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| The Wire - The Complete Fifth Season | 
 enlarge | List Price: $59.99
Buy New: $31.98
You Save: $28.01 (47%)
Buy New/Used from $31.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 35 reviews)
Sales Rank: 29
Category: DVD
Actors: Dominic West, Clark Johnson, Aidan Gillen, Clarke Peters, Wendell Pierce
Publisher: Hbo Home Video
Studio: Hbo Home Video
Brand: Warner Brothers
Label: Hbo Home Video
Format: Box Set, Color, Dvd-video, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), Greek (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD
Running Time: 630 minutes
Number Of Items: 4
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.5 x 1.3
MPN: 1000038240
UPC: 883929015368
EAN: 0883929015368
ASIN: B00123BY6S
Release Date: August 12, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
Theatrical Release Date: January 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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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 30 more reviews...
 Ending of a classic (spoilers in review) August 30, 2008
Maybe it's only at the end of something that we begin to truly appreciate what we had all along. For five seasons, we lived and breathed with the citizens of Baltimore; the drug life that thrives on the streets, and the police that strive to stop it. The characters, written so complete and so believable, are alive to us, and dare I say, could be our friends and companions, albeit fictional? We've lived on the streets, and seen many crimes and killings, and experienced pain and sometimes joy. The Wire has been a total experience, one of the best television shows ever on the tube, and it's hard to say goodbye.
In ten episodes, the Wire wraps up. Much has been opined about the quality of the final shows, how some people felt let down, and incomplete. I found the final ten to be very complete, very true to the intent of the series, and very emotional. The series truly adjusts its focus back to McNulty, an excellent cop who will go to any length to solve his problems, ethics be damned. In order to fully fund the police department, he decides to rig a series of deaths to make it seem like a serial killer. Soon, the "spree" catches fire, and McNulty is in it up to his eyeballs. My contempt for McNulty overall grew with his character development this season; which is probably most true to his character, but it didn't make me like him. Additional storylines cover the endless chain of drug people that simply take up where others leave off, and Marlo's gang is no exception. In seemingly trying not to repeat the fall of Barksdale and Bell, Marlo's story wraps in an interesting way, with some just desserts being handed out.
One story that had me absolutely entranced was Bubble's journey. From addict to recovery poster boy, Bubs upswing from his season four heartbreaking suicide attempt was a true American hero story, and it becomes aptly covered in the Baltimore Sun, which provides the "focus" for the season, albeit a slightly unfocused one. However, as Bubs story progressed, it was his that compelled me the most, and I was drawn into it with a quet dignity. I guess you feel overtly protective of him through the series, and maybe waiting for him to fall off the wagon once again. Bubs finds his dignity this season, and it's beautiful.
However, in a sad note, two of the four boys who stole last season, return to heartbreaking results. Almost as if to replace Bubs as an addict, Duquan, or Dukie, finally eeks out of Michael's life to start living on the streets, and becomes the new addict. Plot wise I recognized why that happened, but it totally broke my heart. Who wasn't rooting for Dukie, a child who's life was being evicted from apartment after apartment, who excelled in school, and made a connection with Mr. Prez? And then it begs to wonder, how many Dukies are there on our city streets, and how many of them do we as a society step over and ignore?
The Wire was always a complicated show, and it never took it's assignment lightly, a slice of American life that has never been captured in such a complete and honest way. Will people look back fifty years from now, from an idyllic society, and wonder how anyone ever lived through such times and not tried to stop it? Only time will tell. In the meantime, we have five seasons of the finest show ever, and that's good enough for me.
 How to ruin a mini series in 10 episodes or less..... August 28, 2008
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
What happend? For the life of me, I cannot believe that HBO concluded a great mini series like "The Wire" in such a way! If I could get my money back for the whole 5 seasons I would! I was so disappointed with season 5. It looked like behind the scenes the cast was negotiating for additional salary and the network was cancelling their contracts. 10 episodes and you fizzle-out a blockbuster mini series!!! Omar dies in a liquor store without a fight, considering that he was the toughest character of the bunch. In the same season, Proposition Joe dies, Cheese dies (The upcoming Avon Barksdale type)...and Snoop dies! Snoop! The rudest, crudest, female tough guy to walk the streets of Baltimore! And she gets wasted by the upcoming kid?
And what gives with the News Room cast? Filler? That plot was going absolutely nowhere!! The weak, computer literate kid becomes a junkie overnight?
Keeba didn't even have a date during the season.
And who decided that McNulty was the star?
Complete trash! I thought nothing could be as bad as the ending of OZ...but The Wire set a new mark....
"Season Five....was a dud!"
Not a walk through simply my opinion. August 25, 2008
i dont give run down on shows i will simply state that i loved season five as much as the other seasons. im just sorry it had to end. if your afan of other seasons you will not be disappointed.
Top Shelf August 24, 2008
Simply, with The Sopranos, the best TV has ever seen. I wish only that Season 5 could have been more than 10 episodes.
The Wire, still the best August 21, 2008
Felicia Pearson, aka 'Snoop' " ... was born a three-pound cross-eyed crack baby in East Baltimore. ..." and as an almost grown actor, she now plays a drug gang land assassin in what I consider to be the most real, most enlightening and the most entertaining of all shows on HBO, no make that all of television, cable or broadcast, period. Ms. Pearson is also an accomplished writer of " ... a quick, riveting and rewarding read that makes you almost hear her reading it to you and I HIGHLY recommend it. Kudos to the co-author's subtlety that makes this book a knockout!!! ..." - Amazon review of "Grace After Midnight: A Memoir" by Ms. Pearson and David Ritz.
Amazingly, Ms. Pearson is but a single representation of an excellent company of players in a most entertaining cable TV series, "The Wire - The Complete Fifth Season" produced by HBO. This link leads to a collection of the first four seasons of this remarkable "docu-drama", although I have yet to view an episode that would not stand alone as a prime time TV movie and some are more than worthy of theatrical release.
Those of you who have caught a few episodes already know that you can tune into these without attention to order in rotation as each segment is well written, well acted and well produced.
And now a word of caution for those of you who may have consider viewing these for the first time. The stories played in "The Wire" are based of actual events of the very recent past and are continuing to unfold in a town near you. These are very edgy, very raw, very vivid and violent stories, but they are very real. Tonight these stories will repeat in Oakland, in East Saint Louis, in Los Angeles, in Cleveland, in Philadelphia, in Newark, in Boston, in Houston, in New Orleans ... and in Baltimore, on a corner of those streets in the "bad part of town" where most of us seldom venture, even in daylight.
The origins of this "show" are based in "Homicide The Complete Series Seasons 1-7 DVD SET" an acclaimed series from the '90s, " ... not only the greatest cop drama of the 90's, it's one of the best ever. ..." (Amazon review). Interestingly or possible fore ordained, several of the players and company from "Homicide ..." show up in the writing and character acting in "The Wire".
When your kids approach the age of serious questions, you could do a whole lot worse than show them these. No amount of explanation on your part could ever show them this aspect of a very real world ... Sorry, but they will pickup some hopefully short term, but very bad roll models, unless you let them watch a complete series season and watch as that charismatic drug kingpin goes down in a very nasty way with a whimper, not a always a bang. Even the bad politicians get their comeuppance.
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