"The Wire" Year Three

Minor spoilers ahead.

Each season of "The Wire" looks at the institutional dysfunctions of Baltimore from a different perspective. The first year we were introduced to the major players in the local drug trade and the police. The second year moved the action to the docks. Year three returns to the streets, reuniting the audience with all the major players from year one - Avon Barksdale, Stringer Bell, Omar, Bubbles, and the rest. Officers McNulty and Greggs are hot on the trail once again, as part of Lieutenant Daniels' Major Crimes Unit. However, this time the show's sights are set considerably broader, and more time is devoted to characters higher up in the chain of command. Deputy Commissioner Rawls and Acting Commissioner Burrell are more prominent, and Major Howard Colvin (Robert Wisdom), commander of the city's Western district, becomes one of the season's major characters. New faces include Tommy Carcetti (Aidan Gillen), an ambitious city councilman, Mayor Royce (Glynn Turman), and political consultant Theresa D'Agostino (Brandy Burre).

It took me a few episodes to catch on, but the system that the third season explores is the political infrastructure that encompasses the police, and how genuine attempts at reform are frustrated by various forces. The season starts with the destruction of the Towers, the apartment complexes that were major drug dealing sites during the first season. This reflects an increased pressure to reduce crime, coming from the politicians as they jockey for power. However, law enforcement is hampered by a lack of funds and the usual dysfunctions of the system. Major Colvin strikes upon the idea to push all the dealers into special zones where the drug trade will be ignored, thereby removing their presence from the rest of the Western district. The zones are set up in secret and nicknamed "Hamsterdam." They end up at the center of several of the season's major storylines, which range from Carcetti's efforts to get himself elected to higher office to Stringer Bell's attempts to become a legitimate businessman. Bell is hampered by his unfamiliarity with the ins and outs of real estate development, and the return of Avon Barksdale. The final major new character in the mix is Cutty Wise (Chad Coleman), a former major player in the drug trade who returns to the streets after a long stint in prison, facing an uncertain future.

More than either of the two previous seasons, year three of "The Wire" is an anthology of interconnected stories, examining the larger situation from several different angles. The members of the Major Crime Unit are still in the mix, but their investigation into the Barksdale operation feels more incidental this time, and there are other events going on that are of equal or greater importance. The broader scope and the departure from formula open up the show considerably. Compared to the second season, where each reappearance of one of the Barksdale gang members felt like a digression from the big case, the third season is better able to combine all these disparate personal stories into a single, satisfying whole. Season Three also sees the satisfying payoff of several story threads continued from the previous seasons (occasionally when you least expect them), and sets up a few more.

It helps that the players that "The Wire" chooses to focus its attention on here are extremely strong. Major Colvin is one of the show's most fascinating additions, an officer who clearly cares about his community and is is willing to take a major risk to effect a positive change. Unfortunately, he doesn't appreciate how much risk he's really taking on, or how his actions will be perceived and used by others. How his good intentions become twisted and turned against him is one of the show's most tragic stories. It's disappointing that Robert Wisdom hasn't been given a role as remotely interesting before or since. Then there's the significant time spent building up Carcetti and Cutty Wise, who are not especially important characters for most of the season, but provide invaluable insights and POVs. Of course, the show's regulars are still hard at work. Stringer Bell, Avon Barksdale, and Omar continue to impress.

The universe of "The Wire" is quickly becoming one of the richest, and most well-realized in all of television. The most exciting part is that there are still two years to go, and all this ground work has been laid for so many possible storylines in the future. "The Wire" could really go anywhere from here, returning to the examination of a smaller system like the Baltimore schools, which I know is coming up in Season Four, or pushing even bigger and more expansive.

I'm still not convinced at this point that "The Wire" is the greatest TV drama ever made, but by the time we're done, I can certainly see how it could be.
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