There’s something to
the idea that the 4th season of The
Wire is the best that television can get (something, not a lot; first
season of Twin Peaks is untouchable).
Nothing wrong about what came before or even after, but in season four
everything adds up in a perfect way.
And you don’t even
see McNulty all that much. You get to see him in the priceless recurrent pub
scene featuring The Pogues’ “The Body Of An American”, but he is pushed to the
fringes. This is about other characters. And mostly it’s about the writing.
And maybe about
education, too. Perfect subject matter for the series and, in a way, for the
subversive, dysfunctional streets of Baltimore.
