All 5 Seasons Of The Wire, Ranked

The Wire is one of the greatest shows of all time, with a unique season-to-season structure, so let's rank them. In my recent ranking of The Sopranos seasons, I mentioned how someone's feelings on a season could change from rewatch to rewatch. That's not the case with The Wire.

The series isn't an anthology, but each season zeroes in on a different institution in Baltimore, Maryland. While most of the main characters remain the same throughout the series, the focus goes in and out on new characters, giving every season a different flavor. Each is an incredible journey into the modern world of police and drugs in America, but some seasons may resonate more than others.

5 Season 5

The fifth and final season of The Wire has the most difficult job of any season of the show. There was a lot of pressure to finish the series on a strong note, particularly after season 4, and there were always going to be some people disappointed with the somewhat muted, cyclical ending.

The end of The Wire makes an important statement. As the camera goes across Baltimore, showing more drug deals, greasy politicians, and bad cops, all to the tune of Tom Waits' "Way Down in the Hole", you realize what many of the characters have had to come to terms with in the show. The failures in Baltimore, and in America, won't be undone by one person.

They're systemic and will keep repeating until enough people are willing to take a look at the root problems. That's very much what season 5 is about. The storylines regarding the press and the politicians, arenas that feel separate from the story we've been watching on the street, are just as entwined in the lies, violence, and injustice found on the block as anything.

Still, season 5 does feel like a wind down. Characters we've been with for multiple seasons exit their roles, and not always because of a gunshot. It's melancholic and feels less "real", and more like a season of TV than we're used to with The Wire, and while it's still exceptional, the other seasons are stronger.

4 Season 1

The Wire is a show that, unlike many other series, finds its footing almost immediately. Maybe it's because series creator David Simon has a test run with the HBO miniseries, The Corner, and with Homicide: Life on the Street. For whatever reason, season 1 of The Wire might be the best first season of any TV show.

That should tell you how good the next three seasons are. The only real knock against season 1 is that we're not introduced to some of the characters that would end up defining the series. We still meet plenty of great ones though, from Omar (Michael K. Williams) to Avon Barksdale (Wood Harris).

The first season feels like a classic crime drama, with the cops hunting the bad guys, but it quickly becomes something much deeper. The criminals on the street have as vast interior lives as any "good" police officer, and all the nobility of the police force gets muted as the politics and infighting often overshadow any actual police work.

It's a fantastic introduction to the series and quickly orients you to the tone and style of the series. It just feels a little smaller than the series ends up being. After numerous rewatches, you may find yourself skipping a few episodes here and there in order to get deeper into the story.

3 Season 2

It's possible you might hate The Wire season 2 the first time you watch it. The second season is a hard shift in story from season 1. The Barksdale organization takes a backseat to the Port of Baltimore plotline that involves the stevedore union and the mysterious, ever-present figure known as "The Greek".

Frank Sobotka (Chris Bauer) and his son, Ziggy Sobotka (James Ransome), become important characters whose lives get tied up in illegal activity in the city. This season sheds a light on how the issues plaguing Baltimore are not solely a result of the drug gangs and corruption in the police force.

There are other powers at work between the unions and foreign influences. The Wire season 2 does not lose sight of the Barksdale crew either, and Simon and his writers do an excellent job of weaving the stories together without mashing them into one overwritten stew.

The acting that goes on in season 2 may be some of the best of the series. Bauer is incredible as a father dealing with a wayward son, and a pillar of the blue-collar community trying to protect his union and grease some hands on the side. Season 2 has a different feel than the other seasons, but you acquire it quickly.

2 Season 3

The Wire season 3 earns its place on this list for some truly shocking moments, character deaths, and the introduction of the show's most terrifying villain. Despite only first appearing in season 3, Marlo Stanfield (Jamie Hector) casts a pall on the entire series; he's that significant a character.

With the destruction of some of the Barksdale territory, a new player moves in: Marlo, a young drug dealer who operates within a different code of street ethics. Ambitious and drawn to power, Marlo is eager to use violence and terror to frighten Baltimore into coming under his control.

It's a new era for the Baltimore Police, one that coincides with Bunny Colvin's (Robert Wisdom) attempts to more ethically engage with the drug problem in his city. His experimental "Hamsterdam" is a zone of the city where dealing becomes decriminalized, an attempt, successful to an extent, to curb the violence that comes from the trade.

Politics come into play in a more concrete respect in The Wire season 3, and the threads that bind everyone, from the lowest street dealer to the highest office in the city, become painfully obvious. It's an intense and complex season that requires your full attention but greatly rewards your efforts.

1 Season 4

Season 4 is The Wire at its best. It's the most unflinching look at the drug trade and the rippling effects it has. It also forces viewers to understand that even the most monstrous characters in the show were probably not given much of a chance in their early lives.

This is primarily shown through the school storyline. Along with the usual McNulty police beat and Marlo's continued war on the other gangs, we're introduced to a crew of young boys in Middle School. Dukie Weems (Jermaine Crawford), Randy Wagstaff (Maestro Harrell), Namond Brice (Julito McCullum), and Michael Lee (Tristan Wilds) are all our lens into how the wheels of systemic failure begin crushing early.

Two characters who were absent in season 3 return for season 2, including Beadie Russell (Amy Ryan) and Spiros Vondas (Paul Ben-Victor). Politics comes to the fore in an even greater way in season 4, and everyone, from the police to the other gangs, begins to sense that Marlo's way may destroy everything.

Season 4 is one of the easiest to follow in The Wire. The lines are clearly drawn from start to finish and each character is so well-developed that you understand them on an intimate level. It's the most ambitious season of The Wire too, a series defined by how willing it is to take on heavy, impossible topics.