... but don't come here looking for spoilers. I will say, however, that the 90-minute wrapup movie (it kind of felt like that) brings the five-year viewing experience to a most satisfying conclusion, though not without one or two major annoyances that I can mention here without wrecking anyone's fun. First, though, here's what people who tuned into HBO On Demand on Monday expecting to see the finale saw instead:
Thanks to that Comcast viewer. And nice typo, HBO.
OK, the first thing to say is there is a wrapup music video at the end that I didn't like. According to David Simon, who called in after I posted the title of the song and begged me to take it down, this is an end-of-the-season tradition. I did not know that, and I have watched every episode of every season. Shows you how much I remember. Anyway, as I said, I removed the title from this paragraog at David's request -- his actual words were "I beg you, BEG you" -- but my original criticism still stands. I thought it was the wrong way to wrap up the series, because it injected a falsely upbeat note to what should've been allowed to stand as a monument to a city in crisis. Obviously David and the producers of "The Wire" disagreed. (Come to think of it, didn't a lot of episodes of "Homicide: Life on the Street" end with montages set to music? Uh.)
While such a denouement might have been appropriate for a season-ender, as a way of bringing this massive five-year experiment to a conclusion, the music video just felt too "Six Feet Under" for my tastes. In particular, there's one Hallmark moment in the video involving one of the longtime characters on "The Wire" that really didn't ring true for me. To restate my original post (and to take responsibility for my thoughts instead of projecting them onto Simon), I thought the show should stagger down the street till it's practically out of view, then stumble around a corner and disappear.
Also, maybe it was my internal timer expecting a 55-minute episode, but I felt the finale was dragging in its last half hour. End it already! As you may recall, season five was unexpectedly pared back to 10 episodes shortly before going into production, and I think this was probably the compromise -- Simon got a supersized finale to make up for having to hack away at 12 hours of story.
Finally, I must say I really like the way Simon and company handled almost all the storylines, bringing them to realistic and yet satisfying conclusions. I said "almost all," and I won't spoil your enjoyment by telling you which one I thought flat-out missed. (Hint: It's the one where Simon's personal agenda has been most evident all season long.)
UPDATE: David Simon talks about journalists, the fake journalists, and the heartbreak of file sharing
