It's something special when a television show leaves you more satisfied than Thanksgiving dinner.
Week by week, "The Wire," which begins its third season Sunday on HBO, leaves me with a sense of elation at the end of every single episode. It's not just the best of HBO's lauded dramatic lineup - "The Wire" is the best show I've ever seen, and I can't imagine liking another show this much.
The show is all about "the game" played in the streets of Baltimore between cops and drug dealers, freelance gangsters, dockworkers, crackheads and other reputable citizens filling their various roles. The cops in "The Wire" work cases that take months to put together. They monitor wiretaps and photograph street corners while the criminals they're watching work tirelessly to avoid being caught.
Unlike other TV shows, "The Wire" isn't episodic. Each season begins a brand-new case, and each episode is a chapter in a sprawling crime novel that plays out over 13 challenging and rewarding hours. Yet because the intricate plot runs throughout the season, if you miss an episode - or even take a bathroom break - you could be lost.
And no show is more unpredictable. Consider the start of season two, when the Baltimore Police Department is put in charge of finding who murdered 14 hookers who were suffocated in a storage crate on their way to the city's docks. But the corrupt dockworkers beat them to it in the second episode. They kill the man we thought the cops would catch and bring to justice over the entire season's course.
What's most intriguing about this setup is the emphasis of story over character. No one character stands out over any other. It's an ensemble drama in the truest sense. The cops, the criminals and everyone in between are given exactly the screen time needed to advance the plot. No scene is unnecessary, no detail wasted.
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Compare that to a show such as "The Sopranos," which drowns in an ocean of unnecessary character development, and it's plain to see why "The Wire" is a refreshing antidote for other television.
However, the characters who fill the expansive plots are also some of the most interesting and entertaining you'll ever see on TV. The police and the gangsters all have vibrant and convincing personalities which make the show funny and infinitely entertaining.
Omar, a gay gangster, prowls the streets of Baltimore robbing drug dealers with a shotgun. No one plays the game like Omar, who works both for and against each side of the law. The only character on the show who never swears, Omar is fascinating. He lives harder than any other character with his life constantly in danger, yet he remains in complete control in every situation. After the death of his boyfriend in season one, he has been on a mission for revenge.
If last season was any indication, a whole new story with unimaginable twists is just around the corner. Do yourself a favor and jack in to "The Wire." No other show compares.
"The Wire"
HBO, Sunday, 7 p.m.
Grade: A+
