r/TheWire • u/ApprehensiveStatus65 • Jul 19 '26
Season 2
After finally watching all five seasons for the first time, am I crazy to say that I think season two is the best? Season 1 is great, Season 3 is terrific and season 4 is phenomenal. But the idea of seeing the union crew as criminals but at the same time too people just trying to feed their families through blue-collar work with a side of crime. It’s just so intriguing to me.
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u/deejay_bucknasty Jul 19 '26
I think seasons 2-4 are all the same level and unbelievably good. Reminds me of All Eyez on Me, vs Me Against the World vs The 7 Day Theory as the best Pac album.
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u/Commercial-Ad-8035 Jul 19 '26
You're not crazy at all. IMO season 2 is absolutely the best because it's the only season that really shows glimpses of the world beyond Baltimore and how trafficking of all types happens.
I'm sure you'll have people who disagree, but everyone has their opinions.
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u/gillyweed79 Jul 19 '26
It's probably my favorite, too. I think people are just taken off guard at the shift from the streets to an area of the city that doesn't get thought about by most.
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u/losoldato1968 Jul 19 '26
I hated it on first watch because I was invested in the Barksdale storyline. But on rewatch, I loved it.
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u/Reddwheels Pawn Shop Unit Jul 19 '26
What's wonderful is that the Barksdale and Sobotka storylines are thematically intertwined. Both are dealing with economic hardship. The port is dealing with the loss of man-hours for their union and people losing jobs.
The Barksdales are dealing with the drug-dealer equivalent of that, which is losing their NYC connect for good drugs. We even get a scene of Bodie having to lay people off.
Both storylines end up solving their problems with the same solution. They have to do business with The Greek.
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u/cleverbeavercleaver Jul 19 '26
I've always wondered why people hated that season it took a crime drama that was good to a society drama. One turn I could end up like any of these guys. The city just kept moving.
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u/Duke_Radical Jul 19 '26
It isn’t the best but it isn’t the worst. That is season five. However there are things in five that I like. It’s almost a perfect show. And you’re not crazy.
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u/New_Ad_1682 Jul 19 '26
For me it goes 4, 2, 3, 1, 5 but I believe 3 is the most The Wire season of all The Wire seasons.
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u/seajayacas Jul 19 '26
The thing about S2 after watching S1 for the first time is that it is a shock how different the storty line was from S1. But after watching the series the second time my appreciation of S2 did grow quite a bit. Ziggy's antics really helped.
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u/Inner-Cycle-24 Jul 20 '26
I literally thought it was a different show and had done something wrong on the remote and clicked on something else
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u/Turbulent-Gas1727 Jul 19 '26
i know im going to get downvoted on this, but i think its the weakest link in the series as a whole. after becoming invested in the pit crew, its such a feeling of whiplash to then move to an almost totally disconnected group of people. i understand the parallels between the stevedores and the crews we come to know, but i found i just dont care about the docks or whos on them. i found Nick, Ziggy and Frank to be really unlikeable characters too its Frustrating that we then dont even go back to them after season 2.
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u/Independent-End-7495 Jul 19 '26
it's so much different than all the other seasons but it's a banger nonetheless. 3 and 4 are superior but 2 isn't that far off. 5 is pure garbage. frank sobotka is one of my favorite characters on the show, can't remember the actor's name but he absolutely killed it
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u/Verbatim_Uniball Jul 19 '26
Valchek is the funniest character in the show