I thought there were review threads for all seasons of this, but this is the only one I can't find. Sorry if I missed it.

If I reveal any spoilers I'll give ample warning beforehand and urge anyone else who posts in this thread to aswell. I know that sounds a bit arsey, it's only a TV show but someone revealed a major plot twist in season 3 before I'd seen it and it's fookin' annoying! :angry: :P

I literally just finished the last episode of this. I managed to avoid any spoilers for this season but I did read several comments on here prior to watching it about just how bleak it is and I have to agree.
I don't think there's a huge difference in the amount of "bad" things that happen in this season compared to the other 3, but it's the fact that this one focuses on the education system and a specific group of kids and how the systems on both sides of the law screws them up that makes this one so harrowing. There's a level of inevitability with almost all of the stories told in the first three seasons, but it's the fact that there's a thin slither of hope still for these kids that makes their stories all the more gripping.

It's brilliantly done, though. I love the way they used that ring as it went from person to person throughout the season. Robert Bresson used a similar device in L'Argent, where he shows a forged banknote passed between the various levels of society throughout the film, which I think he got from a Tolstoy short story. It's far less heavy handed in The Wire, though.
I think this was the best season so far. A fucking brilliant piece of work.

I'm going to start watching season 5 tonight, I think.

I just found out that that piece of music that ends every episode is called "The Fall". :D

Harrowing, truly harrowing, in particular the last episode. :cry2:

Yes, indeed. :cry2:

I'm reluctant to start the fifth season now because I had a brief look at everyone's ranking of the seasons and 5 seemed to always be in the final 2. And what with the 3rd and 4th seasons being by far the best of the lot, I'm worried it'll be a massive disappointment. Plus, I only realised last night that it's only 10 episodes instead of the usual 13. I wonder why that is? Did HBO pull the plug or something or does the final season just naturally fit into 10 episodes.

Oh well... I guess I'll take the plunge tonight...

Two things: the assistant principal in the first episode of the 4th season has what I would call and educated working class Baltimore accent.
No white native of the city calls the city Baltimore: It's pronouncec "Bal'mer" or Ballamor"...when we try and say it correctly it comes out "Ball-Tee-Moar"
The AA kid who bought the nail guns sounds local.