's final moments -- where Stringer meets his end at the hands of Omar and Mouzone -- still packs a horribly unexpected punch. It's so frightening and subversive, in fact, that The Wire never quite reaches it again. Stringer seemed poised to live forever.