Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-09-22
• Rating: To Be Announced
• Formats: Box set, PAL
• Original language: English, Greek
• Number of discs: 4

Amazon.co.uk Review
It’s borderline tragic that one of American television’s finest shows of recent times comes to an end with season five of The Wire. Long-praised for its astonishing mix of character, grit and outstandingly scripted drama, the upside is that the show sure goes out with some style.

As with every season of The Wire, there’s an underlying theme running alongside the exploration of both sides of Baltimore’s drug problem, and this time it’s the media. Fighting cutbacks, yet trying to maintain quality, the staff of The Baltimore Sun prove to be a compelling addition to the mix. On top of that, there’s also Mayor Carcetti’s battles at City Hall with the budget, a stretched police force looking for easy statistics, and fractions among the city’s main drug dealers. Desperate times, ultimately, call for desperate measures, and it turns to McNulty to come up with a plan that threads through each of the city’s factions.

That The Wire has maintained its standards for five straight seasons is surely something to be celebrated all by itself. Yet what’s even more remarkable is the way that it leaves our screens, seemingly forever. No character is safe and nothing is black and white, right up to the quite wonderful final episode. And what a way to go that last instalment proves to be. Giving nothing away, it’s a superb fanfare to a genuinely stunning--and unequalled--piece of television drama. If you’ve not already, you really should find out what all the fuss about. --Simon Brew

DVD Description
The Wire Season 5 concludes the award-winning TV series with a bang. The bodies are piling up in Homicide, but funds for police work have been diverted to the schools. Meanwhile business is booming on the streets as the war between East and West Baltimore’s drug kings reaches a new intensity. McNulty is drinking again. Bubs is clean again. Omar is back with a vengeance and Carcetti is struggling to make a difference as Mayor. After taking us through the streets, the docks, the corridors of power and the schools, The Wire brings us to the Baltimore media, where the successes and tragedies of all of our favourite characters become ammunition in the battle for circulation figures.

Synopsis
Acclaimed HBO series THE WIRE centres on the drug culture of inner-city Baltimore. The show's storyline unfolds from the viewpoints of both the criminals ruling the streets and the police officers determined to bring them down. This release presents the fifth series in its entirety.

Customer Reviews

Farewell old friend......
Still leagues ahead of anything else, season 5 of The Wire IS the weakest so far, and anyone who's watched all five cannot fail to agree. That is to say it is the only less than perfect season out of all of them so while it pains me to find any fault with any of it at all I think the focus should be on the incredible consistency of the show in it's entirety. I've watched each one year on year and it's heartening to see everyone else FINALLY glomming onto the fact that this is the possibly the single finest television series yet made. Hyperbole you say? For once it is not. As good as The Sopranos is, that other HBO stablemate looks like a cartoon next to this modern masterpiece. Now, having praised it in it's completeness it has to be said they slightly overegged the pudding in season 5 with McNulty's fake serial killer taking up way too much time. On paper I can see why they thought it was a good idea and it IS key to exposing the corruption and failings of those who come to use it to suit their own ends but the execution is a little clunky and it feels too bolted on. A personal bugbear for me as well was how one particular character is just brutally cut down. That character deserved better but to say more would only spoil it for those yet to watch it.

For people wondering what all the fuss is about and who have yet to watch ANY of this superlative series - I envy you seeing it for the first time so PLEASE do not hesitate and go purchase all five seasons. You will NOT regret it.

Brilliant end to a brilliant series
This last season of The Wire does not dissapoint. McNulty only gets into a worse series of events..but he was still one of my favorite characters. There is still the underhand goings on on the streets and in the boardroom with The Mayor. So much happened that I did not expect that made me watch the whole series in one night. Shame to see it end..but all good things do.

Simply Awesome
This is without a doubt the finest piece of television drama that I have ever seen. The sprawling cast of characters is never allowed to get out of control and somehow the numerous plot lines, some of which carry on from previous series, all manage to dovetail. I watched the series out of sequence (3,1,4,5,2) which, surprisingly, worked. Of course you get a little more background detail watching the characters develop if you watch in sequence but the writing is tight enough that you do not need to commit to watching 1-5 straight through.

The series is gritty but not in a brutally sensationalist way - while much of that is down to the subtlety of the plotting there are also stylistic devices used (such as the 'surveillance style' filming as opposed to in your face jump-cuts used in the Shield) to brilliant effect. In addition to that there is balance. There is, amazingly, a small amount of redemption in some of the plots and some dark humor but the over-arching narrative is what it is: an extraordinarily ambitious portrait of modern America, refracted through a view of a deeply troubled city - Baltimore.

This series should have over-reached itself and failed on many levels - consistency, continuation, pretension, interest and more. The fact that it does not is simply extraordinary. The comparisons to 'Russian' novels are apt in that sense.