Possibly the Greatest Television Show of All Time... and it just got better! (The Wire - The Complete Fourth Season (DVD))

Member Name: obeyjack

Product:	The Wire - The Complete Fourth Season (DVD)
Date:	08/04/09 (25 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The list is endless.

Disadvantages: Nothing.

Season 3 of The Wire re-wrote the book on crime drama. It was harsh social commentry exploring the implications that the War on Drugs has the city streets of Baltimore, from the addicts to the Kingpins and all the way up to City Hall itself. It was a sublime yet damming show that no way could ever be topped. That is until Season 4 appeared on the shelves.

Season 4 is nothing short of sensational. It would be to easy for a show of this type to focus all of its attention on the street dealers and drug addicts but The Wire is brave. Braver than any other show I have seen. This season it moves away from the now depleated Barksdale organization and focuses it's attention on 4 middle-school kids (taught math by Ex-Major Crimes Officer Prez) and their own unique struggles and inolvement with the drug trade, which often appears to be the only career available to them regardless of their school grades . This is by far the most compelling story of the entire series thus far and delivers a damming verdict of the American school system.

Also back is Marlo Stanfield who's ambitions of total domination of the Baltimore drug trade are getting closer to being fulfilled. Candidate Tommy Carcetti battles against the odds in his bid to become a white Mayor in "a city that ain't white", Cutty finds success in running a boxing gym for local youths, and Carver matures as DEU sergeant and begins to build unlikely bridges.

One of the biggest suprises is the abscence of McNulty, a stalwart and standout performer of the first 3 seasons, who only makes a handful of appreances this term as he settles down with Beadie Russell (from Season 2) and appears to have given up alcohol. It perhaps shows the strength of The Wire that a show can be this good even with its biggest star missing.

This is an ambitious and unmissable drama that you will end up watching again and again.

Summary: Turmoil inside the Baltimore's Shools, Sreets, City Hall and Police Department