The Wire - The Complete Fourth Season DVD Review

Click the image above to view a trailer! Buy it now - DVD

DVD Release Date - December 4, 2007
Description:

With the fall of Barksdale and the ascent of young Marlo Stanfield as West Baltimore’s drug king the detail continues to “follow the money” up the political ladder in the midst of a mayoral election that pits the black incumbent Clarence Royce against an ambitious white councilman Tommy Carcetti. The theme of urban education is explored through four new characters ? Michael Lee Namond Brice Randy Wagstaff and “Dukie” Weems as they traverse adolescence in the stunted drug-saturated streets of West Baltimore. The world that awaits these boys and the American commitment to equal opportunity are depicted brilliantly in the edgy all too realistic Season 4 of The Wire.

Review

The kids are gonna learn, Question is, where?

This season is about the kids, the school system, how its broke and fractured, politics, and trying to capture Marlo and his crew.

This season is the most frightening yet, a very good season, the show is very smart, raw, and tells it like it is. I got mad, frustrated, and at times, very upset at how things were going down (not to knock the show at all, just saying I was feeling it like the characters were feeling it, it was drawing me in, and their frustrations became mine). A lot of things happen, stuff I don’t wish to get into and spoil, but wow, this is a GREAT season, I love it, and highly recommend it.

Please skip the rest of the review until you get to the Quotes, if you have not viewed seasons 1-3, as some MAJOR spoilers are posted, Spoilers for this season are not posted.

Season 3 ends with you jumping out of your seat, I mean wow, how can you top season 3? Stringer Bell is dead, Avon is back in jail, and Marlo is the last man standing, destined to be the kingpin.

This season shows Marlo on his rise to power and dominance in the drug game. His crew starts “disappearing” bodies. They go up the hill, but never come back. This is powerful, and eerie at the same time. This season is a very serious season. We see the brutality of Marlos gang up front and personal, and see how far they are willing to go. The problem is, Marlos gang is disappearing guys, opposed to shooting them up and living the bodies dead on the street. This makes it hard for Lester Freamon and crew to hold down a wire on Marlos gang, with no bodies, there is no priority. So Daniels gets promoted, Kima and Lester go back to homicide, and Jimmy McNulty goes back to patrol and manages to clean himself up.

Tommy Carcetti becomes the mayor, and tries to clean up the city, making promises that he has trouble keeping.

The show exposes the “No Child Left Behind” program, and shows how the teachers are using it as a way to “increase” stats, and are more concerned with that instead of actually teaching and improving the students and their lives. We get drawn into a few students during the show that we follow from the beginning to end. You got kids like Michael and Dukie whose parents stay drugged out. Dukie’s parents sell everything the kid has to pay for drugs, while Michaels mom sells the groceries to get high. You got Wee-Bey’s kid, Namond who is trying to make something of himself, and chill, while his mom keeps pushing him to sell drugs and become a man like his dad. Then you got Randy, who lives with a foster mom, and doesn’t know who is real parents are.

The kids go through a huge struggle, having to do things no-one should have to do, especially at such a young age. By season end, the kids live changes for the best, or the worst depending. I do not wish to spoil anything, as it is fascinating to see how this all plays out.

I’m glad many of the characters from previous seasons are given the chance to shine and play new roles this season, and grow. Its great. In a show that has no main characters, the show revolves around multiple characters, this is just one of the things that helps to make the show shine so bright.

Favorite Quotes -

Bunk Moreland: Better to be lucky than to be good.

Omar: How you expect to run with the wolves come night, when you spend all day sparring wit’ the puppies?

Omar: It ain’t what you takin’, it’s who you takin’ it from.

(whilst sticking up the card game)
Omar: (to Marlo) I like that ring too. (pause) Boy, you got me confused with a man who repeat themself.

Omar: Man, money ain’t got no owners. Only spenders.

Proposition Joe: Business man, such as myself, does not believe in bad blood with a man such as yourself. Disturbs the sleep.
Omar: Oh, I bet it do.

Deacon: A good church man is always up in everybody’s shit. It’s how we do.

Dukie: There ain’t no special dead. There’s just dead.

Edward Norris: You know what we use the polygraph for? Leverage. To get them in here and fuck with them.
Shakima Greggs: No wonder this shit’s inadmissible.

Omar: I’ve got a bounty on my head man. Five figures! If I’d known I’d be sharing quarters with all these boys - I’d probably wouldn’t have robbed so many of them.

Wee-Bey Brice (to DeLonda Brice): Remember who the fuck you talking to right here. Remember who I am. My word is still my word. In here, in Baltimore and in any place you can think of calling home… it’ll be my word that find you.

Video - 5/5

Full Frame, but beautiful none the less.

Audio - 5/5

Great sound, and I love the music.

Supplements - 4/5

Great, It’s All Connected: The Wire & The Game is Real and hour long, and focuses on the real-life people the show is based on the and events from the series, it showcases interviews from the cast, very good, and very enlightening. We also get 6 audio commentaries.

Overall - 5/5

Good season, showcasing the problems and issues with the school system, while still focusing on the drug game and keeping us in contact with the characters and issues from previous seasons.