The Wire, Season 4
This show, The Wire, is one of our all time favorites, all the more so because our son also loves this show and passes along the entire season when he has finished watching.
Season 4 is the very best so far. The major theme is a subject near and dear to my heart – the schools, keeping kids in school, and trying to find ways to help them learn. Two former policemen end up in Tilghman Middle School, working with the poorest kids in the Baltimore school system.
First, you need to know that teaching middle school is the stuff of heroes. At very best, middle school kids are dealing with those raging hormones of adolescence. They can’t sit still. They are so full of energy, and sitting and reading is the last thing they want to do.
New teacher “Prez” suffers total loss of control over his class on his first day, but slowly finds ways to engage their attention – such as teaching them to use math to figure odds rolling dice. Once they understand the value of the new information, they are enthusiastic learners . . . or at least, they co-operate with the boring stuff because he finds ways to reward them with interesting information, relevant to helping them cope with their lives. The teachers learn from the students – to keep it real, keep it relevant.
The teachers in Tilghman Middle School are HEROES. Most of the children they deal with have huge problems outside the school, poverty being the smallest of the problems. For many, their parents are their worst problems, literally stealing the food out of their mouths for another fix. The kids bring their baggage into the schools every day, their anger, their acting out. The teachers have to be a mix of tough, compassionate and flexible. They know they are going to lose some of them, and they have to keep on, hoping a few will make it. It is truly a war zone, and the teachers are the stand-up soldiers in this season.
We follow a tough race for the Mayor’s office, the rise of a drug lord, two stone-cold killers who figure out how to “disappear” their victims, and one very clever schemer who manages to pull off a major drug heist, and then sells the product back to his victims. It’s an amazing show.
If you follow this season via DVD, choose to use the subtitles. A lot of the language is slang, much of it is street talk, mumbled, garbled – real speech. It helps to use the subtitles.
5 Comments »
Leave a reply to momcat Cancel reply
Recent Comments
Catherine on Donna Leon Crossing Cultu… intlxpatr on Ignoring the Law thani on Ignoring the Law Anon. on British Soldier Kidnapped, Esc… Reeva Mills on Cahors to Bordeaux, Preparing… Wikipedia Donate Button
Amazina
Early Voting in Florida
Here There and Everywhere 
I love this show. I have watched all the seasons twice. The fifth and final season focuses on the press. I can hardly wait for its release on DVD.
You and I like all the same crime shows, Momcat. ;=) Yeh, I am looking forward to it, too! I like to be able to watch them all in order, without having to wait a week in between when you watch them live on HBO. It’s hard enough trying to keep all the plot threads straight even watching them one after another!
I love the Wire! I’ve seen season 5 now, but I have to say that overall season 4 was my favorite. I love how Prez grows and how his students do, too. Yet this is no happily every after tale and we are constantly reminded of reality. I’m reading the book “The Corner” now which is a true story of Baltimore that inspired the series.
I just love watching all my favorite series straight through on DVD. So much better than waiting every week for a new episode!
I agree, Heather. I think that the secret to successful teaching is that you learn it is a reciprocal affair – you learn a lot from your students, too. Prez learned.
In a review, the teachers at Tilghman were called “bitterly cynical.” I don’t agree at all. I call them relentlessly heroic, in spite of the odds, and insightfully realistic. They are dealing with a whole lot of hopelessness, and trying to save a very few who will have a different life because of education.
I also find Omar a very interesting character, and I detest the stone-cold Marlow.
[…] son, and one of the most trivial – but most fun – is that he introduces us to series we love, like The Wire, like My Name is Earl, and like True Blood.. Sookie – Anna […]