I have to write something about The Wire...

Disclaimer: This post has nothing to do with sports…read it anyway.

Tonight, I finished The Wire, the single greatest, most transcendent television show that has ever been created (that is not an opinion, it is a fact). I will try to write this post without the need for a spoiler alert, but be if you haven’t finished the show yet, read on at your own risk. Anyway, I have spent a while trying to find something to which to compare this show, but honestly, I’ve drawn a blank. After all of my pondering, the only thing that came to my mind was a prayer that I was taught as a child:

Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Anyone who has seen The Wire knows that there is nothing religious about it, but I think this quote from St. Francis of Assisi sums up everything that the show stood for. The Wire taught us that there are some things that we can change and try as we might, some that we can’t. Not everyone has the serenity to accept these things, ahem, Jimmy McNulty, but in the end, we all have to accept them, whether we like it or not. The show isn’t about cops chasing drug dealers, it’s about how a city devolved into an inescapable and self-destructive cycle. It’s about how cheating is the only way to win, but in the end, everybody loses. It’s about unflinching hope, fueled by impossible promises. It chronicles the failures of idealists, yet fosters idealism in all of us. It’s about how most of those with the courage to make change, lack the wisdom to know which changes to make. It’s about how the whole would be greater than the sum of its parts; that is, if the parts gave a shit about the whole. It’s a painfullly depressing take on the state of urban life in America. The saga of The Wire itself aligns perfectly with the plot of the show. Those who do things the way they should be done, those who refuse to play ball, can make their mark for a short time, but their path to the top is inexorably blocked. The Wire never won awards. It was never at the top of the ratings heap. Praise for The Wire has been relegated to the inner circles of critics and those who happened to stumble upon this hidden masterpiece. The Wire has about as much of a shot at an Emmy as Lester Freamon has of being named Police Commissioner. My only hope is that the The Wire wasn’t right about everything, that righteousness and irrelevance do not always go hand-in-hand. Rare is the book, movie, or television series that has the potential to change minds and lives. The Wire has that potential. With the explosion of TV on DVD, it is suddenly possible for the life of this show to extend infinitely beyond its time on HBO. The Wire has presented one of the most poignant and jarring social commentaries of my generation, my only hope is that society has the prescience to drop it in its collective Netflix queue.