Underrated/ Down to "The Wire": Season 2, The Best Season of "The Wire"

"The Wire" ended tonight. Yep, one of the best shows in the history of television ended tonight, and while it was enough to get me out of my self-imposed blogger hibernation period, it's not quite enough to get me to reflect on the final episode, and the final season, of the show -- yet. The fifth season was probably my least favorite, which seems in line with a lot of comments circulating the web these days, and I'll likely discuss why in my next post. But for now, let's take a moment to reflect on the ugly stepchild season, season 2.

I'm an ass-backwards "Wire" fan. As I've mentioned in an earlier post, I started watching season 2 before I watched season 1, because I could only find season 2 online at the time, which doesn't make much sense but I'm sticking to my story. From there I was hooked and wanted to see where the plot lead, so I watched season 3, then season 4. At this point season 5 was still two months away, so I spent a weekend at home from college, using my On Demand feature, ignoring my parents, and inhaling season 1's 13 episodes in 2 days. It underwhelmed me. Coming off of the complexity of 3 and 4, season 1 seemed like the characters were still being sketched out, and while this is perfectly fine for a first season, it still couldn't stack up to the others. I mean, c'mon, Wallace isn't half as interesting a character as Carcetti, or Michael, right? Even Stringer and Avon were broad caricatures at the time, and D'Angelo will always resemble a punk to me. So before season 5, I thought season 1 was by far the weakest. Yeah, I know, I don't make sense.

But let's back up. Why was I hooked at this point, enthused enough to watch seasons 3 and 4 in about a week each? Because I decided to give season 2 a try, and after I figured out who the hell all these characters were and what they were doing in this little universe, I couldn't help but keep watching. Maybe I'm just saying this because I watched it first, or maybe because the Avon/Stringer stuff never interested me as much as the police work being done, or maybe it's because my skin is white. But fuck it. Season 2 of "The Wire" is the show's best season.

A lot of my reasoning has to do with the actual structure of the season, which is head and shoulders above the others except for maybe season 4. Season 2 starts with the jolt of the 14 dead girls found in a can on the docks (disclaimer: if I mess up any or all of the details of this season, I apologize; I haven't watched it in its entirety since September), and from there it's a slow, steady burn. The police work is careful and shrewd, and the writing is focused on characters and attuned to detail. The setting of the docks is astonishingly fleshed-out: we get to wake up early with these guys, share drinks with them, get inside their heads. It's a little weak that the detail on Frank Sobotka arises from him basically ruffling Stan Valchek's feathers, but the way the murder case and the detail fold into each other is flawlessly paced. Most importantly to me, the steadiness is transferred to the drug storyline, which is admittedly slow but not without explosiveness. The hotshot in the prison, Stringer's seduction of D's girl before he orders his execution, the powerful presence of Prop Joe and the growing disconnect between Stringer and Avon are all deeply felt. That scene where D'Angelo talks about "The Great Gatsby" ("he frontin' wit all them books, but if we pull one down off the shelf, ain't none of them pages ever been open") is one of the best-written monologues I've ever heard, and is well worth the season's absence of gang-banging and violent drama.

The emotional violence is left for the Sobotkas. Frank, Nick and Ziggy are the epicenter for season 2, and the lynchpin for its success. Luckily, the trio are the most relatable band of miscreants the show has ever offered. Believe me, I love me some Omar, but can I REALLY relate to a gay, shotgun-wielding, Honey Nut Cheerios-loving stick-up artist? Nick is the everyman, the Polish union lackey who, fed up with shrinking hours and a bland lifestyle, tries to dabble in some extracurriculars and does horribly. He may not be the most outlandish character, but he feels very real, as does his lumbering uncle Frank. The boss man tries to keep the docks alive by buying a couple rounds and trying to be everything to everybody, even though he can't be a father to his son. Ziggy is an ass for most of the season, but he's a likable ass, the screw-up who wants to prove that he's not a screw-up even though he knows he is. Watching him slowly sink into the crimes he's too sweetly bone-headed to commit was like seeing someone be overcome by quicksand. When he killed a guy who knew he was a screw-up, we saw his ragged vulnerability fully revealed; when he turned himself in to the police, we saw what is in my opinion the finest single scene "The Wire" has ever produced: his final stinted conversation with Frank, now separated from him by a metallic prison table. "I got tired of being a punchline to every joke," he laments to his father, who doesn't know what to say. It's a gut-wrenching scene that sets up the series' two most tragic figures: Ziggy, the clown who couldn't handle the world's seriousness, and Frank, the father whose overambition made him lose everything he loves.

But let's cut to the chase: season 2 is much more subtle and implosive, but that doesn't mean there's a shortage of pulse-pounding drama. The police work of the show has never been as gripping, from Daniels' grudging participation to McNulty's brilliance during exile to the sly maneuvering of Beadie Russell. Unlike season 1, the roles of the cops were rounded out nicely, and the dialogue and in-fighting between them were electric. Simply put, many of the scenes were just executed beautifully as well. That scene where the police just barely miss putting the lock on Sobotka by tipping him off that something's funny had my heart racing. And the penultimate episode couldn't have ended with a more incredible shot: Frank Sobotka, walking toward the Greek, the shoreline, and his certain death. After that episode, how could you NOT be hooked? And while the finale was not as compelling as the end of season 4, it wrapped up the prostitute murders and Greek storyline in a believable fashion, and gave us the silhouette of rocky things to come between Avon and Stringer in season 3. And Nick Sobotka was saved, as he rightfully should have been. The final shot of him looking through a fence at the fallen docks empire his father had created could not have been more apt.

So scoff if you will, tell me I'm insane. You're probably right. As "The Wire" ends, we'll all have our personal memories of the show, and most people will not share mine. But in a show that focuses on the downfall of the American city, I will always find a storyline about a working-class character who tries bending the rules to make up for waning wages -- and the terrible consequences such a decision leads to -- much more in line with the world around us than a bunch of disciplined gangsters holding board meetings, or a dude with a shotgun sticking up the stash in the world's most risky anti-drug campaign ever. This is over-simplification/blasphemy, I know. But the story, the writing, and the characters of Season 2 will always resonate with me the strongest. "The Wire" is over, but I will always have that memory of watching Season 2 late at night in my dorm room, watching the Sobotkas and co., and wondering why this little cop show that nobody watches was so goddamn good.