The Wire: Complete Season 1 Box Set

October 19th, 2009

Creator David Simon’s gritty HBO drama takes an unflinching look at Baltimore’s drug culture, through the eyes of both the dealers and the police. Season 1 follows the investigation of a violent drug-dealing crew known as the Barksdale Organization. But the line between good and bad is blurred, as the cops push the boundaries of morality while even the hardened criminals display flashes of humanity. Dominic West stars as detective Jimmy McNulty.

HBO’s “The Wire”, another ground breaking TV crime series from David Simon who grandfathered “Homicide: Life on the Street”, raises the bar for crime dramas by dedicating a whole season (13 episodes) to a single story with unparalleled realism. Telling of a motley bunch of detectives who set about to bring down a Baltimore drug ring which supplies a black innercity housing project, the gritty 12 hour first year series slowly develops a broad range of characters from street punks to senators in a world where the blacks and whites of good and evil are reduced to shades of gray and everyone is connected by their humanity for better or for worse. Not the usual cops vs bad guys fare with episodic ups and downs, “The Wire” is one long drama about people which happens in a law enforcement and crime setting. For realists only, this series will require some viewer patience while the complexities of the plot and the characters are developed. One of a kind…so far.