With its fifth season, HBO's The Wire reaches the end of its line. The gritty cop/crime/politics series brought two groundbreaking gay characters to the TV landscape—cop Shakima 'Kima' Greggs ( slam poet-turned-actress Sonja Sohn ) and noble thief Omar Little ( Michael K. Williams ) —and both return for The Wire's final, and quite absorbing, 10-episode bow.
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Michael K. Williams in The Wire.
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Set in Baltimore, The Wire is an ensemble drama that follows a handful of interweaving characters and storylines. Premiering Sun., Jan. 6, season five began as new Mayor Tommy Carcetti ( Aidan Gillen, of the UK's Queer as Folk ) is struggling with a tight budget that restricts him from keeping his promise to lower crime. The police force is feeling the strangle—overtime hasn't been paid in weeks, benefits are taken away and important investigations are being axed. The city's drug dealers have their own politics and turf to negotiate, with ruthless young Marlo ( Jamie Hector ) determined to get what he wants by whatever means necessary—which typically entails murder. Cutbacks and compromises rage at even the local newspaper, The Baltimore Sun, forcing city editor, Gus ( Clark Johnson ) , to butt heads with both reporters and corporate heads alike.
Season four was amongst the series' best, with particularly violent, turbulent storylines involving the mayoral race, crooked politics, a drug dealer's reign and a clique of West Baltimore teenagers. Opening with less gory glory, the first episodes of Season Five are nonetheless just as engrossing and rife with drama, as Greggs and her partners' investigation —that involves some 20+ dead bodies found in a house which they suspect is Marlo's doing—is closed. Without revealing too much here, Greggs' partners go to some shocking lengths to make sure all their efforts and progress are not lost. The all new characters and storyline set at The Baltimore Sun is a welcome addition, lending a little media behind-the-scenes dirt that reveals just how much news can be manipulated and seasoned—if not entirely cooked up from scratch - so it goes down tastier.
All four previous seasons are available on DVD ( season four was released Dec. 4 ) , and three two-minute online 'prequels'—one is devoted to a young Omar—can be watched online at Amazon.com .
Both Omar and Kima have been integral to the series' success and critical applause ( mainstream and otherwise ) , and certainly rank amongst the most fresh, non-stereotypical LGBT characters ever depicted in U.S. television, cable or otherwise. GLAAD has nominated the show twice in its 'Outstanding Drama Series' category, and both Sohn and Williams have received Image Award nominations for their acting. And national and local newspapers from USA Today to TIME to the Baltimore City Paper have attempted to draw more viewers to The Wire by including it on best show lists.
Sohn's Kima has seen some powerful twists, turns and spotlight moments during the series' run: in season two, during an undercover drug buy, she was shot, much to the horror of girlfriend Cheryl ( Melanie Nicholls-King ) . Following this close call, Kima took a desk job and the pair later decided to have a baby. But Kima's boredom with her new position—and passion for and devotion to her undercover work, and the risks it entails—ended the relationship. Now she and partners James McNulty ( Dominic West ) have their eyes and wiretaps, focused squarely on Marlo, despite budget cuts and their superiors' commands.
Omar has seen his share of rocky developments and big radar blip highlights as well. Season one saw his boyfriend, Brandon ( Michael Kevin Darnall ) , tortured and murdered by rivals ( who met with an ugly comeuppance ) . Season two featured a much-ballyhooed sex scene between Omar and his new boyfriend, Dante ( Ernest Waddell ) , and by season four Omar was robbing with a little help from his newest lover, Renaldo ( Ramon Rodriguez ) , and landed in jail for a stint. Based upon the first couple of episodes, it's uncertain what will come of him in season five, and whether a big score from last season will come back to haunt him ... or worse.
Thanks to its complex, real-world inclusion of LGBT characters into the fabric of law and the streets alike, it will be a sad day in March when The Wire unspools the last of its episodes. And judging from the first episodes, this wire is live with as much electricity as ever.
