The Problem With Season Five of The Wire

It's tough to join in on the collective beatdown now being administered to The Wire. Most of this season's critics have focused on Simon's allegedly innacurate depictions of the newsrooms. I can't call that. But I do think that this season's problems are related to Simon's homecoming. The beauty of The Wire has always been in the many shades and complexion of its villany. From the craven Stan Valchek to the burecratically ruthless Ervin Burrell to the calculating Stringer Bell, Simon has always painted his villains with an amazing degree of depth. Ditto for the show's heroes, and Simon has always said that he is completely unconcerned with good and evil.

But this season, Simon seems to have embraced evil full-bore. Many of his villans of more recent vintage are either unvarnished assholes or straight psychopaths. In the case of Marlo, Chris and Snoop, this is only slightly problematic and I think it's important that people not think that every criminal is some sort of enlightened thug of the Omar or even Wee-Bay variety. Some thugs are just that, thugs, and The Wire would be remiss to ignore that. What makes Season Five hard to take, is the addition of uncomplicated villany of James Whiting and Thomas Klebanow, the two editors running the Baltimore Sun.

Again, I can't speak to the accuracy of the newspaper scenes. But both characters are based on two editors that Simon beefed with during his time at the Sun. Unlike the villains in the police department, no context is offered for Whiting and Klebanow. Presumably their toomfoolery is a response to national cuts taking place across the newspaper industry. But unlike previous bueracratic fuckups--such as Burrell or Rawls--Whiting and Klebanow just seem to relish in rudeness and incompetence.

Add to that the shocking turns to the dark-side by McNulty and Freamon, and you've got a stew of cynicism, that's hard to take. The Wire is still far and above the best show on TV, and at this point, I'm only measuring season five by the previous outings. That in and of itself is testament to The Wire's greatness. Still, I'd hate for the last season to be the worst.