The Wire - Complete 5th Season (4-DVD)

The fifth and final season of THE WIRE excavates yet another layer of city life: the media. As budget cutbacks for both the police and the press threaten their public missions, they also gives rise to corruption. Show creator David Simon (a former Baltimore reporter himself) interweaves the story of a young journalist faking stories for the Baltimore Sun with that of Detective McNulty (Dominic West), who concocts a serial killer in order to funnel funds to an underground investigation of drug dealer Marlo Stanfield (Jamie Hector). As always, the show's superb cast of characters--including a late appearance by stickup artist Omar Little (Michael K. Williams)--and sharply drawn institutions influence each other in ways that lay bare the determining forces of society; few television shows would attempt it, and fewer still would succeed. As THE WIRE comes to a close, some loose ends are tied up while others are left dangling. It's a testament to the show that it honors life's lack of resolution rather than the tidy, and ultimately dishonest, wrap-ups of most cop shows.