Yes, The Wire is Good

“The Wire” is a TV show even Urban Dictionary approves of.
I’ve just finished going through the first two seasons: it’s good, it’s satisfying.

It’s narrated/plotted with high intensity, and a largely concurrent set of subplots.
The interactions in the story largely build networks of ‘political’ tensions (e.g. a boss wants to advance his career, his subordinates want to use the boss’ authority to get the job done), as well as cat & mouse tensions (e.g. cops want to catch drug dealers; drug dealers want to not get caught). – Each side operates within rules.
The show takes time to show raw realities second to this main thread. (The most striking, in the first season, is the abject poverty in the projects). – & there’s a bunch of sex.

Prob’ly typical of an HBO show: none of the characters are completely morally ‘good’: The mice are drug-dealers and gangsters. The cat, the police and detectives, often have their own career interests in mind, rather than protecting the people. – This also leads to parallels and differences between the mice/cats.

And so it’s fun to watch: to try and understand the systems at play, how tensions built could be resolved, and to see if the cat catches the mice.

– Season Two started off a little weaker than the First Season, in that it all seems less spontaneous about getting this formula together. (The focus of the second season is on a different set of mice, but the aftermath-conflict in the projects from the first season is shown, also, so). But still does a satisfying job.

The show’s perspective is somewhat ‘realistic’. (But surely much tamer than reality, since this is an entertainment show). – A nice effect of this is that the police team isn’t omniscient, nor omnipotent. Catching the bad guys is hard, and unlikely to happen unless enough pieces fall into place properly.