The Wire - The Complete Fifth Season   | 
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Actors: Dominic West, Clark Johnson, Aidan Gillen, Clarke Peters, Wendell Pierce
Studio: Hbo Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $59.99
Buy New: $38.99
You Save: $21.00 (35%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 29
Format: Box Set, Color, Dvd-video, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), Greek (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Number Of Items: 4
Running Time: 630
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
MPN: 1000038240
UPC: 883929015368
EAN: 0883929015368
ASIN: B00123BY6S
Theatrical Release Date: January 1, 2008
Release Date: August 12, 2008 (In 34 Days)
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Not yet released
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Product Description
In the projects. On the docks. In City Hall. In the schools. And now in the media. The places and faces have changed but the game remains the same. Times are tough for the detail. Mayor Carcetti has slashed the departments budget to the bone. Police are operating without overtime some without cars and radios. Angered McNulty is off the rails again and headed down a dangerous path of deception and lies that will ally him with an unscrupulous reporter. The drug trade still rules the corners all you have to do is read between the lines.Running Time: 630 min.System Requirements:Running Time: 630 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS UPC: 883929015368 Manufacturer No: 1000038240
Amazon.com
A barroom toast to Det. Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West), a one-man good cop/bad cop, offered in The Wire's final episode could very well serve as this series' epitaph: "When you were good, you were the best we had." Season five bears witness to this. The 10 riveting, wrenching episodes focus on yet another beleaguered Baltimore institution, The Baltimore Sun daily newspaper, whose staff, much like the police, is forced to do more with less. One editor (Clark Johnson) struggles to maintain the paper's journalistic standards in the face of declining ad revenues, employee buyouts and bureau closures. An ambitious reporter (Tom McCarthy) undermines him by taking a page out of the Stephen Glass/Jayson Blair playbook, manufacturing sensational quotes, and eventually, whole stories, while bean-counter management encourages its rising star and keeps its eye on the (Pulitzer) prize. Meanwhile, on the streets, the year-long investigation of rising drug lord Marlo Sansfield (Jamie Hector) and the 22 bodies found in "the vacants" has been discontinued and police morale is at an all-time low (the money promised to the department has been diverted to the schools). McNulty manufactures a serial killer case that will have far-reaching repercussions in the mayor's office, where Tommy Carcetti (Aidan Gillen) is mounting a run for governor a mere two years into his term. "I wonder what it would be like to work at a real police station," McNulty rages at one point. The Wire, as ever, is all about real. It's a gritty and unflinching look at life in one of roughest districts of a "broke-ass city." There is street justice for some characters, and street injustice for others. Some meet sad, sudden, or shocking ends that defy TV convention. Referring to Marlo, McNulty declares early on, "He does not get to win; we get to win." The hard-earned victories are mostly small, or come with a price. Not that The Wire does not offer glimmers of hope. Bubbles (Andre Royo) struggles to maintain his sobriety (Steve Earle portrays the leader of his 12-step program and also does the theme song honors this season), and the final episode features a cameo by Jim True-Frost as the once overwhelmed teacher, "Prez," who now seems to have the hang of the job. The ratings-strapped and criminally Emmy-snubbed The Wire has always been a critic's darling with a passionate fan base. To the show's credit, it did not make itself more accessible in its final season (consequently, its send-off did not receive near the fanfare of The Sopranos or Sex and the City). That should not dissuade newcomers to the show. It is heavy lifting, and if you're just joining The Wire, a visit to the show's official website for orientation is recommended. But buy it, watch it, and be patient. It's so worth it. From the masterful storytelling to the peerless ensemble, it just doesn't get any better than The Wire. But that's not exactly news. --Donald Liebenson
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 The WORST season of The Wire, by far... July 6, 2008
0 out of 7 found this review helpful
And that is saying a lot, considering season two was a miraculously bad sophomore slump for such a great show.
Season five has so many flaws, it would be hard to list them all without giving away most of the season.
This season focused on the media side of things, and yet the media characters were extremely one-dimensional and had no depth. Clark Johnson was decent, but since his days on Homicide are over, he should stick to directing.
The entire season sprinkles characters from the fourth season ("Bunny" Colvin, Randy, Namond, Prez, Dennis "Cutty" Wise, etc.) into two or three minute cameos, which is just pathetic. If this season is so bad that it has to harken back to past characters, there is a huge issue with the quality of what is being produced.
Much of this season is just a string of silly cliches and it really lacks any true grit that the previous seasons were so acclaimed for. There are momentary flashes of brilliance, but not as many as you would hope. If you own the first four seasons, by all means buy this to finish off your collection. If you are a random person looking to dive into this series, watch seasons one, three, or four.
 simply the best July 1, 2008
"THE WIRE - THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON" can't and doesn't stand alone. To appreciate it, you have to watch the preceding four seasons as well. But to own the DVDs of all five seasons is to have a treasure of the highest value. If no new TV shows were ever made, I could continue watching THE WIRE for the rest of my life and still get something new out of it each time I watched. It's complex, nuanced, tragic, funny, thought-provoking, frightening, entertaining -- a string of priceless gems. It's a combination of Anthony Trollope and Greek tragedy, and all together, it sums up the hope, hopelessness and humanity of an American city at the beginning of the 21st century. My highest recommendation is less than it deserves.
 Great series...not so great final season June 18, 2008
0 out of 11 found this review helpful
Everyone writing a review for the final season of "The Wire" is giving it great praise. But, I believe that the final season was very weak. The newspaper storyline did nothing for me because we didn't get to know the newsroom characters better. Storylines didn't get time to fully develop. Like in one episode Cheese gets his uncle killed before you know what has happened. The death of Omar didn't go off so well, you didn't even see him limping when he goes to into the store. I believe if they have more episodes and time to work with we're really arguing about this season being as good as season 1 or 3. I had know problem with Omar dying even though he was a great character but his death seemed out of place how they filmed it. Everyone can say how good the series has been but you have to admit this is not the explosive final season everyone was expecting. There were only 10 episodes and there should have been 13. I believe the writer's strike had something to do with it. A better season five and there's not doubt this show could be getting alot of buzz and winning an Emmy for just the body of work. Just one man's opinion.
One of the best series on TV? More like one of the greatest stories ever told. April 28, 2008
15 out of 15 found this review helpful
I'll begin this review as a review of the series, then move on to Season 5 in particular:
I have long thought that some of the best stuff on TV can be found among HBO's Original Series. I'm a big fan of some of HBO's better known dramas including Rome and The Sopranos, as well as of some lighter fare such as The Ali G Show and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Strangely, I'd barely even heard of The Wire until about a year ago, when a friend of mine (who generally has very good taste) was raving about it. At his suggestion, I purchased Season One on DVD. I was hooked about half way into the series, and I eagerly devoured Seasons 1-4 on DVD just in time to catch Season 5 as it aired on HBO. I can't pay this series high enough praise - to me, it transcends the TV medium, and rather than compare it to other TV series, I'd rank it up there as one of the greatest stories ever told (or rather the greatest stories I've had the good fortune of reading, hearing, or viewing). Many reviews rave about The Wire as an excellent TV Series, though in my opinion this excellent work would more appropriately be compared to an epic novel than to anything on the small screen.
The Wire has rightfully been praised for, among other things, 1) it's realism and 2) it's excellent character development, but what really sets The Wire apart is its tackling of complex, timeless themes such as poverty, suffering, lawlessness, and the underlying forces (such as beuracracy, corruption, and greed) that lead to the ultimate failure of the system to correct these issues. The Wire takes a close, and very critical view of how our political, educational, media, and law enforcement institutions fail to eliminate the poverty and drug problems that plague Baltimore. As in most great epics, the lines between good and evil aren't clear as there are drug dealers we sympathize with and even respect, and police officers we despise (and vice versa). There are cold-hearted killers who live by strict, even admirable ethical codes (Omar) and those on the other side of the law with such a disregard for any such ethical code (Mayor Carcetti) it makes the viewer sick, especially given the parallels with too many real world figures.
As I touched on before, The Wire's realism is another attribute worth noting, as this series pulls off "realism" better than any fictional TV series I can recall. Granted, I'm an upper middle class nerd who's lived a coddled life, so I may not be the best qualified reviewer to comment on the realism of a show about drug dealers in the West Baltimore projects, but to me it achieves realism in a way that many if not most television (as well as big screen) dramas fail. It isn't over dramatized. It doesn't have that polished, studio feel of most TV but rather the gritty feeling of the streets of Baltimore. The cops look and generally act like cops (they don't look like models; they live in crummy apartments and work in filthy cubicles; some battle alcohol problems or deal with boring, tired relationships). The "bad guys", similarly, look and act like rational participants in "the game" would be expected to in real life. This point ties in with the excellent character development - and in fact a few of the roles are played not by career actors but by real world products of the Baltimore drug game (The Deacon and Snoop stand out as notable examples).
Ultimately, The Wire succeeds to such a degree as a Series because, as the creators put it in one of the bonus features that came with Season 4: The Wire isn't made by people with careers in the TV business. As a result, it doesn't feel like television, but rather, like great storytelling.
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And Season 5 specifically:
I won't say much about Season 5, as I don't think it's useful to spoil the plot. I will say that Season 5 is every bit as good as the Seasons that lead up to. McNulty's character makes some pretty bold choices early in the season, and it's unclear whether he's a desperate man on a downward spiral or the only man willing to do what needs to be done, potentially sacrificing himself in the process.
The "side plot" in Season 5 focuses on the newspaper (The Baltimore Sun), much as Season 2 focused on the stevedores and Season 4 explored the school system. Not surprisingly, the newspaper is as disfunctional as the schools or the political system - an under-staffed local rag that desperately tries to put together any "story" they can sell while missing the real story right in front of their eyes (that is, the story that we as viewers have been enjoying for the past 5 seasons).
A handful of new characters are introduced, and a battle of ethics takes place at the newspaper much like that we've seen unfold at the PD for four seasons now, with the Baltimore Sun's version of John McNulty (Gus) sticking to his old school ideals of telling the truth while glory seeking newcomer Templeton makes up his own truth, with few visible consequences. The hunt for Marlo continues and, the highlight of the story, the clash between Marlo and Omar Little (the best character in the series, in my opinion) really heats up. As far as action and suspense are concerned, Season 5 doesn't disappoint.
By ending the series with Season 5, the producers wrap up the story quite well. In too many cases, otherwise good TV Series go on too long, driven by greed or perhaps the egos of the producers instead of by the story, and fade into mediocrity (the Sopranoes) or into convoluted, meandering storylines (Lost). By having Season 5 wrap up the series, while the producers do leave us wanting for more, they ultimately leave us with the feeling of finishing up and closing a long, satisfying book. No, not all the threads are tied up, some are left loose, and the Baltimore we leave behind at the end of Season 5 isn't much different than we found it in Season 1. But we are left with the satiated feeling of finishing a complete story, well told and well concluded.
Goodbye April 24, 2008
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
I cant believe its over, I think this show was the most realistic show ever. I read Mr Instability and it had stories from the set of the show
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