THE WIRE: The Complete Second Season

WRITERS: David Simon, Ed Burns, Joy Lusco, Rafael Alvarez & George Pelecanos DIRECTORS: Ed Bianchi, Elodie Keene, Steve Shill, Thomas J. Wright, Tim Van Patten, Daniel Attias, Rob Bailey, Ernest Dickerson & Robert F. Colesberry CAST: Dominic West, Chris Bauer, John Doman, Amy Ryan, Wendell Pierce, Lance Reddick, Deirdre Lovejoy, Sonja Sohn, Pablo Schreiber, James Ransone, Seth Gilliam, Domenick Lombardozzi, Clarke Peters, Michael K. Williams, Andre Royo, Jim True-Frost, Wood Harris, Idris Elba, Larry Gilliard Jr., Al Brown & Bill Raymond

There's no denying The Wire's a noteworthy achievement in the annals of TV crime drama; it's plotted with intricacy, acted with skill, and almost documentary-like in its refined realism. It's also an infamously tough viewing experience because there's little exposition or guidance for viewers -- you're simply dropped into Baltimore and expected to keep up like a native. Trouble is, while I find it refreshing that a US drama expects (nay, requires) its audience to work for eventual reward, I still find it a problem that The Wire's intentionally such a bastard to get a grip on. While each year of The Wire follows a self-contained case, I'd already advise you watch them in order. It certainly helps that faces were familiar to me from season 1, although a lot of new blood is introduced to keep things fresh. The focus moves from the drug-addled projects of west Baltimore to the city's ailing dockyards, where stevedores struggle to make a living thanks to the economic downturn. If nothing else, the season does a great job recreating the docks on-screen (where workers whistle to alert others to the presence of cops), and the story gets some mileage from its subtle digs at how the shipping industry has been allowed to rot, thus creating a financial gap for organized crime to fill. The story truly kicks off when inexperienced port authority cop "Beadie" Russell (Amy Ryan) discovers a shipping container (or "can") full of suffocated Eastern European prostitutes, and it's not long before the tragedy's linked to another corpse Detective McNulty (Dominic West) hauls out of the river, setting events in motion for a wire-tap case into unlawful smuggling. Of prime interest is irascible stevedore Frank Sobotca (Chris Bauer), who appears to be in cahoots with a gang of Greek crooks led by The Greek (Bill Raymond), helping them sneak goods into the country by cheating the port's computerized system, before using his payment to help save his beloved worker's union from collapse. But Sobotka's made a personal enemy of Major Valchek (Al Brown), who's grown suspicious of Sobotca's finances and is in a position to assemble a detail to snoop on his activities... As an umbilical to season 1, last year's storyline with the Barksdale drug empire continues as a prominent sub-plot for about half the season. Druglord Avon Barksdale (Wood Harris) is in jail alongside his informant nephew D'Angelo (Larry Gilliard, Jr.), trying to get both their sentences reduced through foul play, while keeping his narcotics business afloat thanks to right-hand man "Stringer" Bell (Idris Elba, ice-cool as ever.) It was perhaps wise to keep something of the previous years' storyline alive, but there are times when it feels like the producers just couldn't face losing Idris Elba and decided to keep a dead storyline on life-support. They succeed, although the Barksdale plot does lose focus and slowly fizzles out after a shock mid-season death. What's interesting is how fragmented everything starts, with nearly every regular from season 1 now in a different locale or line of duty. Lt. Daniels (Lance Reddick) is stuck in the evidence basement, idealist McNulty's being punished by Colonel Rawles (John Doman) with a dead-end job patrolling the harbour, Kima (Sonja Sohn) has a tedious desk job, fastidious Freaman (Clarke Peters) has partnered hangdog "Bunk" (Wendell Pierce) over at city homicide, and it takes awhile for the "old gang" to slowly reunite for the Sobotka case... In recounting the broad sweep of season 2, it ultimately spins a similar magic to season 1 (you start confused, you become gently intrigued, you grow bored and frustrated, then everything comes together quite nicely), and it undoubtedly has a more stimulating cast of supporting characters. But the fact remains season 2 feels stretched at 12-hours, and while that does allow for complexity, extra subplots and more character moments, I'm sure the fat of its saggy middle could have been trimmed with little lasting effect. It wouldn't be quite as rich perhaps, but it would be a lot leaner and more digestible. I guess it's down to personal taste, but a superior eight-part version of this story exists in my head. In wondering why my reaction to The Wire is intellectually appreciative but emotionally unresolved, I've come to this conclusion: the series goes to great pains to present itself in a realistic manner, and I ultimate respond more to heightened realities with fiction. That's why Breaking Bad punches my pleasure button more often, because it mixes equally realistic human drama with severed heads glued to the backs of turtles and mute Mexican hitmen -- which are exaggerated, yet based on fact. The Wire instead feels like a docu-drama at times, not least because there's often no soundtrack to manipulate emotions, and it's clear that the onus is on real-world accuracy. In a scene where McNulty drives a car while inebriated, actor Dominic West really did get drunk before the cameras rolled. I'm not saying it's wrong to approach storytelling as The Wire does, just that from a personal standpoint I enjoy more amplified storytelling. On another level, while every character certainly gets some juicy moments and scenes to relish, I'm not entirely convinced by the suggestion The Wire offers compelling character arcs for everyone. We're shown that Daniels' wife isn't happy about her husband running another detail, and that Kima's pregnant lesbian lover worries about her safety, and that McNulty's going through a separation from his wife, but there's little in the way of a memorable journey for those stories. The issues are raised, there are nice scenes to illustrate their point, but no clear resolution. And do we care about any of the character's lives, anyway? I'd love to feel some connection to these people away from their working day, but I really don't. I couldn't even tell you McNulty's wife's name. I know it'll be argued that The Wire's a five-volume "novel" of which I've seen less than half, so I just need to watch further ahead for some pay-off with the character, but I'd have appreciated a sense of completion within the time-frame here. And I don't think it's right to defend something because veteran fans have foreknowledge of what's to come. For me, only gruff blue-collar Sobotka had a nuanced and involving storyline as this year's "villain", sympathetically portrayed by the excellent Chris Bauer as a man pushed into illegality for noble reasons. But for all my complaints and issues with this series, I'd be crazy to mark The Wire down to any mystifying extent. The fact remains this critical darling is very well-made, reeks of verisimilitude, and is coated in enough intelligence and fine performances to keep you hanging in there. But I was surprised by how many of its "tricks" felt recycled from its freshman season -- not least how it likewise ended with a sense of relative failure for the detail, which may be a realistic way to conclude its story, but it sure wasn't the most satisfying.