Wire to Wire: You Best Not Miss the Opportunity

As I have mentioned in this space, I underwent surgery last Monday to repair an inguinal hernia. It's been hell, not helped by the fact that I am a baby when it comes to pain and suffering of any kind. The surgery was laparoscopic, so the scarring should be minimal, but there were three incisions and some mesh implanted and major swelling and the drainage, oh, the drainage of blood into the southernmost parts of the region. Stephen King-type effects. No bueno.

Fortunately my one daughter who is still at home and my girlfriend have pampered me with meals and meds and let me be, bed-bound and healing. I'm seriously grateful.

The first couple of days of recovery, I pretty much slept. It's always good to catch up on z's. (It's also always good to catch up with Z, but we only exchanged a couple of texts about music and cars and played the NYT mini crossword puzzle, thrashing Dave daily.) After that, the telly came on. Wow, what a wasteland. I probably need to cut the cord soon.

Somewhere in a haze of oxycodone, ginger ale, Bugles, Advil, and documentaries about cyber conflict, I had a thought. I'm telling you, in that state, that was an accomplishment.

I never saw a single episode of The Wire in real time. We didn't have HBO then; on a budget and living a free-wheelin' life of thirtysomethings, I guess. In March 2008, the series concluded, and Gheorghe: The Bloggers were all agoggers about it. A recent search or two led me to several posts whose comments were dominated by analysis and speculation leading up to the final episode. And there I was, barking at the fact that I wasn't a viewer and wasn't understanding any of the commentary. What a whiny wiener I was. (No need for the follow-up joke.)

When I first got separated in early 2009, I intended to rectify that matter. It was the era of Netflix DVD's, so I had the first two discs sent to my apartment and set about enjoying the fruits of David Simon's labor.  I remember being super excited as I popped in Disc 1 and clicked Play.

It didn't take.

Similar to Dave's sons' reactions, my general feeling was simply that it didn't grab me like I was told it would. The first episode didn't blow me away with gripping drama. I sat through the second. And then I took a pause. Those DVD's sat on my entertainment center (remember those?) shelf for a month. And then I mailed them back, opting in favor of The Dark Knight or Inglorious Basterds or something else more immediately gratifying. Well, as immediate as the United State Postal Service can be.

Fast-forward to 2014 or so. Married again and in a place where I found myself up late at night alone with my thoughts and my television. We had an AppleTV and HBO, so we had HBOGo, an early iteration of streaming the old shows. By then, the fanfare for The Wire had not waned but had rather elevated its stature into all-time status.  Its icon eyeballed me every time I scrolled down to the bottom of the offerings, taunting and tempting me. Watch me. You know you want to. Don't be afraid. I'll be good this time.

I dug in. Nothing better to do.

By episode 6 or 7 of the first season, I was getting hooked. By the end of Season 1, it was on. The Wire was my smack, and I was Bubbles, without all the bad effects.  Season 2 was markedly different... and fantastic. I loved the storyline down on the docks. Season 3... Hamsterdam? Are you kidding me? Just brilliant. I was gobbling up episodes two a night, maybe more. Bunk. Stringer. Avon. Bunny. Ziggy. Lester. And Omar. Just good shit.

Somewhere in Season 4, though, it unraveled, and I could not recall why. It was probably more the plotline of my life showing holes than that of the show. I just stopped watching about midway through.

And this was the bewildering thought that hit me several days ago. Why again did I not finish The Wire??

So, 6 years later, I turned it back on. I re-watched the last couple of episodes of Season 3 to tune me up. I then launched into #4, undeterred. That season, focused on the failings of the school system, is still my least favorite of the five, but (a) it's still damn good, and (b) it absolutely sets the stage for the final chapter. It's the Empire to Season 5's Jedi, and I've always been more of a Jedi guy, despite the conventional wisdom of the sci-fi literati. 

Season 5 had its detractors, but I loved the intensifying desperation and way that some crazy shit shook out. It was a true culmination of a story in one rather terminal conclusion that neither all-too-neatly met everyone's desires / predictions / deserved ends nor left the viewer with a pronounced sense of what could and should have been. It worked.

And the scenes with the staff of the Baltimore Sun fell right in line with everything OBX Dave has published here.

Speaking of everyone's predictions, I found this amusing. The last episode of The Wire fell on March 9, 2008. As I said, tons of gheorghie chatter leading up to it. Prognostications, reflections, criticisms. Even a two-part CAA tournament preview as coupled with characters from the show. As I sifted through these comments after having completed the journey yesterday, I was actually really looking forward to what Team GTB said about the finale. 

What a bust that hope was. 

You see, the College of William & Mary men's basketball team advanced to the tournament finals that same day, and 100% of the Gheorghe focus was, appropriately, on our clear path to a date with destiny. We got stood up on that date, as it turned out, but there was plenty of cause for blog comments on Tribe hoops and not a one for Jimmy McNulty's swan song.

Anyway, in what began as a way to kill time, my return to the gritty streets of the Charm City has made an otherwise painful and miserable stretch of bed-bound days far more enjoyable. For those who haven't seen the show, it's worth the 60-episode commitment -- and do see it through if the jump out the gate isn't a whirlwind sprint. For those who watched it first-run 12-18 years ago, I'd posit that it's worth a trip back to check in on the unit, so to speak. With any episode of The Wire just a quick stream away, it's easy to go back and recall what was so terrific about this show. 

Say hey to Bubbles for me. Always liked that guy.