Reflection on The Wire

Illustration from the 19th Century novel that HBO's The Wire was based upon.

Last night, a friend mentioned that she had episode one of season one of The Wire ready and she was finally ready to take the plunge. She asked what to expect. I told her the following:

"You want to know what to expect? Here's a prediction of what will happen. You're going to watch the first two or three episodes and you're going to think to yourself, 'What the hell was all the hype about? I'm confused and I don't know what the hell is going on.' Then some friend will convince you to stick with it and by episode 6, you're totally hooked. Like Bubs on a bender, you spend all of your free time watching episode after episode, season after season, consuming the show. You become desperate when your Netflix discs don't re-up fast enough. Eventually you get to the end and of the show and you become 'one of those people.' You talk about it constantly at parties. You emphasize things like the 'Dickensian Aspect.' You can't watch Boardwalk Empire without whistling the 'Farmer in the Dell.' Eventually you come to recognize that, just like all of those cultural blow-hards often say, it truly is the ultimate dramatization of the death of the American City. Enjoy!"

That goes for all of you out there in Sad City Hartford land, too.