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Wire, The
Season 5
SERIES: HBO, Sunday 9:00p (60 minutes)


9.6

based on 24 reviews
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how did we calculate this?

based on 46 votes
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Get more information on this show at TV.com.

Official Show Site

Starring Dominic West, Clark Johnson, Clark Peters, Aidan Gillen, and Deirdre Lovejoy

The crime drama returns in its final season with the hot seat applied at creator David Simon's previous occupation (journalist).

GENRE(S):	Crime, Drama
CREATED BY:	David Simon
FIRST AIR DATE:	January 6, 2008

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

New York Post Adam Buckman

This new 10-episode season boasts the same high quality of production that this series has always exhibited.

100

USA Today Robert Bianco

There's humanity in its victims and dark humor in the goal-oriented drive of its villains. With or without a strike, this is a show to treasure.

100

San Francisco Chronicle Tim Goodman

In the end, there will likely be a lot of unhappiness, dead bodies, same-as-it-ever-was institutional failure, lack of responsibility and the triumph of self-interest over the greater good. Not exactly a Hallmark card, but one hell of an artistic achievement.

100

Entertainment Weekly Gillian Flynn

The fifth and final season of David Simon's peerlessly acted, stunningly scripted, revolutionary drama of 1,000 moving parts kicks off Jan. 6.

100

San Jose Mercury News Charlie McCollum

In the end, The Wire is extraordinary television. It has a richness, a depth and an intelligence that transcend the medium and makes it the kind of superb literature that A.O. Scott found lacking in the world of books.

100

Slant Magazine Brian Holcomb

The Wire is as true as television gets.

TV Guide Matt Roush

HBO's brilliant and bleak The Wire may have saved the best for last.

Salon Heather Havrilesky

Every single scene of The Wire is meticulously scripted and dramatically riveting.

Wall Street Journal Amy Finnerty

Local stories can have more poetry than grand ones; that is the genius of The Wire. It's not what happens to the characters, or the societal trends the script explores, that matter so much as the authentic and precise way in which events are represented.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Melanie McFarland

The fans, no doubt, will be content with the conclusion of the brutal street politics--usually the best aspect of each season--as we witness a brilliantly stormy resolution of the unrest between Proposition Joe (Robert F. Chew), Marlo Stanfield (Jamie Hector), who continues to expand his power, and the charismatic, elegant brute Omar Little (Michael K. Williams), a murderous thief worth cherishing.

Time James Poniewozik

It's worth the effort, not because The Wire is good for you but because it is fantastic entertainment.

Variety Brian Lowry

Based on the seven episodes previewed, it's every bit as cynical, riveting and brilliant as the four flights that preceded it--a searing look at the decay of a major American city that puts most of what's on television to shame.

Washington Post Tom Shales

The absence of gimmickry and the presence of respect for the story and the audience give The Wire organic advantages over nearly all other TV dramas, whether they deal with cops and crime or birds and bees. Which is to say: If you want to see the television of tomorrow, it's on HBO tonight.

Philadelphia Daily News Ellen Gray

While I'm thrilled to have something as deep and juicy as The Wire back after so long a break between seasons, I'm afraid that the show's very best years may be behind it.

New York Daily News David Hinckley

The episodes that kick off this last 10-show run don't feel perfect. But they almost always feel intuitively right.

Chicago Sun-Times Doug Elfman

It's really quite good and oddly entertaining, as cynical as it is.

Kansas City Star Aaron Barnhart

As the last of my DVD screeners ended, and I found the story wrapped around me, constrictorlike, I had to agree with old Gus: It feels true. Very true.

Newark Star-Ledger Alan Sepinwall

The fifth and final season may be the most overtly farcical, but only because things in this slightly fictionalized Baltimore have become, if you can imagine, worse than ever.

The New York Times Alessandra Stanley

The final season of The Wire is committed to proving him wrong; by leaving nothing out it offers viewers as close a chance as anyone can get to everything.

Newsday Noel Holston

Despite occasionally expressing Simon's concerns about journalism too pedantically, The Wire continues to deserve its accolades as the most remarkable drama series in television history.

New York Magazine John Leonard

In these last innings, as The Wire ties up its gnarled threads, it also makes its most daring departure yet, introducing yet another institution, and a brand-new cast of characters to disappoint us.

Boston Globe Matthew Gilbert

Why watch The Wire if it's such tough-going--so difficult to follow and then, once followed, so pessimistic? Because it offers the kind of earned understanding that leads to progress.

Chicago Tribune Maureen Ryan

To watch the show is to be immersed in an interlocking series of utterly realistic worlds, from the street corner to the cop bar to the mayor's office.

Baltimore Sun David Zurawik

While the police story line has never been stronger, the first seven episodes made available for preview contain nothing that matches the emotional power and sociological insight of the show at its best--namely the classroom scenes from Season 4.

The average user rating for this tv show is 9.6 (out of 10) based on 46 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Matt P. gave it a7:
I'm not sure what to think about this season. The unadulterated Wire fan in me wants to believe that the writers know what they are doing and that they can't lead us wrong. But the smart TV watcher in me thinks, hey, this stuff isn't all that grand. The cop angle is much to cheesy, with the reintoduction of McNulty now being the weight on the ankles of the drowning Lester, a once interesting character that is now nothing more than a symbol. Which, when you get right down to it, is the real problem with this season: everything is a symbol. Marlo can't be touched; (he's like Superman this guy), Omars tiny cursade ends in a heartbeat, effectively robbing the audience of three episodes, and, as I said before, McNulty is now a total detriment to the show. His fake serial killer angle has now sucked all enjoyment I once had watching the cops. I'm sorry to say that I think the writers and producers (where is Ed Burns name in the credits?) have finally hit Soprano's zone: they've become really, really full of themselves.

Milan D. gave it a10:
This last season of the wire isn't as good as the previous four but it is still the best cop "shoot em up" shows on tv.

K M. gave it a10:
I am not a fan of TV - I've never seen one episode of 'Cheers' 'The Simpsons' 'Soparanos', etc. When my son from college brought us 4 DVDs of 'The Wire' and recommended that we watch it, I was skeptical. After the first episode, I continued to be skeptical, 'It's so real it's not entertaining' I told my husband. Two episodes later, I was hooked - hooked on the character development, the gritty, humorous dialogs, the all-too recognizable plight of the city, the eye-opening realities of the drug world and the bungled maneuvers of the 'good guys'. Better than most movies, the Wire is entertainment at its finest.

Warren P. gave it a10:
Raw, gritty, sometimes comedic and always utterly human, "The Wire" is a must-see for every citizen who cares about the state of urban America.

Mark F. gave it a10:
This show is great on so many levels that it has set the standard to which all other shows are to be compared. The writing is great, and the actors have took ownership of the roles they were cast in. Pure genius. "Woe is to them that call evil good, and good evil" - Prop Joe

Chris J. gave it a10:
As brilliant as the previous seasons, and still far and away the best show on television. We don't get as much of the schools from season 4, but Omar is back with a vengeance as heroic villain, and McNulty is at his best again as tragic hero.

C.B. gave it a10:
Still the best show in TV. Too bad no one watches. What a terrific swan song season 4 has been so far...

Wire, The Season 5 SERIES: HBO, Sunday 9:00p (60 minutes)

Wire, The
Season 5
SERIES: HBO, Sunday 9:00p (60 minutes)