I am a late follower of the Wire. I have bought all the series and watched them quite recently to understand what the fuss was about.
Well I have to say I do understand now.
The Wire is amazing. It might nit strike you immediately but it will if you give it some time and get passed the confusing amount of characters and the Baltimore slang. I am not English mothertongue and therefore used to miss out on what is going on. I therefore always watch movies with subtitles with the excuse that it makes me learn vocabulary (it does work). Strangeky enough I got along well with the Baltimore slang after a few episodes. Equally I managed with the many characters after only a few episodes. The first series got me wondering: had I just watched some kind of experimental fiction or was I up for a full lenghth story? I am glad I picked up on it when the full series had been broadcasted. Thank you HBO for having supported quality and allowed the makers of the Wire to fulfill what they had intented to do.
So I have watched it all and I feel like I have been educated about what it is to survive, live, support, rule, try to educate and report about a city in the USA. I got attached to many characters along the story, some easy to like and some that would have been easier to dislike, some I did dislike but not in such an easy way. I feel thta I have seen enough to understnd whay shit happens although there are still ways to make it better.
I have started to care about something rather remote though with very much similarities to what I have got at home. Belive me or not I wrote a letter to Obama and asked him to watch the Wire, this is how much it stroke me.

Believe me or not I belive that anyone in charge should watch these series. I want Britain to get better, I want London to be better. The five seasons of the Wire show us how shit hits the fan. I live to hope that we can watch and learn. It is possible. Watch the Wire and make where you live different: it is possible but only up to you and your vote.

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