Project 365 Day 21: The Wire

So HBO allows subscribers with digital cable to access new episodes a week early On-Demand. I actually really enjoy this feature. I get up every Monday at 6:00 AM (yes I'm addicted) to watch the next episode. So far this year I'm somewhat ambivalent about but by episode 4 really blew me away. David Simon and the writing staff have this way of get you comfortable with a character and then they do something that takes your breath away.

This year there has been a lot of talk about the Dickensian aspects of the Wire and how it focuses on the downtrodden and the poverty-stricken in an urban core. This and how power corrupts even the most well meaning individuals have always been important aspects of the show. However, it also one of the reasons most people turn there heads away when confronted with it. The fact is the show is very real, whether people want to acknowledge it or not. There maybe good in a gun-toting homosexual who robs drug dealers for a living or that a police commissioner who has clawed his way to the top may be corrupt. It messes with stereotypes and makes things complex. If you watched Katrina with horror, then you should watch the wire and realize that what happened there could happen in any major US City, all it takes is Mother Nature to come and wash the thin veneer of civility and expose the dirt underneath.